Blaenau Gwent Council has today agreed its Budget for 2020-21. The Council’s strategic approach to financial planning over the last 12 months has enabled it to set a balanced budget for next year and agree an indicative budget for 2020-21. The key to this position is taking a more commercially minded approach and thinking about different ways to meet the demands of our residents, businesses and visitors.
For the first time in a number of years the Council received increased funding of approximately £4.3 million from Welsh Government. This positive financial settlement, along with the cost reductions being delivered through Bridging the Gap programme means that there will be a 5% increase in funding going directly to our schools to fund cost pressures and it is especially pleasing to be able to do this whilst protecting Council jobs and services, giving some certainty to our hardworking staff and our residents.
An increase of 3.9% for the Blaenau Gwent element of Council Tax was approved - this equates to an increase of 82p a week increase for a Band A and a 96p a week increase for Band B households. Due to the high number of properties in these lower band properties (85%), in previous years what people actually pay for their Council Tax is on average one of the lowest in Wales. The increase is expected to be one of the lowest across Wales.
Speaking after the special meeting of the Full Council, Leader Nigel Daniels said:
‘I believe the Budget we have approved today is a fair and balanced one. The increase in funding is welcome news and I wanted to acknowledge and thank Welsh Government but it does not reverse the significant budget reductions of the last 10 years and we must continue to be financially prudent and work hard to meet service demands whilst balancing the budget.
Through our strategic planning approach and our Bridging the Gap projects we are continuing with innovative plans to transform services and become a more commercially minded council, so that we can continue to build strong financial resilience and are well prepared for the challenges ahead. These projects are also important to our commitment to sustaining our environment and safeguarding the well-being of our future generations.
A Council Tax increase is inevitable in order to raise the additional income required to continue to fund both essential services and some non-statutory services that we know are important to our residents. However, I am pleased that we have been able keep the increase to a minimum and below the level we originally planned and set 1% lower than in 2019-20.’