CONWY Council will increase council tax by nearly 9% from April after budget proposals were rubberstamped today.
The 8.95% rise follows a long debate at Bodlondeb and means council tax has increased by around 30% in three years.
First independent and council leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey was critical of the formula used to calculate how much Conwy received in its annual local government settlement from Welsh Government, as the authority has frequently received one of the lowest annual percentage increases in Wales.
Whilst Conwy received the joint lowest local government settlement in Wales last year of 2%, this year it will receive an improved 3.8% increase, but the leader said changes needed to be made.
“70% of our funding comes from Welsh Government, which comes from UK Government,” he said.
“The situation remains very volatile on a national level. We know that one of the biggest difficulties we have as a council is this annual cycle of preparing for budgets.
“The UK Labour Government was set to look at a three-year funding cycle, which would be really beneficial.
“Whether it’s bad news or good news, at least you can plan ahead and do things on a more sensible basis.
“We look at our funding gap between us and Denbighshire, £34m.
“I mean that’s absolutely crazy. That has to change. There has to be an independent review of that funding formula.
“Even against the Welsh average, it is (a gap) of £3m, and that’s not a one-off.
“That’s £3m every year. £3m would allow us to reduce council tax by 4%. We wouldn’t be standing here frankly quite embarrassed by the level we are asking for.”
Cllr McCoubrey added: “Frankly, the WLGA [Welsh Local Government Association], it’s like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas.
“There is a commitment to move forward and bring the formula up to date, but that is going to take three years.
“I find that really ironic when we are all being pushed to use A.I and data and speed things up. We are using a formula that is 20 years old.”
Rhos on Sea Conservative councillor Gareth Jones slammed the budget.
“It almost feels as if I’m peering into your pram, Charlie (Cllr McCoubrey), and telling you that you’ve got an ugly baby in there,” he said.
“I’m also afraid to tell you that there is a number of your colleagues and friends who have peered into the pram, and they seem to think it is an ugly baby as well.
“But they don’t actually want to tell you that that’s the case, and whilst I’m on that theme, this is the third ugly budget that we’ve had since I’ve been on this council. The council tax increases amount to over 31%.
“I think today’s budget is a culmination of three years of some poor financial decisions.”
Cllr Jones then listed areas where he believed Conwy was either wasting money or failing to adapt.
Cllr Jones then said Conwy should have “tackled the school estates” three years ago to save £2.1m.
He also criticised spending on “active-travel routes” designed to improve walkways and cycle routes, such as the project linking Llandudno Junction and Glan Conwy.
“If we listen to our residents that we actually can’t afford these white elephant travel schemes, we are spending £21m on that bridge to nowhere down at Betws y Coed,” he said.
“We are spending the money on the walkways and cycleways from Llandudno Junction to Glan Conwy.
“I know a lot of that money is actually coming in grant money, but we are still having to borrow £2.1m (towards it); the finance cost of that again I calculate as £160K a year.”
Cllr Jones also claimed the authority had wasted £300K a year on the unusable HGV depot he referred to as the ‘Mochdre Shed’, whilst Conwy fought a legal battle over an obligation to pay rent.
The Conservative also questioned the need for some advertised jobs and said £400K a year could have been saved on Bodlondeb, stating a move to the new Coed Pella office could have already happened.
Labour Rhos on Sea councillor Hannah Fleet then argued in favour of active-travel routes, believing the walk and cycleways would make the roads safer for children.
First independent Llansannan councillor Trystan Lewis then said the roads were “really bad” in rural areas, claiming there was also a lack of services in the countryside.
He conceded: “It is a sad day for the council, but we have to accept the budget. We don’t have any other choice but to support it.”
Cllr Anne McCaffrey said there should be more funding for schools, an idea she had attempted to propose at an earlier finance committee meeting, which she said was “vigorously” opposed by council officers.
Whilst Conwy controversially cut 5% from education budgets last year, leading to school redundancies, no cuts are being made in 2025/26.
“I actually think it (the budget) is anti-schools, and it is anti-pupils, and, on the back of that, anti-wellbeing of future generations.”
She added that Conwy was giving schools a “stand-still budget” due to inflation.
Cllr McCoubrey then said Conwy compared favourably with other authorities in terms of schools, as Flintshire had raised council tax by 9.4% with £2.7m of education cuts, adding Wrexham slashed school budgets by millions.
“We support schools really well. The numbers are clear. Whether it is enough is a different point,” said Cllr McCoubrey.
Referring to Cllr Gareth Jones’ comments about having an “ugly” budget, Cllr McCoubrey responded: “It is absolutely clear there have been ugly budgets.
“I don’t know where you find the inspiration, Gareth, but you seem to have all your best ideas at the full council budget setting meeting.”
Chairwoman Cllr Susan Shotter then interrupted, insisting that the council chamber should be a “safe place” after grumblings from backbenchers.
Cllr McCoubrey continued: “I accept there are always things you could do better, but if you look at the services this council delivers on its combined budget compared to its neighbours, I think we perform really, really well.”
He said Conwy was audited and a respected authority nationally and added: “I don’t accept we are a badly performing authority.”
Abergele independent councillor Paul Luckock said the council wasn’t being bold enough in increasing council tax.
“It is a very dangerous route that we go down if we do not publicly advance public services, and the way you advance services is you pay tax to provide those public services,” he said.
Llandudno Conservative councillor Louise Emery said: “It is a cabinet structure here at Conwy. It is an executive.
“The executive has the power. That is how it works, and we are being led with the report here today because of the decisions cabinet has made over the last 12 months.”
Cllr Emery then pointed to 3.6% of council tax being earmarked for National Insurance payments to Westminster, insisting not enough lobbying had gone on.
Kinmel Bay councillor Kay Redhead, of the Conwy First Independent Group, said the funding needed to be better from both Welsh and UK Government.
“My residents are many low-income working-class families that really are on the breadline, and I’m doing foodbank referrals daily for these people,” she said.
“I can’t go back to my community after voting for another significant rise and then send someone else to the foodbank. I’ve got mums in tears to me on the school run.
“Our residents are really struggling, so something has got to change, and it’s got to change from the top.”
Councillors voted in favour of the budget with 36 in favour, 12 against, and four abstentions.
