THE Welsh Government’s settlement for Flintshire and other north wales councils is ‘inexplicable’ according to Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee chairman Bill Crease.
The Connah’s Quay South councillor launched a scathing assessment of the settlement as the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee discussed the provisional settlement announced on Wednesday.
He also challenged the Welsh Government to look carefully at authorities that consistently benefit from higher funding due to deprivation.
The treatment of north wales councils – and Flintshire in particular – in funding settlements seems to me inexplicable,” said Cllr Crease. “My understanding is that the reason there is this huge disparity is because the formula that determines the level of funding going to various authorities takes into consideration degrees of deprivation.
“If councils have been having inordinately high settlements which allow them the facility to build huge reserves, and yet are still not resolving the deprivation issues for which they receive extra funding, I think it is about time that authorities like our own challenge vociferously and strenuously this disparity and receive some sort of explanation as to why it continues.
“It seems to me that if I’d been paid for 30 years to sort a problem out and I had not yet sorted that problem out, somebody should be asking questions about it.”
Flintshire received a 3.3% increase in its budget for 2025/26, ranking it 19th out of the 22 Welsh local authorities.
Denbighshire was the only north wales authority in the top 10, with Wrexham the only other from the north with an uplift above 4%.
Flintshire, Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey and Conwy were all below the national average.
“We’re looking at this settlement with dismay,” said Cllr Crease. “We (Flintshire) are once again towards the bottom end of the funding settlement for Wales.
The funding settlement is provisional and Cllr Paul Johnson, Cabinet Member for Finance and Social Value, called on all political groups within the committee to help the council make the case to the Welsh Government for a better deal.
“Representations are being made strongly,” he said. “Noting that things are very political in this and given that Liberal Democrat-controlled Powys is also one of the councils right near the bottom of this list, I would urge our own councillors to encourage their parties to contact us to discuss issues of mutual interest about how we go forward on this.
“I would also ask independent councillors to please speak to independent members of other councils and encourage them to use their influence on their authorities. I think the way forward for this is the councils at the bottom uniting together and putting forward a common front.”
