Plans to reduce hub opening hours dropped as £2.86m budget hole filled

Cuts to the opening hours of council hubs, which also include some libraries, have been dropped from revised budget plans. 

A £2.86 million hole in Monmouthshire County Council’s draft budget has also been filled with a legally required balanced budget to be presented to the full council for approval. 

A minimum funding increase from the Welsh Government, struck as part of its budget deal with the Liberal Democrats, will provide Monmouthshire with an extra £1.54m on top of the £5.1m promised in December’s initial local government funding settlement. 

Other changes benefiting the council’s finances are confirmation of £236,000 worth of homelessness and housing grants, a review of capital financing budgets resulting in a £513,000 reduction in cost pressures it expected to meet while the amount it will have to pay towards the fire service is £80,000 less than originally budgeted for. 

Monmouthshire is also in line to receive an extra £4.8m on top of its Welsh Government grant under a new UK wide scheme, known as Extended

Producer Responsibility, to cover the costs of managing and recycling packaging waste. More than half of that, £2.6m, will have to be transferred to a waste management reserve, to meet required improvements to waste services. 

The proposed council tax increase, first set out in January, remains at 7.8 per cent and should provide a further £5.9m. 

After the additional Welsh Government funding was confirmed a council statement said it still left Monmouthshire funded below the Welsh average and warned “further difficult choices” would be required to balance its budget despite earlier comments further cuts weren’t anticipated. 

That led to Conservative opposition leader Cllr Richard John saying he feared changes would be decided behind closed doors, with the consultation on budget plans having closed on February 22, and dismissing the exercise as a “sham”. 

But Labour leader, Mary Ann Brocklesby,  defended its approach and said: “We have listened to every piece of invaluable feedback provided. It is vital to my cabinet that the needs of residents and stakeholders are central to our budget-setting process and that we deliver on what matters most to them. 

“I am proud of the work done by cabinet and officers to reach this point, and our focus now turns to improving the valued local services we have in Monmouthshire.” 

The council’s budget pages on its website were viewed more than 5,000 times while it received 243 responses and more than 650 people took part in engagement sessions, including those held online, and meetings with head teachers, school pupils and a support group for people with disabilities. 

A report for the cabinet, which will consider the budget plans on Wednesday, March 5 the day before they are presented to the full council, said a reduction in opening hours for hubs wouldn’t be taken forward, reducing planed savings by £110,000, and a total figure of £5m 

But the report states: “a fuller review of the service will be carried out in due course to establish if the service is working in the most effective way.” 

The report acknowledges oppposition from the consultation to an increase in parking fees, and a “significant number” concerned at the council tax rise and whether the council will be able to achieve its planned savings. 

It said the majority of respondents to the budget survey agreed with the individual savings proposals being considered. 

The budget is providing an extra £1m for schools, on top of the council meeting pay and pension increases for staff, and it will also use the new borrowing powers to provide another £2.3m for improvements to highways, footpaths and rights of way as well as council buildings.

Labour and its Green Party cabinet colleague have 22 votes and the support of a further independent councillor, which is half of the 46 member council meaning the four strong Independent Group could be key to determining the fate of the budget should the 19 member Conservative group oppose it. 

A further council meeting for Friday, March 7 has also been scheduled it a the budget isn’t agreed on Thursday.