SouthWales Central Conservative MS

DESPITE the Welsh Government receiving record levels of funding from the UK Government, and local authorities receiving an increase of 3.1% in their core funding grant, councils across Wales still feel the need to punish hardworking people by increasing council tax to eye-watering levels.

In South Wales Central, the region I represent, proposals show that those living in the Vale of Glamorgan face a 6.7% increase, Cardiff a 6% increase and those in RCT a 4.9% increase.

Council tax in a Band D property was around £1,950 last year, meaning households in South Wales Central face another £95£130 bill increase and have to find this money at a time when resources are already stretched.

I’m sure we can all appreciate that the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic have fuelled inflation, which has pushed the cost of goods and services up. However, I believe some councils are unnecessarily raising taxes and cutting services for the sake of it. Councils across Wales have an astonishing £2.75bn in usable reserves, yet not one in Wales is proposing a decrease in council tax or scrapping council tax increases altogether.

RCT in particular has £270m in usable reserves and instead of using this money, collected from hardworking taxpayers, it is choosing to end home-to-school transport for those children living within two miles of primary schools and three miles of secondary schools.

I believe the money is available – however, the Welsh Government is prioritising the wrong things.

For instance, the Welsh Government gave local authorities almost £40m in 2023 for road signs to implement its hated 20mph policy, signs which more often than not have been vandalised.

This money could have been better spent by local authorities to prevent vital cuts to our local services or increases in council tax charges.

Labour will always revert to hiking up taxes, leaving households worse off. I believe it is time we finally had an independent review of council funding formulas.

We urgently need more transparency and accountability as to what our money is used for and why so much is kept in reserve bank accounts.