Agenda item

[Note: Councillor S. Godfrey-Coles declared a personal interest in this item. She remained in the meeting, took part in the deliberations and voting thereof.]

The Committee considered a report on the Council’s Revenue Budget Strategy 2024/25 to 2026/27, as endorsed by the Cabinet for consultation purposes at its meeting held on the 15^th January 2024.  The report provided Members with an outlook of the Revenue Budget for 2024/2025 together with indicative figures for 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 financial years based on officers’ projections of spending requirements and took account of the provisional settlement issued by Welsh Government on the 20^th December 2023.

The Cabinet Member for Resources, in presenting the report informed the Committee that the announced provisional settlement represented an average increase of 3.1% across Wales on the 2023/24 settlement, with Carmarthenshire’s increase being 3.3% (£11.0m) thereby taking the Aggregate External Finance to £349.441m for 2024/25. While the settlement was significantly above the initial indicative figure of a 3.4% increase and provided some £15.5m more than the Council’s original assumption, the Welsh Government had recognised the increased figure would still not be sufficient to meet inflationary pressures facing councils, pay awards and fuel price increases and difficult decisions would need to be made.

The Committee thereupon considered the following detailed budget information appended to the Strategy relevant to its remit:

·       Appendix A(i) – Efficiency summary for the Place, Sustainability and Climate Change Services;

·       Appendix A(ii) – Growth Pressures summary for the for the Place and Infrastructure Service;

·       Appendix B – Budget monitoring report for the Place, Sustainability and Climate Change Services;

·       Appendix C – Charging Digest for the Place, Sustainability and Climate Change Services.

The following questions/observations were raised on the report:-

• It was commented that this report demonstrated an unprecedented situation and highlights the seriousness of the situation where it was getting increasingly difficult to find areas of saving without impacting on services.  The Head of Financial Services stated that this was the first time in his career that he had reported an unbalanced draft budget.

• Several strong concerns were raised in regard to the Highway maintenance Services which identified a £100,000 efficiency saving by reducing surface dressing.  The Committee had recently written to the Welsh Government to express its concerns in the lack of funding to maintain the roads within Carmarthenshire and the proposal was an additional sacrifice in maintaining the road network.

• In response to a concern raised in relation to the proposal to cease routine mechanical sweeping of rural roads and will only be provided on a reactive basis, the Director of Place and Infrastructure stated that drainage was key in resolving a lot of issues

• A number of concerns relating to the efficiency saving proposals in regard to the following areas were raised:-

·       Surface dressing

·       Change in mechanical sweeping of rural roads from routine to a reactive basis

·       Deterioration of the road conditions

The Director of Place and Infrastructure explained that the purpose of surface dressing was to intervene in a timely manner to extend the lifespan of the road structure.  It was acknowledged that unfortunately, the current budget constraints did not conform to long term asset management.  Currently, within the restricted budget a programme of surface dressing was in place which was prioritised according to the condition reported and what the budget allowed.  In terms of the inspection regime regarding potholes, in principle the line of defence would be to inspect, log and repair potholes accordingly.  In addition, it was emphasised that whilst drainage was key in resolving many issues, it was reported that damage occurred would be managed through routine inspection regimes and reporting methods and the method of repair would be based on the severity of the damage and prioritised accordingly.

In response to a concern raised in that should the Committee support the efficiency savings which would be at a detriment to road users potentially exposing Members to be liable, the Cabinet Member for Resources stated that ultimately it would be the responsibility of the UK and Welsh Governments.  Due to the seriousness of the situation, Committee Members were informed that the Cabinet Member for Resources would be proposing to raise the current £600k assigned to highway maintenance to £2m towards addressing the more serious road conditions.

·       Reference was made to the introduction of carparking charges to carparks within the County which currently were free of charge.  Concerns were raised that introducing car parking charges on free carparks could have a detrimental impact on local businesses.  The Cabinet Member for Waste, Transport and Infrastructure Services stated that a review was currently underway which would consider free car parks and the impact of introducing car parking charges on the locality.  A final report would be presented to Scrutiny in due course.  It was commented that the carpark charges within Carmarthenshire Council owned carpark was cheaper than neighbouring Authorities.

It was proposed that as part of the consultation, Cabinet consider the proposal on car parking charges be reviewed based upon the rationale for individual locality free car parking provision. This was duly seconded.

·       Reference was made to the proposal that learners aged 16 to 18 attending school or college would no longer be provided with free transport, which would mean that they would have to make their own arrangements.  Strong concern was expressed that this proposal would have a detrimental impact on the age group being able to attend college potentially affecting their life chances.  The Head of Environmental Infrastructure explained that the proposal was set to be introduced in 2025/26, in the meantime a full scoping exercise would take place and that a report could be presented upon completion.

Therefore, it was proposed that Cabinet reconsider the proposed efficiency saving to remove the provision free transport for learners aged 16 to 18 attending school or college.  This was duly seconded.

RESOLVED: