Vale of Glamorgan budget plans rejected by council

Opposition councillors doubted the target of £3.7m savings would be met

Residents in the Vale of Glamorgan face a further wait to find out how much council tax they will pay from April.

The full council rejected the ruling Conservative group's budget including a 4.9% tax rise by 25 votes to 18. 

Former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies - recently elected to the council - was one of four Tories who voted against their own party's plans.

A further council meeting will be held next week to agree a budget by the 11 March deadline.

The 4.9% council tax increase would have meant Band D properties in the Vale paying £1,245 in the next financial year - an extra £58.

The proposed budget put forward £3.7m savings across all council services but with cash boosts for social services and schools, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Labour leader Neil Moore said he had "no confidence" in the budget, saying he doubted the savings would be achieved next year, with this year's savings likely to fall £724,000 short of the target.

A Plaid Cymru motion calling for a lower council tax increase of 3.48% - funded by using £3m of the council's reserves - was also defeated.

Plaid group leader Ian Johnson said some of the planned savings were "not going to be beneficial to the people we're supposed to be helping".

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Council leader John Thomas said he agreed it would be "very stretching and very difficult" to meet the savings targets.

He said the authority had little choice if it wanted to fund schools and social services properly.

Mr Thomas said the Welsh and UK governments "need to look at what services they want us to provide" and "fund us accordingly to provide those services".

Welsh Government funding for the Vale of Glamorgan is being cut by 0.1% for 2019-20.