Vale of Glamorgan Council passes budget at second attempt

Opposition councillors doubted the savings target can be achieved

Vale of Glamorgan councillors have passed their budget with a 4.9% tax rise at the second time of asking.

Conservative rebels who last week voted against their own party's spending plans abstained this time around.

The main changes will see an extra £100,000 to support bus services and a new community hub in Penarth.

The 4.9% council tax increase will mean Band D property owners in the Vale paying £1,245 in the next financial year - an extra £58.

Opposition councillors had cast doubt at the previous full council meeting that the original savings target of £3.7m could be achieved.

But senior officers insisted the new target of £3.8m was feasible.

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Cabinet member Gordon Kemp was among the Conservative members who abstained, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Welsh Government funding - which covers about two-thirds of the Vale of Glamorgan's £226m budget - is being cut by 0.1%.

The Welsh Government said it had offered councils "the best settlement possible in this ninth year of austerity".