Welsh budget: Rural councils hit most by cuts up to 4%

Rural councils will suffer most as the Welsh government announces cuts of up to 4% in each authority's funding.

Powys, Ceredigion and Monmouthshire face the biggest cuts in 2016, while Cardiff will lose just 0.1%.

The £4bn available is shared among the councils according to population age, size, and the number of school pupils.

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) said the settlement was "as good as it gets" in the current financial climate.

Funding 'protected'

Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews said the figure represented a cut of 1.4% compared to 2015, and included an extra £35m for schools and £21m for social services.

"This is a considerably better settlement than local government was expecting and is good news for local services in Wales," he said.

"We have protected the funding for local government in Wales over the course of this assembly term.

"As a consequence of UK government decisions since 2010-11, spending on local services in England has decreased by around 10% in cash terms, while in Wales it has increased by 2.5%.

"In setting council tax levels for 2016-17, I urge local authorities to think seriously about the funding challenges they face and to balance this with a consideration of the financial burden on households."

Local councils get 58% of their funding from the Welsh government, with 17% from business rates and the remaining 25% from the proceeds of their own council tax and charges for services.

The WLGA, which represents local authorities, had said they would welcome a settlement better than the 4% cut they had had in 2015.

'Welcome slow-down'

Bob Wellington, leader of the WLGA and of Torfaen council, said ministers were "listening to local government leaders and working with us to protect local services from the worst impacts of austerity".

"Today's settlement offers a welcome slow-down in the daunting level of budget cuts local government has experienced over recent years," he said.

But the Welsh Tories' shadow local government minister, Janet Finch-Saunders, questioned the settlement's fairness, saying Welsh Labour's relationship with rural Wales was at "an all-time low".

"What won't come as a surprise is that rural communities have once again been hit disproportionately by this Labour government," she said.

"It's government by the city, for the city; with not a single full cabinet member who represents a rural part of Wales.

"They just don't get it."

Plaid Cymru spokesman Simon Thomas said a cut of £57m was smaller than anticipated, but would still present "huge problems".

He called for a halt to Labour's planned shake-up of the council map.

"This is a time of great uncertainty for local authorities who are trying cope with unprecedented cuts to their budgets, as well as proposed changes to their structures," he said.

"Plaid Cymru is certain that a time of cost-cutting is not a time for wholesale reorganisation."

The Welsh government's draft budget on Tuesday contained a £278m funding boost for the health service, on top of an NHS budget of more than £6bn.

Earlier on Wednesday, First Minister Carwyn Jones told BBC Radio Wales that he believed councils had been "relatively protected" in the budget deal.