Denbighshire council not going bust, says minister

The council's leader has said the authority was considering increasing council tax as well as service and job cuts

Denbighshire council will not go bust, a Welsh government minister has told the Senedd.

Concerns was raised earlier this week after the council's leader, Jason McLellan, said his main priority was to avoid bankruptcy.

But Labour's Rebecca Evans said he has "assured" her that the council would balance its budget.

She said Denbighshire, like many councils, faced some "difficult decisions".

Welsh Conservative Sam Rowlands said the bankruptcy warning was "very worrying" for residents and staff.

• Why do councils go bust and what happens when they do?

In a private letter to councillors, Labour councillor Jason McLellan said his main priority was avoiding bankruptcy, and the authority was looking at increasing council tax as well as service and job cuts.

The council said pressures were due to rising costs and demand for services.

Speaking in the Welsh Parliament on Wednesday, Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said: "I have been assured by the leader of the council today that Denbighshire will present a balanced budget."

Ms Evans added that the letter from McLellan to fellow councillors "essentially, highlights the severe pressure that local government is under and the difficult decisions that they're going to have to take in order to balance the budget."

"That's not different in Denbighshire; that's the same pressure that is being experienced across local government."

She was replying to a question from the North Wales Conservative MS Sam Rowlands.

He said: "It's very worrying for residents, staff and locally elected councillors when their council leader says 'the main priority for cabinet at this point is to stop the council from going bankrupt'."

Mr Rowlands called for an independent review of the funding formula for Welsh councils.

Ms Evans said "all of this is avoidable" and called on the UK government "to provide the Welsh government with the funding that we need to provide to local government" when it publishes its plans for public spending next month in the autumn budget statement.