Newport draft budget and council tax for 2023: Have your say

Newport City Council's Labour-run cabinet has approved the authority's draft budget for the 2023-24 financial year, which is now out for public consultation.

Included in the proposals - which will be finalised next year ahead of the start of the new fiscal year - are cuts - or "savings" - of £5.6 million, and a 9.5 per cent increase to council tax bills, by far the biggest increase the authority has proposed in living memory.

Here is what is included in the plans.

Cuts of £5.6 million

Cuts - referred to as 'savings' by the council - of £3.75 million are proposed for the social care department, which will come from changes to staffing in both children and adult services, cuts to day care services, and changes to services for those with learning disabilities.

At the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, December 14, council leader Jane Mudd said savings had to be considered to address the challenges the local authority is facing.

Cllr Jane Mudd

She added that the council has a budget gap of £27.6 million, despite the increased financial settlement from the Welsh Government.

Other proposed cuts, as well as how much they will save the council, include:

• Reducing bin collections from every fortnight to ever three weeks (£160,000);
• Reduction in opening times of customer services (£53,000);
• Turning off street lights between midnight and 6am (£300,000);
• Community safety warden service restructure (£169,000);
• Increased fees and charges within environment and leisure services (£71,000);
• Introduction of charges to four car parks (£50,000).

Labour councillor Mudd said the council had plenty of advice for residents on recycling. She added: “If people have got concerns about the bins proposal they need to let us know, we are committed to taking their responses into consideration.”

Cllr James Clarke also urged residents to respond to the public consultation, he said: “Get involved and lets hear your voices.”

Education

In the 2022/23 budget consultation, Newport residents said education and schools were the most important part.

Cllr Mudd said the council “remains committed” to schools and it wants to protect them as best as they can from the significant cost increases.

She added: “We will consult on a proposal where we provide additional funding to schools, meaning an overall increase in the cash value of the total school budget.

“It will cover the cost impact of increasing pupil numbers and 50 per cent of the identified pay-related pressures. This means that schools will be required to absorb the balance of pay pressures and any other inflationary increases in costs.”

At the meeting, the deputy leader and cabinet member for education spoke directly to teaching staff sat in the public gallery of the chamber and said they had the council’s support.

Proposed council tax rise of 9.5 per cent

The 9.5 per cent increase would mean households in bands A to C in Newport - which the majority of homes in the city are - would see bills increase by between £1.55 to £2.07 a week.

At the meeting, Cllr Mudd, who represents Malpas, said: “One area of the budget where it is always hard to strike the balance is council tax. Although it contributes less than a quarter towards the total budget, we understand that it is a considerable outgoing for our residents.

“Newport has consistently had one of the lowest council tax rates in Wales – however much we might not want to do it, we have to consider raising it. Even with a considerable rise we would expect overall bills to still be very low in comparison to other authorities.”

Opposition responses

Conservative group leader Cllr Matthew Evans described the increase as “outrageous”.

Cllr Matthew Evans

Cllr Evans, who represent Allt-yr-yn, said: “Residents are now asking ‘what do we get with our council tax?’. The cabinet are talking about the financial crisis that people are facing and then they’re putting it up.

“One of the things the council isn’t very good at is the community services. I would like to see a great deal of effort being put into that.

“Also I would have liked to have seen more of looking at ways of generating income and investing money to reduce bills in the long term.”

Independent councillor for Lliswerry, Allan Morris, said he would be looking to create an alternative budget – but added without resources this is difficult.

Cllr Morris said: “It’s an extremely difficult situation for everybody, as independents we will look at every line of the budget and do everything we can to protect the people we represent.

Cllr Allan Morris

“We’re not going to see our people suffer from what’s already a difficult situation.

“We are totally opposed to the changes to the refuse collection. It’s already a problem in Lliswerry.”

Conservative party campaigner Michael Enea also criticised the three-weekly bin collections proposal and said there is already a rubbish problem in Newport.

He added: “I do my best to recycle every week and already hit around a 70 per cent recycling rate. But quite often my regular bin is full after two weeks. Like most people, I’d find it really hard to move to three-weekly collections.”

How to have your say

The draft budget for 2023/24 is now open for consultation until Thursday, February 2.

Have your say at by emailing changing.services@newport.gov.uk, or by post to:

Freepost POLICY AND PARTNERSHIP TEAM

Newport City Council

Civic Centre

Newport

NP20 4UR

For more information visit newport.gov.uk/budget