Bridgend Council Budget 2024-25: Bus station closure dropped; council tax to go up by 9.5%

As mentioned, BCBC had to find just over £13million worth of cuts and savings (pdf).

Education & Family Support (-£5.001million)

• The aforementioned 3% cut to the school budgets (-£3.44million).
• Miscellaneous cuts to staff mileage and training; review of staffing/redundancies and leaving certain vacancies unfilled (-£933,000).
• Cuts to catering maintenance budget (-£154,000).
• Complete withdrawal of funding for Adult Community Learning (-£149,000).
• Referrals to the communication & relationships team will only be made for pupils at risk of permanent exclusion, which could impact neurodevelopmental support (-£142,000).
• Redundancies at The Bridge alternative learning provision and charging schools for in-hospital education (-£81,000).
• Cut to BCBC’s contribution to the Central South Consortium (-£35,000).
• Extra income from increasing the price of school meals (-£30,000).
• Review youth service resources and introduce a mobile youth services unit (-£26,000).
• Changes to music services including a cut in financial support for the Four Counties ensemble and additional income generation from school music service training – (-£10,000).

Social Services & Wellbeing (-£2.25million)

• Miscellaneous cuts to staff mileage and training; review of staffing/redundancies and leaving certain vacancies unfilled (-£488,000).
• A cut to budgets for cultural services, possibly leading to cuts to opening hours at libraries and community centres, as well as general cuts to arts/cultural activities (-£360,000).
• Direct payment reimbursements – this is very controversial, read a recent BBC story about this (-£250,000).
• Cut to Bridgend Council’s contribution to the Western Bay adoption service (-£250,000).
• Review healthy living partnership fees with Halo Leisure (-£250,000).
• Extra income from increasing non-residential care and in-house care home fees (-£215,000).
• Remodelling day services (-£200,000).
• Withdrawing grant support for charities working in bereavement, dementia, stroke services and substance misuse – as well as a cut to BCBC’s contribution to Bridgend Association of Voluntary Organisations/BAVO (-£122,000).
• Amend the current leisure energy contract and review the operating costs of leisure facilities (-£75,000).
• Waive protections on concessionary fees for leisure facilities (-£15,000).
• BCBC to withdraw from its commitment to the older people’s strategy (-£15,000).
• Extra income from dual-use facilities in negotiation with schools – (-£8,000).

Communities (-£2.46million)

• Miscellaneous cuts to staff mileage and training; review of staffing/redundancies and leaving certain vacancies unfilled. The loss of two strategic planning officers is said to mean Bridgend will no longer be able to properly develop its walking/cycling network (-£724,000).
• Cut to BCBC’s contribution to Cardiff City Region’s revenue budget (-£598,000).
• Cut to county-wide regeneration funding (-£300,000).
• Extra income from charging full price fees for Porthcawl Marina berthing, as well as increasing fees for burials/internments, garden waste collections and bulky waste collections (-£151,000).
• Drop plans to switch recycling vehicle fuel to hydrogenated vegetable oil (-£136,000).
• Cut to corporate landlord maintenance budgets (-£100,000).
• Review charges for the major projects team (-£97,000).
• Scrap parks and playing fields development fund (-£75,000).
• Office rationalisation, including the closure of Ravens Court and the Innovation Centre (-£73,000).
• Cut to the climate emergency and electric vehicle charging budgets (-£55,000).
• Stop distribution of a hard copy recycling calendar to residents (-£45,000).
• Income from commercially letting former Woodmat property in Brynmenyn (-£35,000).
• Scrap the major events fund (-£25,000).
• Officially end shopmobility scheme in Bridgend town centre, which has been inactive since October 2022 (-£21,000).
• Reduce weed spraying from 3 to 2 times a year (-£12,000).

Chief Executive, Administration & Council-Wide (-£3.34million)

• Miscellaneous cuts to staff mileage and training; review of staffing/redundancies and leaving certain vacancies unfilled (-£1.89million).
• Review of IT services (-£398,000).
• Review of homelessness services, including reduced reliance on hotels (-£397,000).
• End security patrols at Brynmenyn homeless shelter (-£150,000).
• Increased income from registrar services due to fee changes (-£93,000).
• Increased income from investments and loans (-£90,000).
• Extra income from charging for all pest control services; until now some services have been free (-£67,000).
• Increase rental income from Brynmenyn homeless shelter (-£63,000).
• Cut to the Shared Regulatory Service budget (-£58,000).
• Only undertake DBS checks for care staff every three years (-£30,000).
• Increase in charges to the financial section’s clients (-£28,000).
• Cut to regional internal audit service contribution (-£27,000).
• Efficiency savings in supplies and services relating to housing (-£25,000).
• Cut grant to Citizens Advice (-£22,000).
• Increase income from legal fees relating to highways, property transactions and Section 106 agreements (-£20,000).
• Cut household canvassing relating to electoral services to only those areas with a poor response (-£9,000).