Earlier this week, Bridgend Council met to debate and vote on the council’s final budget plans for the 2025-26 financial year.
Opposition amendments protecting school budgets rejected
Several amendments to the final budget were tabled by the opposition Bridgend County Independents group, with the overall aim of protecting school budgets. Their proposals included:
- Halving the 1% cut to the schools budget to 0.5% (down to £593,000).
- Protecting funding for school counselling services (there’s a £50,000 cut in the budget) to reduce pressure on Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
No extensive details have been provided as to how this would be paid for. Based on information available online and raised during the meeting itself, this includes:
- Drawing down at least £300,000 from reserves.
- The potential closure of smaller rural schools (no names were mentioned); though an officer said that this couldn’t realistically happen before September 2027.
- Closing the Civic Offices for one weekday a week.
- Cutting a Cabinet post and pay/remuneration to the Deputy Mayor.
- Releasing funding for chairing BCBC’s Appeals Committee – which rarely/never meets.
- Extending the council’s climate response timescale to 2050 (from 2030).
- Increasing income from commercial properties the council owns.
Some of these proposals have previously been raised by officers but have not made it into draft budgets.
The Council’s Finance Office confirmed the opposition’s amendments were “valid and lawful”. There was an issue around how reserves would be replenished, though it was accepted that only a small amount of money would be involved.
While the work the opposition had put into tabling amendments was welcomed, there were concerns on Labour benches about the immediate and long-term impacts of the proposed changes.
Additionally, Cllr. Ross Penhale-Thomas (Ind, Maesteg West) made – what has become an annual – appeal for the Council’s rules to be changed so opposition groups get more time and full assistance/support from officers to draft budget amendments.
Cabinet Member for Education & Youth Services, Cllr. Martyn Jones (Lab, Garw Valley) welcomed the attention given to education – which makes up around 39% of the council’s revenue budget – and noted the public support for protecting education budgets. There needed to be a greater focus on reducing costs where possible – such as school transport – and maintaining high education spending overall.
The amendments were ultimately rejected by 32 votes to 12 with 1 abstention.
Cross-party group to review school funding method
Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr. Hywel Williams (Lab, Blackmill), rejected any idea that there hadn’t been enough engagement. The majority of recommendations from scrutiny committees had either been accepted or partially accepted, while the public consultation was also considered.
Overall, the budget was “balanced and robust”. On the specific issue of school funding, he promised to set up a cross-party working group. This group would review future Welsh Government proposals to change how schools are funded – because it’s clear the current method “doesn’t work for every school”.
Council Leader, Cllr. John Spanswick (Lab, Brackla West Central), believed the change in government in London means the damage caused by austerity can start to be reversed – but this won’t happen overnight. This was still a challenging budget, but the budget has increased by over £14million overall.
Cllr. Spanswick also noted how the council had listened to concerns around proposed cuts to Bridgend Music Service. There would now be time to review how it can be delivered.
Local government finances and the number of councils “need to be looked at”
Cllr. Penhale-Thomas told the chamber he wouldn’t be able to repeat some of the views the public had expressed to him on how “fed up” they were. Ultimately, councils need long-term budget settlements to make future financial planning easier. He also called for a review of the Barnett Formula so Wales received needs-based funding, and also a review of local government itself to prevent “postcode lotteries” in service delivery (read a more detailed post on that at State of Wales).
Leader of the Opposition, Cllr. Amanda Williams (Ind, Coity Higher), focused on the mentioned cuts to school counselling services. With the permission of a father, she told councillors about a child who had attempted suicide by overdose. The day after this happened, CAMHS had said to them that this “didn’t meet the criteria” for intervention.
Additionally, she quoted a headteacher who was forced to choose only one of two children to send to counselling. She asked what BCBC would do to protect children in these situations in light of proposed cuts to school counselling.
Deputy Council Leader & Cabinet Member for Social Services, Cllr. Jane Gebbie (Lab, Pyle, Kenfig Hill & Cefn Cribwr), sympathised with the situation. That said, school counselling would never be able to deal with more complicated mental health crisis casework – which can only be dealt with by the health board. Access to mental health services for young people is currently being reviewed at a regional level.
The budget was subsequently approved by 27 votes to 16.
