Three successive days, and three separate opportunities to listen to a range of interesting speakers. On Thursday Jocelyn Davies, Deputy Minister for Housing came to County Hall to praise the efforts of Powys in addressing issues to do with affordable housing and housing renewal. She seemed particularly taken by Community Land Trusts as a way to provide for affordable housing in rural communities. However, she did warn us that, in spite of our RSG settlement of only 1%, if we reduced our own financial commitment to housing renewal, then there would be a corresponding reduction in WAG financial support for this vital regeneration activity.
The Deputy Minister was followed by Dr Paul Walker, Chair of PHA Cymru, who emphasised the direct relationship between poor quality housing and poor health. Interestingly, Powys’ public sector housing largely meets the Welsh Housing Quality Standards whereas Powys’ private sector housing stock, particularly the private rented sector falls way below the standard.
On Friday, Jonathon Porritt Chair of Forum for the Future, spoke at the County Council’s Sustainability Day at the Pavilion, and explained in the starkest possible terms why our current obsession with consumerism cannot be allowed to continue. The message I took away from this event was quite simply that Sustainable Development has to be the ‘golden thread’ that permeates and directs everything that the Council does.
Saturday, and it was off to Peterstone Court near Brecon for the Wales Council of the European Movement’s ‘Dialogue on Europe’, to listen to Martin Shipton of the Western Mail give a thoughtful analysis of how the topic of ‘Europe’ is handled in the media. I can’t recall ever before having agreed entirely with what a reporter from the Western Mail has had to say. I must be mellowing or else everyone else is gradually coming round to my way of thinking!
Martin was followed by Dr Alan Butt-Philip from the University of Bath discussing the European Reform Treaty and explaining precisely why this treaty doesn’t really go far enough! His thesis will really challenge members of UKIP and the Tory Eurosceptics. As Alan reminded us, the Treaty of Rome is about bringing the peoples of Europe closer together, and this doesn’t necessarily mean the same as bringing the nations states of the European Union closer together. This set me thinking that perhaps the various nations states are a hindrance, rather than a help, to closer European unity. So do we really need nation states any longer? This is really seditious stuff!
Sunday, 25 November 2007
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
What Price Devolution Now?
Here is the starkest of all messages from Powys County Council and an explanation of how the 'One Wales' agenda seeks to unite Wales. I quote extensively from a briefing note for County Councillors which I have just received.
Powys receives 80% of its funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and 20% from Council Tax. The provisional settlement gives Powys a 1% increase in WAG funding. Against inflation of 2.7%, this is a real terms cut of 1.7%, equivalent to £2.9m.
This is the lowest increase for any Welsh Council. The average is 2.3%. If Powys received the average increase, that would deliver an additional £2.2m.
In 1996, Powys received the 2nd highest level of funding in Wales per capita. That was recognition of the costs of delivering services over a huge rural area. Powys has now slipped to 9th and will slip further. This relative loss has been compounded by grant streams, notably Deprivation Grant. On average Welsh Councils receive £1m of Deprivation Grant, Powys receives £48,000.
The Council has 3 main “tools” to manage its budget:
1. Manage more efficiently – “do more, with less”. Powys has a good track record of making efficiency gains and achieved savings of £5m to balance the 2007/08 budget. The Wales Audit Office says “Powys has made good progress in achieving, measuring and demonstrating efficiency gains.” However, efficiency gains are not painless. They may involve job losses and building closures. They are often perceived by the public as service cuts, although the same services are still available, only in a different form;
2. Reducing services. Powys’ net budget is structured:
Education 44%
Social Care 24%
Transport and Waste Management 14%
Recreation and Countryside 6%
“Uncontrollable” Costs – Levies etc 5%
Other services 7%
The scope for making significant savings without impacting key services such as Education, Social Care and Transport and Waste is extremely limited. Indeed, we should be strengthening these services to deal with challenges such as the Foundation Stage in Education, an aging population and increased recycling targets;
3. Increasing Council Tax.
Powys’ Band D Council Tax is £800, which is not far from mid-table for Welsh unitary authorities. Council tax only raises 20% of income. Each 1% on Council Tax raises £0.5m. Council Tax is likely to be capped if the increase exceeds 5%.
Whichever of these options, or combination, that the Council chooses to use will not be palatable to the citizens of Powys. Efficiency savings are the preferred route but Powys has already been active in making efficiencies and there comes a point when the returns diminish and the other options have to be pursued.
The cliche about being 'between a rock and a hard place' only hints at the magnitude of the dilemma now facing the 73 County Councillors in Powys. At least we can all go to the first class Millenium Arts centre in Cardiff, and after all, we have the 2012 London Olympics to look forward to !
Powys receives 80% of its funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and 20% from Council Tax. The provisional settlement gives Powys a 1% increase in WAG funding. Against inflation of 2.7%, this is a real terms cut of 1.7%, equivalent to £2.9m.
This is the lowest increase for any Welsh Council. The average is 2.3%. If Powys received the average increase, that would deliver an additional £2.2m.
In 1996, Powys received the 2nd highest level of funding in Wales per capita. That was recognition of the costs of delivering services over a huge rural area. Powys has now slipped to 9th and will slip further. This relative loss has been compounded by grant streams, notably Deprivation Grant. On average Welsh Councils receive £1m of Deprivation Grant, Powys receives £48,000.
The Council has 3 main “tools” to manage its budget:
1. Manage more efficiently – “do more, with less”. Powys has a good track record of making efficiency gains and achieved savings of £5m to balance the 2007/08 budget. The Wales Audit Office says “Powys has made good progress in achieving, measuring and demonstrating efficiency gains.” However, efficiency gains are not painless. They may involve job losses and building closures. They are often perceived by the public as service cuts, although the same services are still available, only in a different form;
2. Reducing services. Powys’ net budget is structured:
Education 44%
Social Care 24%
Transport and Waste Management 14%
Recreation and Countryside 6%
“Uncontrollable” Costs – Levies etc 5%
Other services 7%
The scope for making significant savings without impacting key services such as Education, Social Care and Transport and Waste is extremely limited. Indeed, we should be strengthening these services to deal with challenges such as the Foundation Stage in Education, an aging population and increased recycling targets;
3. Increasing Council Tax.
Powys’ Band D Council Tax is £800, which is not far from mid-table for Welsh unitary authorities. Council tax only raises 20% of income. Each 1% on Council Tax raises £0.5m. Council Tax is likely to be capped if the increase exceeds 5%.
Whichever of these options, or combination, that the Council chooses to use will not be palatable to the citizens of Powys. Efficiency savings are the preferred route but Powys has already been active in making efficiencies and there comes a point when the returns diminish and the other options have to be pursued.
The cliche about being 'between a rock and a hard place' only hints at the magnitude of the dilemma now facing the 73 County Councillors in Powys. At least we can all go to the first class Millenium Arts centre in Cardiff, and after all, we have the 2012 London Olympics to look forward to !
Saturday, 17 November 2007
What are Community Councils for?
Last Thursday's annual meeting of the Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations (PAVO) was quite a success in spite of the absence of Brian Gibbons AM who had had to return to Ireland on the death of his father. Condolences to him at this difficult time. However, it soon became clear that Mr Gibbons was perhaps wise not to be in Powys immediately after having announced a revenue support grant settlement of just 1% for Powys, the lowest in the whole of Wales.
One of the other key speakers was Mark Kerr, Powys County Council's Chief Executive, who was focused and concise, and was clearly disappointed not to have had the opportunity to tackle the Minister on the issue of the settlement. Nevertheless, his message for the voluntary sector, or is it the third sector, no-one quite seems to know which is the correct terminology, was a good one. He firmly established that the sector would be an EQUAL partner in the context of the emerging Local Service Boards (LSBs).
Moreover, he had a clear message that the LSB would concern itself with implementation rather than policy issues, but one was left with the impression that , interesting as LSBs are undoubtedly going to be, their dependence on the Community Strategy for setting the agenda for the LSB remains problematic. As ever, the difficulty is ensuring that the community strategy does really reflect the needs and aspiration of the residents of Powys, and how to create a democracy that is both representative and participative.
The fact that, by and large Community Councils have failed to sign up to the Local Community Fora, seems to suggest that such councillors are content with their representative role but distinctly uncomfortable with their participatory role. They want the status and title of 'Councillor' but they don't want any of the responsibility that goes with that role, principally they don't want to engage with forum that challenges them to even think about how to take their communities forward. They are only too willing to let someone else do the 'thinking' bits, they will just sit back and and get ready to criticise whatever the genuine thinkers come up with.
Someone asked me this week, "what are Community Councils for?", and I am still trying to give him a cogent answer.
One of the other key speakers was Mark Kerr, Powys County Council's Chief Executive, who was focused and concise, and was clearly disappointed not to have had the opportunity to tackle the Minister on the issue of the settlement. Nevertheless, his message for the voluntary sector, or is it the third sector, no-one quite seems to know which is the correct terminology, was a good one. He firmly established that the sector would be an EQUAL partner in the context of the emerging Local Service Boards (LSBs).
Moreover, he had a clear message that the LSB would concern itself with implementation rather than policy issues, but one was left with the impression that , interesting as LSBs are undoubtedly going to be, their dependence on the Community Strategy for setting the agenda for the LSB remains problematic. As ever, the difficulty is ensuring that the community strategy does really reflect the needs and aspiration of the residents of Powys, and how to create a democracy that is both representative and participative.
The fact that, by and large Community Councils have failed to sign up to the Local Community Fora, seems to suggest that such councillors are content with their representative role but distinctly uncomfortable with their participatory role. They want the status and title of 'Councillor' but they don't want any of the responsibility that goes with that role, principally they don't want to engage with forum that challenges them to even think about how to take their communities forward. They are only too willing to let someone else do the 'thinking' bits, they will just sit back and and get ready to criticise whatever the genuine thinkers come up with.
Someone asked me this week, "what are Community Councils for?", and I am still trying to give him a cogent answer.
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Where is the Public Outrage?
Well, it was just 1% increase in Powys' Revenue Support Grant. What utter contempt shown to the residents of Powys by the 'One Wales' Government. People in Mid Wales have long felt that they were simply forgotten by the Cardiff Bay Bubble, and surely this settlement confirms this impression.
But where is the public outrage? If this were to happen in France, rural communities would be marching through Paris and driving their stock down the Champs Elysee. Here we simply shrug our shoulders and wait for the next insult.
Come on residents of Powys, make your anger known, besiege the Senedd - do something to remind the Cardiff Bay sychophants that not only do we exist, we demand a fair settlement, we want a fighting chance to protect our schools, our libraries, our sports centres, our adult care services and our services to vulnerable people. Now is the time for action.
But where is the public outrage? If this were to happen in France, rural communities would be marching through Paris and driving their stock down the Champs Elysee. Here we simply shrug our shoulders and wait for the next insult.
Come on residents of Powys, make your anger known, besiege the Senedd - do something to remind the Cardiff Bay sychophants that not only do we exist, we demand a fair settlement, we want a fighting chance to protect our schools, our libraries, our sports centres, our adult care services and our services to vulnerable people. Now is the time for action.
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
The Final Abandonment of Rural Wales
The BBC web site, in its article warning of big council tax rises, is suggesting that Powys might get an increase in its Revenue Support Grant of only 1% when the detailed figures are published tomorrow. If this turns out to be the case, then it surely represents the final abandonment of rural Wales by the ironically named 'One Wales' Government.
So much for Plaid trumpeting themselves as the champions of rural Wales - they are mere poodles for urban Labour whose only agenda seems to be to further aggrandise Cardiff and its immediate environs.
I suppose the writing was on the wall when the bale out of the Millenium Arts Centre was arranged, and to add insult to injury, an additional £2,5 million subsidy per annum was also offered. Kirsty Williams is right, there is a Cardiff Bay Bubble, and if you are not inside the bubble, then you might as well not exist.
Labour throughout the UK is looking tired and jaded, but nowhere more so than in Cardiff Bay where they are being sucked down the dead-end road to independence by an unscrupulous band of political opportunists. By the time they get there, rural Wales will be an abandonded wasteland, the population having moved away in search of a reasonable standard of public services wherever they can find them.
It is clear that if rural authorities are continually starved of adequate support from our precious devolved government, their aging, low-income populations simply will not be able to afford the levels of council tax that they will inevitably be asked to pay and the authorities will be totally unable to offer them anything other than the most basic of services, and eventually those will be withdrawn.
If "One Wales" is anything other than an idle piece of rhetoric, then those inside the Bubble need to unite the people of Wales by giving a fair settlement to all rather than seeking to divide them by creating a resource-rich South and starving the Rest.
So much for Plaid trumpeting themselves as the champions of rural Wales - they are mere poodles for urban Labour whose only agenda seems to be to further aggrandise Cardiff and its immediate environs.
I suppose the writing was on the wall when the bale out of the Millenium Arts Centre was arranged, and to add insult to injury, an additional £2,5 million subsidy per annum was also offered. Kirsty Williams is right, there is a Cardiff Bay Bubble, and if you are not inside the bubble, then you might as well not exist.
Labour throughout the UK is looking tired and jaded, but nowhere more so than in Cardiff Bay where they are being sucked down the dead-end road to independence by an unscrupulous band of political opportunists. By the time they get there, rural Wales will be an abandonded wasteland, the population having moved away in search of a reasonable standard of public services wherever they can find them.
It is clear that if rural authorities are continually starved of adequate support from our precious devolved government, their aging, low-income populations simply will not be able to afford the levels of council tax that they will inevitably be asked to pay and the authorities will be totally unable to offer them anything other than the most basic of services, and eventually those will be withdrawn.
If "One Wales" is anything other than an idle piece of rhetoric, then those inside the Bubble need to unite the people of Wales by giving a fair settlement to all rather than seeking to divide them by creating a resource-rich South and starving the Rest.
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Irony of ironies?
News of the decision of the Welsh Assenbly Government to bale out the iconic Millenium Arts Centre must be very good news to the citizens of South Wales. It means that they can continue to receive high quality arts events that are subsidised by all Welsh taxpayers. Not only are the capital debts to be written off, £13.5million pounds worth, but their annual revenue funding is to be increased by a staggering £2.5 million pounds.
For my sins, and of course my general interest in the arts, I am a County Council appointed trustee of a small Arts Centre in rural mid Wales which has struggled on a very low level of grant support for years, and as a consequence operates very much on a hand-to-mouth basis, constantly seeking to create future programmes without any certainty of knowing whether promised funding will actually materialise.
An additional funding injection of a mere £100,000 would secure this venue's future for three years, and the Chairman of Arts Council of Wales contiues to refuse to meet with our trustees to discuss future funding. Meanwhile, our funding deficit continues to widen and, with no prospect of increasing income from either public or private sources, there is a real possibility of closure of the venue completely.
If this venue does eventually close, it may not be because WAG has found unspent reserves to support the Wales Millenium Centre, but I defy any politician to convince the people of Mid Wales that there is absolutely no connection between WAG's ability to find funds to support the arts in Cardiff and their inability to even discuss the support of the arts in mid Wales.
For my sins, and of course my general interest in the arts, I am a County Council appointed trustee of a small Arts Centre in rural mid Wales which has struggled on a very low level of grant support for years, and as a consequence operates very much on a hand-to-mouth basis, constantly seeking to create future programmes without any certainty of knowing whether promised funding will actually materialise.
An additional funding injection of a mere £100,000 would secure this venue's future for three years, and the Chairman of Arts Council of Wales contiues to refuse to meet with our trustees to discuss future funding. Meanwhile, our funding deficit continues to widen and, with no prospect of increasing income from either public or private sources, there is a real possibility of closure of the venue completely.
If this venue does eventually close, it may not be because WAG has found unspent reserves to support the Wales Millenium Centre, but I defy any politician to convince the people of Mid Wales that there is absolutely no connection between WAG's ability to find funds to support the arts in Cardiff and their inability to even discuss the support of the arts in mid Wales.
Thursday, 8 November 2007
The Great Council Tax Scam
This is how it works:
Firstly, create a steeply progressive tax system based loosely on the notional value of property.
Secondly, ensure that this tax takes absolutely no account of an individual’s ability to pay.
Thirdly, ensure that, for a devolved region of the UK, an extensive revaluation exercise is undertaken. (It has to be a devolved area in order to deflect the blame for rises in the tax.)
Fourthly, progressively, increase the demands you make on local authorities within the devolved region and at the same time tinker with the formula by which local authorities receive their share of central government revenue to favour those areas which generally support your own political gang. This means that other areas which generally don’t support you are penalised.
Fifthly, demand evermore “efficiency savings” from local authorities. (Note: efficiency savings is code for a variety of actions like “close your small schools”, “close your community hospitals”, and so on.)
Sixthly, and here is the really clever trick and it only really works well just before local authority elections, set a really tight budget, preferably at a rate less than the current rate of inflation, so that the local authorities are forced to cut services, raise council tax by a huge amount and seek greater “efficiency savings”, simply in order to meet a wage increase that has already been set at a level greater than the budget settlement.
Finally, spin the line that, yes, this is a tight settlement but it comes after a period of very generous settlements and if only local authorities had achieved the efficiency savings that they had promised, then they wouldn’t have any problem at all.
There you are, you have achieved a massive saving in central government revenue spending in order to finance your ‘war on terrorism’ and at the same time laid the blame for the tax rises fairly and squarely on local authorities, ensuring that those authorities controlled by your political opponents are the hardest hit.
Well done, Rhodri, you really do think we’re stupid, don’t you.
Firstly, create a steeply progressive tax system based loosely on the notional value of property.
Secondly, ensure that this tax takes absolutely no account of an individual’s ability to pay.
Thirdly, ensure that, for a devolved region of the UK, an extensive revaluation exercise is undertaken. (It has to be a devolved area in order to deflect the blame for rises in the tax.)
Fourthly, progressively, increase the demands you make on local authorities within the devolved region and at the same time tinker with the formula by which local authorities receive their share of central government revenue to favour those areas which generally support your own political gang. This means that other areas which generally don’t support you are penalised.
Fifthly, demand evermore “efficiency savings” from local authorities. (Note: efficiency savings is code for a variety of actions like “close your small schools”, “close your community hospitals”, and so on.)
Sixthly, and here is the really clever trick and it only really works well just before local authority elections, set a really tight budget, preferably at a rate less than the current rate of inflation, so that the local authorities are forced to cut services, raise council tax by a huge amount and seek greater “efficiency savings”, simply in order to meet a wage increase that has already been set at a level greater than the budget settlement.
Finally, spin the line that, yes, this is a tight settlement but it comes after a period of very generous settlements and if only local authorities had achieved the efficiency savings that they had promised, then they wouldn’t have any problem at all.
There you are, you have achieved a massive saving in central government revenue spending in order to finance your ‘war on terrorism’ and at the same time laid the blame for the tax rises fairly and squarely on local authorities, ensuring that those authorities controlled by your political opponents are the hardest hit.
Well done, Rhodri, you really do think we’re stupid, don’t you.
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