Completed petition Local Government Finance and Funding

​We call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to:

a. To increase aggregate external financing (revenue) to local authorities to at least the levels that applied in 2013/14 in real terms

b. Introduce legislation that provides a ‘power of general competence’ for local authorities in Wales

c. Encourage local authorities to use their existing powers to provide goods and services to other parts of the public sector in Wales, and to explore and to trade by developing the range of goods and services that can be supplied to members of the public in general and to the private sector more generally

d. Work with local authorities in Wales to release existing revenue streams through, for example refinancing or replacing PFI schemes on more favourable terms utilising the opportunities afforded by historically low interest rates

e. Undertake, to support the work of the Independent Commission on Local Government Finance Wales.

We the undersigned value the services provided by local councils in Wales and believe that by implementing these measures the Welsh Government will help to prevent further damage to local public service provision; whilst recognising that these measures are only part of the solution and an end to the Westminster Government austerity programme will be necessary to ensure that pubic services could be sustainably and adequately funded into the future.