Completed petition Fair Funding for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and all other Local Authorities
The Welsh Government need to go through their budgets line by line and eliminate wasteful spending to ensure that they protect public services in across Wales. We use Neath Port Talbot as an example, throughout this petition, being residents and employees of NPTCBC, but with the understanding that every unitary authority in Wales is under extreme financial pressure.
We agree that every authority has a role to play in eliminating wasteful spending, but when considering service provision now, the only question in each authority is "Is it good enough?" rather than "Is it Best Practice?"; but Neath Port Talbot Council have eliminated any wasteful spending and is now at the position whereby it needs to consider closing non-statutory services such as parks and leisure, in direct contradiction of Welsh Government legislation such as the Future Generations and Social Services and Well-Being Acts, and we are now down to the bare bones.
The Welsh Government now need to spend smarter not spend less, without smart spending by Welsh Government our community will see key services scaled back or lost. Further budget cuts will devastate local jobs, services and communities. Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council are a major employer and any more reduction of funding will have a huge impact on the local economy as it will in each Local Authority in Wales.
More details
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is one of the most deprived councils in Wales and requires additional funding to maintain the services provided to the most vulnerable within the Borough. Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council are the major employer in the area and any reduction in funding will have a detrimental impact on employment and the ability for these vital services to be sustainable and remain in-house. Budget cuts will result in more deprivation in our communities, compulsory redundancies with services gone forever.
Lack of funding to Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council results in disruptive, costly and poor quality service provision; the loss of employment opportunities, employees terms and conditions and most importantly the loss of democratic accountability if services are lost to the private or third sector and the depletion of reserve budgets. We agree with Welsh Government’s vision that everybody in Wales should live in well-connected vibrant, viable and sustainable communities with a strong local economy and good quality of life. In order for this vision to succeed we must safeguard public services which will ensure the safety and wellbeing of our residents across Wales with better outcomes for all.
Wiser allocation of finances is essential to ensure a vibrant, integrative social care model fit for the 21st Century. Local Authorities in Wales require the transformational funding to be awarded to them in order that delayed transfers of care from hospital provisions is not the outcome for vulnerable and often frail residents. Welsh Government must come to the determination that unitary authorities should not be the poor relation when allocating the public purse nor should it be expected to implement expensive legislation without the appropriate funding being awarded.
This petition was considered by the Petitions Committee
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