Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

People in Carmarthenshire are being urged to have their say in decisions which affect their future. Consultation on the county council’s budget is starting with a number of proposals for changes being put forward for discussion. They include suggestions from a range of areas including day care services, leisure, street cleaning, special educational needs, music service, school meals and educational psychology. The council needs to save £8.8million for the next financial year – 2017-18 – and a total of £24.6million over the next three years. All views gathered from the consultation will be included in the budget report which will go before County Councillors for decision in February. In the meantime, extensive consultation is taking place with seminars for county councillors, town and community councils, a public forum, scrutiny committees, schools budget forum and trade unions meetings. An Insight day is being held in December to consult with young people, including Carmarthenshire Y...

School crossing patrols, flood defence, coastal protection and remedial earthworks have all been saved from budget cuts. Carmarthenshire councillors decided not to proceed with proposed cuts of £55,000 for school crossing patrols, £52,000 for flood defence works and £11,000 for coastal protection works. Remedial earthworks; which includes highway support schemes such as the construction of retaining walls or embankments, escaped a planned reduction of £46,000. Furthermore, a proposed cut of £312,000 to the cleansing service has been reduced by £100,000. Executive Board Member for Technical Services Cllr Colin Evans said: “We had some very difficult decisions to make when it came to the budget for next year, but there were a number of frontline services we felt very strongly about. “Keeping the public safe is one of our main priorities, particularly the safety of our children which is why we decided to retain the budget for school crossing patrols. “Similarly, the remedial earthworks ...

Carmarthenshire Council is facing massive budget cuts of around £45million over the next three years. The figure was revealed following the announcement of the Welsh Government’s provisional funding settlement. Carmarthenshire is looking at a reduction in its funding settlement from Welsh Government of 3.3% which is less than recently anticipated, although still considerably more than was originally planned. It was thought that the county was looking at savings of around £30million over the next three years, now it is likely to be £45million. Bosses have warned that hundreds of jobs could go, and some services will be lost as the authority tries to balance its books. Leader Cllr Kevin Madge said: “Although this is a better settlement than we recently anticipated, the situation overall is still very bad news for Welsh local authorities, including Carmarthenshire. “There is no doubt it will have a grave effect on the services we deliver, on the people who work for us and on the county ...

Planned increases in charges for sporting facilities from 2015 could be stopped pending a review, Carmarthenshire’s Leader announced today. Cllr Kevin Madge said he would be seeking the support of the Executive Board to review the proposed charges which have caused considerable concern amongst sports clubs. The increase planned for 2014-15 will go ahead, however those charges remain lower than the national average. It was the hikes earmarked for years two and three – 2015/16 and 2016/17 – which have caused the most concern. They were being brought in to remove the subsidy of almost £300,000 which it currently costs the council to maintain some clubs. Over half the sporting clubs in Carmarthenshire operate without county council subsidies, either running their own facilities or using those of the town or community councils. A number of asset transfers, where sporting facilities currently run by the county council are handed over to either town or community councils or sporting organis...

Councillors in Carmarthenshire have set the budget for next year along with its financial plan for the next three years. Recommendations by the executive board were carried by a large majority at the County Hall meeting. They included changes to the original proposals made following extensive consultation and feedback where over 1,000 members of the public gave their views. The council has to save £12million in the next financial year, and around £31million over the next three years. Some 52 proposals were originally put forward for consideration, then following consultation and feedback from the public a number of these were taken out by the executive board. Those changed include children’s respite; flood defence; street cleaning; work place parking; school crossing patrols, free transport to denominational schools; free post-16 transport; and youth services and libraries. Councillors also voted to give all staff a one per cent pay rise to be consolidated but not in addition to any ...

Carmarthenshire Council Press release -  More sports clubs and organisations in Carmarthenshire are being asked to take charge of their futures as most already do in the county. Meetings have been held over the last year throughout the county to explain to the sporting fraternity that there is a great imbalance in the county where 70 clubs or organisations are already maintaining their own facilities. Fewer than 60 have their facilities maintained by the authority but at a subsidy of more than a quarter of a million pounds. Currently the council subsidises some clubs to the tune of £264,000 per annum with costs of about £341,000 being offset by an income of only £77,000. The three-year sports facilities realignment programme will ensure than all sporting organisations across the county are treated equally helping to wipe out this council deficit. Council leader Cllr Kevin Madge said: “Our aim is to provide a level and stable playing field for the continued health and growth of a...

Carmarthenshire County Council has thanked over 1000 local residents and businesses for taking part in their recent consultation on the council’s budget for the coming year. The consultation included a two page survey in the local press and on the council’s website, a meeting with business ratepayers and a focus group with representatives of the Citizens Panel, the Older Persons Forum, the Youth Forum and the equalities group. Council Leader Cllr. Meryl Gravell said “This is by far the biggest consultation the council has ever held on its budget and we want to say a big thank you to so many people for taking part. Most importantly, we hope it will be evident to them that we have genuinely listened to what they have to say and have modified our proposals accordingly. “We have faced our toughest budget ever this year and need to make £11.5million worth of savings for the coming 12 months, and £25 million in total over the next three years. We want to protect front line services as much a...