COUNCILS in mid and north Wales have been left facing a “perfect storm” of further council tax rises and service cuts after the Welsh Government announced “unfair” core funding for Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd that falls well below the national average.

The Welsh Government had said that overall core revenue funding for local government for 2024/25 will increase by 3.1 per cent, but Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd will each receive less than three per cent.

Gwynedd will receive the joint lowest rise at two per cent, with Ceredigion at 2.6 per cent and Powys at 2.8 per cent – while authorities in Newport and Cardiff enjoy rises of more than four per cent.

The lower than anticipated funding rises have left further cuts and council tax rises “inevitable”, councils have warned.

Ceredigion County Council finance cabinet member Cllr Gareth Davies said: “I fear that there is a perfect storm on the way to Ceredigion and that cuts will have to be made across the services.

"We have seen so much narrowing of services throughout the last decade in order to have a budget that works for the county and now we will have to look at the very basic service in order to get the big savings that we have to make.

"Everyone understands that money is scarce in Cardiff Bay, and we anticipated that there would be cuts (in real terms) on the way, but what angers someone seeing the settlement is that Ceredigion gets unfair treatment."

Powys County Council Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Transformation Cllr David Thomas, said: “The council knew that this local government settlement was going to be challenging and this announcement has confirmed this.

“The council is facing severe financial pressures for financial year 2024-25 and for the foreseeable future, pressures that will dominate the way we deliver services for many years to come.

“It is inevitable that these pressures will change the way we operate, the council we have today will not be affordable in the future.

“We must adapt if we are to survive and part of planning for the future is listening to the people of Powys.

“Inflation and increases in demand for our services sees us facing additional costs of over £20m next year alone, the additional funding we will receive will not cover these costs.

“Difficult decisions will have to be taken which could see services reduced or redesigned as well as an increase in council tax.”

Gwynedd council warned that “essential local services are under threat and that council tax increases are inevitable from April 2024 onwards due to a significant financial shortfall in the funding it receives from Welsh Government.”

Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn, Leader of Cyngor Gwynedd said: "This announcement is a heavy blow for local government in Wales, and for Gwynedd in particular.

“We have been warning for some time about the looming financial storm, and this announcement confirms that the clouds above us are about to burst.

"As a council, Gwynedd has suffered financial shortfalls for more than 12 years and we have already had to respond by delivering nearly £70million of savings since 2010 by introducing new and more efficient ways of working.

“Throughout this prolonged period of financial pain, we have managed to protect frontline services for the most vulnerable people in Gwynedd.

"It goes without saying that we will continue to explore every possible avenue to avoid painful service cuts. But, with this latest announcement, we have realistically reached the very end of what is possible without cutting services and raising Council Tax."

Welsh Government finance minister Rebecca Evans said the Welsh Government’s overall budget isn’t “sufficient to meet all pressures” , saying it has “meant taking difficult decisions elsewhere in the budget to honour our commitment to councils last year of a 3.1 per cent rise in their funding for next year.”

“I appreciate the pressures local government is facing and recognise that demand for services, along with the recent very high rates of inflation, mean local government will still need to make difficult decisions on services, efficiencies, and council tax in setting their budgets,” she said.