ADDITIONAL Welsh Government funding for Ceredigion council should see the authority cut the proposed five per cent council tax increase or provide more money to schools, the leader of the council’s Lib Dems has said.

The Welsh Government announced it would provide extra funding of almost £440,000 to Ceredigion council, with additional funding also confirmed for Powys and Monmouthshire, following criticism that rural counties were facing the largest funding cuts in Wales.

Cllr Ceredig Davies, the leader of the Lib Dems in the council, welcomed the additional money and said it should be targeted at either providing more money for schools or limiting the proposed council tax increase, and insisted the additional funding had come because of lobbying by Lib Dem AMs.

He said: “Ceredigion’s dire budget for the coming year has been eased following the work undertaken by Lib Dem AMs in the National Assembly.

“As a consequence Plaid-led Ceredigion council could now reduce its proposed five per cent council tax hike or alternatively increase the monies sent down to the county’s financially stretched schools.”

Before the announcement of the additional money, Cllr Davies had called on council leader Ellen ap Gwynn to say she would reconsider the five per cent council tax rise recommended by council Cabinet members or to look at areas where funding was being cut, but she insisted it was impossible to plan before any additional funding was confirmed.

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