POWYS Council is facing the biggest funding cut of all Welsh councils after the Welsh Government announced that it was preparing a 4.1 per cent cut for the county.

The council will lose more than £7m from the funding it receives from the Welsh Government under the draft budget released by the Welsh Government.

The announcement has sparked fury in Powys with the council and Montgomeryshire AM Russell George claiming the cut would be devastating to the council.

Powys Council’s finance Cabinet member, Cllr Wynne Jones, said: “It is shocking that the largest, most rural council in Wales, the council with arguably the highest running costs because of its rurality and demographics receives the largest cut.

“It is clear that the funding formula for Welsh councils needs a radical overhaul. It is clearly unfit for purpose and does not reflect the increases in the elderly population in Powys or the cost of providing services in a large rural county.”

Cllr Jones added that it was even more difficult for the council to identify cuts as the Welsh Government has demanded that education and social services, two of the departments with the highest budgets, are protected from cuts.

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