Councils warn on funding settlement

NOT enough - that’s the verdict of the body that represents councils after the Welsh Government announced how much they will get this coming year.

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The Welsh Government yesterday announced how much ‘it will give to councils in Wales. In terms of increases from last year, Newport comes top - due to a rise in both population and school-age population. That authority gets 4.3% more than last year.

Financially, it is Cardiff (the biggest of the 22 councils) which receives the most while Merthyr, the smallest, gets £140m.

In total, councils will receive £6.4bn from the Welsh Government next year and there is an average 2.7% funding increase and no council receives less than a 2.3% increase.

But for all those sums, the response from council leaders was bleak.