Council reform plans may surface at end of month

More meat on the bones of what “Sustainable Powys” actually is, might emerge by the end of the month, councillors have been told.

For nearly two years work has been taking place behind the scenes at Powys County Council to produce proposals to slim down services in response to the funding crisis facing local authorities in Wales and beyond.

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This is in the belief that £60 million or more needs to be cut from the council’s budget over the next five years.

Apart from the framework of core towns from where council services will be accessed little detail on the future shape of Powys has been made public so far.

At a meeting of the Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet on Tuesday. October 29 senior councillors agreed that Ystradgynlais would become the fifth core town in Powys.

This followed criticism of Sustainable Powys by opposition and Powys Independents joint leader Cllr Beverley Baynham.

Cllr Baynham said that during the summer councillors across the political spectrum had receive confidential briefings on “Sustainable Powys.”

Cllr Baynham said: “We’re still bound by this confidentiality yet here we are seeing bits of information being drip fed to our residents and communities who don’t really understand what this process means.

“I understand that cuts need to be made but I honestly don’t believe this is the correct decision.

“I urge the cabinet to halt Sustainable Powys in its entirety and open urgent discussions with town and community councils to see if solutions can be found for all of us and not just those in the hubs.”

In response to the comments  Council leader Liberal Democrat Cllr James Gibson-Watt asked council chiefs to explain the next steps for Sustainable Powys.

Head of business intelligence and governance Catherine James said: “Town and community council’s will be invited to a meeting at the end of November.

“In terms of proposals coming forward they are all due over the next few months.”

Ms James explained that work was being done to bring proposals to scrutiny committee meetings and that this has been “shared and communicated widely” with councillors.

The council is set to move away from the 13 localities model which is based on the county’s market towns.

This will be replaced by the core area model, which is centred on Brecon, Llandrindod Wells, Newtown, Welshpool and now Ystradgynlais.

In these core areas schools and other council or community assets will be used to provide “solutions” and services.

Travel times can be up to one hour to your nearest hub even if you are a child.

The principles explain that service provision must be “digitally supported” and public and community transport must “align” in each locality to the hub.