Critics sound alarm over proposed council tax increase

Proposals to increase council tax bills for Caerphilly County Borough’s residents have been criticised by opposition councillors.

The local authority has mooted a 6.25% rise from April, that would mean bill payers fork out at least an extra £65 over the year.

Residents in average Band D properties face paying an additional £97 over the 12 months.

Cllr Charlotte Bishop, who leads the Plaid Cymru group in the council chamber, said the proposed increase “during a cost-of-living crisis feels deeply unfair, particularly when residents will see no real benefit in return”.

Noting the draft budget’s spending commitments for temporary accommodation and school transport, she suggested the council should look at more long-term solutions rather than “managing short-term pressures”.

“Refurbishing empty properties at scale would be a capital investment with lasting returns,” she said, before warning the council against “absorbing rising transport costs and shifting the financial strain onto schools, which are already stretched”.

The draft budget proposals include a requirement for schools to cut their spending by 1% across the board – although the council does also propose a funding increase for schools.

“I am not opposed to improved ALN provision, nor do I underestimate the pressures around temporary accommodation,” said Cllr Bishop. “However, it is difficult to understand how school budgets can be cut while these significant additional costs are being accepted elsewhere – particularly when long-term, cost-saving solutions are not being pursued.”

She added: “This is not about choosing between vulnerable families and education. It is about whether decisions are being made with long-term value, fairness, and children’s wellbeing at their core.”

Cllr Nigel Dix, who leads the council’s independent group, said he was unwilling to support a 6.25% council tax increase, and urged Caerphilly’s Labour group to negotiate a better deal with party colleagues in the Senedd and Westminster.

He blamed central government’s management of inflation, combined with “red tape”, for pushing up the cost of providing council services.

“As always, it’s council tax payers that are already struggling with the cost of living who will have to pay up,” said Cllr Dix. “Sadly it’s more of the same – ever-increasing council taxes while services are cut.”

When the draft budget proposals were announced, Cllr Jamie Pritchard, who leads Caerphilly Council, said his administration would “park the savings element for now” because “the public are sick and tired of spending cuts for key services”.

The council will instead invest in the “day-to-day issues” he said the public wanted to see addressed, which focus mainly on improving the condition and upkeep of the borough.

Cllr Eluned Stenner, the cabinet member for finance, added the council’s financial challenges “cannot be underestimated, especially as demand for services is higher than ever and increasingly complex”.

But Cllr Colin Mann, the Plaid group’s co-deputy leader, said “huge numbers of people are struggling” with bills and warned it was “just not sustainable” to ask schools to reduce their budgets.

Fellow co-deputy leader of Plaid, Cllr Gary Enright, suggested using reserves to “cushion the impact” of proposed rises to council tax – a bill he warned could become an “unsustainable and significant cost to the family budget”.