Newport council leader pledges to turn street lights back on and reopen public toilets

Street lights in Newport will be turned back on and public toilets will be reopened, the city council leader has pledged.

Cllr Dimitri Batrouni promised a “bread and butter budget” for 2025/26 that he said would focus on “the issues people see in their day-to-day lives”.

Cabinet members met on Wednesday to discuss the council’s final budget proposals for the coming financial year.

There will be no change to the planned 6.7% increase in council tax bills, but Cllr Batrouni said the local authority would invest in areas where people “wanted to see what their council tax is going on”.

Draft budget proposals published in January included potential closures of libraries in Caerleon and Tredegar House and the reduction of the council’s community centre estate – but Cllr Batrouni said these measures will now be abandoned following “passionate” public feedback on “facilities they really care about”.

He added the council will “switch every other street light back on” between midnight and 6am – a move he said was “directly due to residents asking for it to be done”.

The city council will also begin the process of reopening some public toilets, the meeting heard.

Another draft budget proposal was to axe the council’s newsletter, Newport Matters, but Cllr Batrouni said face-to-face feedback from residents who may not be very active online had persuaded the council to keep it running.

Turning to council tax, he said the 6.7% proposed rise from April would mean residents in average Band D properties pay an extra £1.93 a week, or £100.33 annually.

When the 6.7% rise was first proposed in January, opposition councillors said an increase was “hard to justify” and residents could “ill afford” to pay more.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Cllr Batrouni insisted Newport’s council tax would be the third-lowest in Wales, even with the proposed rise.

“For that investment, we can start delivering”, he told colleagues, adding the council’s final budget proposals would not include any proposed cuts to school funds.

He said school funding will increase by £11 million, the council will spend an extra £1.8 million on emergency housing, and will invest in ending expensive out-of-county placements for looked-after children.

Cllr Batrouni also announced the city will receive £4 million from the Welsh Government for highways improvements.

The final budget proposals will go before all councillors at a meeting on February 25 for a final vote.

Proposals involving the street lights and public toilets will be considered by the council cabinet at a later date.

Cllr Batrouni also announced Cllr Pat Drewett had resigned from his position as the cabinet member for communities and poverty reduction, owing to “various reasons that will remain private”.

He thanked Cllr Drewett for his “hard work and dedication” in the role.