North Wales - Toilets, tourism and youth service spending slashed in £4.9 million Gwynedd cuts

Published date: 04 March 2016 | 

Published by: Mike Williams 
Read more articles by Mike Williams Email reporter

PUBLIC toilets, tourist information centres and youth services funding will all be slashed in £4.94 million of Gwynedd Council cuts.

The county's budget proposals for 2016/17 were approved at a full council meeting on Thursday.

The budget includes a 3.97 per cent council tax hike and service cuts totalling £4.94 million.

Every tourist information centre in the county will close, as will 50 out of the 73 public toilets and cutting £200,000 of the youth service budget.

The authority will also offer fewer youth projects, reduce opening times at services like archives and reduce numerous maintenance routines including grass cutting and cleaning.

Numerous jobs will also be cut from within council's own departments.

Councillors also confirmed £14 million of efficiency savings over the next two years.

Gwynedd Council Leader, Cllr Dyfed Edwards, said: “None of us became councillors so that we could cut public services or increase Council Tax. 

"However the government’s austerity agenda means that local councils like Gwynedd now have no option but to resort to these unpalatable measures simply to meet our legal obligation to balance the books."

Gwynedd Council faces a £5.5 million shortfall after receiving a cut in its funding from the Welsh Government.

The authority said its recommended cuts were drawn up off the back of the most comprehensive public consultation it has ever carried out. 

More than 2,100 residents and organisations submitted their views to the Gwynedd Challenge consultation on a total of 118 possible service cut options. 

The 3.97 per cent Council Tax increase will mean a Band D household will see their bill for the coming year increasing by £3.84 a month, or £46.09 a year.

Cllr Edwards added: “In Gwynedd, we have been consistent in our approach to this situation by basing our strategy on protecting frontline services to the best of our ability. 

“Where we have no option but to consider cuts, we have listened carefully to what local people told us during the recent Gwynedd Challenge consultation. 

“As a result, the vast majority of the service cuts that we must now implement match the cut options that received the least support from local people in the consultation.

“Throughout this extremely challenging process, we have been determined to listen to what local people and organisations have told us and where possible, to modify our proposals.

"I sincerely believe that this financial strategy shows that we have acted in accordance with the priorities of Gwynedd residents.”

see-http://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/159368/toilets-tourism-and-youth-service-spending-slashed-in-4-9-million-gwynedd-cuts.aspx