A WAR of words has broken out over the setting of Pembrokeshire’s annual budget on Thursday, March 6, with three potential council tax increases ranging from 7.5 to 9.85 per cent on the table.

Last month, Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet backed recommending a council tax increase of 9.85 per cent, with a special meeting due to decide that recommendation on February 20.

That meeting was deferred to March 6, in part awaiting the final Welsh government local government settlement, which saw the county gain a small amount of extra money, worth roughly an extra £500,000, reducing its funding gap to £26.9m.

With the council budget D-day looming, opposition groups the Independent group and the Conservative group have submitted their own proposals for the March 6 meeting, with the Independent Group proposing a 9.35 per cent increase and the Conservative group a 7.5 per cent one, achieved in part using a higher proportion of the second homes council tax premium for certain parts of the budget.

The Conservative group, in its proposals, has said it will increase the education budget by £6.6 million in the next financial year, along with greater savings from “reforming the leisure services in Pembrokeshire”.

The Conservative proposal says it would also see debt and interest payments reduced by disposing of unused and empty council buildings as well as a commitment to only proceed with projects relating to net zero if they have a clear financial benefit to the council.

Cllr Aled Thomas, the group spokesman for finance has said: “It’s clear from the proposals on the table that the Independent Group joint with the Labour leaning administration are happy to work together to see the continued managed decline of the council, rather than work hard for the people of Pembrokeshire.

“Every day this council asks for more money from residents and provides them less in return, that mindset has to stop, and a change is clearly needed.”

The conservative proposals also include addressing a claimed £2.5m deficit in council leisure services by partnering with a national leisure trust.

The Independent group, led by Cllr Huw Murphy, has reacted to the Conservative group statement issued to the press, saying the claims of collusion are “are misleading and inaccurate with no meetings, conversations or exchanges of emails,” adding: “It might disappoint Cllr Aled Thomas but the truth is rarely as exciting as a conspiracy theory.”

Its statement adds: “The Leader, Cllr Jon Harvey asked would we divulge our budget proposals and in the interest of residents this was provided. The Independent Group were informed that Cabinet had accepted our proposals. Councillors have a legal duty to pass a budget which Independent Group members take seriously.

“Subsequently it became known that the Conservatives intended to submit their own budget but some of their proposals were unacceptable to Independent Group members, such as cuts to Adult Social Services provision.

“Social Services is a department under significant pressure and needs investment not cuts and if a society discards its most vulnerable on the altar of political ideology to offer a lower council tax then the Independent Group will not put its name to it.”

The Independent Group statement also says the blame for the “managed decline of the council” was “in large part through insufficient funding from the Treasury between 2010 & 2024 under a Conservative Chancellor,” going on to criticise Welsh Labour in Cardiff for “providing insufficient funding to Pembrokeshire”.

It says the Conservative group proposals on education “fail to mention a reduction in early year’s pre-school education, which if implemented could cause PCC to fail in delivering a statutory function under the Childcare Act”.

On the leisure services proposals, the group says: “The Conservative Group propose the privatisation of Leisure Services but cannot provide detailed information on how this is will be achieved and the consequences if their proposal fails, which could result in job losses and loss of facilities.”

Responding, Cllr Aled Thomas said: “The Conservative budget proposal is bold and different, focussing on bolstering the authority’s statutory functions while pushing for greater efficiency in other more council functions such as leisure, regeneration and net zero.

“Councillors at Thursday’s [March 6] meeting have the opportunity to vote for meaningful change for the people of Pembrokeshire or stick with the same old status quo, and I know which one I’d rather.

“Cllr Huw Murphy and the Independent Group should spend less time trying to re-write history and doing political hit jobs on me and spend more time talking their residents, who will undoubtedly tell them how sick and tired they are with continued extortionate council tax rises to pay for things they do not want or is not a priority for them.”