Politics

Call to bring forward council tax shake-up rejected by Senedd

Published

2 years ago

July 12, 2024

THE SENEDD rejected calls to press ahead with “long overdue” reforms to council tax before the next election despite an “overwhelming” moral case for change.

Peredur Owen Griffiths, Plaid Cymru’s shadow local government secretary, warned council tax imposes a disproportionate burden on poorer households.

He tabled an amendment to the local government finance bill, which would have placed a duty on the Welsh Government to stick to implementing reforms by April 2025.

In mid-May, the Welsh Government pushed back plans – which were jointly agreed with Plaid Cymru – to redesign council tax with the aim of making it fairer until 2028.

Plaid Cymru pulled out of the broad cooperation agreement two days later due to the delay coupled with concerns about donations to Vaughan Gething’s leadership race warchest.

During a debate on July 9, Mr Owen Griffiths urged fellow Senedd members to back his amendment to ease pressure on some of the poorest households in Wales.

He said: “Reflect on the real-world implications of kicking this reform into the long grass, especially for lower income families who are continuing to struggle to make ends meet.”

He warned the delay would condemn those with the least to three years of disproportionately high council tax bills while those with the broadest shoulders do not pay their fair share.

Mr Owen Griffiths told the Senedd: “The moral case for implementing this change is overwhelming and, given the continued financial pressure facing households across the length and breadth of our nation, now is the time to strike whilst the iron’s hot.”

The South Wales East MS accused the Welsh Government of letting an opportunity slip, with parliamentary arithmetic currently in favour and a Senedd election on the horizon in 2026.

Rebecca Evans, for the Welsh Government, described the Plaid Cymru amendment as “too broad to constitute workable or clear law”.

The finance secretary reiterated that a consultation found a clear appetite for a council tax shake-up but over a slower time frame.

Ms Evans said it is no longer feasible to deliver reforms by 2025, adding: “We’re listening to the people of Wales by moving forwards with council tax revaluation and reform in 2028.”

She stressed ministers remain committed to reforming council tax, with the first revaluation of Wales’ 1.5 million homes since 2003 scheduled for 2028 and every five years following.

She told the chamber the local government finance bill will underpin delivery of the proposals developed with Plaid Cymru’s Cefin Campbell as part of the cooperation agreement.

Members voted 12-37 against the amendment.

Peter Fox put forward amendments that would give people a say on “reckless” council tax rises, with a local referendum required for any increase in excess of 5%.

The Conservatives’ shadow local government secretary, who led Monmouthshire Council for more than a decade, said: “Councils can’t keep hiking council tax excessively year on year.

“I put council tax up, I admit it, every year. We had to do that. But there is a limit to how long the public can keep putting their hands in their pockets. Sometimes they need to have a say in if this is right or not, and the councils have to go back to the drawing boards.”

Ms Evans said no council that has held a referendum has been able to proceed with its initial budget needs since the policy was introduced in England in 2012.

She said setting limits in this way effectively becomes a target for local authorities to raise council tax to the maximum allowed rather than carefully considering what is necessary.

Mr Fox’s amendment fell, with 36 against, one abstention and 12 in favour. As did another Tory amendment seeking to enshrine the 25% single person discount within the bill.

If passed, the bill would increase the frequency of business rates revaluations to three years.

Mr Fox also spoke to a Conservative amendment to use new powers in the bill to create a separate business rates multiplier for small businesses.

He said: ”It is important that the differences between small businesses and medium and large businesses are recognised in the rates that they pay.”

The Tory MS for Monmouth added: “We should be really thinking about looking at creating a multiplier for small businesses, as Scotland and England have.”

Plaid Cymru supported the amendment, with Mr Owen Griffiths saying seeking and obtaining powers but not using them has been a recurring trend with the Welsh Government.

Ms Evans said the Welsh Government has no current policy intention to create a small business multiplier, committing to consulting before introducing any such differential.

The amendment was narrowly defeated, with 25 against and 24 in favour.

Following the meeting, Mr Fox warned: “Be in no doubt, Labour has today passed a bill that will result in continued excessive council tax rises for the people of Wales.”

But Ms Evans told the Senedd the bill will deliver meaningful change to council tax and business rates in the short term as well as pave the way for further reforms.

“It’s an opportunity to make a real difference to a taxation system that impacts almost every person and business in the country,” said the finance minister.

The bill now moves onto the fourth and final stage of the Senedd’s legislative process, with a vote of the whole Senedd on the amended version scheduled for July 16.

With Labour and Plaid Cymru’s support, and no legal challenge expected, the bill is likely to be agreed next week before moving on to receive royal assent.

Local Government

Fresh call for devolution of Crown Estate assets in Wales backed by county councillors

Published

19 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A FRESH call has been made for Crown Estate assets in Wales to be devolved to the country, a call backed by Pembrokeshire councillors last year, after it made £210m profit this financial year.

Today, June 26, the Crown Estate published its annual review, also releasing a Wales-specific review, showing that, in 2025-’26 its profits in Wales were £210m, up from £8.7m in 2020-’21.

Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts said that Plaid Cymru – which has long campaigned for the assets to be devolved – has a “mandate to keep fighting for fairness” with devolving the Crown Estate being a position held by every council in Wales.

The new Plaid Cymru Welsh Government is also pursuing control over natural resources, in line with Scotland, where the Crown Estate was devolved in 2017.

Ms Saville Roberts said that profits from Wales’ natural resources being sent to London is a “striking injustice” and that the next UK Government “must take steps to devolve the Crown Estate to Wales”.

Back in 2025, Pembrokeshire County Council joined other Welsh councils in supporting the Crown Estate assets in the county being devolved to its people.

The Crown Estate owns 65 per cent of Wales’ riverbeds and beaches.

Proceeds from the Crown Estate, which dates to the 17^th century, are split by 25 per cent funding the Royal Family and 75 per cent to the UK Treasury.

Responsibility for the Crown Estate is already devolved to the Scottish Government, which has previously been reported as generating £103.6 million into the public coffers in Scotland in 2023.

A sticking point in Wales is that Westminster has to date been against any change.

A successful notice of motion before Pembrokeshire County Council, by Plaid Cymru councillor Michael Williams said: “We ask PCC to support the proposal for the Crown Estate assets to be devolved to the people of Wales, so that profits can be used to invest in the economy and communities of Wales.

“A poll in 2023 showed that 75 per cent of the population were in favour of taking control of the assets of the Crown estate rather than the profits going to the Treasury and the Crown.

“Local authorities are under huge financial pressure and placing the Crown Estate in the hands of Wales would be a significant step to address the lack of investment in our local government.

“We call upon the Welsh Government to ask Westminster to devolve the assets and revenue of the Crown Estates as a matter of urgency, as was done in Scotland in 2017.

“We demand that Wales is treated fairly and accepts management of the Crown Estate land for the benefit of the people of Wales.”

Councillors have previously heard the Crown Estates derives nearly £60,000 from some 16 leases in Pembrokeshire.

The £59,005 quoted at the time includes £26,600 for foreshore lease agreements, £8,520 for the land around Haverfordwest’s Riverside Market, and £12,800 for a sailing centre and car park at Cosheston Pill near Pembroke Dock.

Local Government

More than 2,300 housing units in more than 100 schemes in limbo

Published

2 days ago

June 27, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

MORE THAN 100 development schemes in Pembrokeshire, amounting to more than 2,300 homes, are in limbo due to the ongoing Nitrogen Neutrality guidelines from Natural Resources Wales, councillors heard.

At the June meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s services overview and scrutiny committee, members received an update on the ongoing issue of Nitrogen Neutrality which has led to delays in many housing schemes in the county since its introduction last June.

The area which development is required to demonstrate nitrogen neutrality is approximately 75 per cent of the county, including Haverfordwest, Narberth, Pembroke and Pembroke Dock.

The report, presented by Cabinet Member for Planning and Highways Cllr Jacob Williams, focussed on the implications of Natural Resources Wales’ (NRWs) Nutrient Neutrality requirements in respect of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) for development within the Milford Haven Inner waterbody catchment of the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and the measures being taken by the council at a local level to address this issue as well as the council’s contribution to regional and national initiatives.

The report said that, as of May, there were 21 planning applications which were in the system before the introduction of nitrogen neutrality requirements (June 2025) which are now caught and which remain undetermined, along with a further 66 undetermined since that date, and a further 15 applications which are caught by nitrates requirements, but which have not yet reached eight-week determination date.

It said the 102 developments caught by the nitrates issue amounted to some 35 per cent of the total undetermined applications; that figure even higher when determined (refused) schemes were taken into account.

Cllr Williams, who last year with the backing of full council, wrote a letter to the First Minister, conveying the authority’s “great concern over Natural Resources Wales’ recent river nitrates guidance in relation to development, and the serious effects this is having,” said that amounted to 2,376 of 6,741 potential housing units, adding that “Pembrokeshire County Council cannot approve development which is unable to demonstrate Nitrogen Neutrality”.

Last October, Cabinet endorsed an action plan to address the nitrates issue for affected development within its planning area, the early stages already delivered, with a final report due for Cabinet consideration this September in order to determine how mitigation opportunities identified might be taken forward.

Members backed a recommendation to note the action plan progress ahead of the report to Cabinet.

Local Government

Call for 1979 Castlemorris holiday let to be used as a home

Published

2 days ago

June 27, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A CALL to allow a Pembrokeshire holiday let, part of a 1979 conversion scheme, to be used as a home for a recently married couple has been submitted to county planners.

In a certificate of lawfulness application to Pembrokeshire County Council, Ethan Tyrer seeks permission for the use of holiday let The Cottage, Llangloffan Farm, Castlemorris, as a residential dwelling.

A supporting statement accompanying the application says: “We are seeking a Certificate of Lawfulness to permanently live in the above address. My wife and I got married last October and we are trying to buy our home.

“Our offer has been accepted by the seller of The Cottage and we have a mortgage approved. The only thing that is holding up our exchange and completion is the planning issue.

“We just need legal certainly that we can live in the property as our permanent place of residence for the mortgage company. All the other properties at Llangloffan Farm are permanent dwellings so it makes sense that the cottage would be too. There is ample parking and a good-sized garden and the property is fully serviced and all ready to live in.

“We run a small local business (window cleaning) so our main work is in the vicinity of Fishguard, Goodwick and Porthgain so this property is the perfect location for our work.

“We are currently living with my parents which isn’t ideal and creating a bit of a strain on both of us. We just desperately want to be in our own home.”

It says an original 1979 application was granted to convert a range of outbuildings at Llangolffan Farm to form four units of holiday accommodation.

“We have taken pre-planning application advice and understand that it is considered that planning permission would not be required for the use of the building as a permanent dwelling house. However, for legal certainty a submission of a section 73 application [to vary or remove a condition of that scheme] would be needed.”

It finishes: “Our mortgage offer expires in September, so we are quite anxious to get this sorted as soon as feasibly possible.”

The application will be considered by county planners at a later date.