North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood is backing renewed Welsh Conservative calls for the Welsh Government’s local government funding formula to be reviewed, following the release of new figures which outline a stark postcode lottery in spend-per-head and reveal that both Flintshire and Wrexham are getting a raw deal compared to the rest of Wales.
Figures detailing the cost of running local authority services for 2016/17 show that the Welsh average Local Authority gross revenue expenditure budget is £2,268 per head and the highest in Wales, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, stands at £2,511, yet Flintshire receive the second lowest in Wales at £2,011 per head and Wrexham the third lowest receiving £2,102.
Mr Isherwood said:
“Labour’s long standing local government formula has clearly passed its sell by date. It has long penalised North East Wales, whilst incentivizing the least prosperous parts of Wales with the highest levels of economic inactivity to remain that way. This is social injustice. We must instead provide fair funding for the public services delivered by Local Authorities in all corners of North Wales and then target local socio-economic failure by giving real life chances to people so that the cycle may be broken at last.”