Andrew Morgan sat down to talk about the challenges facing Rhondda Cynon Taf
Andrew Morgan is leader of the Welsh Local Government Association (Image: WalesOnline/ Gayle Marsh)
“I hope that the public don’t think that we either relish making these tough choices or that we are happy with them.”
That’s the message from the leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) Council leader Councillor Andrew Morgan OBE about the recent controversial changes to free school transport in the county borough.
From September 2025, only secondary school and college students who live three or more miles from their school or college qualify for free home to school transport with many parents raising concerns about the safety of children having to walk long distances to school, overcrowded public transport and traffic congestion.
Cllr Morgan said that the changes to home to school transport was a decision that they’d resisted for many years.
He said they consulted about six or seven years ago about making changes but in the end they were able to go back on it before the changes came in.
And he said although they’ve been able to reduce the budget by about £2.5m, they are still bussing thousands more children to school every day than they are expected to or funded for and are spending about £4m a year more on home to school transport than they are funded for or expected to.
Cllr Morgan said there’s only two councils in Wales who still do the two-mile distance for secondary but lots of councils have gone down to 1.5 miles for primary and RCT has maintained the two mile distance.
RCT council is considering moving its HQ to empty space in the Llys Cadwyn development in Pontypridd town centre
He said: “We treat Welsh and faith exactly the same, we have a generous and robust ALN policy, we still bus people to college and we still bus people for secondary school.”
He also mentioned a £100,000 hardship fund they’ve given to secondary schools for families who are struggling for bus money or if they need to buy a second coat or pair of shoes.
Cllr Morgan also mentioned the fact that they’ve used Shared Prosperity Fund money to bring forward the Welsh Government scheme of £1 bus fare caps for young people aged five to 21.
“So when you look at all the mitigation we’ve put in we’ve tried to do the best we can but it is difficult and to be frank it’s not a decision that anybody wanted to take and the cabinet did think long and hard over it.
“But the equivalent would be closing four maybe five sports centres down, that’s the kind of difference that you’re talking about.
‘Tough choices’
“We could get rid of every single litter picker and every single grass cutter in the county and we still would struggle to make £2.6m worth of savings.” For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
He said they haven’t got a lot of staff they can get rid of and most departments are slimmed down year after year of as the authority looks to make savings.
He said: “It is difficult. If I was a member of the public or if I was somebody affected by a service change I would understandably be unhappy but it is unfortunately really tough choices and nobody gets elected, nobody stands to be a councillor of any political party to make difficult decisions and cut services.
“That’s not what we were elected to do. But the law is clear, we have to set a legal balanced budget by March 11 each year. If we don’t do it the next line is commissioners will be brought in and the commissioners will set a budget.
“I hope that the public don’t think that we either relish making these tough choices or that we are happy with them. They are unfortunately sometimes the lesser of the evils we have to pick.”
Speaking about next year’s budget, Cllr Morgan said it’s going to depend on what Welsh Government does and whether other parties vote for their budget and work together.
He has signed a Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) letter along with the group leaders of Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the group leader of the independents to the parties in the Senedd urging them to work together to pass a budget.
“Because if we don’t get a budget passed in Welsh Government, that’s going to have real dire consequences for public services and in particular councils,” he said.
He said RCT has just started work on its budget for next year not knowing what the gap is going to be and that the difference between a 2% increase and a 4% increase is between £10m and £11m which is about four times the size of what they’ve saved through the school transport changes.
He said 4% is “affordable” and that’s what they’re pressing Welsh Government for but 2% is a rollover budget which is what is being suggested at the moment.
He said even with 4% they’re still going to have a gap, have to make savings and have a council tax rise but it is manageable whilst a gap of a further £10m or £11m is going to be “really really challenging again.”
“I’ve been clear I don’t want to see big council tax rises. We’ve resisted that for the last 10 years. Last year’s council tax was the highest we’ve done in 10 years.
‘Keep council tax down’
“The average council tax in RCT has been well below 4% each year when you consider that lots of councils have been doing anywhere between 7% and 10%.
“So trying to keep council tax down again next year is a priority but at the same time I don’t want to see more big service changes.”
Cllr Morgan also went on to explain the changes to the cabinet that he has made recently.
These will see the health and social care role shared between Councillor Gareth Caple and Councillor Sharon Rees, the Communities portfolio shared between Councillor Bob Harris and Councillor Scott Emanuel and responsibility for Resources shared between Councillor Tina Leyshon and Councillor Ros Davis.
He said the changes don’t cost anything extra and that they are cost neutral.
He said the allowances are split between members and that it allows them to have a little bit more focus on some areas.
“In particular we are seeing growing pressure on the likes of social services, distinctly adults and distinctly children’s.
“So by having a job share on that there’s two members who can focus on those particular areas which are both challenging but very different.”
He said they’ve brought in another cabinet member for communities by moving some areas out of Councillor Ann Crimmings’ portfolio because she has a lot of front-line services around cleansing, grass cutting and waste and they’re really refocusing on some of those core services.
He said: “Across the board it is about just making sure we are properly covered in terms of distinct areas of responsibility.”
Cllr Morgan also highlighted the changes to the senior officer structure of the council which saves the council £365,000.
He said as well as posts that are going there will be new posts which are where they’re combining two outgoing posts or where they’ve spread three jobs between two people.
He said: “So ultimately it’s a better structure, the cabinet now aligns clearly with that structure and ultimately it saves us £365,000 which is helpful for the budget for next year.”
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