06/03/2025
✅An extral £1million for struggling local schools
✅Limiting Labour's council tax rise
✅An alternative to the messy recycling sacks
Just some of the alternatives that Cardiff's Lib Dem councillors are proposing at today's budget-setting meeting. Will Splott's Labour councillors support them?
Find more money for Cardiff’s school say opposition Liberal Democrats
Ahead of today’s budget debate Cardiff’s opposition Liberal Democrats are calling on the council to prioritise education and invest an extra £1 million in schools.
With around a third of schools struggling to balance their budget and have the resources to teach our children, Cardiff Liberal Democrats think this should be a priority.
By drawing down reserves, reducing consultant costs, holding vacancies open longer and cutting back office costs, the Liberal Democrats would invest more in education and deliver a lower council tax increase.
In addition the Liberal Democrats would:
Invest an extra £100,000 in youth services
Invest an extra £100,000 in street cleaning
Invest an extra £150,000 in parking enforcement
Reverse Labour’s planned increase in charges for bulky waste charges
Fund a pilot of an alternative recycling system to the red and blue sacks
Increase funding for alley gates, play equipment and roads
Raise council tax by 4.29% rather than Labour’s plans for 4.95%
Lib Dem Finance spokesperson Cllr Joe Carter said:
‘Despite a better than expected settlement from Welsh Government, the Labour controlled council is still pushing forward with a council tax rate that is far too high and prioritising a new county hall, rather than giving our schools the cash they need to teach our kids.
‘The Lib Dems are proposing a lower council tax increase, we will give schools an extra £1 million, spend more on street cleaning, play equipment and fixing our crumbling streets. By focussing on efficiency savings and increasing advertising income, we have a budget that is fairer for our city.
‘Liberal Democrats will prioritise schools, dirty streets and crumbling streets over an unnecessary ‘palace for politicians.’
Cllr Rodney Berman, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Cardiff Council, added:
‘There is a growing feeling that the Labour administration isn’t always concentrating its spending plans on the right priorities. There’s a big focus on new infrastructure – like a new County Hall – whilst we are failing to maintain existing infrastructure. So whilst Labour wants to spend more money on a canal quarter, we have to put up with our pedestrian areas in Queen Street, the Hays and St Mary Street being increasingly patched with tarmac instead of broken or missing paving slabs being replaced. Quite frankly these streets are looking dreadful and, at the same time, many of our roads are increasingly filled with pot holes.
‘We also need more done to keep our streets clean. The new recycling system has actually made matters worse as litter often spills out of the red and blue sacks we all now have to use. That’s why Liberal Democrat councillors want to allocate some funding for a pilot to enable the council to explore the feasibility of an alternative collection system.’
