Cutbacks could bring services closer to communities

As Powys County Council continues to make cutbacks to achieve savings, Newtown Town Council is gearing itself up to taking on more responsibilities which could see services and democracy coming even closer to the community.

This week Newtown Town Council has been advertising new roles in order to cater for the council's expected greater responsibilities in the future and added requirements from the Welsh Government in terms of audit and budgeting.

Town Clerk, Ed Humphreys, said the council was, in effect, only creating an additional half role through the reorganisation which has seen three roles advertised, stressing the changes are needed to ensure the council is ready for expected future changes as part of asset and service devolution from Powys County Council.

"The challenges ahead both from Powys devolution and Welsh Government reforms means community councils such as Newtown could be taking on a lot of responsibility," said Mr Humphreys.

"It is better for us to plan for the future and be ready for this now."

And while the cutbacks at Powys County Council have affected many, MyNewtown understands that community and town councils in the Severn Valley could create "clusters" to take on services that go over boundaries, such as public transport.

This could see Newtown and Welshpool town councils, and neighbouring community councils, working much more closely together.

A former county council officer, who did not want to be named, said that while Powys County Council's savings and cutbacks were hitting many communities and services, it could be better in the long term for local communities as they take on responsibilities.

He said: "We are seeing a lot of cutbacks and we know more are on the horizon as Powys seeks millions more in savings. But if you consider that many services could be transferred to town and community councils, it will mean democracy and responsibility for many public services is actually coming much closer to the people and communities.

"Yes, that does mean the financial burden will transfer to these councils, but they are in a much better position to listen to the people living within their communities and to act and prioritise where necessary."

Newtown town clerk, Ed Humphreys, said the council was still in discussions about saving the public toilets in Newtown by taking over the responsibility of the Gravel and Back Lane toilets from Powys County Council.

He said the town council was committed to ensuring they remained open.

The town council is also looking to take on local amenity areas, playing fields, the skate park, Trehafren Hill, allotments and other public areas and amenities that Powys County Council wants to cut back on.

Mr Humphreys said the issue of clusters was at a very early stage and would not say what, if any, discussions had taken place with other community and town councils.

But with the cost of sharing resources, such as tendering for grass cutting or other services that are needed by all councils in the area, savings could be made.

It would also mean town and community councillors have a much bigger say in the running of local public services, currently laying with county councillors.

The unnamed former council officer added: "While cutbacks are not good, there is a glimmer of hope in that bringing many local services back into town and community councils, almost like the days before reorganisation in the 70s when a lot of services were run by urban and town councils and democracy could be seen in action at a much more local level."