Audit Wales to meet Flintshire councillors over critical report

Flintshire has ‘moved on’ and is developing a credible plan to tackle serious financial concerns as Audit Wales prepare to visit the county next week, according to its Chief Officer.

The authority – which has a £37.7m funding gap to bridge – will hear from auditors who reviewed the finances of each of Wales’ 22 local authorities.

The findings of the research, which took place in February, were critical of Flintshire’s handling of its financial black hole.

“The Council’s arrangements do not provide assurance that it can identify strategic transformation in the short and medium-term of the scale required by its financial position,” it said in its report.

“This, combined with its low level of reserves and spiralling costs in some service areas, puts the Council’s financial sustainability at serious risk.”

Flintshire County Council is currently preparing next year’s budget to present to council in February. A consultation with residents is live  at www.flintshire.gov.uk to find out what matters most to them as officers and councillors consider where savings can be made.

But ahead of the meeting Flintshire County Council’s Chief Officer Gareth Owens said they had moved on in the intervening months.

“When the research was carried out we had not published a plan or strategy to deal with the scale of the problem,” he said. “But since then a lot of work has gone into building a robust plan to address the gap. The council has moved on.

“There remain challenges, for example the National Insurance rise announced by the UK Government has added £4.2m to our payroll.

“The forthcoming budget will be a challenging one for sure and this will be an intense period as we head towards the budget announcement next February.”

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter