10 October 2008
Welsh local government minister Dr Brian Gibbons has announced that the local government revenue support grant is to rise by £105m for 2009/10.
This funding would be used to ensure an average increase of 2.8%, with all local authorities receiving an annual increase of at least 1.5%.
The Assembly government draft budget includes an additional £10m in grant for Welsh local authorities in 2009/10 and a further £10.5m in 2010/11, bringing the total increase to £105m (2.8%) next year and £112m (2.9%) the following year. Local authorities would also receive in excess of £650m in specific grants in 2009/10 for priority areas such as concessionary bus fares.
Gibbons said: 'I acknowledge that local government, along with all sections of society, is facing additional pressures from escalating energy costs and that difficult decisions will have to be made in budgeting for the coming year.'
Gibbons said he would announce full details of the 2009/10 allocations to individual local authorities in a statement on October 15.
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