A DOCUMENT with data that makes a case for Powys County Council (PCC) to receive more funding from the Welsh Government has been unveiled.

The “Rural Cost Analysis of Powys” is jam packed full of data showing how the scales of economy in the county are different to other local authorities in Wales.

The analysis has already been used in a meeting with Welsh Government ministers and Assembly Members (AMs) in Cardiff on Wednesday, September 18.

At the Powys Public Service Board (PSB)  meeting on Thursday, September 19, director of transformation, Vanessa Young, explained that the worst case scenario over the next three years would be that PCC has to cut £46 million and the best case scenario would be £30 million.

And £100 million has already been cut during the last decade.

But a new approach was being taken said Ms Young- rather than the usual salami slicing cuts, decisions were being made with an eye on the 2040 Wellbeing plan and PCC’s own vision 2025.

Ms Young said: “It was good to be able to share this with ministers, Powys is put in with all the other rural authorities, and there is a blanket set of assumptions about what it means.

“But when you look at the size of Powys and its deep rurality, its significantly different.

“What we were arguing is whether the funding formula adequately reflects that?”

Ms Young explained that the formulas used to calculate the funding that local authorities receive from the Welsh Government, are designed to combat deprivation based on numbers of people receiving benefits.

She added that the Council Tax element of PCC’s £247 million budget is 30 per cent when the average figure is  25 per cent for other local authorities in Wales.

Ms Young said: “We have relative high employment but low wages.

“Our average Council Tax is lower than the Welsh average.

“But if you look at the affordability for our residents, because wages are lower, our residents have to work longer than people elsewhere to pay it off.”

“We hope that we have improved understanding of the AMs”, said Ms Young.

PCC council leader and PSB chair, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, said: “We have long recognised the challenges facing Powys are far greater.

“For instance we have 5,000 kilometres of road, which if they were stretched out would reach Beijing.

“The nearest one to us is Carmarthenshire, which has 2,000 km.

“We could go on and on about social care and transport.”

“We feel that someone has to take notice of us and the pressures we have and the cost of delivering the service.

“We don’t want to sound like we’re giving a sob story – but everyone needs to know.”

Key findings;

Powys is the most sparsely populated county in Wales, with only 26 people per square km the Welsh average is 150 per km

58.7 per-cent of residents live in villages, hamlets or dispersed settlements — the Welsh average is 17.1 per-cent

Powys has more roads to maintain 5,077 km

28 per-cent of premises in Powys are unable to receive 30 Mbit/s broadband with 17 per-cent only getting 10 Mbit/s

Home to School Transport costs £10.4 million a year

28 per-cent of primary children travel more than two miles to school

52 per-cent of secondary pupils travel more than three miles to school