Letter from the Leader

The past year has continued to see the difficult economic conditions which I referred to last year. The level of Government debt means that the public sector will see significant cuts in its funding during the next few years.

This year's budget therefore has been set against this backdrop but it also reflects increasing demands on many services particularly for vulnerable children and the elderly. That is why this year's Council Tax rise of 3% will again be amongst the lowest in Wales but also provides some degree of protection to services for the most vulnerable. We continue to believe that we need to invest in education in order to build a better future for our county. That is why we have also protected our schools from any cuts to their budgets for the sixth successive year.

It is worth noting that our efforts to maintain Council Tax rises at relatively low levels for the last 6 years means that Wrexham now has the seventh lowest Council tax in England and Wales.

We have also experienced another severe winter which has lead to a deterioration in road surfaces and we plan to invest a further £1 million on a road re-surfacing programme which builds on the additional £1 million that we have spent in the past year. We also continue to work on the three Council priorities which we shall also fund from our budgets. During the year we plan to make significant announcements which will increase the number of affordable homes available for our residents in the county and also provide energy efficiency and renewable energy schemes to reduce our carbon emissions.

We continue to see sustained improvement in many of our services which is being recognised by external inspectors. The challenge for us in coming years will be to maintain standards at a time of falling public expenditure and that is why we need to transform the way that we deliver many of our services.

In Wrexham we have in recent years involved councillors in monthly budget monitoring and they are involved in the planning process from the outset. Even as I write this letter we are working with our officers to plan the budget for 2012/13 in the belief that this forward planning will protect the quality of our services to the greatest extent possible in this difficult economic situation. I hope that you recognise the Council's drive to focus on service improvement but as always please feel free to contact me if you have any comments on Council services.

As in previous years we have to include the demand from North Wales Police for the provision of their services and a separate leaflet from them explains their expenditure.

Councillor Aled Rhys Roberts
Council Leader

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