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Council leader, Cllr Philippa Marsden said the proposals include no new cuts and would ensure the council “remains financially resilient during these uncertain times”. But Cllr Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, proposed an amendment to cut the council tax rise to 2.4 per cent. Cllr Mann said the group welcomed that no cuts were in the budget, but said it could have been delivered at “a lower cost to the council tax payers of the county borough”. “I am sure that we all know friends, family or neighbours who are facing redundancy or have already lost their jobs,” he said.
Plaid Cymru has proposed cutting the rise to 2.4 per cent, and instead reducing money set aside for a possible pay increase for teachers and for a ‘transformation team’. Cllr Colin Mann, leader of the group, said: “We’re in the middle of a terrible pandemic and many people are really struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table. Yet, the Labour council thinks the right thing to do is hike the council tax by almost four per cent.
Cllr Colin Mann “Earlier this week the Bevan Foundation reported that the pandemic was deepening existing inequality in Wales with nearly a quarter of Welsh homes seeing their income fall due to a mixture of redundancies and furlough pay.
Parc Penallta. Picture: Hajnalka Csilik CAR parking charges are being axed at five Caerphilly council-owned country parks. The county borough council’s cabinet agreed yesterday to remove the existing pay and display fees in five of the authority’s country parks. This follows on from a recent decision to extend free parking at council-owned car parks in towns across the county borough until the end of March. That move is intended, to support key workers and to encourage residents to shop local. It is being stressed by the council however, that people must continue to follow the current restrictions governing travel to take exercise, and the new fee-free parking arrangements should only be made the most of after the rules have been eased or removed.
Cllrs Colin Mann (Plaid Cymru) and council leader Philippa Marsden (Labour) OPPOSITION parties at Caerphilly county borough council have called for the Labour group to “go back to the drawing board” with the proposed 3.9 per cent council tax increase. While the Labour-led Caerphilly county borough council has the second lowest council tax in Wales, concerns have been raised by the opposition parties over struggling residents due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 3.9 per cent increase, if approved, would be the lowest council tax increase in four years. However, the leader of Caerphilly’s Plaid Cymru group, Cllr Colin Mann, saiad that it equates to an average increase of £3.32 a week in four years. This is an extra £172.87 a year.