Mark Isherwood, MS for North Wales By Mark Isherwood, MS for North Wales Just before Christmas the Welsh Government announced its provisional Local Government Settlement for 2021-22, with North Wales losing out once again. The average increase for councils in North Wales is 3.34%, compared to 4.17% in South Wales and 5.6% for top-placed Newport. Although Flintshire, which usually receives one of the lowest settlements in Wales, is given an increase close to the Welsh average, this is still the 14th lowest amongst 22 Welsh councils and does not make up for Flintshire's years of Welsh Government underfunding, with the county having the second lowest reserves in Wales. It is also extremely worrying that Wrexham is set to receive the second lowest funding increase in Wales, at just 2.3%.