Eliminating community bins on residential streets and reducing street cleaning are just some of the budget proposals that Cardiff City Council will present to residents from next week. The public consultation on the 2024/25 local budget will begin on Monday 8 January and end on Sunday 4 February.

Key proposals the council is considering to help it plug its £30m budget deficit and weather what one councilor described as a “financial storm” include a three-times-weekly collection of black bin bags and a garden waste charge. However, there were many others that also stood out in the budget consultation document published on Tuesday 2 January. Here’s a look at some of them in more detail. For the latest Cardiff news, sign up to our newsletter here

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Public bins and street cleaning

The council has a very important role to play in keeping Cardiff’s streets clean and tidy, and this takes up a large proportion of the local authorities’ budget. Cardiff City Council currently spends £6.25 million on street cleaning and is now proposing to reduce the frequency of the department’s work.

Its objective is to reduce the work of cleaning streets and parks, emptying bins and carrying out specific cleaning in some areas of the city. This could save the council £880,000, according to a consultation document published this week.

Cardiff also has around 3,000 public bins. The council may remove community bins from residential streets and said if this happens it will focus on placing bins in town and neighborhood centres, parks, bus stops and dog walking routes.

To justify its proposal, the municipality claimed that many garbage containers on residential streets were underused and attracted flies. Removing bins from the city’s residential streets could save £139,000 a year. Get the best experience with the WalesOnline Premium app Litter any Android

Centers and libraries

Libraries across the city could use more limited hours and recruit more volunteers to save money in the next fiscal year. During a public consultation, Cardiff City Council presented a range of options for center and library opening times.

One option is to close eight centers and libraries for an additional day a week. These include Central Library Hub, Whitchurch Hub, Penylan Library, Rhiwbina Hub, Rhydypennau Hub, Canton Library, Cathays Heritage Library and Radyr Hub. This will save £308,000.

Another option offered to residents is for these centers and libraries, in addition to Penylan Library, to change their opening hours from 9am to 5pm, with all branches remaining open at midday. To allow for late access, the Central Library will be open until 6pm one night a week. This will save £120,000. Other options include:

  • Close Radyr Hub, Rhiwbina Hub, Whitchurch Hub, Penylan Library and Rhydypennau Hub on Saturdays, saving £33,600
  • Close Rhiwbina Hub, Whitchurch Hub, Penylan Library and Rhydypennau Hub on Saturday afternoon and save £14,000
  • Keep the center and library service as is and save elsewhere

Culture and events

Last year, Cardiff City Council put forward a series of key proposals to save money on culture and events, one of which included bringing in a new operator for St David’s Hall. For the next financial year, the council is considering ending the funding it provides to Artes Mundi and The Big Gig.

Local authorities currently spend around £36,000 a year to subsidize these activities. Cardiff City Council is one of three main partners of Artes Mundi, the UK’s leading art exhibition, alongside the Welsh Government and Arts Council Wales.

The Big Gig is a music competition for musicians in South Wales. Previous winners of the competition have performed at Swn Festival and Glastonbury. The mansion on Richmond Crescent could also be rented to third parties who could help fund its maintenance and repairs.

The council claimed that income from the Grade II listed building, which is used for public and corporate events, was not sufficient to fund the necessary investment. As the search continues for an alternative location for Cardiff Museum, the City Council is proposing to reduce the museum’s running costs by closing it for one day a week. Proposals to turn the museum, now located in the Old Hayes Library, into a mobile attraction last year attracted widespread criticism.

Parks, recreation and sports.

The municipality plans to reduce the number of rangers and cut maintenance costs for parks and green spaces. Rangers are responsible for enforcing park bylaws and working with partner organizations such as the police to address issues such as anti-social behavior.

Cardiff City Council proposes to reduce the number of rangers by four. The plan marks a reversal of the expansion of the park’s ranger team that has been occurring in the city in recent years.

Over the past three years, six more Rangers have been added to the team. By reducing the number of rangers by four, the council could save £168,000. A total of £1.3 million is spent on maintaining Cardiff’s 520 parks and green spaces.

In its budget consultation document, the council said a small cut to the maintenance of parks and green spaces could save £80,000. Residents will be asked about a proposal to hand over management of a Cardiff riding school to a new operator.

The council, which runs and subsidizes the riding school at Pontcanna Fields, said it first needed to assess interest. However, the facilities continued to operate during this period.