Budget 2026/27

Welshpool Town Council has formally set its budget for the 2026/27 financial year and council tax precept.

What it means for residents

Each year Welshpool Town Council sets a budget to fund local services, maintain facilities, and invest in improvements across the town.

This page explains the 2026/27 budget, what’s changing, and why.

The headline figure

For a Band D household, the Town Council part of the council tax bill for 2026/27 is proposed to be £286.60 per year. This is an increase of 2.5% and is around 13p per week.

(Your total council tax bill is made up of charges from several organisations. The Town Council element is only one part of the overall bill.)

Why is the budget changing?

This year’s budget has been built from a detailed line-by-line review of the Council’s spending and services. The aim has been to:

remove budgets for services the Town Council no longer runs
reduce overheads
make sure essential costs are covered
invest in practical projects that improve the town, and
strengthe the Council's financial resilience.

Savings delivered

The budget includes £86,920 of savings. This includes changes such as the transfer of Welshpool Meals on Wheels to a local charity and wider efficiencies and tighter control of spending across all teams.

The Council heard in August 2025 during it's consultation on a new strategic plan that residents wanted lower administration costs and more spending on frontline services. As part of the budget review, we've reduced administration costs by £26,297 per year.

Why has some spending increased?

Even with savings, costs have increased in some areas for three main reasons:

Investing in new projects

The budget includes around £45,350 for new and expanded projects that support the Council’s Interim Strategic Plan. These include work to support:

Town Hall Transformation including enabling works, borrowing and fundraising activity
Town centre planting and improvements such as tidying up vacant shops
Environmental and biodiversity projects
Street furniture and bus shelter repairs
Tourism branding and promotion of our town
Expanded events, new town bunting, flags and marketing
Community initiatives such as the Hub or the Community Fridge

Essential ongoing commitments

The budget includes £40,197 for ongoing contractual and service costs that must continue to be funded to keep services running and assets maintained.

Inflation and service pressures

Like many organisations, the Council is seeing cost increases from inflation and general service delivery pressures (e.g. utilities, contracts, supplies, and operational costs).

What residents will notice

The 2026/27 budget is designed to support practical improvements that residents can see, including:

continued management and maintenance of Council facilities and public spaces
enhanced town centre activity and place-based work
improvements to biodiversity and green spaces
better town presentation and promotion
events and seasonal activity that support footfall and community life

Building financial resilience

The Council’s General Reserves have been low due to previous projects - to rectify this, the budget includes a planned contribution to General Reserves and the use of in-year surplus to strengthen our financial position.

Transparency: where your Town Council charge goes

To help residents understand how the budget is spread across services, the Council has produced a breakdown showing the approximate Band D cost by service area (for example: Town Hall, open spaces, toilets, events, tourism, and administration).

We have also produced a breakdown of the gross expenditure by each area so you can understand the figures further - explore our interactive charts below.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Town Council budget, please contact the Town Clerk via email town.clerk@welshpooltowncouncil.gov.uk or via phone 01938 553142 or you can make an appointment for a face to face meeting.

You can also view: