On Wednesday (22nd February) the Government brought forward a motion on the final Local Government Finance Settlement. Much has been said about the lack of funding that councils will receive across the county. This is especially true in rural counties such as Devon.
According to the Fairer Funding Campaign rural areas will have to shoulder 13% more of the cost of funding local services compared to their urban counterparts. By 2019 this gap will have widened to 15%. The Rural Services Network also points out that the average funding of rural areas is some £131 less per head than urban areas.
The final settlement from the Government was released late on Monday night (20th February) and once again showed that Devon County Council would receive less Government funding.
Conservative councillor and leader of Devon County Council, John Hart, was not happy with the settlement and neither was I. On Wednesday night I abstained from the vote as a sign to the Government that this settlement was not good enough. Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local Government, has made promising noises. Delivering the fair funding review the Secretary of State said that the current formula was out of date and that “rural councils in particular” have “unique needs that have to be met”.
I’m glad the Secretary of State has recognised the challenges that rural communities are facing due to years of inadequate funding settlements and I hope he has taken on board the growing opposition from rural communities. I will wait to hear his proposals for making local government finance fairer before passing judgement, as actions speak louder than words.