That’s the view of Tony Reid, Deputy Leader at East Sussex County Council who has written to government minister, Nick Raynsford to voice his anger over the amount of funding that East Sussex receives compared to some authorities in the midlands and the north.
Councillor Reid, who has requested a face-to-face meeting with the minister, said: "Mr Raynsford argues that the government has given extra funding to local authorities but I would like him to explain why East Sussex has received the lowest grant increase of any county council in the whole country for the last two years. I would like the minister to tell our tax payers why they have to bear 40% of the net costs of council services compared, for example, to the 27% that people pay towards services at Durham County Council.
"We are not a wealthy county and if we had been given the same increase that the government gave Durham over the last two years then East Sussex would have received an extra £27m. That’s funding that we could have used to keep council tax increases even lower, remove the need for cuts or provide better services for our residents. This is another example of the shift in funding – it’s like a continuous conveyor belt of cash moving away from the south to the midlands and the north and our residents are suffering because of it.”
"All that people in East Sussex want is a fair deal and government ministers now have the chance to treat us fairly when they make their announcement on council funding later this month. Indeed, we are very concerned that the government could make our funding problem even worse!
"Our priority is to keep council tax increases as low as possible but if the government doesn’t fund us properly we will have no choice but to make cuts to services,” warned Councillor Reid.
Reference:
04/406/MF
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