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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Time for formula change - as Richmond upon Thames gets another poor deal
December 10, 2009 6:15 PM
• RICHMOND Council is to call on the government to review the way in which it allocates funding to councils.
At a time when the government is proposing to make an extra £3.2 billion available to councils across England Richmond residents are to get just 87p per head increase, excluding education, far below both the London and national average. The Department for Communities and Local Government issued the provisional 2010/11 Local Government Finance Settlement for consultation on 26th November and once again Richmond upon Thames has received the lowest settlement and also the lowest increase in London and one of the worst in the country.
Commenting Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for resources Cllr Stephen Knight said: "We are used to getting a raw deal at grant time so these latest figures are no great surprise. Every year we lobby government for a better deal and every year we get lip service but no change. With the recent recession and the likelihood of large cuts to public service budgets after the next spending review we are all now entering a very different world. Money is going to be less plentiful and all of us in the public sector are going to have to work more efficiently and creatively to protect essential services. For Richmond upon Thames this alone will not be enough. We know our job, and we are absolutely focused on being more efficient with around £15 million savings lined up in the next three years.
"But this will not be enough - with budgets to public services likely to be slashed we absolutely must get a fair deal. If we were funded at the same level as Bromley we would have an extra £66 pre head of our population, make the same comparison with leafy Kingston next door and the figure jumps to £82! It is simple - the current formula does not work for Richmond upon Thames and this inequality can only get worse as the downturn bites. We need a change in the formula. For this reason I will be writing to the Secretary of State for CLG and the chancellor to put our case"
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