Government grant leaves Solihull short
From Nina Scott on 10 December 2007
Solihull Council is once again reeling from the news of being the lowest funded Metropolitan Council.
Last Thursday’s (6th Dec) provisional settlement announcement gives Solihull a 2% increase for 2008/9. This is about £1million. To put this into context, the Council needs £4million just to fund nationally agreed pay inflation and contractual commitments.
The average increase for Metropolitan councils is 4.1% - double what Solihull is getting. The other Metropolitan districts in the West Midlands will get an increase of between 3% and 6%.
An increase in grant of 2% equates to £259 per person. The average for Metropolitan authorities is £497 per person.
If Solihull Council were to receive the average increase for Metropolitan councils it would have an extra £47million to spend on services.
Cllr Ken Meeson, Leader of the Council, said: "I do wonder how much further we can be pushed. We have to provide the same services as other councils and meet the same stringent government targets. But for some reason I simply fail to fathom, we are expected to do this on significantly less money than other councils. Year on year we keep Council Tax low and still outperform some of the best councils in the country and we get high satisfaction levels from local people. But you do wonder how that can continue. With a settlement like this that doesn’t even cover the essentials, the people of Solihull have every right to feel cheated and insulted. We will be writing to Government to express our disappointment and our frustration and I know we will be supported by our residents in this."
The settlement is a three-year settlement and in 2009/10 Solihull will receive an increase in grant of 1.8% and in 2010/11 an increase of 1.5%. This compares to a Metropolitan average of 2.9% and 2.5% respectively.
For more information contact:
Louise Aldrich on 0121 704 6164, Julie Turner on 0121 704 6136 or Nina Scott on 0121 704 6444.
www.solihull.gov.uk
Nina Scott 0121 704 6444
Email: nscott@solihull.gov.uk