August 24, 2018 3.42 pm This story is over 67 months old

‘We demand fairer funding for Lincolnshire after Brexit’

“Lincolnshire has never been properly funded by the government”
Councillor Colin Davie, executive member for economy at Lincolnshire County Council.

A senior county councillor has demanded that more funding is given to Lincolnshire from central government after the UK leaves the European Union.

Councillor Colin Davie, executive member for economy at Lincolnshire County Council, said that councils in the region need a fairer deal from Whitehall after Brexit  in order to deliver local services.

The UK will officially leave the EU on March 29, 2019.

Now, Councillor Davie is calling on ministers to plan fairer funding for Lincolnshire and other regions in the 2020/21 financial year.

Councillor Colin Davie, executive member for economy at Lincolnshire County Council.

“I’m very clear that Lincolnshire has never been properly funded by central government,” he said.

“We have always been underfunded and all I want to see is our fair share of funding.

“We want the same settlement as other areas get.”

Councillor Davie, along with other Lincolnshire councils, started a campaign to call for a fairer deal last year.

The authorities are asking the government to give £116 million worth of extra cash in order to help pay for infrastructure and council services.

“In the next financial year after Brexit, I expect to see fairer funding fully delivered by government,” said Councillor Davie.

“I want to see that extra £116 million per year delivered into our budget so that we can deliver higher quality services across the spectrum of work we do.”

It comes as local authorities across the region are seeing cuts to their budgets from Whitehall.

Lincolnshire County Council leader Martin Hill

Revenue core spending power for Lincolnshire County Council in 2017/18 is: £1,272 per dwelling in the county. The average for shire counties with fire responsibilities shows an average of £1,407 per dwelling.

County Council leader, Martin Hill, previously said that the authority could face serious challenges in delivering services due to reductions in local government funding.

He said adult social care is one area where the authority will struggle to provide more than the “bare minimum”.

“Unless the government gets to grips with properly addressing the funding gap for adult care and a growing elderly population then yes, like many councils, we could find ourselves facing serious challenges in delivering anything more than the bare minimum of services in five years’ time,” he said.

He added the council had made “significant savings” over the past eight years and had “played our part in helping rebuild the national financial position”.

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