Posted February 10, 201114 yr I'm quite surprised the media hasn't picked up on this more - even I was barely aware of it until a few days ago... but the utter injustice of the way the Coalition has targeted their biggest council funding cuts is staggering. The councils getting the biggest cuts are the most deprived areas of the country - Hackney, Liverpool, Manchester and Rochdale are among those that have to cut by 9% this year. Meanwhile, Dorset, one of the wealthiest areas of the country, is actually getting a funding RISE of 0.25%! And the Coalition can't spin their way out of this one - the figures are on the government's own spreadsheet, in black and white (if anyone cares enough to wade through it all): https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ao...amp;hl=en#gid=0 Meanwhile, Eric Pickles (who, for me, is fast becoming the most hateable member of the government - which for this Coalition is REALLY saying something), who preaches localism and devolving power and decision-making while simultaneously ordering councils to have weekly bin collections, is actually BLAMING the poorest councils for having to cut key services like libraries, and points to the fact the wealthier (Tory) councils don't have to cut those services, forgetting to mention that that's because those councils have far less harsh cuts.
February 10, 201114 yr My local council (Poole) is one of the few to get an increase in government funding. That really is a total joke. I moved here (close to the Poole / Bournemouth border) in 1997. Since then Bournemouth council has been badly run by both the Lib Dems and the Tories. For most of that time Poole has been run pretty well - again under both the Lib Dems and the Tories. Over the last couple years or so, the Tories have been making a complete hash of things in Poole. They even lost what had previously been a safe seat to an independent candidate following the death of the then leader of the council. The very generous grant to Poole is clearly an attempt to ensure the Tories keep control of the council in May.
Create an account or sign in to comment