Lincolnshire County Council demands ‘sustainable funding’ from new government

Ahead of last Thursday’s election result, a motion at a full council meeting on Wednesday (December 11) received cross party support to “send a message” to Westminster to address priority areas in local government.

Coun Rob Parker, Labour leader of the opposition, proposed the motion which was backed by council leader, Martin Hill.

It proposed to write to the new government on seven areas which the county council needed support.

Coun Parker said the authority needed “improved funding” in order to “meet the needs of local people”.

“We need to send a message from Lincolnshire to Whitehall that we want to see these areas addressed by whichever government is in place,” he said.

Among the areas are:

A commitment to sustainable and improved funding for local government.

A new fairer funding formula for local councils.

More powers to be devolved from central government to local government.

A review of the efficacy, efficiency and fairness of the current business rates model.

The importance of sorting out the long term funding of adult social care.

Remove the limit on the adult social care precept until a review has taken place.

A commitment to prioritise preventative services, such as public health and adult social care.

Coun Hill said he supported the motion and that it would help to send a message to national politicians.

“It raises all the issues that we have been arguing for for some time now,” he said.

The move comes as the council continues its campaign to lobby for fairer funding for the county.

Cuts to local government funding in recent years has forced the authority to look for other avenues of financial support, such as hikes in council tax. Meanwhile, the authority has seen a £50 million reduction in its revenue support grant, its main source of funding from government, over the past four years.

As part of its budget plans for this year, the council planned to dip into its reserves in order to “smooth the effect” of central government cuts.