Councils face funding shortfalls

Five local authorities in Lincolnshire are facing a total of almost �7m in funding shortfalls.

According to figures obtained by BBC Radio Lincolnshire, East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) estimates it will have a �2.5m shortfall in 2009/10.

Boston faces a �1.8m funding gap, Lincoln �1.5m, North Kesteven a gap of less than �500,000 and West Lindsey at least a �500,000 shortfall.

An ELDC spokesman said the council was reviewing where to make savings.

The councils said their outgoings were increasing with rising fuel and utility costs while their incomes - from areas such as tourism - were declining as people tightened their belts during the economic downturn.

Councillor Colin Davie from ELDC said he hoped frontline services would not be affected.

"East Lindsey is a massive district geographically and we have a lot of people to take care of.

"Our premise is to protect frontline services first but this will ultimately mean that there will be some job losses within the council.

We should manage to make big savings without affecting core services

Richard Austin, leader of Boston Borough Council

"In the long term, I think the look of local government is going to change, particularly as we try to work closer together with other district colleagues," he said.

Richard Austin, leader of Boston Borough Council, said the council was working on a number of money saving ideas which would be put out for public consultation.

"For many years this council has been spending more than it can afford and of course we have the credit crunch which is affecting both our income and our expenditure.

"We should manage to make big savings without affecting core services so I'm hoping the average taxpayer won't notice very much difference except that we are considering not holding Party in the Park this year," he said.

In Lincoln, 400 services are being reviewed to see which can be made more economical, altered or not provided.

Both West Lindsey and and North Kesteven District Councils said the economic downturn was putting them under serious financial pressure and services were being reviewed to see where money could be saved.

The figures for South Holland and South Kesteven were not available.