Contrasting funding proposals for two authorities

There has been a mixed reaction to the government's local government funding plans for Shropshire's local authorities.

Shropshire Council expects to be £26m worse off over the course of the next three years, but Telford and Wrekin Council could get an extra £46.5m.

The Lib Dem leader of Shropshire Council, Heather Kidd, said she was "really disappointed" and would be lobbying to get the final figure increased.

Shaun Davies, the Labour MP for Telford, said the two local authority areas were hard to compare and there would be more help to come from his government, for services such as adult social care and public transport.

Davies said the funding boost for Telford "couldn't have been more different from the years of austerity and neglect that starved councils under the previous Conservative government".

The provisional funding levels put forward by the government are for the next three years, with the aim being to give authorities more certainty.

The basic level of government funding received by Telford and Wrekin Council for the current financial year was £116.7m.

Under the proposed changes, it is set to receive £124.7m in 26/27, £131.8m in 27/28 and £140.1m in 28/29, including grants for homelessness, Families First Partnership and domestic violence.

By 2028, Telford and Wrekin Council will be receiving more government funding than Shropshire Council, despite Shropshire expecting to have 150,000 more residents.

Davies said the changes took into account factors such as deprivation and he believed it was due a big funding increase "because the funding formula hasn't changed for 10 years".

Shropshire Council was awarded £151.5m this year.

In the next financial year it has been told it will received £148.9m, then in 2027/2028 £142.7m and in 2028/2029 £136.3m.

Kidd said the levels of funding had failed to take into account rural deprivation and the higher cost of delivering rural services.

"Our deprivation is there, but it's scattered across hillsides," she said.

She also said 29% of the population of Shropshire was over the age of 65 and as a result "we have a tremendous problem delivering social care".

Her authority has asked the government for a loan, to help it balance its books and avoid the need to declare itself effectively bankrupt.

But she said a better solution would be a higher level of government funding and she would be "lobbying really hard" for that between now and February.

"We really do need a leg up now," she said.

Davies said he had sympathy for Shropshire Council, but said the proposed settlement was a "step in the right direction".

He said the funding settlement was just one part of the picture and Shropshire could expect to do well out of public transport funding, funding for adult services and funding for special educational needs.

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