News

Following yesterday's announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, the Borough of Poole will only receive an extra £236,000 to help Council Tax payers next year - representing a saving on next year's likely bill increase of a miserly half a percent.

The news comes in spite of Poole being one of 13 authorities that received no Government funding for increases in spending next year other than for schools, and with the Borough facing a £5million shortfall to meet new pressures and burdens for services.

Cllr Brian Leverett, Leader of the Council, said: "Whilst we welcome any additional Government funding, the situation remains bleak for Poole Council Tax payers and this appears to be little more than a gesture in response to the objections to the tax burden placed on local residents by the Government.

This £236,000 is all the Council has from the Government to meet needs identified of over £5million for next year. This has to go to meet the pay and price pressures in Social Services, the extra burden placed by the Government on landfill tax and the new responsibilities for licensing.

Our response to these pressures has been to work to improve efficiency and this year we have successfully made savings of £1.1million but we still face major needs and Poole has again fared badly with the extra funding allocation when compared to other parts of the country.

I will be pressing this when representing Poole together with other Unitary Authorities at a meeting with Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford next week and pointing out the bleak situation that Poole Council Tax payers still face."

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Editor's Notes:

£236,000 is Poole's share of £340m new funding for Councils announced by the Government yesterday.