The Tory Government has announced a 29% cut in the main grant for Bedford Borough Council, in a move described by Mayor Dave Hodgson as a ‘devastating blow for local services.’
The pre-Christmas announcement of the Local Government Finance Settlement on this year’s final day of Parliament saw Bedford Borough’s core Government funding cut from £30.1 million down to £21.4 million for 2016/17.
The reduction is over £3 million greater than the forecast cuts the Council had been working on, based on previous government information. It confirms that the reduction and even the removal altogether of important local services will be unavoidable.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Mayor Dave Hodgson said: “These funding cuts are a devastating blow for local services. We were already expecting massive cuts which would make the reduction or loss of services unavoidable. But this is even worse.’
“After years of fighting successfully to save services lost elsewhere, we are already having to propose cuts we don’t want to make. These further cuts upon already huge cuts are simply leaving us with nowhere to go.”
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