Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Blackburn with Darwen Council chief confirms drastic cuts "inevitable" after finance settlement

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has reacted to yesterday’s local government grant settlement, confirming tough times are inevitable for the next two years.

The government confirmed the grant settlement would be cut drastically for local councils, with deprived areas remaining worst hit.

Despite announcing a new “transition fund” to help poorer areas, Blackburn with Darwen will gain just £2.8M from the fund, with current projections showing the council at the same time facing a cut of at least £27M over the next two years.

The Government’s own figures show the borough is one of the 40 worst affected councils in the country with the maximum 8.9% budget cut. Some more affluent areas of the country face a cut of less than 1%.

Chief Executive of Blackburn with Darwen Council and NHS Care Trust Plus, Graham Burgess, said:

“This looks to be the harshest settlement we have ever had to deal with. We are still working through the fine detail and the government has only given us figures for the next two years which will hamper our long term planning.

“Despite the government’s attempts to soften the impact, some towns with added challenges like Blackburn, Darwen and many of our Pennine Lancashire neighbours, are going to be facing much bigger cuts than others.

“Over the next two years we expect to face cuts of at least £27M. This is a massive and unprecedented reduction. We are concerned that this figure could get worse as we understand the full detail of the settlement.

“The Council will still have some very difficult decisions to make in the coming months. We will be continuing to listen to the community as we make decisions.

“We have been preparing for the worst and this will help us get through. Reductions to services and job losses are now sadly inevitable. The Council will have to shrink but all focus will be on ensuring we can still aim to serve the needs of our communities.”

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