Wealden residents sold short by Government grant
Wealden’s residents are being sold short by Government when it comes to supporting essential services.
Wealden’s Cabinet member for Finance and Assets is calling on the district’s four MPs to raise the matter in a debate in Parliament.
“How can it be fair that next year Wealden residents will only get £54 of Government support to help meet the cost of our services, while residents in neighbouring Eastbourne get £105 a head and, in Hastings, £115 a head?” asks Councillor Bob Standley. “Wealden has been given the ninth lowest government grant settlement out of the country’s 238 district councils.“
“We are the 19th largest district in terms of population, and cover one of the largest areas in the country. With rising fuel costs, it is proving very expensive to collect refuse and recycling materials over a 320 square mile area, yet we receive the lowest government grant of any authority in East Sussex,” said Cllr Standley.
For the past two years, Wealden has seen its Revenue Support Grant from government increase by 3%. For the coming year, Wealden’s grant will increase by less than inflation, at just 1.9 per cent, followed by an even smaller increase of 1.3 per cent the year after.
“We have consistently kept Council Tax increases below 5 per cent, but it could be so much lower if we were treated as other Sussex councils.
“Instead of the current Band D council tax of £157, Wealden residents could have been paying less than £100 this year. To achieve this it would only require us to receive the average Revenue Support Grant that other East Sussex districts and boroughs enjoy.”
“It is unjust that Wealden residents are treated in such an arbitrary way by a system which fails to acknowledge the cost of providing quality services to a rural area,” said Councillor Standley.
