'Another raw deal ' for people as blow dealt over grant rise

Cabinet member Cllr Louise Goldsmith said residents had had another 'raw deal' in the 2009/10 grant settlement.

The county council is set to get a rise of just 1.7m in its grant for services other than schools '“ a list that includes adults' and children's services, roads, waste disposal, libraries and trading standards.

This amount comes at a time when the county council faces a bill of more than 10m to cover inflation, 2m extra to pay energy bills and a 1.4m increase in the Government's landfill tax.

The settlement has also been criticised by county leader Cllr Henry Smith. He said: "It is bad news during an economic downturn when people and businesses will be looking to the county council to do all it can to maintain its frontline services.

"Unfortunately, the term 'credit crunch' is nothing new to West Sussex County Council '“ we get no credit from the Government for delivering efficient services, just a constant crunch placed on the amount of grant to support them."

For the full story, see West Sussex Gazette December 3