Arun warns of big cash grant squeeze

Cllr Gill Brown said a near freeze on the grant which the local authority would receive from the government in the coming year meant it would be difficult to balance the books.

Government minister John Healey confirmed the council would receive just 0.5 per cent extra to support its services from April.

This is only a fraction of the 4.5 per cent inflation rate and will be on top of the 10.143m Arun received for the current year.

Cllr Mrs Brown is concerned the minimal increase will have an inevitable knock-on effect on its activities.

Councillors have pledged to keep council tax increases below three per cent to help households through the tough economic times.

But Cllr Mrs Brown warned the government had done nothing to help it to keep that promise.

"We are bitterly disappointed and angry the government has failed to give us the resources to help our residents at this difficult time.

"We have always been committed to keeping council tax as low as possible as we know that is of the utmost importance to people in Arun, and never more so than know," she said.

"While we intend to honour this commitment, this patently insufficient increase in government grant money means we will be faced with some tough choices next year to keep our books balanced.

"The recession has seen an increase in the public's demand for some of our services, such as homelessness inquiries, housing and council tax benefits. So, what we really needed was additional help."

Arun had been warned by the government to expect a modest rise in grant for 2008/09 but had hoped to change ministers' minds.

The grant provides much of the funding which the council relies upon to provide a good level of service.

Cllr Paul Dendle, in charge of the council's finance and central services, said the lack of support from the government was a blow.

"It makes a mockery of the government's protestations they are helping to keep the economy going when they are stifling our efforts to help those affected by the very recession that they caused," he said.

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