Fair Deal For York campaign hits the streets (York Liberal Democrats)

York Liberal Democrats <info@yorklibdems.org.uk>

Fair Deal For York campaign hits the streets

December 15, 2004 11:14 AM

Liberal Democrats stepped up their campaign to get a Fair Deal for York with a stall and petition in the city centre on Saturday 11th December.

The Lib Dems are running the campaign to highlight the unfair settlement the city gets from the government each year. Relative to other councils in similar circumstances, City of York Council gets a much lower level of grant per person.

York currently sets the 10th lowest council tax in the country whilst receiving the 4th lowest government grant. Despite this the council continues to be officially rated 'good' in its service provision.

However, additional cost pressures this year, largely imposed by central government, mean that the council needs an extra £7 million just to provide current levels of services. The 5.1% increase in grant the council will get this year will not be enough to maintain services at current levels if council tax rises are to be kept under 5%, as the government is demanding.

At Saturday's event prominent York Lib Dems were on hand to inform the public about the council's plight and collected signatures for a petition to put pressure on the government to give York a fair deal.

Cllr. Waller, Deputy Leader of City of York Council said:

"Last Saturday's stall was a tremendous success. We collected hundreds of signatures and we got numerous requests for further information about getting involved with the campaign.

"It was good to get the campaign out onto the streets. Most people we spoke to were outraged to hear that York gets such a raw deal from central government.

"We will carry on campaigning hard on this issue to correct this historic injustice."

See the 'Fair Deal for York Petition' to sign on-line.

Background info to the Fair Deal For York campaign

· In the current financial year, York received £247 less per person in government grant than the average local authority. This is the 4th lowest level of grant in the country

· York currently has the 10th lowest council tax in the country.

· Funding in York keeps falling behind other authorities - in 2000 York got almost 73% of the average council grant, now the council gets just 69%.

· Extra costs have been handed over to City of York Council. For example, £1.3 million is needed to pay for costs incurred by the government's increases to landfill tax but no additional grant has been made available to help deal with this.

· The high cost of living in York is not taken into account, though it is in nearby Leeds.

· Little recognition is given to the wear and tear caused by 4 million tourists each year.

· Money promised to York by John Prescott to help clear up damage caused by the floods in November 2000 is still outstanding. This totals £700,000 and the government has indicated it is highly unlikely this will ever be handed over.

· York loses out for being an efficient authority. For example, responsibility for funding sixth forms was recently transferred from local councils to the Learning and Skills Council and the government grant was reduced to reflect this. However, the government's assumption was that York was paying more to fund the service than it actually was and reduced the grant by this false, higher figure.

· York's older population is increasing at a higher rate than the national average and this puts a greater strain on services.