Ministers should implement the 2013-14 funding formula which promised to improve rural finances before measures were dampened or risk losing key countryside services, experts have argued.
Speaking to The MJ, Graham Biggs, chief executive of the Rural Services Network, said he feared many discretionary services in rural areas could be lost if the Treasury announces fresh austerity measures in the Autumn Statement without acknowledging its initial plan to improve rural finances eight years ago.
Changes made to local government funding formulae for 2013-14 promised to deliver rural areas an extra £247m, but were later dampened and then delayed subject to the outcome of the fair funding review.
Failure to utilise the formula has left some rural areas up to 59% worse off, per head, than urban centres of the UK.
But ministers recently indicated that the review will not be announced during this Parliament – leaving rural services experts demanding cash they feel the countryside is long-owed.
Mr Biggs said: ‘We had a situation where there were substantial changes to the formula in 2013-14 of benefit to rural areas, essentially an allowance for the extra costs of rural services. But it was dampened.
‘Rural areas have since been denied money the central formula indicates they should have. Instead, other areas have benefited, such as London. So in this current financial year, rural authorities have had £67 per head to spend on all discretionary services, while urban authorities have received double, at £131.
