Here’s what the Isle of Wight council has just said. VB will look into the figures to understand them and the impact they may have – Ed
Chief Executive Steve Beynon said, “The settlement from Government confirms our expectation of the unprecedented financial challenges facing this council over the next few years.
“At a time when we should have seen a rise in our grant settlement to reflect both inflationary increases in costs and the budget pressures caused by growing numbers of elderly residents requiring our care and support, we are, in cash terms, seeing a decrease of £9.9m.
“We are also urgently seeking government clarification on several matters including the substantial reduction in our concessionary fares funding.
“What it does make clear, is that the planning and preparations that we have been working on for some time are clearly justified and that the difficult decisions taken by Cabinet on 7 December to seek to reduce our spend by £25m over the next two years need to be implemented quickly if we are to meet these targets.”
