Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak (pictured right), has said the Isle of Wight’s cash-strapped council will get a ten per cent increase in its funding in the next year.
The leader of the Isle of Wight council has reacted, saying she is unsure whether that is new money, but knows the Island needs more.
It is after a shocking figure revealed £93 million has been cut from the authority’s budget in the last 12 years, requiring the council to find savings as the government reduced funding.
Seely: 50-year-old funding injustice
The matter was raised in the House of Commons yesterday (Wednesday) at Prime Minister’s Questions by Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Bob Seely (pictured left), who said the 50-year-old funding injustice needed to be overcome.
Mr Seely said the Island had been getting a better deal in recent years but remained the only sizeable island in the UK which does not receive a funding uplift to support local government services.
All the evidence shows, he said, it costs more to provide local services on the Island compared to the mainland.
Sunak: Uplift in funding?
Mr Sunak responded confirming the uplift in funding for the council and said he will ensure Mr Seely meets with the local government minister, Lee Rowley, to ensure the Island gets the support it needs.
Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox (pictured centre), council leader, has confirmed a rescheduled meeting is now in the diary for Tuesday, with other senior Island officials, to speak with the local government minister and civil servants,
Formal assessment of Island’s funding needs agreed
A formal assessment of the Island’s funding needs has also been agreed by the government.
Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said she looks forward to working together to meet the Island’s needs.
£1m extra ‘highly unsatisfactory’ and ‘profoundly disappointing
An additional £1 million was given to the Island last year to recognise the unique challenges the Island faces. It was slammed by Isle of Wight council last year as ‘highly unsatisfactory’ and ‘profoundly disappointing’, adding that it did not go far enough in addressing the significant underfunding of services over many years.
Another £1 million has been announced for the next financial year.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: Rishi Sunak by communitiesuk under CC BY 2.0
