Please sir, may we have some more?

The provisional Government grant over the next three years for St Edmundsbury, announced today, is (not surprisingly) insufficient.

We are still studying the detail, but the bottom line is that we are getting an extra £151,000 for 2008/09, and then just £72,000, followed by £70,000 in the following years. That is not enough to cover all the increases in costs that we face.

Given the level of inflation this is effectively a cut in grant over three years, and one which our already hard-pressed Council Tax payers will have to cope with.

This level of grant would be more palatable if we did not already have to find new money for the various government initiatives and mandates that are not sufficiently funded. Concessionary fares, for example, is already costing each Council Tax payer £6.50 and is set to rise even further.

For more information about the Government grant go to:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/576609

(if the link does not work on a mouse click, try pasting the address into your internet browser).