THE full impact of the government's announcement on funding for local government services will be examined by Hampshire County Council's cabinet on Monday as it prepares to set next year's council tax. HCC leader Ken Thornber said it was clear that the council's lobbying of government had paid off. He recently joined a delegation of south east council leaders and MPs at Westminster to highlight their campaign for changes to the way government calculates grant. "What is clear is that our lobbying of government for more money to avoid double figure council tax rises or massive cuts in services has been successful," he said. "However this is only a short term reprieve covering two years and councils need certainty for longer than this to allow us to plan with confidence for the future. "I'll be continuing the fight to bring a fairer funding deal for Hampshire and I plan to continue our record of council tax for Hampshire in the lowest quartile of all county councils, but with performance in the highest "The grant system was already complex and the new system is even less transparent, making it difficult to compare council tax levels with spending on services. "In two years' time the pressures caused by increasing costs like care for adults with learning or physical difficulties and children in care, new European directives on waste and costs for roads and local transport are still going to be there. "At the same time demand for these services is increasing and after we've squeezed out millions of pounds in efficiencies, unless we get sufficient grant it's council tax payers who have to plug the gap or face cuts in the services they rely on. "Let's hope government is willing to work with us through the Local Government Association over the next two years to find ways to ensure proper funding for those pressures. "To help inform its future decisions, the council has been consulting with the voluntary sector, business sector, and residents' associations and in addition has conducted a MORI workshop with a representative sample of Hampshire residents to help inform the difficult choices on the balances to be made between an increase in council tax or cuts in services. "We also plan to consult our citizens' panel on council tax issues early in the new year." The council's cabinet will look at the implications of the settlement at its meeting on Monday and final budget decisions are made in February. Hampshire will receive a grant settlement of £120m, an increase of two per cent which is the minimum increase for 2006/07. £21.6m of this is a temporary sum to offset a loss of grant due to impact in 2008/09 as government moves this sum to the north of England in its redistribution of funding.
