A high-level delegation from Wyre Forest today (Tuesday) met Bob Neill MP, part of the Ministerial team at the Department for Communities and Local Government, to press the case for a fairer funding deal for Wyre Forest District Council. The delegation was led by Council Leader, Councillor John Campion, who was accompanied by Mark Garnier MP and Ian Miller, Chief Executive of the Council.
Councillor Campion said: “We requested an urgent meeting with the local government Ministerial team, following the announcement of the provisional local government settlement which would see Wyre Forest District Council lose 29% of its Government grant in the next two years. We recognise that Wyre Forest must play its part in public expenditure reductions, but we believe that those reductions must be fairly shared across local government and that we should have enough time to implement changes of this scale.
“I was able to draw the Minister’s attention to several inequalities of the provisional settlement that I believe unduly affects Wyre Forest, and shared with him our analysis of the impact on the district. We were pleased to be able to report to the Minister that Wyre Forest had made significant savings over previous years including reducing its senior management costs by 35% last year, improving procurement and working with other councils. We were able to demonstrate that we had an excellent track record of diverting resources from bureaucracy to front-line services, and that our modest revenue reserves will be fully committed over the next 3 years.”
Mark Garnier MP said: “I was delighted to be part of the delegation, to demonstrate my support for more equitable funding for the District Council and in order to ensure that essential local services can continue to be delivered. I have worked with the Council since I was elected to champion the case for Wyre Forest, and I will continue to apply appropriate pressure to Ministers as they finalise their decisions over the coming weeks.”