Norfolk council leader urges government over £148m cuts

David Bick, Reform leader at Norfolk County Council, has accused the government of "not understanding" the pressures on rural communities as he warned the authority faces a multi-million-pound funding gap between next year and 2031.

The authority already needs to make £36m of cuts and savings to balance its books for the forthcoming financial year and Mr Bick said that, without the government taking action to "correct" the funding trajectory, some £343m of cost pressures are "not sustainable".

County Hall (Image: Mike Page)

Ahead of the budget, Mr Bick has written to chancellor John Healey and local government secretary Angela Rayner urging them to ensure rural areas like Norfolk are treated with better understanding over what it costs to provide services.

In his letter, Mr Bick said: "Demand for adult social care, children's services, SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) provision and home-to-school transport – all services stipulated by government through statute – continues to rise faster than funding, leaving Norfolk with a significant gap while residents bear the consequences.

"It leaves the strong impression that the government does not understand or empathise with rural communities."

Mr Bick said the current funding which County Hall gets from the government does not take into account the higher costs of providing services across a large, rural county and means council tax is increasingly having to be hiked to help cover costs.

He added: "The current funding settlement will deepen the funding gap, increase regional inequalities, constrain investment in prevention, and ultimately transfer national policy costs to local taxpayers.

"I therefore urge the government to use the forthcoming Budget to provide a larger and fairer funding settlement to Norfolk and other rural communities."

Chancellor John Healey (Image: Annabel Lee-Ellis)

This newspaper asked the Treasury and the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government for comments, but neither government department responded.