Councils in UK forced to ransack their Highway budget to fund social care
The Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) has reacted with concern at the findings of new analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) that by 2020 almost 60p in every £1 that people pay in council tax may have to be spent on social care leaving less to fund essential road maintenance in the Highway budget. This is up from 41p in 2010/11.
The analysis underlines the strain being placed on council’s budgets as they struggle with ever decreasing government funding. By 2020, local government in England will have lost 75 pence out of every £1 of Revenue Support Grant funding that it received from government to spend in 2015. Almost half of all councils – 168 councils – will no longer receive any of this core central government funding by 2019/20.
Government plans to allow local government as a whole to keep all of its business rates income by the end of the decade are in doubt after the Local Government Finance Bill, which was passing through parliament before the election, was not reintroduced in the Queen’s Speech.
“By 2020 it is predicted that only 5p in every pound of council tax will be spent on roads and street-lighting,” warned Howard Robinson, RSTA chief executive. “The result will be more poorly maintained roads and more portholes.”
He continued: “Local government in England faces a £5.8 billion funding gap by 2020. The Government must recognise that councils cannot continue without sufficient resources that enable adequate funding for all areas of council services.
The local road network is a council’s most important asset yet they are forced to ransack their highways budget to fund other services.”
