North East councils have joined a call for fairer funding after a report showed the region’s devolution deal will restore only a fraction of the cash lost in years of Government costs.
The Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (Sigoma) - which includes councils in Newcastle, Gateshead, North and South Tyneside, Sunderland and County Durham - has called for a shake-up of council funding to focus on local needs rather than rewarding economic growth.
A report from the group - which has been published as voters head to the polls in Tyne and Wear’s five council areas - said that councils in the North East are collectively worse off by nearly £700m a year due to successive Government budget cuts, while the new North East devolution deal is worth around £48m a year. Newcastle has lost £127.9m a year due to cuts over the last 13 years, the report says, the equivalent of £935.87 per household. Durham County Council is said to be £147.7m worse off each year.
