Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

The Governement has announced an increased grant for WWDC.
Following the announcement on grant distribution to local authorities, West Wiltshire District Council has received notification of a new two-year provisional settlement from 2006/07 and 2007/08.

WWDC will receive £7.665m compared to £6.363m in 2005/06. This figure includes an estimated £500k for the additional costs of administering Concessionary Fares but is still a nett increase of some three quarters of a million pounds.

For the following year, 2007/08, WWDC will receive £8.275m compared to £7.665m in 2006/07, a cash increase of £610k.

This result compares favourably to previous years even allowing for the fact that £598k (2006/07) and £320k (2007/08) has been deducted from the settlement by the government. This will be used with other funds to subsidise other authorities.

This settlement is undoubtedly good news for the tax payers of West Wiltshire and exceeds the figure that the previous administration received. In both of those years we kept the council tax increase below 5% by cutting waste and concentrating on core services. It will be interesting to see what increase is proposed by Sarah Content and her colleagues.

When the Lib Dems took control earlier this year they 'inherited' a council with a firm financial base, cash reserves and a long term financial plan. What they have in mind is anyone's guess but even they will not dare to go back to their old ways of 7 and 8% tax increases, will they? Also, now that two years worth of settlement has been announced, is there any chance that they can actually indulge in some forward planning (albeit short term), rather than the more usual crisis management?