Claims council funding in rural Devon is 'anything but fair'
Urban councils, which have areas with more deprivation, have seen the largest increase in their core spending power
A rural Devon council is set to be around £750,000 short over the next three years after losing out in a fair funding review which favours urban areas.
Councillors were told at a meeting this week that the government’s review had been “anything but fair” for shire district councils like West Devon Borough Council.
Those were the words of head of finance (151 officer) Lisa Buckle who presented a balanced budget to the audit and governance committee on Tuesday for 2026/27 despite a reduction in government funding of 7.5 per cent over the next three years.
Urban councils, which have areas with more deprivation, have seen the largest increase in their core spending power, which is the money councils have to spend on local services.
Mrs Buckle warned that the budget gap in 2027/28 would rise to more than half a million and to more than £1 million by 2028/29 when district councils are abolished and the new larger unitary councils take their place.
She said that the council had hoped for an uplift in its core spending power after the government agreed to multi year settlements for local authorities instead of annual ones for the first time in a decade but this was not the reality. Officers have put the case to ministers that rural areas also have deprivation but is harder to see and the cost of providing services is more costly because of the sparsity factor.
Mrs Buckle said any significant change to the council’s final financial settlement which would be announced next month was unlikely.
She told councillors: “The fair funding review has been anything but fair as shire district councils have received the lowest amount of funding for the next three years. We used to get funding for the remoteness factor but that has been taken away.”
The rural services delivery grant, worth £500,000 each year to the council, had also been discontinued, and there was no extra money for an increase in seasonal population.
The 151 officer said some of the losses had been made up in other ways but the council would be around £250,000 a year worse off.
Net expenditure for the council in 2026/27 will be £9.8 million and council tax will go up by the maximum of 2.99 per cent which equates to an £8.05 rise per year on a Band D property.
This will be added to the precept set by the parish council and other elements which make up the council tax bill including Devon Council Council, the police and fire service.
Members of the council’s audit and government committee agreed to the budget proposals which include putting £120,000 from the second homes council tax premium into a housing priority fund.
Garden waste is set to go up from £65 to £70 due to contractor costs rising – amounting to a £30 increase in this service over the last few years.
The council had to consider some “difficult options” but had done that in order to not impact direct core service delivery, a report to the committee said.
All departments were asked to make savings.
Mrs Buckle said all district councils would have to have a prudent level of reserves before being abolished and these would then fall to new unitary authorities to manage.
West Devon Borough Council will have just over £9 million in earmarked reserves and £1.9 million in unearmarked reserves at the end of the current financial year.
Total borrowing stands at £26 million.