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Gloucestershire Business News

Council is vanishing, say Lib Dems

Gloucester is one of the cities hardest hit by cuts to local government funding, according to a report.

Think tank Centre for Cities said Gloucester saw a 23 per cent cut in its day-to-day spending in 2017-18, compared to 2009-10.

The city is in eighth spot in the top 10 of hardest hit areas according to the report. Liverpool and Barnsley are worst hit by cuts to local government budgets, followed by Doncaster, Wakefield, Blackburn, Newcastle, Stoke-on-Trent, Gloucester, Glasgow and Slough.

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, leader of Gloucester Liberal Democrats, said: "This is further proof that Gloucester City Council is vanishing. The council will soon be leaving The Docks and moving into a rented and cramped floor of Shire Hall.

"And now the Centre for Cities report confirms what we have long known in the city, that austerity cuts have gone too far in Gloucester. There are 245 fewer staff employed at the council, services are in decline and Streetcare contractor Amey is failing.

"Gloucester City Council really has become the 'vanishing council'."

The Centre for Cities said cities have borne nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of all real-terms local government funding cuts in the last decade. This is equivalent to a reduction of £386 per city dweller since 2009/10, compared to £172 per person living elsewhere.

Dr Rebecca Trimnell, Lib Dem parliamentary spokeswoman for Gloucester, said: "In last year's Budget the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, promised that 'austerity is coming to an end'. The government must use the Spending Review to ensure that when it promised to end austerity, it applies to local government.

"Gloucester City Council is under huge financial pressure and cannot keep cutting and cutting. If we are not careful, the council will just vanish.

"A Liberal Democrat government is committed to reforming local government finances by reforming council tax, replacing business rates by taxing land and giving councils enhanced borrowing powers."

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