Council writes to Government over business support cuts
East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) has contacted the Government to air its concerns about funding cuts to local business support.
The ERYC has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government about cuts to long-term investment funding for the region.
Its letter highlights how the council has been impacted by a significant reduction in funding. This is due to a lack of a long-term replacement for investment previously received from the European Structural and Investment Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and the Rural England Prosperity fund.
A sub-committee meeting also received an update with regards to the Pride in Place programme.
It was noted that rural areas had received a disproportionately low share of the funding, relative to need.
These shortfalls come alongside the Fair Funding Review which has removed £32.2 million from the council’s funding settlement.
One of the key issues that is detrimental to the council funding is that the new funding formula does not take into account the region’s rurality, population spread or cost of delivering services across a large geographic area.
The scale and pace of the funding changes now being implemented, combined with the absence of meaningful loss-based transitional protection are profound and a major risk to the council’s financial stability and sustainability.
The council therefore resolved to write to the Secretary of State to highlight its concerns
Councillor Anne Handley, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Leader, said: “The lack of long-term funding for investment, from the Government, is deeply concerning. These cuts threaten our ability to deliver business investment or support growth across our region.”