Local Residents urged to join online Protest………..

Surrey County Council is urging residents to sign an online petition protesting at how Government funding is short-changing them. The county council has set up a petition on the website of the Prime Minister's Office demanding fairer funding levels for Surrey. Leader Nick Skellett launched the petition after the Government's latest settlement effectively left the county council in a worse financial position for the fourth financial year in a year in a row since the Government changed the funding system in 2006/07.

The county council's Government grant for 2009/10 increased by 1.75 per cent at a time when inflation is 3.1 per cent and most other English counties received four per cent. The pressures have been increased by the extra demands placed on the county council's services by the recession.

The county council is calling for an independent commission to take the politics out of distributing funding to local authorities across the country so they can offer the same level of service to their residents as each other.
The Government gives Surrey residents £205 funding per person for services, which is way below the national average of £595. Manchester gets £856 for every person it serves. Whitehall’s limited funding means residents’ council tax has to pay for 81 per cent of services.

People in Surrey make a net contribution of £5.5 billion annually to the Government – and that means every man, woman and child in the county contributes £5,100 to the public purse.

The county council’s petition states:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to urgently review
funding levels for local government in Surrey"

Complete your e-petition at:

//petitions.number10.gov.uk/Surrey-Funding