Many wonder just why Newcastle City Council intends such savage cuts to valued services when other councils are avoiding wholesale slash and burn.

For example Newcastle will close ten libraries whilst Durham County will reduce opening hours but close none. Gateshead will continue to fund the arts but not Newcastle. The Council leadership would have you believe that Newcastle is being singled out and has to cope with the biggest cuts of all.

There’s no doubt that councils in areas of greatest deprivation and disadvantage are bearing the biggest cuts – they rightly get much more in the first place. But what are the facts? Four of the other eleven councils in our region are worse-off than Newcastle. It has lost £142 per head whilst Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and South Tyneside have lost more – in the latter two cases over £180 per head.

It’s not that the North East as a whole is losing more than any other region, because North West councils have, cumulatively, lost more. And it’s not a north v south issue. Cities like Birmingham and Nottingham have lost more than Newcastle, whilst some London boroughs are the hardest hit of all. Hackney has lost £244 per head to date, Newham £226.

This year Newcastle still receives £558 per head from government under the formula. Wokingham, quoted as being let off lightest of all unitary authorities, receives £119 per head support.

Strangely, many council areas that receive less per head than Newcastle from government actually get less on average from their own council tax too. Hull gets £541 per head in grant but only £854 per property in council tax compared to Newcastle’s £1039 average. Doncaster gets £450 per head in grant but only £889 in council tax per property.

All this tells us  that the local government funding formula is not fit for purpose. In its 13 years in Government Labour had opportunities to make it fairer and simpler – but didn’t.

Newcastle’s Labour politicians would have you believe that the Government cuts amount to £90m. Actually, the cuts are estimated at £39m spread over three years by the council, the other £51m being a whole range of other financial pressures and commitments. However, note that the grant reduction for next year is under £9m out of £158m. So we ask again, why the slash and burn?

Councils have choices – choices about the level of council tax, which services to cut, how to save money by sharing services or exiting unprofitable trading activities. Newcastle chooses to spend one million pounds on the “living wage” supplement when no other council in the region thinks it’s the right time to trade off jobs and services for wages. Newcastle also chooses to take on more staff to support Labour politicians – an outrage.

We will challenge the council on the choices they have made, as we do not agree with many of their draconian service cuts. These are tough times but residents should not be taken in by the spin and bluster.

BUDGET INFO – FORMULA GRANT TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES: CONTEXT

1. Many councils have had a bigger per capita CUT in formula grant than Newcastle

(Newcastle Finance Director’s own figures from his heat map, TOTAL AREA CHANGE 10/11 In Yr Cuts, 11/12 & 12/13 Cuts Inc Transition & New Ctax Freeze Grant &Prov NHB Allocs)

Hackney-£244.91

Liverpool-£228.56

Knowsley-£227.74

Newham-£226.73

Tower Hamlets -£196.22

Manchester-£191.41

Blackburn with Darwen -£187.84

South Tyneside -£182.65

Hartlepool-£180.51

Islington-£179.24

St Helens-£162.70

Southwark-£161.42

Rochdale-£158.27

Middlesbrough-£156.47

Haringey-£154.10

Kingston upon Hull-£149.26

Birmingham-£149.03

Lambeth-£148.00

Greenwich-£146.30

Sunderland-£145.35

Halton   -£144.90

Doncaster-£144.04

Nottingham-£143.16

NEWCASTLE 142.74

Salford  -£142.03

North East Lincolnshire  -£139.57

Camden-£138.58

Redcar and Cleveland-£138.03

Oldham                -£135.62

Gateshead-£132.81

1. Most councils receive far less than Newcastle’s £558  per capita Formula Grant per head (2012/13 figures)

Examples – Nottingham £551  Sheffield £472  Bristol £383  Leeds £358 among the core cities

Plus some other districts who worse than Newcastle in the index of multiple deprivation:

Bradford £488

Rochdale £519

Blackburn £550

Hull £541

Stoke £510

Hartlepool £527

Halton £525

Doncaster £450

Bolton £432

Oldham £511

Walsall £507

Note1 :  More – Liverpool £713      Manchester £658   Birmingham £615   and some others high in the deprivation list

Note 2 – Wokingham figure is £119 per head, the lowest of all unitary authorities.

1. Many (39) councils are worse off than Newcastle in the Index of Multiple Deprivation – wehave been improving for a decade

Most deprived places in England in order   SOURCE: DCLG

Liverpool District  – 1

Hackney

Newham

Manchester District

Knowsley District

Blackpool

Tower Hamlets

Middlesbrough

Birmingham District

Hull  – 10

Burnley District

Sandwell District

Haringey

Islington

Waltham Forest

Stoke-on-Trent

Blackburn with Darwen

Salford

Hastings

Nottingham

Wolverhampton

Barking &Dagenham

Rochdale

Hartlepool

Leicester

Bradford

Halton

Greenwich

Lambeth

Walsall District

Lewisham

Barrow-in-Furness

Pendle

Hyndburn

Brent

Bolton

Oldham

Mansfield

Doncaster

Newcastle – 40

Southwark

Tameside

Gateshead

Sunderland

Preston

1. It of often said that Newcastle suffers by having fewer Band D and higher properties for council tax, so gets less in (by the way, this is allegedly catered for in the formula grant equalisation element).

However, many councils have a lower AVERAGE council tax take than Newcastle’s £1039

Wandsworth         663

Westminster         777

Manchester          817

Hull UA                   854

Doncaster              889

Sunderland           904

Sandwell                912

Birmingham           925

Wakefield              931

Tameside               941

City London           944

Stoke                      946

Bradford                953

Newham                957

STyneside              958

Derby                     961

Liverpool               961

Dudley                   961

Barnsley                 962

Halton                    971

Wigan                     971

Leicester               976

Southwark             989

Lincoln                   992

Portsmouth           998

Leeds                     998

Knowsley               1000

Bolton                    1003

St Helens               1008

Barking                   1009

Rotherham            1010

Southampton        1015

Boston                    1016

Hackney                 1017

Sheffield                                1017

Blackburn              1018

Nottingham           1019

Coventry                1025

Wolverhmptn       1026

Salford                   1027

Peterborough       1028

Hyndburn              1028

Rochdale               1029

Lambeth                                1032

Blackpool               1032

Greenwich            1033

Twer Hamlets        1034

Corby                     1034

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