From: "John Reynolds" To: "Bar Hill Parish Council" ; "Bar Hill News" ; "Bar Hill website" ; "Binnie Harvey-Boxworth" ; "Dry Drayton News" ; "Dry Drayton Website" ; "Girton Parish Council" ; "Girton Parish News" ; "Girton Website" ; "Irish Nick-Dry Drayton" ; "Lolworth Parish Council" Subject: Council Tax Settlement reaction Date: 09 December 2007 20:08 BUDGET SETTLEMENT 'A KICK IN THE TEETH' FOR CAMBRIDGESHIRE Cambridgeshire County Council will be given its lowest grant increase in 10 years - just 2% for 2008-09. This compares with a county average increase of 5.6%. In 2009-10 the increase will be another 2% (county average 4.2%) and in 2010-11 it will be 2.2% (county average 4.1%). Conservative Council Leader Keith Walters said: "It is early days and we need time to analyse this settlement and its implications, but on the face of it, this is another kick in the teeth for the residents of Cambridgeshire. "What is clear is that Cambridgeshire's grant increase is well below inflation for the next three years - in real terms this actually represents a cut in grant. "At a time when Cambridgeshire is trying to cope with unprecedented demand for its services, the Government gives us yet another hopelessly inadequate settlement, which is going to put us in dire financial straits for the next three years. "The rising demand for social care, rocketing oil prices, the increasing numbers of elderly residents and the wide-ranging pressures resulting from the massive house building programme are just a few of the pressures we are facing now and will continue to face over the coming years. "This settlement is wholly unfair and places a quite unreasonable burden on the County Council and its taxpayers." John Reynolds