COUNCIL and police chiefs in North Yorkshire are facing up to savage cash cuts after the full impact of the public spending squeeze was revealed.

City of York Council is to lose almost £12.3 million of Government cash over the next two years, after local authorities yesterday discovered the massive funding reductions they must deal with in 2011/12 and 2012/13.

North Yorkshire Police, meanwhile, will see its funding fall by nine per cent during that period, it learned yesterday.

The Government’s formula grant for York has been slashed by 13.3 per cent (£7.632 million) in 2011/12 and 10.1 per cent (£4.639 million) in 2012/13, although the authority had feared next year’s decrease could reach 15 per cent.

Last-minute lobbying by council leader Andrew Waller saw changes to funding mechanisms secure an extra £2.54 million for the city, while York’s schools will receive a £1 million “pupil premium”.

The council’s chief executive Kersten England said: “There has been movement around the margins, but there are still massive challenges ahead for York.

“The profile of the reductions has been altered and that is really welcome because it gives us more time, so it is not as bad as it could have been. Nonetheless, we still face significant gaps in terms of the services we run and what is required to run them.

“Everything we are doing through the More for York efficiency programme needs to continue, but we also have to look at how we deliver services to communities. They are all under active review, because efficiencies alone will not get us there.”

Coun James Alexander, who heads the council’s Labour opposition, said: “The cuts just got real for York and this will mean more reductions in services and jobs.”

North Yorkshire Police Authority (NYPA) will lose 5.1 per cent of its Government funding next year and 6.7 per cent the year after, with all 43 forces in England and Wales facing the same scenario.

Grants for specific crimefighting measures and basic command units will be absorbed into this central funding settlement, creating an overall drop of four per cent in 2011/12 and five per cent in 2012/13.

Following the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in October, the region’s police chiefs envisaged a four per cent cash cut each year for the next four years, saying this would mean huge challenges to protect communities and avoid affecting frontline policing. Last month, NYPA’s chief finance officer Joanna Carter raised fears the force’s budget may fall by £28 million within four years.

North Yorkshire Police and NYPA said they would make a full statement over the next few days about how they intend to deal with the financial outlook. Funding levels for 2013/14 and 2014/15 will be revealed at a later date.


Axe wielded across region

THE Government cash axe will mean funding gaps running into millions of pounds for other councils across the region.

Over the next two years, the authorities’ individual formula grants, representing the portion of their income which does not come from council tax, will shrink dramatically.

The biggest hits are being “front-loaded”, due the Government’s dire financial situation, meaning the heaviest decreases in funding will hit home in 2011/12, although some authorities had raised concerns ahead of yesterday’s announcement that the amounts they would receive from Westminster could be sliced even further.

North Yorkshire County Council will lose £19.3 million of its grant next year and £10 million the year after, with £1.4 million being sliced from Selby District Council’s settlement over this period.

The funding allocation for East Riding of Yorkshire Council is set to fall by £22.6 million over the two years, with Ryedale and Hambleton district councils each losing £1.1 million.

Council bosses were last night assessing the full impact of the announcement, but have already confirmed jobs will be lost and services will be affected across the region, with some authorities already having outlined proposals for making savings.