RURAL FAIR SHARE

Early day motion 905, tabled 9 January 2013 by Graham Stuart (Conservative). Signed by 25 members.

That this House recognises the need for local authorities to play their part in reducing the deficit; calls for an urgent review of the impact on rural areas of the Local Government Finance Settlement announced on 19 December 2012; notes that central Government funding for local authorities is already 50 per cent higher per head in urban areas than rural ones; further recognises that the 50 per cent funding gap is justified by neither need nor cost; further notes the additional expense of delivering services in sparsely populated areas; welcomes the recognition by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in its consultation in summer 2012 that sparsity weighting should be increased; is concerned that the damping mechanism adopted by DCLG reverses all sparsity gains and increases the rural to urban funding gap by 2 per cent; and urges the Government both to implement a settlement for 2013-2014 which closes the rural to urban funding gap and sets out plans to reduce the rural to urban council funding gap from 50 per cent to no more than 40 per cent by 2020.

Signatures by party: Conservative 14, Liberal Democrat 6, DUP 3, Plaid Cymru 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.