Lincolnshire County Council is to up its share of the council tax by 2.99 per cent while its leader stated it had 600 miles of road in ‘poor’ condition but also that roads are ‘above average’ quality.
It voted through its budget increasing the council tax for a Band D property from £1,578.69 to £1,625.85 per year.
The move is expected to generate £11.7 million in additional income.
Leader Coun Martin Hill said there seemed to be a large ‘financial shift,’ with more money from central government being given to urban authorities compared to rural areas, in turn making ‘rural counties suffer even more’.
While putting forward an amendment, Independent Group leader Coun Phil Dilks questioned why the Conservative administration hadn’t chosen to increase council tax by the maximum amount.
“Has the campaigning already started?” he asked, hinting toward county council elections set to take place on Thursday, May 1.
The Conservative-led council were also accused of electioneering and being worried about Reform candidates in the election after tabling a motion calling on the government to limit immigration.
On the roads, Coun Hill told the council: “It’s great to see we put a huge effort into keeping Lincolnshire moving, repairing 100,000 potholes and improving footpaths.
“Spending on road maintenance was at record levels and the condition of our unclassified roads has improved significantly while we have maintained the condition of our A, B and C roads.
“Our principle road network is in a better state than the average rural authority.”
But a letter to central government from the authority says over 600 miles of roads ‘are considered poor or very poor’ due to a lack of funding, the Local Democracy service reports.
“Simply the local government finance system is not fit for purpose,” the county’s recently-published submission says.
“The funding formula currently used by the government to distribute grants sees LCC loses out on an estimated £120m per annum for our area each year, as the current funding method does not accurately reflect the costs of delivering rural services to sparsely populated areas.”
LCC has made £380m of cuts since 2010.
“These cuts have significantly impacted local bus services which in a rural county, can make it extremely difficult for those without access to a car or other transport, to go about their day-to-day lives,” the submission says.
