POLICE cuts have been curtailed but local government will have to slash its budget as George Osborne set the Government’s agenda for the next five years.

The Cotswolds has reacted to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement and spending review yesterday which will see 12billion in cuts to the welfare budget and £20billion in departmental cuts, but also a U-turn on deeply unpopular working tax credits.

Local government is set to take a big hit in funding, with Mr Osborne asking council’s to find up to 30 per cent, some £4.1 billion, in savings over the next four years. This comes on top of the 40 per cent in budget reductions since the Conservative administration’s first budget announcement.

The Chancellor defended the move, saying “public satisfaction with our local government services has risen”.

Despite the cuts, local authorities did have some things to celebrate, with new powers to levy two per cent in additional council tax for social care and a pledge to allow local government to set their business rates and collect the proceeds by the end of parliament.

Business rates are currently set by central government who collect the money and redistribute across the country the some £26billion collected annually.

Cotswold District Council leader Lynden Stowe said: "There were a considerable number of announcements in the Chancellor’s speech which impact on local government finances, and some of these depend upon the outcome of consultations that will be released in late December.

"Often the devil is in the detail. In particular, the proposed changes to the New Homes Bonus could potentially be bad news for Cotswold residents and taxpayers.”

George Osborne said in the spending review the government would consult on "reforms to the New Homes Bonus, including means of sharpening the incentive to reward communities for additional homes and reducing the length of payments from six years to four years."

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: "I welcome the Chancellor's announcement today. The most important thing for Gloucestershire is a successful economy, so we don't go back to the job losses and bust businesses we saw under Labour.

“It's also great he's putting a real focus on care for older people- something that's always been a priority for this council under the Conservatives. Obviously there's a lot of detail still to come out and we will be looking at the small print very closely.”

Councils will also receive an extra £10million to help homeless people.

Lord Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association, was not so positive: "It is wrong that the services our local communities rely on will face deeper cuts than the rest of the public sector yet again and for local taxpayers to be left to pick up the bill for new government policies without any additional funding.

"Even if councils stopped filling in potholes, maintaining parks, closed all children's centres, libraries, museums, leisure centres and turned off every street light they will not have saved enough money to plug the financial black hole they face by 2020."

Police officers around the country were jumping with joy at the announcement there would be no real-term cuts to their budgets, with spending on the force rising by £900million by 2020.

Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl said: “This [no cut in the police budget] is as welcome as it was surprising.

“We made all the provisions for a number of scenarios, all involving cuts, and thanks to the re-organisation carried out by the Chief Constable and her team, the force has been restructured with the aim of getting the very best results from the resources at their disposal.

“I hope we can now look forward to an extended period of stability.”

With one of oldest populations in the country, many people in the Cotswolds will benefit from the £3.35 rise in state pension next year to £119.30 a week.

England’s NHS is set to get a cash injection of £3.8billion next year as part of a £8billion package by 2020-2021, which was a manifesto-promise. However, it is also expected to make £22billion in efficiency savings.

David Owen, chief executive of GFirst LEP, said: “The Chancellor’s announcement yesterday brought good news to Gloucestershire’s business landscape with the national debt falling and our economy growing faster than any other major economy in the world, with the South West having the highest employment rate in England.

“The Chancellor said during his statement said he wants to put our national security first and recently announced during a visit to Cheltenham’s GCHQ the creation of a new cyber innovation centre.


“This is promising news for the local job market, and will hugely complement the new cyber security training centre that has been allocated £3million from GFirst LEP in the Gloucestershire Growth Deal, to be built at the Gloucestershire renewable energy, engineering and nuclear skills centre at Berkeley.

"The Chancellor made it clear that Government are keen to hand back power to local communities in his speech; encouraging news for Gloucestershire’s work towards devolution.

"Our bid for devolution outlines how Gloucestershire would benefit from the simplification of decision making from devolved powers, and where we can utilise the opportunities that arise to lead business support and growth in Gloucestershire.”