Responding to the impact of the Spending Review on Local Government, Phil Cotton, south region chairman at KPMG, says: “Things continue to look tough for local government and UK’s cities.
“The impact of the 10% cut in the local government grant will be hard, compounded by the structural change in some local authority spend on education and adult social care. Plus, the impact of ongoing public sector job losses will be felt in cities across the South West. Local government and their cities will continue to face the dual challenge of reducing spend whilst stimulating local growth.
“Tomorrow’s announcements of the single growth funds will be welcome, but we also think now is the time to seriously consider giving cities and local authorities much greater fiscal autonomy. And in return local authorities should start thinking about creatively using both hard and soft assets to spur-on local growth and take some bold steps.”
