Councils across Portsmouth area face budget blackholes despite extra government funds
COUNCILS around the area have welcomed an additional cash boost from government in the pandemic – but have warned they still face gaping holes in their budgets.
Following an initial fund to local authorities to cover costs and losses incurred during the lockdown, a second grant was announced totalling £1.6bn nationwide.
Outside of the county council Portsmouth City Council has received the largest amount of cash in Hampshire with £5,939,203 awarded – adding to the previous amount of £6,011,540.
However, this does not fully compensate for its predicted shortfall as an additional £7m has been spent and it has a predicted £17m loss of income due to scrapped parking charges and business rates, and delayed council tax payments and rents.
Leader Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: 'It still leaves us with a big gap of many millions of pounds.
‘We have taken the government at their word when they said spend what you need to make sure people are safe and so services are provided. We hope they keep to that but we are not certain they will.'
In Fareham the council has been given £1,156,628 on top of the previous fund of £33,966.
Cllr Sean Woodward, leader of Fareham council, said: 'It's certainly true to say it's an awful lot better than the few thousand we were given before - I made significant representation to the government about that.
'If this lockdown goes on over the months we are probably looking at a loss of £3m and the government has now given us £1m so obviously we will be looking for more support.
'It's a mix of expenditure and income - our expenditure has gone up while our income has gone right down.'
It is thought Fareham has spent an extra £100,000 on helping rough sleepers, new IT systems and social distancing measures. It is also expecting a loss in income of around £500,000 a month.
Havant Borough Council also received a more generous amount in the second round of funding with £1,262,535 added to its initial grant of £58,961. However, it is not known yet how much the council is predicted to lose.
Leader Cllr Michael Wilson said: 'It's certainly an improvement. I think we just need to make sure the government continue to support us as time goes on. We don't know how long this is going to last.'
The cost to Gosport Borough Council during the pandemic is expected to total £610,000 – with £300,000 extra spending and a £310,000 loss of income. The council received £44,116 in the first tranche of government funding and has now been awarded an additional £841,471.
Cllr Mark Hook, the leader of Gosport council, said: 'I'm delighted that the government has given us the funding to meet the additional expenditure and the loss of income. We're very pleased that the government is supporting us during this difficult time.'
Hampshire County Council was given a grant of £24,313,635 to add to its original government fund of £29,654,341.