LANCASHIRE would be in line for an extra £250m of government cash per year – if ministers were to respond to a call from dozens of local authorities for fairer funding.

More than 30 county council leaders have signed an open letter urging the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to bridge a £3.2bn gap between average per-person funding in so-called “shire areas” and other parts of the country.

Lancashire County Council leader Geoff Driver, who is amongst the signatories, said that such an overhaul could allow the authority to revisit some of the savings which it has to make during a decade of austerity.

“It would mean that we could do some significant things for the people of Lancashire,” County Coun Driver said.

“I make no secret of the fact that we are having to make some reductions that we’d rather not be making, because we have had to cut our suit according to our cloth. If we were given an extra £250m, we would be able to look again at some of [those] reductions.”

The authority has seen around £600m shaved from its budget since 2010 – and has had to make over £150m of savings in just the last two years. A general government grant for local authorities has been phased out, with County Hall being one of the last to see it go in 2020.

But it is claimed that county councils have been particularly hard hit by the changes, because of existing funding unfairness between different types of authority. The letter, from members of the County Councils Network, says that counties receive an average of £240 per person in government funding, compared to £419 in metropolitan areas and £601 in inner London.

It also reveals that the average Band D council tax bill in county areas is more than double that in some parts of the capital. Lancashire County Council’s share of council tax increased by the maximum permitted amount in each of the last two years.

The leaders have called for a “cash injection” for counties next year to tide them over after a long-promised government review into fairer funding for councils was delayed by Brexit.

But Cllr Driver denies the call represents the “begging bowl” mentality which he has often decried in opposition parties when they have demanded more cash from ministers. 

“It’s not [a case of] saying ‘give us more’, like Oliver Twist. It’s saying to the government that they promised a fair funding review this year, it’s now not going to [be implemented] for three years, so they need to be looking at some emergency measures to cover that fact.”

The letter calls on the Prime Minister to address the “historic underfunding of England’s heartlands” – and also demands a “bigger funding pot” for all types of council. 

But the Conservative leader reiterated his concern that the government was considering reducing the weight attached to deprivation when deciding how much support local authorities receive from Whitehall. A consultation took place earlier this year and will feed into the wider funding review.

However, Cllr Driver said that he remains “optimistic” for the future of local government.

“[Lancashire County Council] had a deficit of £200m which we have got down to £47m – that’s £47m too much, but we are working on it to ensure that we can make the services for the people of Lancashire viable for the future.”