LIKE the vast majority of the population, your correspondent Peter Stokes (Letters, February 8) is ill-informed about the finances of local government.

While such finances are complicated, this does not excuse the absence of good explanation.

With an ill-informed public, it allows nonsense to be spouted about local government finances with the sure knowledge that any objections will not prove too embarrassing.

So when the leader of Bournemouth council states “our government grant will completely cease to exist by 2020”, he is being selective about which government grant he is referring to.

A quick look at Bournemouth council’s accounts shows a spend of £500million, most of which is from government grants.

Other council income includes £74m raised from council tax and £29m from a total of the £67m collected in local commercial rates.

Also, council income includes charging users for certain services: rents, car parking, day care, etc.

These are not totalled in Bournemouth’s accounts. Elsewhere, accounts suggest something like £80m would be raised from additional income.

The government grant that will “completely cease to exist by 2020” is the Rate Support Grant which provides £27.6m, or 5.05 per cent of Bournemouth’s finance.

Bournemouth council already planned to find cuts of £26m from its budgets by 2018, mainly because of just such lost government grants.

DR MARTIN RODGER

Bloxworth Road, Parkstone

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