Council chiefs in the North East this week called for major changes to the local government finance settlement for 2013-14 before it is finalised in February.
As part of a consultation with ministers, the Association of North East Councils (ANEC) – representing the 12 local authorities in the North East – proposed a raft of reforms to the provisional settlement, unveiled by communities secretary Eric Pickles last December. ANEC urged the Government to ‘rethink the top-slice of unnecessary cuts of £115m, to reduce the impact on council budgets', and also called for a ‘review of the operation of New Homes Bonus (NHB) as a matter of urgency, to provide more equality across the scheme'.
