Burnham-On-Sea’s MP has joined several MPs in presenting a petition to the Speaker in Parliament with 17,000 signatories from across the UK calling for a better deal for our rural areas.
Tessa Munt says the current way that central government funding is given to local areas is weighted more to urban areas, which she believes is unfair for Somerset.
Tessa told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It is right and fair that rural areas like Somerset should get a fair deal from central Government.”
“In Somerset we have greater costs in many areas, most notably transport and fuel costs as well as things like rural policing amongst others. For too long the cities have been getting more money per head of population – this inequality should end.”
The petition called: “The petitioners believe that the Local Government Finance Settlement is unfair to rural communities; notes that the Rural Penalty sees urban areas receive 50% more support per head than rural areas despite higher costs in rural service delivery; and opposes the planned freezing of this inequity in the 2013/14 settlement for six years until 2020. The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to reduce the Rural Penalty in staged steps by at least 10% by 2020.”
