Torbay faces massive savings amid alarm bells over finances

The government has been told it has got its sums wrong when calculating how much money Torbay needs.

Local MPs fear the bay’s council will soon have to consider making savings of nearly £10million a year just to keep services at their current level. They are urging the government to go back to the drawing board.
The bay recently found out how much it is to receive from the government in its annual funding settlement, and for the first time it has also been told how much is coming in the following two years.
Now the two MPs whose constituencies cover the bay have sounded alarm bells over how the bay’s cash settlement will tumble.
Liberal Democrat MPs Steve Darling (Torbay) and Caroline Voaden (South Devon) have jointly penned a letter to Alison McGovern, the minister for local government and homelessness, urging her to think again.
The government will give the bay just over £204million towards providing local services in 2026/27, a figure which has been welcomed.
But the increases for the next two years of the multi-year settlement are causing concern.
The MPs say the crucial Core Spending Power (CSP) position for the bay has been set to increase by one per cent in year two and just 0.9 per cent in year three, both estimates significantly below the predicted inflation rate.
On top of that, the MPs say the government is using ‘distorted’ figures to calculate changes in the bay’s economy – factoring in a recent one-off review of single-person discounts and the recent introduction of extra council tax on second homes.
Using those figures, the government thinks the bay’s economy will grow by 1.8 per cent a year, whereas the more likely figure is 0.5 per cent.
The MPs’ letter says: “Torbay is the 39th most deprived upper-tier council in England, yet our CSP is lower than councils in the least deprived group.
“The scale of savings required will halt regeneration projects and initiatives critical to breaking cycles of deprivation and improving life chances.
“Without changes, the settlement will undermine both local ambitions and national priorities to improve outcomes for deprived communities.”