14 Jan 2025
Health Matters:
Rural Financial Crisis Deepens: RSN Analysis Exposes Stark Funding Inequities in Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement (Link now expired)
Northumberland Gazette:
MP reveals frustration at ‘slow progress’ of plans for Berwick Academy in speech criticising quality of public services in North Northumberland
Route One:
Could Bus Services Bill help to address decline in rural provision?
In an adjournment debate on 22 January 2025 about public services in rural areas, MPs cited RSN data to highlight the rural funding gap. One MP noted that, “according to the Rural Services Network, those in predominantly rural areas pay 20% more in council tax than those in urban areas, yet urban areas enjoy 41% higher government-funded spending power”. This stark statistic was used to illustrate how rural communities often “miss out” in public service funding, prompting calls for the government to address the imbalance.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-01-22/debates/B83C015E-4A32-46E0-BC7E-7BBB7747E478/PublicServicesRuralAreas
