By David Ottewell and Richard Whitehouse

An “extra” £17 million promised to Cornwall Council will come entirely from local taxpayers, government figures suggest.

MP James Brokenshire last week unveiled a funding package for councils for 2019/20 which he said would see them “share an extra £1.3bn”.

The communities secretary said the settlement would see the “core spending power” of councils across England increase from £45.1bn in 2018/19 to £46.4bn in 2019/20.

Figures released as part of the announcement showed Cornwall’s “core spending power” would increase from £457.5m to £474.1m – a boost of £16.6m.

Close inspection of the data suggests, however, that all of that money will be coming from local taxpayers, and not the Treasury.

Core spending power is worked out by adding together money that councils receive from the government and money they raise locally through council tax.

It represents all the cash that councils have to provide all core services – including social care for children and vulnerable adults,

recycling, and education. Core services are those that a council must, by law, provide.

Mr Brokenshire’s figures assume Cornwall will raise £301.4m in council tax in 2019/20, compared to £281.1m in 2018/19. That is an increase of £20.3m.

When that is taken out of the equation, Cornwall will have £3.7m LESS in other funding in 2019/20 than it had in 2018/19.

Councils have been warning for years that they are struggling to cope with years of funding cuts.

As recently as 2010/11 – when the Conservatives came to power as part of a coalition with the Lib Dems – Cornwall Council’s spending power was £513.5m a year.

It has fallen by £56m since then.

Nationally, the government figures assume a council tax increase of just under £1.6bn. Again, that accounts for all of the £1.3bn “extra” funding – and then some.

Mr Brokenshire said he was “delivering a settlement which paves the way for a fairer, more self-sufficient and resilient future for local government and a brighter future for the people and places they serve”.

He added: “This settlement delivers a real-terms increase in spending for local authorities in 2019 to 2020 and gives them more control over the money they raise too, while protecting residents against excessive council tax rises.”

Julian German, deputy leader of Cornwall Council, said he had not had an opportunity to break down the details of the local government funding settlement, but said: “We are hoping that in the detail there is a little bit extra.”

However he said the announcements about any increases for local councils were based on an assumption that they would raise council tax by 3%.

Cornwall Council’s draft budget is based on increasing the council’s share of council tax by 2% along with a 2% precept for adult social care funding – an overall increase of 4%.

With the council set to end its public consultation on its budget proposals on Monday (Dec 17) Cllr German said it was “unlikely” that the council would then go back and propose to raise council tax by an extra 1%.

Final council tax bills will also include charges for town and parish councils and the police. Cornwall Council is aiming to set its budget in February 2019.

Lord Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “Next year will continue to be hugely challenging for all councils, who still face an overall funding gap of £3.2bn in 2019/20.

“It is therefore disappointing that the Government has not used the settlement to provide further desperately-needed resources for

councils next year.

“Many councils will be forced to take tough decisions about which services have to be scaled back or stopped altogether to plug funding gaps. We must not forget that it is individuals and communities who feel the impact, whether it is through seeing their local library or leisure centre close, roads deteriorate or support for young people, families and vulnerable adults scaled back.”

To take part in Cornwall Council’s consultation on its budget proposals go to www.cornwall.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/have-your-say/budget-engagement/