‘The scale and pace of the funding changes are a major risk to the council’s stability and sustainability’
The Leader of East Riding Council has written to central government and is demanding an end to ‘threatening cuts’
East Riding Council has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to criticise cuts to long-term investment funding for the region. It makes clear that the cuts threaten business investment in East Yorkshire and will inevitably limit growth across the region.
The letter has been sent to Angela Rayner MP, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. It highlights in strong terms how East Riding Council has been impacted by a significant reduction in funding.
The authority believes this is due to a lack of a long-term replacement for investment previously received from the European Structural and Investment Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Rural England Prosperity fund. An agreement to send the letter was made at a committee meeting earlier this summer.
One of the key issues that is detrimental to the authority’s funding is that the new formula does not take into account the region’s rural nature, its population spread or cost of delivering services across a large geographic area, according to Cllr Anne Handley, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Leader.
She explained the scale and pace of the funding changes now being implemented, combined with the absence of meaningful loss-based transitional protection are a major risk to the council’s stability and sustainability.
Cllr Handley (Conservative – Goole North ward) said: “The lack of long-term funding for investment, from the government, is deeply concerning. These cuts threaten our ability to deliver business investment or support growth across our region.”
When East Riding Council formally approved its budget for the 2026/27 financial year in February councillors shared frustration and disappointment with what they described as ‘one of the worst government funding settlements in the country’.
Local leaders across the political spectrum criticised the outcome of the government’s Fairer Funding Review, asserting that the new system penalises the East Riding for its unique rural and coastal geography.
This government agreement contributed towards an East Riding budget that included a 4.99% increase in council tax to address a permanent reduction in central government funding. The council chamber heard how the authority is being forced to find £41.8 million in savings by 2030 to maintain financial stability.
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Alongside core budget concerns, the authority is also closely monitoring the Pride in Place programme. It has noted that rural areas have received a disproportionately low share of the funding, relative to what they need to make meaningful change happen.
The Pride in Place Programme, announced in September 2025, is a government initiative that is delivering funding to regions around the UK. In the East Riding it will invest up to £19.6 million over ten years to support meaningful, long-term change in two areas: Bridlington West and Withernsea East & Patrington.
Neighbourhood Boards are now in place for each Pride in Place area in the East Riding. Plans on how to spend the funding are expected to be agreed by the end of November.
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