Bradford Council is to receive £254.7 million from the Government in the next financial year, a rise of 5.6 per cent.

And the grant settlement for local authorities, which was announced yesterday, has also been agreed for the following two years, allowing councils to draw up longer-term financial plans.

Bradford is expected to get £263.9m in 2009/10 - up 3.7 per cent; and £272.3m for 2010/11 - up 3.2 per cent.

The provisional grant for 2008/09 will go towards funding the Council's spending from March next year - the balance of which will come from council tax. The final figures are expected to be confirmed in January.

The announcement was made as Local Government Minister John Healey said the funding was "fair and affordable" and warned local authorities to keep rises in council tax "substantially below" five per cent if they wanted to avoid capping.

Under the deal a smaller proportion of the funding has been "ringfenced" for specific areas of spending compared with previous years and performance targets have been slashed from 1,200 to fewer than 200 in a bid to cut red tape.

Mr Healey said: "It's a tight settlement in a tight financial climate for central and local government.

"Given the continuing above-inflation increase in grants for local authorities, given the three-year settlement for certainty to plan ahead, and given the flexibility they asked for with the slashing of ringfencing and targets, there's no reason why council tax rises should be excessive this year."

The Local Government Association said added pressure from immigration, free bus travel and an ageing population meant it faced "the worst settlement for a decade" from central Government.

Areas suffering from the most acute deprivation will also receive cash from the new Working Neighbourhoods Fund to give councils a greater role to step up action to tackle unemployment and ensure that no-one is disadvantaged by where they live. Bradford is set to receive nearly £40m over the next three years as a replacement for the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

A further £19.2m will come to Bradford each year for the Supporting People programme which helps the vulnerable live independently.

The leader of the Conservative-run Council, Councillor Kris Hopkins, said very "difficult choices" now had to be made.

"I am disappointed though hardly surprised at confirmation that this Government has once again decided to keep local people and local services well down its list of priorities," he said.

"The trend over recent years has been one of central Government piling additional responsibilities and costs upon local authorities without providing us with the funds to pay for them.

"As ever, my priority over the coming months will be to see how Bradford Council can deliver better quality services for local people in as efficient a manner as possible."

Under the 2008/9 settlement, West Yorkshire Police Authority is in line for a 3.4 per cent rise to £328.2m and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority is to receive an increase of 3.2 per cent to £55.3m.

Funds for 2009/10 and 2010/11 will increase by 3.4 per cent and 3.3 per cent for the police; and two per cent in both years for the fire service.

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