WHILST half a million pounds of new Covid-19 funding from the Government is coming to West Devon, it is the lowest amount allocated to an authority in Devon and not enough, borough council leader Neil Jory has expressed.

The council will receive £555,735 of the £33-million second tranche of government funding allocated to Devon.

The money is to give councils the resources they need to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

But Cllr Neil Jory said whilst the money was welcomed the council was ‘disappointed’ that it was one of the few district councils in the country whose allocation of the funding was less than £1-million.

It was also receiving less than South Hams — £866,545, Torridge — £685,208, North Devon — £965,336, Mid Devon £825,286, Teignbridge — £1,342,148 and East Devon — £1,467,105.

‘The funding has been allocated partly based on population and in a sparsely populated area such as West Devon, we are always going to lose out on funding based on our population,’ he said.

‘We will continue to lobby our MPs going forward for a more sustainable funding package.

‘The amount received will only partly cover our income shortfalls and increased costs which are projected to be £2.6-million for 2020/21.

‘Therefore we hope there will be future funding packages for councils to fully compensate us for our loss of funding streams.

‘The council is working quickly to deliver lifelines to local businesses and has now paid out £12.6-million of government grant funding to 1,070 businesses.’

More than £36-million was provided to councils in March by central government.

The first round of funding saw the majority of the cash handed to the top tier authorities, with £35-million of the £36.7-million handed to Devon, Torbay and Plymouth councils, but the second tranche has seen the eight district councils handed a larger slice totalling nearly £8-million.

The additional support will mean councils can continue to provide essential services, such as adult social care and children’s services, while also providing support to people impacted by the coronavirus.

Devon’s district councils were unanimous in stating that the first round of finance was not enough and that the coronavirus crisis and lockdown measures were leaving them facing significant and catastrophic financial pressures unless additional funds were provided by government.

Announcing the new funding, secretary of state for communities and local government Robert Jenrick said the country’s councils were making ‘extraordinary efforts’:

‘Councils are playing a central role in our national fight against coronavirus and the Government continues to back them at this challenging time.

‘We are backing local district councils and a clear majority will receive at least £1-million in additional funding.’

Mid Devon District Council’s chief executive Stephen Walford said that whilst he welcomed the emergency funding and the ministry seemed to have recognised the pressures on districts in the short term, the total funding nationally in total was now £3.2-billion when the current estimates of the total cost were around £10-billion.