Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees warns of service cuts due to funding gap

Bristol City Council is facing a large funding gap over the coming years

A mayor has warned that councils could end up only providing social care and children's services, due to prolonged funding cuts.

Bristol City Council faces a funding gap of about £32m over the next five years, according to latest figures.

Local authorities have received less money from the government since 2010 alongside a rising demand for services.

Mayor Marvin Rees said there had been a "perfect storm" of increasing demand, the cost of living crisis and Covid-19.

Mr Rees said examples like Birmingham City Council, which recently effectively declared bankruptcy, showed that local authorities might eventually be unable to afford to provide all of the services they currently do, during a council meeting on Tuesday.

In the worst-case scenario under the medium term financial plan, Bristol City Council could face a budget shortfall rising to £81m, by 2028/29 according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Rees said there had been difficulties with recruitment as a result of Brexit and the housing crisis in the city.

"We cannot come through 13 years of austerity without it having an impact on people's lives," added the Labour mayor.

'False economics'

Green councillor Patrick McAllister said there was a danger that the council would be "no longer able to meet its statutory service levels".

"The primary cause of this is 13 cruel years of austerity from Westminster, starving public services of funding," he said.

"This has been worsened by financial mismanagement at Bristol City Council.

"The human cost is obvious but dig a little deeper and the false economics of austerity are clear," added Mr McAllister.