Amber Valley to leave local government lobby group

A Derbyshire borough council has decided not to renew its membership in a local government lobby group in order to save £11,000 a year.

Amber Valley Borough Council is leaving the Local Government Association because of financial constraints.

It said in a statement that "other activities of the council are of a much higher priority".

The LGA said it had won additional funding for councils like Amber Valley in the past few years.

£2m in cutbacks

All other local governments in Derbyshire, including the county council - which pays £76,000 a year in subscription fees - remain in the organisation.

Amber Valley is proposing to make a total of nearly £2m in savings over the next two years.

LGA subscriptions were frozen for two years from April 2008 to March 2010 - and then reduced by an average of 10% in 2010-11.

An LGA spokesman said the fees were being reduced "as part of our commitment to reflect the unprecedented financial position our members are facing.

"In the last two years we have secured for councils like Amber Valley additional funding from Whitehall which significantly exceeds their subscription fee to the LGA."

Bromley, Torridge, North Somerset, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk have already withdrawn from the LGA and a further nine councils have said they are leaving.

The Amber Valley council has been a member of the LGA, which has 422 members in England and Wales, since 1974.