Funding cuts to blame for ketamine use increase - council leader

St Helens Council's Labour leader David Baines said he was "shocked" by reports of ketamine use

A Labour council leader has blamed government funding cuts for a rise in drug use and crime in the area.

St Helens Council leader David Baines was reacting to reports of an increase in the number of young people taking ketamine in the last two years.

He said funding had been slashed and addiction services had been "cut to the bone" so it was "no coincidence" there had been a rise in societal problems.

The government said councils now had "new access to other types of income".

In November, a 12-year-old girl was taken to hospital after she was found unresponsive after reportedly taking an overdose of Ketamine in St Helens town centre.

Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside Mr Baines said he was "shocked" by a report in the Liverpool Echo this week which revealed the drug was still "widely available" in the town.

He said it was "no coincidence" there had been an increase in drug addiction, anti-social behaviour and crime, homelessness and rough sleeping after the council had faced huge funding cuts.

Since 2010 government funding for the council had reduced from £127m a year to £14m a year, he said.

The local authority was therefore worse off than it was 14 years ago, he said, adding that it faced an overspend of at least £6.6m.

The government said that while grants had been reduced, councils had access to other types of funding such as business rates.

Ketamine is licensed to be used as an anaesthetic but has a reputation as an illegal party drug

"We are facing very difficult decisions," Mr Baines said. "We have got no option than to review services, that's the reality of where this government are putting us."

"A lot of the services that are set up to help people with addiction they've been cut to the bone as well so it's not just local councils," he said,

"All these societal problems have got worse in the last 15 years and it's no coincidence it's all part of the same agenda at the same cause."

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "Grants are just one way councils receive funding and councils now have new access to other types of income such as the capacity to retain growth in business rates."

He said the government recognised the challenges local authorities were facing and had "announced a £64 billion funding package at the Provisional Settlement - a real terms increase at an average of 6.5% - to ensure they can continue making a difference, alongside our combined efforts to level up".

"For St Helens Council, this makes available up to £207.8m for 2024-25, an increase of 6.7% from last year," he added.

A health campaign, jointly launched with Merseyside Police, began in November after a spike in use of the Class B drug, which is an anaesthetic used by doctors and vets.

St Helens Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Stacey Pope said: "Although the number of young people identified as using ketamine in St Helens is still very low any use is of a huge concern and we are committed to working with our partners in both health and social care to combat it."