Coronavirus: £5.6m extra government funding for Peterborough to tackle crisis

The local government secretary, Robert Jenrick, announced that district councils in particular would receive more funding in April, while county councils will receive less than they did in March.

The Government gave £1.6 billion to councils to help them respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in March.

Details of a second round of funding, £1.594 billion, were announced on Tuesday.

Peterborough City Council received £5.34 million in March and £5.63 million in April.

Cambridgeshire as a whole received £20.4 million in the first round of emergency funding, and then about £24.3 million in the second round of funding.

All the district councils in Cambridgeshire received significantly more than before. Huntingdonshire District Council had the biggest increase, from £81,000 in March to £1.77 million in April.

Cambridge City Council received £75,000 in March, but £1.24 million in April. East Cambridgeshire received £43,000 in March and £895,000 in April. Fenland received £65,000 in March and £1.02 million in April. South Cambridgeshire District Council received £47,000 in March and £1.57 million in April.

The leader of Cambridge City Council, Labour’s Lewis Herbert, said on Twitter the second round of funding for his authority is “much better than measly £74,000 to date. Long way to go to persuade Govt to fully compensate councils on costs of epidemic impacts to communities and massive work on leading economic social and environmental recovery”.

The county council received £11.51 million, around £3 million less than in March.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service received £108,000 in March and £640,000 in April.

Mr Jenrick said on April 18 when first announcing the second round of funding: “I promised local government would have the resources they need to meet this challenge and today demonstrates my commitment to doing just that.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with local government and my priority is to make sure they are supported so they can continue to support their communities through this challenging time.

“Up and down the country council workers are the unsung heroes as we tackle this virus. They are in the front line of the national effort to keep the public safe and deliver the services people need. Never has this been more important and we are all rightly grateful for everything that they are doing.

“This new funding will support them through immediate pressures they are facing to respond to coronavirus and protect vital services.”

Ben Hatton, Local Democracy Reporting Service