DORSET Council has criticised the recent three-year provisional Local Government Financial Settlement, which it says fails to deliver the significant boost to funding Dorset deserves.

Although the new settlement does give a new level of certainty of income, a leading councillor says the government is forcing councils like Dorset to raise council tax to the maximum, just to stand still.

Cllr Simon Clifford, cabinet portfolio member for finance and capital strategy, said the provisional settlement was another disappointment.

"On paper, it looks like we got an extra £25.9m in funding - but in reality, £24.1m of that is extra council tax," he said.

"We asked for fairer funding for a rural county with an ageing population needing social care support. We need investment to improve transport and to boost schools. We hoped to have had good news that would give Dorset residents better services and more help to support vulnerable people.

"Sadly, we have been let down - again. The government has even removed the extra funding we were hoping for to recognise that it is more expensive to provide services in a very rural county.

"It means that once again rural councils like Dorset are being left behind, having to increasingly rely on getting income from council tax rather than funding from central government.

"The government expects us to increase council tax by 4.99% each year. We essentially no longer have any choice in this."

Cllr Clifford added that thanks to prudent planning the council would be able to set a balanced budget for 2026/27, although further savings will need to be found.

Details will be published in the new year.