A PENDLE councillor has called on the borough's MP to join the council's fight for fairer funding from central Government.

At a meeting of the council's executive committee last night, Coun David Whipp warned Labour MP Gordon Prentice that he will have failed residents if the council was forced to cut services next year because of another poor local government finance settlement.

Committee members were discussing plans to make an early start on planning next year's budget proposals.

They agreed to start putting pressure on the Government now to improve on the disappointing grant settlement the council received for the current financial year, which meant it was forced to increase its share of the council tax by more than five per cent.

This was despite assurances from the Government that changes to the grant system would benefit district councils like Pendle.

Coun Whipp, who described the system as 'flawed', said: "We need to pile the pressure on to MPs now. This has already cost people in Pendle £1.5million and unless we get it right, and get the Government to honour promises they have made, we will lose more next year.

"The consequences of that money not coming to Pendle are horrendous. This council may have to put in £1.25million of cuts if we don't get a reasonable grant next year and people in Pendle will suffer.

"That's not what we, as a local council, are here for. We want to improve services, we want to deliver decent, safe and clean streets, not ones that are falling to bits because the Government is starving this council and this area and our residents of cash."

He said: "It is time for us to take action and pin down our MP as well. We really have got to win this argument and make it clear that to deprive small districts like ourselves of the millions promised us by the Government two years ago is a travesty of justice.

"If this doesn't happen we should have Mr Prentice in here next year, when we make these difficult decisions to cut services, to ask him what he would do.

"If we have to make these difficult decisions, it will be because of a situation forced on us by a Labour Government and a Labour MP unable to fight for Pendle people."