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March 2020 March 2020

Dorset is a very beautiful county, but it suffers from some very significant
THE BERE REGIS SCRIBBLERS challenges. Dorset South Constituency has the lowest levels of Social Mobility of
any Constituency in England, and Weymouth has some of the highest levels of
FRIENDS FOR LIFE deprivation nationally. There are also significant pockets of deprivation in other
parts of Dorset, exacerbated by areas of significant rural sparsity across the
Frances Colville county. Some comparative funding issues are:
I still come here to the Copper Kettle. I like the  By any measure the South West fares poorly in terms of transport investment,
familiarity, the slightly old fashioned ambiance. I which exacerbates the challenges presented by our rurality.
like being able to sit for a couple of hours over
my cup of coffee with no-one bothering me. I  The South West also receives substantially less investment than the South
like knowing that sometimes you will be here too East on enterprise and economic development, transport, and housing and
– not always, but just often enough to keep me community amenities.
returning again and again.
 Coastal areas are increasingly associated with lower pay, lower life
In the beginning of course you were always here. expectancy and deprivation
I wonder if you remember the first time as vividly as I do. I like to think you do. We
met at the school gates, having just dropped our nearly five year olds off for their  Dorset receives far less per pupil (under the pupil premium calculation) than
first day. Bereft, both of us, wondering how to fill the hours until pick-up time and inner city areas, but has levels of need, deprivation and challenge of the
each secretly regretting that we only had one child. The baby years were over, same relevant magnitude. This situation is replicated across other services.
never to return, and neither of us knew what to do next.  Current modelling suggests that numbers of Looked after Children (LAC)
I can’t remember which of us made the first could increase from 427 to 510 which would create an additional pressure
move, but ten minutes later, here we were, either of £3.6m per annum of unfunded costs to the council budget.
side of the window table in the Copper Kettle,  Numbers of Education Health Care Plans (EHCP) have increased by over
getting to know each other over cups of coffee 67% since January 2015 but the funding from central government has only
and toasted teacakes. We hit it off straightaway, increased by 7%.
didn’t we? Two shy people with lots in common

and so much to talk about.
Budget
Luckily for us, our children hit it off too. Your Emily
and my Toby. Same reception class, best friends Further to the article in last month’s magazine. Council tax contributions for Dorset
through primary school and allies against the Council are proposed to increase by just under 4% to help to fund the rising costs
world at secondary school. Even now – perhaps of adult social care and children’s services protecting the most vulnerable people
especially now, after all that has happened – they in society.
talk regularly. You’d be pleased to hear that, I
know. They’re at different universities, living We are legally required to
separate lives, but I’m sure they’re always there provide social care, and these
for each other, and I hope – as you and I always hoped – that they’ll decide to services are often expensive to
spend the rest of their lives together. provide. Well over half of our
total budget is spent on
Your Rob and my Dave became mates too. Sports mad the pair of them, and it adults’ and children’s social
wasn’t long before they’d bonded on the golf course and the squash court. care. Since 2010, central
Sometimes the four of us got together for a game of tennis. More often for an government grants to councils
evening at your house or ours; kids tucked up in bed, good food and a bottle or have been cut by nearly
two of wine. Nothing to set the world alight, but it suited us all. 60%. We no longer receive
any Revenue Support Grant
Looking back, those happy years merge into each other. Of course we had

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