DEVON County Council is to launch an all-party protest to the Government about cuts in funding for rural communities.

The Government has announced it plans to “re-purpose” the Rural Services Delivery Grant to target funds to deprived areas.

Devon received £10.1 million from the grant this year – the highest in the region.

Now the county council has agreed unanimously to protest to the Government and enlist the backing of the county’s MPs.

The authority’s Conservative leader, James McInnes, made an emergency announcement to councillors at last Thursday's Full Council meeting.

He urged the Government to provide more cash in Devon's overall grant settlement due later this month to mitigate the £10 million loss.

He said: “The Rural Services Delivery Grant is meant to support councils like Devon in helping with the increased cost of providing services in a sparsely-populated county.

“For example our bill for getting children to school is one of the highest in the country – particularly in the secondary sector where students can live miles away from their nearest college.

“It costs more to provide social care for our elderly and vulnerable residents because of the increased costs of carers getting from one rural village to the next rather than looking after people who live in the same street or neighbourhood.

“And we have one of the biggest road networks in the country to maintain and repair.

“This all smacks of a Government whose MPs mostly represent urban areas and don’t have a clue about life in rural communities.

“And it also fails to recognise that there is real deprivation in Devon with some communities having some of the lowest wages in the country but that isn’t so obvious in sparsely-populated areas as it is in concentrated urban neighbourhoods.

“This announcement has come so late into our budget-setting arrangements that we will now have to cut £10 million from our operating costs and from the money we were expecting to spend next year on providing care, support and services for our young, elderly and vulnerable residents.

“And last minute savings like this are never an efficient, effective or economic way of spending the money we raise from our council taxpayers instead of prudent planning.”

Liberal Democrat leader Caroline Leaver said: “I am happy to join with the other parties. I share the concerns about the lateness of the announcement."

She said despite the image of Devon as being full of chocolate box cottages, there was considerable and pervasive deprivation in parts of some wards.

Labour leader Carol Whitton said she would encourage all councillors to enlist the help of their MPs to find out exactly what the proposals meant.

Independent group leader Frank Biederman said: “It's really disappointing and I will be happy to sign a letter to the Government."