BILL Wiggin MP has spoken to government ministers in an attempt to get a better funding deal for rural areas.

A group of cross-party MPs, working under the name The Rural Fair Share Campaign, has called on the government to reconsider the impact its 2013/14 local government financial settlement will have on rural communities.

The Rural Services Network (RSN) says urban councils already receive 50 per cent more per head than rural areas despite evidence that many services are more expensive to deliver in the more sparsely populated areas.

The group of MPs fears that counties such as Herefordshire will lose out if the gap between funding given to rural and urban areas continues to widen.

Bill Wiggin, MP for north Herefordshire, told the Hereford Times that rural areas deserved a better deal.

“Ensuring that councils like Herefordshire get a fair deal from the Department for Communities and Local Government will benefit my constituents and will help us fight off future council tax increases," said Mr Wiggin.

“At a time of economic hardship the Government must be fair especially to those living in the countryside.

“I have spoken separately to two ministers about the settlement for rural councils and both took very seriously the accusations made by the RSN.”

He added that part of the problem was down to definition.

“The problem hinges on the definition of a rural areas – whether the definition of rural is shire counties or a sparsity of population distribution,” said Mr Wiggin.

“Neither minister wanted to be unfair but I suspected that the definition used in the calculation is an inherited one based on shire counties and not on population distribution.

“This is so important in counties like ours where so much of the council’s budget is spent on adult social care.”

The RSN has calculated that rural residents pay £75 more in council tax than urban residents yet central government grants for urban areas are 50 per cent higher per head of population.

At the same time, rural residents earn less, on average, than people in cities.

“I shall continue to argue for a better deal for rural areas and a reconfiguration of the funding formula that gives urban areas a much larger slice,” said Mr Wiggin.