Cornwall Council’s “cliff edge” finances were highlighted again at a meeting of its Conservative cabinet. Members heard that the Duchy faces no form of structural funding, amounting to millions, for the first time in 25 years.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly were allocated £137 million through the Conservative government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) and Rural Prosperity Fund in April 2022. The levelling up fund, which has benefited over 200 organisations across the Duchy and replaced EU funding following Brexit, comes to an end in March 2025. Cornwall was forecast to receive about £100 million a year from the European Union before Brexit.

The SPF funding has already been completely used up for Cornish projects before its end date on March 31. The new Labour government has not yet announced if there will be a replacement. If not, councillors heard, Cornwall’s local authority will be on a “cliff edge”.

Cllr Louis Gardner, portfolio holder for the economy, said the Shared Prosperity Fund for Cornwall was now 100 per cent committed. “A number of the projects are going out to formal tender and they’re coming back with costs greater than expected, which is generating a number of requests for further funding. At the moment, as I said, we are fully committed and it is extremely challenging helping those projects and having the resources within the council to give those projects the level of help and support that they need to bring them in on time and budget.

“That cliff edge is March 31 next year – it is very, very difficult to help and support these projects, which in many cases are led by the community or people who volunteer in their own time.”

He added: “There’s uncertainty over future funding both in the wider landscape of Cornwall, in the business community and definitely here at Cornwall Council.” He said more people are asking for help at a time when the council may have to wind down some of its programmes. Cornwall Council’s Good Growth Fund could be one of the areas affected if there is no funding replacement, leading to a significant loss of jobs at County Hall / Lys Kernow and impacting community projects across the Duchy.

“This is the first time in over 25 years where there could be no form of structural funding for Cornwall available,” said Cllr Gardner.

The meeting also heard that the council faced a £5.4m overspend at the end of the first financial quarter of 2024/25 (from April 1 to the end of June), a figure which in reality – with undelivered savings and a higher than forecast pay settlement – stands at £11.4m.

After talking about positive movements made across the council’s portfolios to save money, the council’s deputy leader Cllr David Harris said: “It would be quite wrong for me – and totally out of character – to seek to gild the lily. We are still not in a good place. We need fairer funding, which I’ve been banging on about for ages”.

He added: “We are straining every sinew to overcome this. Last week I sent a detailed and thorough submission to the Treasury ahead of the Chancellor’s autumn statement. I also appended the letter the Leader sent to the Deputy Prime Minister conveying the unanimous support for the fair deal for Cornwall motion expressed at full council in July. We haven’t had a response to any of our communications since the General Election.”

The council’s leader Cllr Linda Taylor added: “We will of course continue to apply pressure ourselves and work with Cornwall’s MPs to ensure we can secure the best possible outcome for our residents, and ensure Cornwall no longer receives below average funding which fails to cover the cost of the demand-led services we provide.

“I have heard Government continually promising to sort out funding for councils, but it is time for action, not words and I hope they will give us the details we need sooner rather than later to allow us to begin planning with clarity.”