BOLTON has been hit by a 15 per cent cut in the latest round of funding from the government to help councils cope with the coronavirus crisis.

The local authority has received £7,857,450 in the second tranche of government grants for councils, almost £1.4m less than the first.

Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham, who said he opposed the changes, put the reduction down to the government not taking deprivation into account when allocating the second round of funding.

But Cllr David Greenhalgh, leader of Bolton Council, defended the move.

He said: “Of course, I will always lobby government for more for our borough, and highlight the pressures and challenges we face. However, from the two tranches of COVID-19 funding from the government, we have received over £17m, as part of an overall unprecedented package of government help.

“It is true, the majority of metropolitan boroughs and county councils have seen a reduction in the second tranche, but this is largely because in the first tranche it has been accepted that district councils, such as Chorley for example, and the fire authorities were disproportionately hit, and those have seen an increase in their allocation in the second tranche.

Mr Burnham revealed the figures from the most recent allocation of government grants to councils this week.

The hardest hit borough in Greater Manchester was Salford which is facing a 20 per cent cut, followed by Tameside where funding has fallen by 19 per cent.

Manchester City Council and Rochdale Council were both hit by a 18 per cent reduction, while Bolton and Oldham Councils have both lost 15 per cent.

The only borough in Greater Manchester which has not faced a reduction in funding on the second tranche of government grants was Trafford Council.

Speaking at a remote press conference on Wednesday, the Metro Mayor said that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority opposes the changes.

He said: “Nine of our ten councils received quite a significant reduction in their funding and only one recording an increase.

“This is very worrying given that this funding is meant to pay for homelessness support alongside a whole range of other things as well.

“If city regions are going to lead recovery, then they can’t do that if the councils within those city regions are facing cuts already and not receiving full cost recovery as they were led to expect.

“What we believe has happened is that then deprivation weighting has been removed from this formula that is allocating this funding.

“But I have to say even the leader of Trafford Council said today that he didn’t think that was right.

“Deprivation should be guiding the funding and that would be the Greater Manchester position and we’ll be relaying that very directly to the government.”