Cash-strapped Stockport Council has made an urgent appeal to the government for fairer funding – warning that it is facing 'unprecedented' financial challenges.

The Lib Dem-controlled council has a funding gap of £75m over the next five years as the cost of providing more than 800 services around the borough continues to rise.

It has forced the town hall to make 'impossible decisions' to balance the books, with massive amounts of savings needed to be made each year.

Just this week, Stockport Council revealed that it was considering job cuts to its workforce, alongside plans to hike parking charges in the town centre.

Last year, it brought in a £59 charge for garden waste collections alongside a 4.99 per cent council tax increase as it had to find £26m of savings.

The council will set its latest budget in February in a vote by elected members in the town hall, with around £20m of savings to make.

There are major concerns in Stockport about whether the Labour government is listening to the 'critical' situation the council is in.

One of the issues bosses at the town hall point to is Stockport missing out on the government's Recovery Grant for the second year running, a scheme which handed out £600m to councils around the country last year.

The grant was set up to help 'areas with greater need and demand for services' which have 'less ability to raise income locally.'

But there was worry in Stockport town hall when the council missed out on the funding after recent deprivation data showed the borough has the most deprived part of Greater Manchester in Lancashire Hill.

Stockport Council leader Mark Roberts last week wrote to Alison McGovern MP, minister for local government and homelessness, with an urgent appeal for fairer funding.

He said the settlement the council is expected to get has 'exacerbated' the town hall's financial difficulties, despite it being 'a very well managed authority.'

In the letter, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Roberts asked why Stockport is getting a '7.49 per cent' core spending power (CSP) increase by 2028/29 compared to a '15.1pc' increase on average in England.

He added: "This means Stockport receives less than half the increase of councils facing similar demands and budget pressures."

The council leader went on to say: "Existing national funding continues to be insufficient to meet the cost pressures councils across the country face in delivering essential services that our residents and businesses depend on."

Cllr Roberts warned that unless the situation changes, Stockport's council tax payers face being squeezed to 'pay more and get less for their money.'

He wrote: "By 2028/29, 66pc of our CSP is from council tax paid by Stockport taxpayers rather than government funding.

"Disappointingly, government continues to place an ever-increasing burden on local taxpayers to fund local services, which is unsustainable and a regressive tax."

Cllr Roberts also said the council has been pushed 'ever closer to needing to ask government for exceptional financial support through borrowing to fund day to day spend and further council tax increase flexibilities'.

The Stockport Council leader concluded in his letter: "I therefore ask that Stockport receives the same funding increase protection guarantee over the settlement as other councils facing equivalent financial pressures.

"Given the seriousness of the situation and the unprecedented financial risk this settlement poses to Stockport, as well as undermining the wider Greater Manchester Strategy I urge you to review the proposals and their impact on Stockport.

"I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this critically important issue with you ahead of the final settlement. It isn't too late to avoid the unintended impact of the draft proposals from your government."

For its part, the Labour government has promised up to £20m of funding for Brinnington, one of 25 'trailblazer' neighbourhoods with the cash aimed at kickstarting community-led regeneration.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We're making almost £78 billion available for councils next year – the biggest increase in local government funding in years – including £356.1m for Stockport.

"This will help Stockport deliver the high-quality services that local residents desperately need and the certainty that councils need to plan ahead."

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