SWINDON Council has locked horns with the Government over a meagre finance settlement which puts the town among the 20 worst funded areas of the country.

The council's chief executive, Simon Birch, is writing to local government minister Nick Raynsford to express his anger at the cash deal, which will either mean an inflation-busting council tax rise of around 10 per cent or cutbacks in services.

At just £124.9-million, Swindon's annual grant to cover essential services was among the lowest five per cent handed out to the country's 389 local authorities.

In an exclusive interview with the Evening Advertiser, Mr Birch blasted the figure a 4.2 per cent rise on last year's £119-million grant and vowed to fight for more cash to improve the quality of life for people in Swindon.

Mr Birch, 52, who took over as chief executive in March, claims the town is suffering because of the way the so-called Formula Grant is calculated.

He has instructed a team of council finance experts to look at the formula to pinpoint exactly why Swindon is losing out.

Mr Birch said the increase which was lower than the average rise of 4.7 per cent will hamper efforts to turn around the council's troubled education and social services departments.

He said: "As a council we always seem to fall foul of the way the funding is calculated.

"We are seen as a prosperous town, but while there are pockets of prosperity, it's not the whole picture.

"We lost out compared to our most similar towns, like Milton Keynes, which got a 7.3 per cent rise, and Peterborough, which got 5.8 per cent.

"It's hard to see how they can justify our 4.2 per cent rise."

The council's education department failed is Ofsted inspection in 2001, while last month social services received a zero star rating for the second year running.