Bolton budget ‘decimated’ by shock £2million government cut

Council leaders say they were caught unaware when a “service grant” from the government that had been worth £2.8m last year was slashed to just £400,000 this time around.

Finance officers had been expecting a cut, but nowhere near this drastic, and so will have to resort to “riskier” strategies to try and plug the gap.

Council leader Cllr Nick Peel said: “It’s been decimated, that is the word, decimated.

“What…