Aled Richards-Jones: A financial asteroid is about to hit Wandsworth Council
Confidence requires clarity.
Cllr Aled Richards-Jones is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Wandsworth Council.
Local government has its various traditions and procedures, which exist for a reason: to ensure transparency, accountability and proper scrutiny of decisions that affect residents’ lives.
Traditionally, the February ‘Special’ Meeting of Wandsworth Council has two agenda items: rent setting for council housing, and the general budget. But this month, Wandsworth Labour made the extraordinary decision to include only the first agenda item and block any discussion on the budget.
You might ask why.
Shortly before Christmas, when attention was more focused on mince pies than municipal finances, the Government published its Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for the next three years.
It immediately confirmed the worst fears of those of us who warned that a Labour Government would punitively rewrite the local government grant formula to transfer more money to their ideological heartlands.
In short, the settlement is a catastrophe for Wandsworth.
The Government is slashing Wandsworth’s funding by 39 per cent
Wandsworth Council faces an annual loss in funding of £85m a year by 2029/30 – roughly 39 per cent of its core spending power.
Worse still, that merely compounds Labour’s local financial mismanagement: the Council’s finances already have a budget gap of £51m a year by that same period – a cumulative £136m a year deficit. On top of that, the Administration is borrowing on its way into a financial crisis: planning to borrow £1.1 billion (at a cost over 50 years of nearly £2.5 billion) is reckless, particularly in these circumstances.
To compensate for the loss of funding, the Government expects the Council to increase council tax by at least 86 per cent.
Cynically, the Government’s model assumes that the punitive increases will start only after May’s local elections. The Government assumes only a five per cent increase this year, rising to 40 per cent in 2027/27, 77 per cent 2028/29, and 86 per cent in 2029/30.
The Council’s total useable reserves (all inherited from the previous Conservative Administration) stand at £166m – not enough to get through more than a year of this. The piggy bank will be smashed, the money will be gone and a decision on catastrophic tax hikes, public service cuts, or both, will need to be taken within the two-year window the Government has conveniently provided.
Labour knows that tax hikes will prove hugely unpopular. That’s why Labour ministers have granted Wandsworth a two-year exemption from the long-standing requirement councils have to hold referenda on council tax increases over five per cent.
It’s only right that councillors of all political persuasions should want to discuss such a dire state of affairs. But …
Confidence requires clarity.
Cllr Aled Richards-Jones is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Wandsworth Council.
Local government has its various traditions and procedures, which exist for a reason: to ensure transparency, accountability and proper scrutiny of decisions that affect residents’ lives.
Traditionally, the February ‘Special’ Meeting of Wandsworth Council has two agenda items: rent setting for council housing, and the general budget. But this month, Wandsworth Labour made the extraordinary decision to include only the first agenda item and block any discussion on the budget.
You might ask why.
Shortly before Christmas, when attention was more focused on mince pies than municipal finances, the Government published its Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for the next three years.
It immediately confirmed the worst fears of those of us who warned that a Labour Government would punitively rewrite the local government grant formula to transfer more money to their ideological heartlands.
In short, the settlement is a catastrophe for Wandsworth.
The Government is slashing Wandsworth’s funding by 39 per cent
Wandsworth Council faces an annual loss in funding of £85m a year by 2029/30 – roughly 39 per cent of its core spending power.
Worse still, that merely compounds Labour’s local financial mismanagement: the Council’s finances already have a budget gap of £51m a year by that same period – a cumulative £136m a year deficit. On top of that, the Administration is borrowing on its way into a financial crisis: planning to borrow £1.1 billion (at a cost over 50 years of nearly £2.5 billion) is reckless, particularly in these circumstances.
To compensate for the loss of funding, the Government expects the Council to increase council tax by at least 86 per cent.
Cynically, the Government’s model assumes that the punitive increases will start only after May’s local elections. The Government assumes only a five per cent increase this year, rising to 40 per cent in 2027/27, 77 per cent 2028/29, and 86 per cent in 2029/30.
The Council’s total useable reserves (all inherited from the previous Conservative Administration) stand at £166m – not enough to get through more than a year of this. The piggy bank will be smashed, the money will be gone and a decision on catastrophic tax hikes, public service cuts, or both, will need to be taken within the two-year window the Government has conveniently provided.
Labour knows that tax hikes will prove hugely unpopular. That’s why Labour ministers have granted Wandsworth a two-year exemption from the long-standing requirement councils have to hold referenda on council tax increases over five per cent.
It’s only right that councillors of all political persuasions should want to discuss such a dire state of affairs. But …
Aled Richards-Jones: A financial asteroid is about to hit Wandsworth Council
Confidence requires clarity.
Cllr Aled Richards-Jones is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Wandsworth Council.
Local government has its various traditions and procedures, which exist for a reason: to ensure transparency, accountability and proper scrutiny of decisions that affect residents’ lives.
Traditionally, the February ‘Special’ Meeting of Wandsworth Council has two agenda items: rent setting for council housing, and the general budget. But this month, Wandsworth Labour made the extraordinary decision to include only the first agenda item and block any discussion on the budget.
You might ask why.
Shortly before Christmas, when attention was more focused on mince pies than municipal finances, the Government published its Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for the next three years.
It immediately confirmed the worst fears of those of us who warned that a Labour Government would punitively rewrite the local government grant formula to transfer more money to their ideological heartlands.
In short, the settlement is a catastrophe for Wandsworth.
The Government is slashing Wandsworth’s funding by 39 per cent
Wandsworth Council faces an annual loss in funding of £85m a year by 2029/30 – roughly 39 per cent of its core spending power.
Worse still, that merely compounds Labour’s local financial mismanagement: the Council’s finances already have a budget gap of £51m a year by that same period – a cumulative £136m a year deficit. On top of that, the Administration is borrowing on its way into a financial crisis: planning to borrow £1.1 billion (at a cost over 50 years of nearly £2.5 billion) is reckless, particularly in these circumstances.
To compensate for the loss of funding, the Government expects the Council to increase council tax by at least 86 per cent.
Cynically, the Government’s model assumes that the punitive increases will start only after May’s local elections. The Government assumes only a five per cent increase this year, rising to 40 per cent in 2027/27, 77 per cent 2028/29, and 86 per cent in 2029/30.
The Council’s total useable reserves (all inherited from the previous Conservative Administration) stand at £166m – not enough to get through more than a year of this. The piggy bank will be smashed, the money will be gone and a decision on catastrophic tax hikes, public service cuts, or both, will need to be taken within the two-year window the Government has conveniently provided.
Labour knows that tax hikes will prove hugely unpopular. That’s why Labour ministers have granted Wandsworth a two-year exemption from the long-standing requirement councils have to hold referenda on council tax increases over five per cent.
It’s only right that councillors of all political persuasions should want to discuss such a dire state of affairs. But …
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