Background
Havering is bankrupt. A legal ‘budget’ was set by borrowing a maximum of £88m from the government. The interest will, catastrophically, be added to the debt.
Principal Speeches
Chris Wilkins (Cabinet Member, Finance)
Chris’s (12 minutes)1 new tactic is a seminar presentation. There were constant references to slides (invisible to users of the webcast). It reeked of officer speak.
He spent 13 minutes whining. His attack on the Conservatives was ineffective.2 Chris failed to convince on the expensive urgency of the ‘food waste project’. He’s going to lobby the government for more grant finance. Good luck with that!
John Tyler (Cranham RAs)
John was a revelation (26). He offered a critique of choices and said government loans will cost £5m in interest. His propositions were adding seven posts to increase efficiency, pausing the Harold Wood library closure and a reduction in carparking fees. His one saving proposition was not borrowing a £1m and saving £50k interest.
Dilip Patel (Conservative)
His speech (34) provoked a stand-off between the Mayor and the Conservatives. They displayed posters which the Mayor didn’t like. It’s procedurally OK but the Mayor demanded they be removed and the Tories backed down. (If they’d been serious they’d have challenged the chair and had a ding-dong.)
Dilip’s amendments were more police, more CCTV and keep open Harold Wood library. This all paid for by not having the food waste scheme. Good knockabout stuff.
(The Mayor explained what a ‘point of order’ is to Barry Mugglestone.)
Keith Darvill (Labour)
Keith made a very good speech (46). He said the budget is ‘fiction’. And he’s right. Havering’s bankruptcy means government loans balance the books. The debt could reach £200m in 2026-7 with only statutory services provided. He hoped the Fair Funding propositions would rescue Havering but increased defence spending make that unlikely. Next years’ interest charge will be about £10m.
Martin Goode (East Havering RAs)
Martin returned (58) to his normal themes of budgets that over promise and under-achieve. Importantly he highlighted the costs of closing libraries. These costs reduce savings. He thought that Harold Wood’s closure should be paused. A good solid speech. He should provide evidence about under-achievement of savings. Martin relies on assertion, which creates a credibility gap.
Best Speech: John Tyler
Note
1 Annotator Player All times relate to this webcast
Politics in Havering 
Dear Chris,
The result could have been different if 7 (12%) out of 55 councillors hadn’t failed to attend the vital budget meeting which are held once a year.
Did you omit to mention the absentees because 2 were Labour (not to mention the Labour defection to HRA)?
I’m guessing, but did they miss the meeting because they couldn’t vote for a Labour amendment that downplayed the fatuous “climate emergency” agenda in favour of saving our libraries?
Regards
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Both the Labour councillors are seriously ill. I know the nature of their diseases but you’ll have to take my word for it.I’m not a Labour spokesperson.Chris Sent from my iPhone
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I’m sorry to hear the news and wish them both good health. I was teasing by highlighting how those who promote the so-called “climate emergency agenda” pick and choose when the “emergency” applies. Have you noticed this too?
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Thank you for your comment
The *Climate Emergency* isn’t so-called. On London News tonight a soil expert says that the soil temperature is 1.5c higher than it was in 1970 and that this is causing significant alterations to growth patterns,
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So you disagreed with the Labour amendment?
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