The Political Management of Library Closures

Ward councillors are advocates for their constituents. The proposed library closure programme is for four out of a list of five.¹ Two libraries are in HRA wards and HRA are proposing the closures. This means that two wards have councillors who are conflicted. The conflict is that they must support their ward and support their party. This is a quintessential political decision. All five councillors have substantial allowances, which might be factor in their decision-making.

Elm Park: HRA stronghold

Barry Mugglestone is the Environment Tsar. His greatest victory is 30-minutes free car parking – except in Romford.²It costs a million pounds and would save all the libraries if abandoned.

Stephanie Nunn is the former mayor.

Julie Wilkes is chair of the Audit Committee with a substantial allowance. There are four meetings a year. The 23^rd January, 2024 meeting lasted an hour.³

South Hornchurch: HRA stronghold

Natasha Summers was suddenly promoted to the £25,000 Housing Needs cabinet post.⁴ South Hornchurch is Havering’s third most deprived ward (see Addendum 1) and residents have poor outcomes. The library is important for Levelling-up.

Graham Williamson is the Planning Tsar. He sees libraries sitting on sites which are ready for housing development. Graham lives in Elm Park, which is also facing library closures.

Political Management

Ray Morgon’s HRA are specialists in the management of decline. This will continue until they grasp the Council Tax nettle (see Addendum 2). Graham Williamson says, “We can only hope”⁵for additional government funding. He means increased Council Taxes are inevitable, but HRA would implode under the political pressure.

Addendum One: Deprivation

“Gooshays, Heaton, and South Hornchurch are the most deprived wards in Havering. On average, people living in deprived areas, lower socio-economic groups and marginalised groups have the poorest health and well-being outcomes. In the most deprived areas, the life expectancy of men is 7.9 years lower than that of men in the least deprived areas; for women the difference is 5.5years.” Source: Social Value strategy – Cabinet Sept 2019.pdf (havering.gov.uk)

Addendum Two: Bankruptcy

“…a funding gap facing local services of more than £6 billion over the next two years – fuelled by rising cost and demand pressures – means a chasm will continue to grow….”

Two-thirds of councils have already had to make cutbacks to local neighbourhood services this year – including waste collections, road repairs, library and leisure services – as they struggle to plug funding gaps.” Source: English councils face terrifying £6.2bn funding black hole with more at risk of bankruptcy (msn.com)

Notes

1 Collier Row, Elm Park, Gidea Park, Harold Wood and South Hornchurch

2 Romford didn’t vote HRA but four Conservatives have joined them – without by-elections

3 Browse meetings – Audit Committee | The London Borough Of Havering

4 Havering Councillor: Natasha Summers (South Hornchurch) – Politics in Havering Her attendance is poor at about 62%. This bodes badly for her principal decision-making role. Councillors attendance summary, 14 December 2023 – 7 June 2024 | The London Borough Of Havering

5 ‘I fear all Councils will be low down in a future Government’s priorities but we live in hope.’ – The Havering Daily

Paul McGeary?

Paul: I’ve always fancied a green tie, Ray.

Ray: You’re welcome. (Another useful idiot like the other seven)

Havering’s Council Tax: The Consultation for Closing Four Libraries

The fundamental issue with the Council’s finances is not one of financial stewardship but that we simply do not receive enough Government support relative to the needs of the residents of Havering. Until that fundamental issue is addressed then it will remain a challenge to balance the Council’s budget.¹

Closing four libraries is financially trivial. The two-year loan of £54m will cost £3.78m in interest annually. And in 2026 it will be an action replay. Salami slicing tactics²are characteristic of political cowards. Tiny incremental cuts, which people can sort-of accept, and then wham: everything is gone.

The 2022-3 overspend was 4.5%, “a £7.788m overspend against a final net budget of £173m,”³ which was structural. Only a government injection of £4bn into local authorities will prevent further deficits.⁴ The bleak possibility is that Havering’s library service will be further reduced.⁵

Havering as helpless victim?

The council makes significant political choices. Roughly a million-pound subsidy to non-Romford car park users is utterly political. A million pounds to encourage car use? Roughly £300,000 is subsidising the MetPolice for five officers who are called away for operational duties elsewhere. Roughly £100,000 is spent closing park gates – for the few parks that have gates. Roughly £500,000 goes on CCTV, which notoriously didn’t prevent the arson attack on the Town Hall itself. And so on.

The Consultation document⁶ is mendacious, “…the budget challenges the Council faces means the library service’s budget needs to reduce”.⁷This is untrue.

Closing libraries is a political choice.

Notes

1 draft_20222023_statement_of_accounts.pdf (havering.gov.uk)

2 Salami slicing tactics – Wikipedia

3 draft_20222023_statement_of_accounts.pdf (havering.gov.uk) p11

4 The prospect of further real terms funding cuts is likely to exacerbate existing concerns about systemic underfunding, with the current funding gap already estimated at £4 billion. Financial distress in local authorities: government response to the Select Committee report – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

5 The statutory minimum would be libraries in Hornchurch, Rainham and Romford.

6 Havering Council Libraries Consultation – London Borough of Havering Council – Citizen Space

7 loc.cit.

Havering’s Annual Council, 22nd May 2024

Normally this is a snore-fest and it remained so until the vote for Mayor. Stephanie Nunn said she liked being Mayor. She praised people who’d helped her raise £20,000 for First Step. She praised her chaplain and her consort. But she didn’t praise her deputy mayor. This was a hint of what was to come.

Ray Morgon indulged in Jesuit-style treachery. Because his agreement to alternate Labour – HRA mayors was verbal, it was disposable. Gerry O’Sullivan ousted Labour’s Pat Brown.¹ But shock-horror! Among the abstentions was Labour’s Paul McGeary. To make sure everyone understood he was a maverick, he abstained on Labour’s Matt Stanton vote for chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Board. An interesting way of resigning from the party.

Ray Morgon’s (35 minutes)² tour d’horizon was a sea shanty without music. It desperately needed music. HMS Havering has ‘passengers’ going on a voyage. He revealed (38mins)³ it will have a huge deficit over four years. He didn’t reveal where the £82m⁴ is coming from. His ‘wish and a prayer’ strategy relies on Starmer winning on July 4^th.⁵

Best Team Player: Robbie Misir wearing a green tie

Notes

1 Sue Ospreay has 62% attendance, which isn’t a qualification for deputy-mayor Councillors attendance summary, 1 December 2023 – 25 May 2024 | The London Borough Of Havering

2 Annotator Player (mediasite.com) All times refer to this webcast

3 loc.cit

4 Actually £28m as he’s already borrowed £54m

5 “The proposals to reduce the number of libraries is one of many painful decisions we will need to make until we get a better financial settlement from government which accurately reflects the borough’s changing population and need.” Havering welcomes a new Mayor, addressing concerns about the library consultation, arson attack at the Town Hall – 12hedonic@gmail.com – Gmail (google.com) As Conservatives caused this disaster, he must mean Starmer.

Libraries or 30 Minutes Free Parking in Hornchurch and Upminster?

By maintaining the remaining six most visited libraries….the borough will save more than £300,000 per year, with these essential savings going towards the Council’s responsibilities to meet a balanced budget.

Have your say on the future of Havering libraries, disruptions to waste collections, good luck to Romford FC – 12hedonic@gmail.com – Gmail (google.com)

Ray Morgon has identified four libraries that are on life-support machines. As an act of mercy, he’s going to put them out of their misery. Luckily, the resources freed up will create a new Golden Age for the remaining libraries. Even better, they will also help in the battle against bankruptcy. That’s the story.

Balderdash!

What’s actually happening is that the unaffordable 30 minutes free parking period in HRA/Labour’s heartlands will continue. HRA/Labour voters are being rewarded, unlike those in Conservative Romford. The revenue savings from the closure of the libraries is trivial at £300,000. Trivial? Free carparking costs a cool million. Ah, but what about the “balanced budget?”

Balderdash!

HRA/Labour have borrowed £54m at 7% over 20 years. The annual interest to be paid on that is £3.78m. £300,000 doesn’t touch the sides. The Administration is trying to dig itself out of a hole by not taking up the full loan. (This explains the recent sale of four car parks by the way.¹) They are suffering from ‘buyer’s remorse’ when a supposed triumph turns into a nightmare.²

A helpful suggestion

Sell the Marks and Spencer site in Romford.³

Notes

1 Havering’s Impending Bankruptcy: selling carparks – Politics in Havering

2 Buyer’s remorse – Wikipedia

3 Damian White and Romford Marks and Spencer (M&S) July, 2019 – Politics in Havering

Havering’s Impending Bankruptcy: selling carparks

The Council borrowed £54m to pay its bills in Spring 2024 (see Addendum). They are also selling carparks to avoid (postpone?) bankruptcy. Four are going.¹The Romford Recorder ² says they’re worth £9m and that’s why they’re being sold. The other reasons are,

“…they are underused and the aim is to have a better use of the land that can help the council reduce its waiting list backlog for affordable homes..”³

“Underused” is slippery. Two figures need stating, (1) target income, and (2), how big was the shortfall? How long will it be before the lost income equals £9m and, will the council tax from the new properties compensate?

Why is this important?

Finance is paramount when facing bankruptcy and trumps other considerations.⁴ Will the sales help or hinder the council’s problems? £9m is 11% of the shortfall over two years: it’s a drop in the ocean. And the revenue is gone for ever.

Selling income generating assets to fund revenue is insanity. The government is privatising Havering by the deliberate under-funding of statutory services.⁵ Voters will notice when quality-of-life assets are lost. But by then no-one will be able to do anything about it.

The government is forcing Havering to sell assets. The government doesn’t want to fully fund statutory services which Havering must provide. They don’t like the truth that: Taxes are the price we pay for a civilised society.⁶

Addendum: The Loan

This is a government drawdown facility for unfunded statutory⁵ bills. The loan is charged at 7% for 20 years. The interest for 18 full years is £68m. In brief, it increases Council Tax until 2044.

Notes

1 Issue details – Site Disposals under the Asset Disposal Programme 2022-2028 | The London Borough Of Havering

2 Romford Recorder 26^th April 2024 front page

3 loc.cit

4 The massive negative response didn’t see it like that at all. p18

5 Statutory services are those that the council must provide before anything else.

6 Taxes Are What We Pay for Civilized Society – Quote Investigator®

Conservative Councillors Savaged by MP

Andrew Rosindell, Romford MP, is an expert on Conservative councillors. He lashed out at them saying they do “Literally nothing.”¹ In his eyes they do nothing for either their constituents or, worse, the Conservative party. He’s personally suffered from their idleness with increased workload.

Councillors have Town Hall commitments that aren’t onerous. Analysing Town Hall meetings for April, shows that Andrew is correct: many councillors do “Literally nothing”. There are few meetings and attendance is far from 100%.

Six committee meetings were scheduled for April and three were cancelled.²If there had been full attendance at those three meetings a maximum of 19 councillors were involved.³ Seven councillors were absent.⁴ 36 councillors weren’t scheduled to attend any committee meetings.

Andrew Rosindell says Conservative councillors don’t do ward casework⁵ and don’t attend Town Hall meetings either.⁶ Ward casework is unmonitored and it’s up to councillors whether they work hard or not. Conservative councillors might be uniquely idle but it’s unlikely.

Where councillors are monitored is in their attendance at Town Hall meetings. It’s probable that slacking off there is evidence about their overall commitment.

Notes

1 Romford Recorder 19^th April 2024 p4 One outcome of this outburst was three Conservative councillors defecting to HRA. To be fair he did name two that were OK.

2 Agenda for Planning Committee on Thursday, 18th April, 2024, 7.30 pm | The London Borough Of Havering Planning committee

Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) Joint Health o/s committee

Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) cabinet Two councillors attended this meeting as observers. They were Keith Prince and Martin Goode and both spoke. The council’s attendance list has an opportunity for noting additional non-slated attendance but on this occasion doesn’t do so in either case.

3 Monthly meetings calendar – April 2024 | The London Borough Of Havering There is a full list of meetings for the year. During April 43 councillors didn’t attend any scheduled meetings at all.

4 None of the Conservative councillors on the Planning committee turned up. John and Philippa Crowder might have been on strike or, in between parties. Additionally, Oscar Ford, Gillian Ford, Barry Mugglestone, Carol Smith and Christine Smith were absent from their meetings. This is a 38% absenteeism rate.

5 Romford Recorder ibid

6 Councillors attendance summary, 29 October 2023 – 22 April 2024 | The London Borough Of Havering Every councillor is listed noting their attendance over the last six months. Damian White has attended one meeting out of a possible six in the last six months

Havering’s Cabinet, 10th April, 2024

The Climate Change debate, Item 7,¹ is critical for Havering but was trivialised. It’s difficult to believe cabinet members had read the agenda. The council intends to make cross-department responses through nine ‘petals’, whatever they are. Apart from Keith Darvill and Ray Morgon, none of the cabinet offered any comments. The report updated the 2021 position.

The ‘debate’ was surreal. Rainfall is increasing by 3.5% a year and Keith Prince (18 mins) decided the solution to the overwhelmed drainage system is water butts. (A 3.5% increase doubles Havering’s rainfall in 20 years.) Keith loves water butts and wouldn’t give it a rest. Martin Goode (29 mins) winged it and offered a rerun of his numerous ‘Golden Oldie’ speeches. Unusually he hadn’t done his homework.

A consequence of greater rainfall is flooding. The management of flooding is expensive both in capital and revenue. Less obvious are significant increases in insurance costs for the council, businesses and householders. Some flooding is due to driveways and forecourts not having drainage points, which are an obligation. The council have insufficient enforcement officers so the obligation is ignored. Blocked drainage grates are a perennial problem in water management. The contract needs better management.

Interestingly there are a considerable number of grants available. Havering has received £3.5m in grants (see 30 minutes).²

Keith Darvill (25 mins) summed up by saying flood alleviation is very expensive. He appears to mean the existential crisis that is Climate Change is too expensive to solve. Humanity should take in on the chin! And disappear.

Absent Oscar Ford, Gillian Ford and Barry Mugglestone

Notes

1 Public reports pack 10th-Apr-2024 19.30 Cabinet.pdf (havering.gov.uk) Item 7 p85ff

2 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) Times relate to this webcast.

Havering Council: The Merry-Go-Round

Ray Morgon cobbled an administration together from Havering’s many Residents’ Associations (RAs) in 2022.¹ They were rebranded Havering Residents’ Association. His second coup was a coalition with Labour. He’d filled the power vacuum left by the Conservatives and took power

And then the Merry-Go-Round began.

Sarah Edwards, Jacqueline McArdle and Sue Ospreay joined HRA a few weeks after being elected as Conservatives in 2022. Ray Morgon doesn’t care why. What’s important is they landed in HRA. The voters of Rainham weren’t consulted.

John Tyler is a Refusenik. He dislikes Labour and didn’t join the coalition, opting for ‘independence’ (or at least that’s how the story goes). Cranham is a hotbed of dissatisfaction. Phillip Ruck left HRA creating a political party² with John. He wants the Finance cabinet post and won’t get it, so why not rock the boat? The voters of Cranham weren’t consulted.

Robby Misir joined HRA after many years as a Conservative councillor. The end of Damian White’s pot-of-gold politics might have been a push factor. Who knows? Could self-interest have motivated him? The voters of Marshalls and Rise Park weren’t consulted.

St Andrew’s ward has stopped being boring. Paul Middleton, Gerry O’Sullivan and Bryan Vincent have fallen out. Paul isn’t in RA newsletters any more but remains in the cabinet. Is HRA strong enough to impose discipline on these apparently warring factions? Voters will be consulted in 2026.

Addendum

Three Romford Conservatives have joined HRA, this week, to escape that toxic zone. They are husband and wife team John and Philippa Crowder along with Christine Smith. Is this a reverse take-over by Romford who lust for power but can’t get it? This makes it seven Conservatives fleeing their party since 2022.
Notes

1 HRA = Havering Residents Association

2 Cranham Residents Association Independent Group

Havering Council Meeting, 27th March 2024

The Conservatives had a humdinger of a motion for debate (see Addendum). It challenged the HRA/Labour *solution* to the budget deficit.¹This naïve commentator waited for fireworks from political heavyweights debating the future of Havering.

What should have happened

Keith Prince would denounce the £54m loan as reckless folly, mortgaging the future. He pointed out that £54m @7% for 20 years creates a stonking £68m² in interest payments, more than doubling the original debt. Keith could continue that the loan ‘kicked the can down the road’. In 2026 everything would be the same with Adult, Children’s Services and Homelessness turbo-charging the deficit. What, Keith thundered rhetorically, would Ray Morgon do then? Borrow another £54m?

Ray Morgon would angrily riposte that defending government funding was bizarre. In 2010, Havering’s grant was £70m and in 2023, £1.9m. Meanwhile, after 14 years of government mis-management, inflation added 47% to costs.³ Therefore, Havering needs a £103m grant just to stand still! Additionally, the council had unfunded responsibilities. Homelessness came from government policies with enormous costs for the council. Ray might finish by saying everything will be different in two years’ time.

What did happen

Ray Morgon and Keith Prince agreed not to have a debate and went home two hours earlier than usual.

Addendum: Conservative Motion

This chamber calls on the council to release to the public the full letters, from the Government Ministers and from the Leader, regarding the Capitalisation Directive. The chamber calls on the Government to provide the funding as a grant instead of a loan.⁴

Best speech: None

Runner-up: None

Best sarcasm: Barry Mugglestone

Notes

1 Havering Council: Budget Setting – 28th February, 2024 – Politics in Havering

2 It might not be, we haven’t seen the T&Cs yet. Actually the money is ‘drawn’ down over the next two years so the £68m is calculated for 18 full years of interest.

3 Inflation calculator | Bank of England

4 Public reports pack 27th-Mar-2024 19.30 Council.pdf (havering.gov.uk) p117