Havering’s Council Meeting, 20th November 2024 (part one)

Havering Council’s descent into irrelevance is accelerating. The Leader didn’t make an announcement about his seismic budget consultation at the beginning of the meeting. It was published 48 hours later.

Keith Prince is another example (1:06). He’s a GLA transport committee member with constant access to TfL decision-makers. His question,¹

What lobbying has the Cabinet Member for the Environment undertaken with regards to the withdrawal of the 347-bus route since the most recent announcement by the Mayor of London?

Barry Mugglestone should have utilised Keith’s unique position to lobby the GLA. HRA claim to be independent of political party silos. Well, it doesn’t look like it. They should be working together and not squabbling.

The other 12 questions were ostrich like. None dealt with the impending disaster of the 2025-6 budget. There are four options for consultation (see addendum).²

HRA is proposing another loan. Guess-estimate £50-70m

OR, increase council tax. Guess-estimate 10-20%

OR, throw the towel in and get the government in to run the shop.

OR, Local Government Funding is adjusted for Havering. Guess-estimate ‘No chance’.

Question Time is ideal for probing Havering’s cabinet. Neither the Leader or the Finance cabinet member had a question to answer. The failed £54m loan was unremarked on. Was it even noticed?

The council’s inadequacy is shown by the fact that they can’t even successfully lobby TfL about a bus route!

Addendum: Budget Consultation – principal points

Another Capitalisation Direction (government loan)

Significantly increasing Council Tax beyond the Government’s proposals (this would require a referendum).

Section 114 (effectively declaring the Council bankrupt with the possibility of Government Commissioners being sent in to run the Council which in itself would incur significant costs).

Urgent intervention from the government (extra funding/funding formula review to reflect current population change and need).

Notes
1 Council Questions 20 November 2024.pdf Q12

2 Havering launches consultation as Council budget on precipice | London Borough of Havering

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 Half Baked Budget Consultation, 2024-5

“Even with the difficult proposals put forward in this consultation, the Council still has a budget deficit of £12 million.”¹ (my emphasis)

Only half of the savings/revenue increases are available for consultation. Another £12m is floating about. The consultation is farcical. Voters are expected to see half a budget and take the other half on ‘trust’. In other words, agree half a budget and get £12m of cuts sight unseen.

The £12 million deficit demands an 8% council tax increase ABOVE what’s proposed.

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Huge deficits need bold, imaginative transformative options. Avoiding bankruptcy in February 2024, requires brave leadership.²

Instead, the Administration has lost hope.³ The majority of the £11.93m cuts and savings programme is contained within five items, none of which are sufficient for the task in hand.⁴ Financial juggling and increased parking charges, for example, are 49% of the £11.93m. Toxic options, which would solve the challenge, are avoided. Havering waits for government Commissioners to do the unpopular dirty work.⁵

Keith Darvill⁶ said borrowing £12m from the government is “massive.” Massive means: £12m at 7.1% (RPI + 1%) for 20 years = £17m interest.⁷Mortgaging future generations for a year’s deficit. The elephant in the room? 2025-6, 2026-7 and so on.

A genuine consultation should offer a 13% increase in council tax OR brutal cuts in services. Undemocratic play-acting is absolutely unacceptable in a mature democracy.

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This is a government inspired *perfect storm* for local authorities, not just Havering.

“I don’t believe that there is a conspiracy to destroy local government. But I think we are sleepwalking towards a position where councils just won’t be viable.”

He said that while assets could be sold off in the short term, it would lead to a big transfer of wealth of public assets into private hands.”⁸

I think there is a conspiracy to privatise local authorities and loot their assets.

Notes

1 Havering Budget Consultation 2024 – London Borough of Havering Council – Citizen Space

2 Romford Recorder² headline was: ‘Council could declare bankruptcy in 3 months’. 24^th November 2023 p3 Reporter Josh Mellor

3 The consultation document is here Budget Leaflet.pdf (havering.gov.uk) The summary statement is here 1 APPENDIX A SUMMARY SAVINGS PROPOSALS.pdf (havering.gov.uk)

4 Ibid (Appendix A) The top 5 account for 49% (£5.85m) the other 51% is 35 items the smallest of which is £23K

5 Reducing the library service to two libraries, closing Romford market and ending the 30 minutes free period for parking are obvious starting places.

6 Romford Recorder 24^th November 2023 p3

7 United Kingdom Retail Price Index YoY (tradingeconomics.com) RPI = Retail prices index

8 Jeremy Hunt’s budget cuts spark fears of ‘existential threat’ to English councils (msn.com)

Havering Council Budget Consultation 2021-22

Havering’s 2021-22 Budget Consultation is a device which will be interpreted as an endorsement. Nonetheless, I ploughed through to see what could be gleaned from the ‘explanations’ which were offered to the questions. In truth there wasn’t much.

The amount raised by Council Tax is £130.1 million. An additional £339.6 million comes from government. Basically, Havering is a conduit funnelling resources into schools and social services. This makes the million pounds spent on councillor allowances unjustifiable. Decisions are made elsewhere. So what’s their role?

Question eight on Adult Social Care, and ‘Better Living’ reveals a saving of £3.569 million.** How? The gist is “…rather than relying on statutory services.” I don’t know what this means for vulnerable people in this context. However those receiving “…statutory services” will know and care rather a lot.

‘Smoke and mirrors’ continue for questions 8, 9, 10, 11. By question 15, the bottom of the barrel has been reached, “This saving was presented as part of the original Business case signed off by Cabinet in 2019.”(my emphasis)And the saving is – £190,000 – on a budget of £469.7 million. It wasn’t achieved in 2020 so why will it happen in 2021?

Question 17 is the crux of the consultation. But my option wasn’t there. I think council tax is too low.*** That was too shocking to be an option.

Notes

* Two informative graphs explain ‘Income-Spend’. They’re scene setting.

** Notice that they claim a saving to the nearest £10,000, which isn’t a rounding error.

*** Havering Council Tax: Is It Too Low? – Politics in Havering

Source

Havering Budget Consultation 2020 – London Borough of Havering Council – Citizen Space