Cuts in the Right Direction

LBHF is to cut its council tax for the fifth time in six years, down by nearly 4% off next year’s bills, despite still trying to pay off the £133m debt inherited from the Labour administration.

The cuts come at a time of root-and-branch change for the council: the merging of services with neighbouring boroughs Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster; the departure of long-serving chief executive Geoff Alltimes in November and now the announcement that Stephen Greenhalgh is stepping down as Leader next year. As part of the stated aim to reduce management and overhead costs by 50% as a result, 700 jobs will be lost over three years, 175 of which are senior managers, with plans also in place to sell eight properties to raise £14m.

While some attacked the cuts as being the harbingers of frontline services being lost, public assets being too hastily disposed of and the impetus behind an overdevelopment of the borough, Stephen Greenhalgh, who has been council leader since 2006, denied this.

“Whilst the cost of living continues to rise, we are proud to be putting money back in the wallets of our local taxpayers,” he said, “and we are proud to be protecting front-line services.”