A People's Budget for Islington (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

A People's Budget for Islington

March 21, 2002 12:00 AM

Last month Liberal Democrat-controlled Islington cut its Council Tax for the third year running. Three years ago, under Labour, Islington had the highest Council Tax in London and some of the worst services. Under the Liberal Democrats it is now below the average for London and services are getting better. But how have we done this? Did we inherit a budget in surplus? Have we won the lottery? Have we slashed front line services? The answer to these questions is an emphatic ìnoî. When we took control two years ago total Council debts were not far short of a billion pounds, financial systems were in crisis, there were no reserves and the District Auditor was breathing down our neck. And we certainly havenít won the lottery. Despite being one of the most deprived boroughs in the country, for two years running Islington has had the lowest increase in SSA in London. Add in Mayor Kenís precept. This yearís increase has meant an extra £23 added to every Council Tax bill in London. Islington has absorbed this. The baseline level of our Council Tax has now fallen from £791 in 1999 to £693. Most importantly, our cuts in tax have not meant cuts in front line services. In fact, Social Services will get an extra £1 million next year (following an extra £4.5 million since we took control) and environment around £250,000. On the Education front we will be fully-funding the teachers' pay award, passporting in full and meeting the delegation target. We also have a huge programme of capital investment, particularly in housing and schools, funded by disposing of under-used historic assets. Last year we invested £30m in our housing stock and this year plan to spend around £15m on our schools. We are now successfully building up our reserves to a sensible level - something which the District Auditor severely criticised the previous Labour administration for failing to do. Now the DA praises the Borough for being committed to improving the quality of services. How are we managing to do all this? Firstly, we are crystal clear about our goals. Under Labour the Council charged an enormous Council Tax to provide poor-quality services, and their solution to everything seemed to be to raise it to plug another hole. We campaigned clearly on a platform of cutting the Council Tax and we are rock-solid in sticking to this. Secondly, we are unrepentantly forcing the Council to re-focus on providing good quality basic frontline services. A more strategic approach from Councillors to managing the Council allowed us to cut £5m of waste and bureaucracy pretty much immediately. In our first year we tackled many of Labourís sacred cows. So many of these were hang-overs from the loony left era of Margaret Hodge when the red flag flew proudly over the Town Hall, and ìBaa baa Black Sheepî was banned in schools. Labourís financial strategy at the time had something of the nursery rhyme about it. Council reserves, and in particular the pension fund, were raided to fund extravagant services. They were days of appalling financial management. The Liberal Democrat approach is different. We have been determinedly re-focussing the Council on providing the core services - housing, education, social services - which our residents desperately need. We have streamlined the Council, as well as unleashing significant resources to invest in services. Thereís lots more to do - but Islington Council is well on the way to providing decent quality public services, at a sensible level of local taxation.