Hackney Council passes 2011 budget amid protests
Protestors gathered outside the Town Hall to condemn council budget cuts. Photo: Alex Hocking
Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Town Hall yesterday evening as Hackney Council passed a controversial budget that critics say will hit many of the borough’s most economically vulnerable residents hard. The budget was passed amid vocal protests by several dozen demonstrators from the public gallery during the vote.
Whilst council tax is to be frozen for the 2011/12 year, council tenants will see inflation-busting rent increases of 6.1 per cent, and leaseholders face a rise of an average of 5.1 per cent in the fees they pay.
The increases are part of a budget that assimilates £32.57 million of cuts to the money Hackney Council receives from central government. With less money coming from Whitehall, the council had a choice between increasing the income it can generate itself, cutting services or spending part of its reserves.
The budget adopted at Wednesday’s meeting incorporates all three measures, drawing heavily on the council’s reserves in order to continue to fund most of what it calls ‘frontline services’, such as street cleaning and libraries.
Areas where spending will be reduced are mainly those associated with the council’s internal management. These reductions will result in what is described in the budget document as “a programme of significant staff reductions”, and which has been projected by unions to be up to 800 jobs over the next four years.
In addition to increases in council rents, a range of other charges will also rise, including those for hall hire and visitor parking.
The budget foresees steady or increased spending in some areas, including an investment in fly posting and graffiti removal (£541,000 – up from £527,000 last year). The council plans to employ four additional graffiti teams “to be maintained for 4 years up to and including the 2012 Olympics.”
This decision proved contentious; both opposition parties on the council (the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) made proposals to reduce this element of the budget – the Conservatives as part of a plan to reduce council tax, and the Liberal Democrats as part of a package of cuts that would enable the council to compensate for the loss to Hackney students of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). The latter proposal was dubbed by mayor Jules Pipe “worse than robbing Peter to pay Paul”, in view of the fact that the EMA had been abolished by a coalition government of which the Liberal Democrats are part. Both the opposition budget proposals were defeated.
A number of protesters in the public gallery interrupted the mayor’s speech chanting,“Shame on you for turning blue” and “No way, no cuts”. The meeting was adjourned for approximately 20 minutes at one point when the chants became too loud, before resuming with intermittent heckling. Cllr Luke Akehurst was a particular target of the public’s anger, being greeted with chants of “twit, twit, twit!”
Mayor Pipe was also interrupted a number of times in his closing statement, charged by the hecklers with cowardice. The mayor claimed that failure to pass a legal, balanced budget would result in “immediate service collapse” and the council would be “using the most vulnerable people this borough as a political weapon”. This speech won Mr Pipe a standing ovation by the Labour members of the council, who duly voted the budget through.
Prior to the meeting there had been expectations that up to six of the councillors on the Labour benches would vote against the budget, but in the event party discipline reigned and the Labour councillors voted in unison to more cries of “Shame on you!” from the public gallery.
Related: Labour councillors call on Hackney Council to refuse cuts budget
Those six labour councillrs held up well didnt they?Cant the council have their own graffiti team?It seems from the article that they are another outside agency,
Didn’t this council spend £38m on temporary staff in a year? Seems to me that would cover the £32.7m deficit. Simplistic yes but if staff losses are via voluntary redundancy the money for those VRs have to come from somewhere. Guess we all know what they couldn’t organise in a brewery!
So lets think carefully about what could be cut that would svae money and have no impact on the commmunity. Firstly councillors ICT expenditure, not sure how often the borough changes computers but we certainly cant see them needing new ones for at least 3 years from now. Councillors internet connections, wild stab in the dark here but guessing that each councillor gets broadband at home paid for by the council. Saw quite a bit being spent on hire cars and taxis, surely a green council would have people use public transport unless it is for social care. We have a council 5 year plan, lets not get another one next year and so cut down on consultants. In fact strange but true councillors rarely think that a council officer is capable of forward thinking but hires a consultant to tell them what the officer has already told them. Would the council fall apart (any more than it already is) if it went a year without consultants?
Seems the first reaction to managing budgets is cut this, cut that but lets not actually think through what we need.
TonyN,the £38 million probably wasnt even mentioned last night.Is there no one in council to ask why so manry agency staff were needed?I dont know where the council and hackney homes merge but HH are always saying they are out of money and they are involved with untold contractors, who is checking on them? Dont mention the brewery,the council turned up without a bottle opener between them.
I would like more detail on what they actually cut. The fact we only got the usual suspects protesting suggests they have done something right but we need to all be challenging the pickles approach. Constant reference to 3 or 4 year figures obscures the immediate impact that will be felt in April. Keep the info flowing.
Ok looking at the comments within the revision of budget key points
Lose 1 Graffitti team and not respond as fast to private homes.
Cancel neighbourhood meetings due to lack of attendance
Reduce funding to young people services (think this includes the cutback on EMAs)
Cut 25% off the years street furniture (this nornal includes street lighting)
Defer work on Riviton Street and Hoxton Market
Council estomate £2.85m saving from these.
does the number of jobs said to be going to be lost rely on no outside agency staff being employed by the council?
Strangely enough there is no comments/suggestions or estimates on the staffing issue. Council is hardly going to broadcast that I guess.
TonyN,I was under the impression that job loses were involved.So we are going to get the same service for less money than we had before?Why couldnt this have been done years ago,woukd have saved a fortune!
Pat the council normally only do less for more money so proabably confused themselves.
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