Labour finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell and, right, Conservative finance spokesman Councillor Don Williams 

Published: 20 February, 2016
by RICHARD OSLEY

TOWN Hall rivals have clashed over Labour’s plans to raise council tax by nearly 4 per cent.

Council chiefs say that budgets are so stretched by government cuts to public spending that it has to break the long-term trend of tax freezes or inflation-only rises, by setting an increase of 3.99 per cent.

They say that they are grappling with a hole in the social services budget as they try to help Camden’s ageing community and have to ask for an increase.

Conservatives say the council would not have to raise council tax if it cut down on its “back office” staff, and slashed spending on translation services and communications costs.

Labour finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell said the Tories had not appreciated the reality of a £70 million cut in government grants to Camden.

He said: “Each year and every year we have to cut nearly £20 million in public spending, or five times the entire public library budget. This can’t go on for ever and we are really worried about balancing the books with older people’s care in future years.

“Council tax has been kept below inflation or frozen since 2003, saving the average household almost £250 a year compared to if it had been raised in line with prices.”

The Labour group’s budget plans include accepting a new freedom from Chancellor George Osborne to ask residents for an 2 per cent in tax to directly tackle pressures of social services spending.

Both Labour and Conservative councillors agree that in Camden this rise will be offset to some extent by a lower annual precept bill planned by the Mayor of London’s office.

Camden’s Conservative finance spokesman Councillor Don Williams said that a plan to raise money by renting out the top floors of the Town Hall in King’s Cross as office space had been the type of policy the Tories had been pushing for years.

He said the Conservatives would spend more money on street cleaning and protect bin collections without hiking tax, by reorganising and merging council departments. 

“Labour really is taking liberties with residents when they are asking for more tax while at the same time spending excess amounts of money on things like translations of everything and endless literature with the council leader’s face on it,” Cllr Williams said. 

The Tories said they would cut union posts and council consultant spends. “I look at Westminster and see a staff of 2,000 and then at Camden and see a council staff of 4,000 in raw figures and think there must be something wrong in the back office at the Town Hall,” he added.

Green councillor Sian Berry and Lib Dem councillor Flick Rea’s alternative suggestions include increasing surcharges on parking permits for drivers of diesel cars.