18 November (Part 1) - The wheels come off
I listened to last night’s Cabinet meeting live and will have to go through
it again before long. I have known for years that Cabinet meetings are rehearsed
and largely run from a script but never was it more obvious than last night.
Most Cabinet Members delivered their off-the-cuff
comments so word perfect and without a stumble that the Leader’s request for
‘whoever’ to answer ‘whatever’ could not possibly have come as a surprise. I suppose
if you are required to skip over the most embarrassing bits an unscripted remark
cannot be allowed to escape.
Cabinet Members were not the only ones to have been busy scripting things
beforehand. Labour Leader Daniel Francis had a perfectly crafted twelve part Tweet on line just a
minute after the meeting ended.
He says it all and I no longer see any urgency to ‘waste’ the morning on a detailed
analysis of what was said. I will listen again but only to see if anyone said
anything especially interesting. Cocking more than half an ear last night suggested
they didn’t. Maybe I was distracted but I don’t, for example, remember the word library being mentioned.
Councillor Francis (Labour, Belvedere) writes…
I’d like to pay tribute to our fantastic London Borough of Bexley staff for all they’ve done
to support our residents in challenging times this year.
The months ahead will be very tough for them following Cabinet’s decision tonight which proposes to cut 304
Full Time Equivalence of posts in this year’s budget. If followed through, this process could see the equivalent
of up to 230 FTE of staff issued redundancy notices. It has been confirmed tonight that the gap in
the council’s budget these cuts will fill existed prior to the pandemic.
The scale of Bexley’s financial position means we do not have sufficient funds within
reserves to pay all these redundancy payments. It has been confirmed that the
£9·5m gained from the sale last month of the Turpin Road distribution centre in
Erith will fund redundancy payments.
It has also been confirmed that if the Turpin Road site had not been sold, that
the council may have had to ask the Government for permission to borrow the money to
fund redundancy payments. This is a direct result of the projected 47% reduction
in the council’s reserves from 2017-2021.
It is this projection of having spent almost £29 million of reserves in four years
that led the auditor to say there is “evidence of weaknesses in proper
arrangements for planning finances effectively to support the sustainable
delivery of strategic priorities over the medium term.”
Despite their claims to the contrary, this position is a direct consequence of following the national
Conservative policy of cuts to local government finance over the last 10
years. Our staff stepped up to the plate during the pandemic & their reward is
to be issued their P45s.
Along with staff reductions, the proposals to close 4 children's centres, reduce
staffing & opening hours from libraries & remove grants from 6 community
libraries remain. Despite this level of proposed cuts, the council proposes an
increase of 4% in Bexley’s council tax
Earlier this year, the Government asked local authorities to spend “whatever it takes”
on the pandemic. Despite their promise, they haven’t followed through & the
council are now asking permission from the Government to borrow up to £15 million to
resolve these short term spending issues.
It’s likely that Bexley taxpayers (possibly including my grandchildren!) will be paying for
the cost of Covid in 25 years time, because the Government wouldn’t recompense the
council. As the reserves have been reduced so heavily, the council has no other
choice than to borrow the money.
It is also likely that as a result, up to £15 million of building projects may
need to be cancelled in order to allow this borrowing to fund the cost of Covid
rather than the cost of building new facilities for our residents.
Be under no illusion, after 14 years controlling the council & 10 years in
Government, this is what the Conservatives have delivered for the people of
Bexley – years of reductions in financial support from Government have left councils in a
desperate financial position.
Cutting 20% of council staff while not identifying which departments almost half
the redundancies will come from, having to sell buildings to fund redundancy
payments & having insufficient reserves for a pandemic is their record, which
they will need to explain to our residents.
I don’t think there is anything there I disagree with although some of it would
not have appeared in any report I might have written myself.
…or of Conservatives apparently.