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News and Comment February 2022

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18 February (Part 2) - “Sheer lunacy” from this Tory Government

And now for the final hour of last week’s budget scrutiny meeting which was all about the Medium Term Financial Strategy. MTFS. A bit repetitive because the same subject was discussed at Public Cabinet but at least we were spared hearing the Finance Director’s spiel again; it was straight into questions.

Councillor Nicola Taylor (Labour, Erith) jumped in with Temporary Accommodation - what else? Spending is shooting up, more details please.

The TA contracts are being renegotiated and the prices are going up. That accounts for about half of the expenditure which rises from approximately one, two, three and four and a half million pounds over the four years to 2025/26. The rest is “latent demand”. (The anticipated growth.)

Councillor Taylor said the Council had failed to future proof itself by ensuring a bigger supply of more permanent housing.

Alex SawyerCouncillor Alex Sawyer - remember him? - asked how the Council was managing its exposure to the risk of the PPP contract while unfortunately not explaining to lesser mortals what PPP is.

The Finance Director said there was no problem, the contract was in place and there is a reserve to cover it with inflation fully covered. The acronym remained a mystery. (Some research says it is the Public Private Partnership which exists between the Council and the Leisure centre contractors.)

Councillor Cheryl Bacon (Conservative, Sidcup) asked why it was assumed within the MTFS that the Council Tax Base would not increase and what was being done to recover the “substantial debt” owed by “key partners”.

She was told that the CTB has traditionally increased by around 1% a year but it has not been achieved in recent years hence the change this year and last. The NHS and SE London Clinical Commissioning Group have recently paid some of their debts so the situation is now better under control.

Nicola Taylor was back, this time on the staff vacancies in the housing department which does the homeless no favours. How have the salary savings been reallocated? The Director said that some of the vacancies are in the process of being filled but even so there is likely to be a one million pound underspend. The answer probably missed the point but nobody noticed.

Councillor Sawyer (Conservative, St. Mary’s & St. James) asked if the Government had issued any guidance on how the £150 Council Tax rebate should be administered. Not yet apparently but expected soon. Even those who have not paid their CT or are behind with their payments will get the £150. Councillor Sawyer said that is ֧“sheer lunacy”.

Councillor Taylor found another excuse to refer to housing or rather the lack of it. Covid had highlighted the problem especially among single adults. The supplementary Agenda report prompted her to ask “has Bexley failed the Government’s Housing Delivery Test and are we now required to create a Housing Action Plan?” Cabinet Member for Growth Cafer Munur strongly disagreed and produced a load of figures that he said proved his case. “Bexley is open for business.”

Councillor Taylor suggested that the Cabinet Member looked at the Government website which picks out Bexley as a failed borough when it come to housing. She went on to say that the housing problems arise from the Council not adopting the Labour plan to build houses. Councillor Munur said he would not be making that mistake and that was important. He did not want to see another Thamesmead or Kidbrook development - where he had grown up.

Cabinet Member Gower supported her colleague and said that schemes such as Old Farm Park were the way forward. “Everybody enjoys the higher standards. It is not a housing estate it is a community.”

Councillor Taylor said “we need more than just a dozen houses in Sidcup”. Councillor Munur said that Labour’s plans would simply cost too much and he would not stop making that point.

 

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