Greenwich residents are facing a council tax rise of around 5 per cent from April, as the authority outlines plans to make over £30million worth of cuts including reducing how often streets are cleaned. The council said in a report that several ‘savings opportunities’ were planned to address overspends in its financial plan, with a budget black hole of £54m projected by 2028.
Council officers said in a report for a scrutiny meeting on February 20 that £33.7m worth of cuts were being proposed for the upcoming financial year. These could target libraries, leisure centres, children’s centres and pay and display parking.
The cuts come from a list of 118 proposals, with officers claiming over a decade of government austerity had led to the authority facing £150m of pressures in that time. The report said reducing the number and opening hours of libraries and leisure centres across the borough would provide £1.05m of savings. The council is reportedly in talks with its contractor for such services, Greenwich Leisure Limited, after several library workers went on strike last December.
The report said reducing the frequency of street sweeping from weekly to as little as once per month could deliver up to £1.2m of savings each year by removing 22 jobs from the service. Removing pay and display parking machines in favour of cashless only services would provide up to £185,000 a year, while reducing the frequency of road resurfacing would deliver £1m.
Several events such as the Together Festival and Sparkle in the Park would be carried out every other year instead of annually, giving £73,000 of savings. The ward budget scheme for councillors, used to fund local projects across the borough, is also proposed to be reduced by 45pc, providing £247,500 of funds.
Closing children’s centres across the borough and reducing services was also cited as giving an extra £2m to the budget. Officers said in their report that the authority spends £5.6m per year on the service, about twice as much as the next highest spending authority.
The cuts come after the council ran an online consultation last December and January regarding which services residents wanted to be financially protected. Several of the proposed changes included in the current budget would also include further consultations before being implemented, such as removing pay and display parking machines.
The report said: “There is presently a large estate of machines that incur costs to operate and maintain and are at end of life, representing a need for a capital investment that if done like for like would be immediately redundant in most locations. It is less and less common for people to opt for cash as a payment method and there is a full duplication of payment opportunity already in operation at all locations via the pay by phone system.”
A rise in council tax is also planned to meet the remaining £6m budget gap for the upcoming financial year. The 4.99pc increase is the greatest amount that local authorities can raise taxes by without the need for a referendum. The figure includes a 2.99pc increase in general council tax as well as a 2pc increase in adult social care. The overall figure is expected to rise by 5.8pc when combined with the 8.6pc increase seen in the Mayor of London’s precept.
The proposed service cuts and increase in council tax will be discussed at a scrutiny meeting on February 20, before being passed to the authority’s cabinet for further consideration.
