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Mar 1 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
Tower Hamlets Council budget meeting paperwork is here
democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/ieListDocument…
Includes Labour, Conservative & Green amendments
+ Will Tuckley CEO pay off - he leaves Council tomorrow but the numbers are secret
Stephen Halsey is the interim CEO (again)

1/
Mr Halsey was the interim CEO before Will Tuckley arrived in 2015
The Labour amendment is here
democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/documents/s213…
2/
Green amendment is here
democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/documents/s213…
3/
@going4golds budget amendment is here
It includes this summary of the savings required over the next 3 years
They are really large in years 2 & 3
£32.6 million then another
£38.8 million
but how to deliver most of it has not yet been identified
democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/documents/s213…
4/ Image
But the budget starts with a problem
Budget assumes 4% salary increase this year but this FT report says the average increase will be 6.42%
ft.com/content/aed0b8…
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So the Conservative motion focuses on the mechanisms required to find those savings or to generate more income
For example:
HMO Council tax changes given number of HMO
Fine income through prosecutions
ANPR cameras
EV network
Investment income
We don't have an income strategy
6/ ImageImageImage
Plus some ideas to find the savings required
+ zero based bottom-up budget as the Council needs to look at the detail of what it does (budget process just looks at change)
+ joint working with other Councils to share services e.g. we don't need a separate pensions admin. team
7/ Image

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More from @Andrewwood17

Andrew Wood Profile picture
Feb 20
A 🧵on Mayor Lutfur Rahman's new 3-year budget
It is an extraordinary budget & a high-risk strategy
But he has also been fortunate - he inherited substantial £££ from John Biggs + the demography & economy of Tower Hamlets allow him to be generous :)
Will his luck last?
1/
I had to build a spreadsheet to do this analysis, combining data from different years because TH has historically not published similar analysis
I wonder if this analysis is done in-house?
First is a history of reserves
Under Labour reserves went up
Aspire want to spend them
2/
Given how much £ we lose through inflation this is not a bad thing
But most reserves were for capital spending - historically Council has never spent its planned capital budget on time- will that change?
Reserves with no restrictions (green) went up - can be spent on anything
3/
Read 19 tweets
Andrew Wood Profile picture
Feb 20
A key issue in TH politics is that we have the lowest average age in England & Wales
BUT this is mainly because so few old people + lots in their 20's & 30's here
Not because we have lots of children relative to others
0-5 age group we have more then average number
1/
of children
But in the 6 to 18 age group we have either average or below average numbers of children
Green is TH Black line is average for E&W
ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…
Unfortunately lots of parents leave TH before primary school
With the exception of good schools little to keep
2
parents here with young children
Not enough family-size homes (many lost to HMOs) so the remainder are even more £££, inadequate playground provision, not enough for kids to do etc etc
As a result Council is closing primary schools in the west of TH
It is interesting that
3/
Read 5 tweets
Andrew Wood Profile picture
Feb 18
Aberfeldy Estate regeneration - planning committee Thursday 23rd February 6.30pm
One of the biggest re-developments in E14 reaches the planning committee stage this Thursday night for a decision by Councillors
If you want to speak to Cllrs at the meeting you must register
1/ ImageImage
in the next few days
Report here
democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/ieListDocument…
2/
The process started around 10 years ago and the 1st phases are complete this is for the rest of the Aberfeldy area owned by Poplar Harca the housing association
330 homes will be demolished and replaced with 1,582 homes (134 parking spaces)
The scheme proposes 38.8% affordable
3/
Read 5 tweets
Andrew Wood Profile picture
Feb 14
Tower Hamlet's share of Council tax is going up by 2% not zero
It is true that this is less than the 5% permitted by the government & lower than inflation & lower than Labour % increases (except in election years)
The split between adult social care & other Council tax is not
1/ Image
real (done for presentational reasons)
The money goes into one bank account & the extra 2% will fund all Council activities (though adult social care costs are also going up by similar £ amount)
Tower Hamlets continues to have one of the lowest council taxes in London
2/ Image
Tower Hamlets has a very generous Council tax reduction scheme (where people can pay less Council tax if on lower incomes/benefits etc)
Apply here
towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/advice_an…
The government only partially subsidises this
£32 million cost versus £129 million Council tax income
3/ Image
Read 6 tweets
Andrew Wood Profile picture
Feb 13
Chinese Embassy - update
Tower Hamlets passed the final decision onto the Mayor of London (this is an automatic process)
Mayor of London won't intervene (see pic)
This means that almost certainly it will go to appeal
Council will lose the appeal
The embassy will go ahead
1/
This also the view of this Telegraph article
telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/…
Unless @michaelgove & @luhc intervene and call it in
2/
Tower Hamlets Council has a bad record of defending its planning decisions as there is no support for Councillors who oppose officer recommendations
Reasons to reject are not strong enough as not based enough on planning reasons (police) or those the Embassy responsible for
3/
Read 8 tweets
Andrew Wood Profile picture
Feb 11
New Local Plan - or why planning won't deliver enough new homes & why Mayor Lutfur Rahman will probably fail to deliver 1,000 new social homes for rent a year
Hurrah, the Council has started a new Tower Hamlets Local Plan consultation
Details here:
talk.towerhamlets.gov.uk/local-plan
1/
I wrote about it in some detail here on Facebook
facebook.com/groups/1458438…
2/
But Council officers have already made the big decisions before consultation even started about where & what to build (even though that is the main purpose of a Local Plan) & as usual have decided to limit development in most of Tower Hamlets except for Transform areas (brown)
3/
Read 16 tweets

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