Why is the government hell bent on destroying communities?
Councillor Gillian Ford, Havering’s Deputy Leader of the Council, today writes in the Havering Daily about the issue of local government funding.
Library closures, potholes, less grass cutting in a year are all symptoms, symptoms of the government’s failure to fund local government fairly.
In 2023 the Local Government Association suggested “The Government currently spends 31 times more per mile on maintaining motorways than local roads.”
Car fines are ring-fenced for highways, and without them there would be even more problems on the highways.
So why is the government hell bent on destroying communities?
The UK is the most centralised government in Europe. Power and money sit at the government level, undermining local government, local communities and local people. More and more funding has been taken away, whilst demand has grown and grown.
To cover the real cost of services we should have received at least another £8 million per annum and to raise this through Council tax we would have to increase Council Tax by a huge 20%! This places the cost back onto us the local residents.
So what needs to change?
Social care costs are using the lions share of all funding local authorities receive. This takes away funding for all other services including libraries, highways and parks.
The governments response is sell assets and we can give you a loan at a 1% higher rate than PWLB (Public Works Loan Board). Is that the solution? Of course it isn’t. Social care needs to be government funded centrally. They need to scrap the 2010 census funding formulae and live in the real world of 2024 where Havering’s older population and children’s populations are some of the highest.
But are they listening to us?
The simple answer is no. Despite local and national challenges to central government, the withdrawal of funds to local authorities continues to strangle, local communities.
Community assets are being lost across the UK, wholesale with no end in sight.
The H.R.A. wants the local MP’s and next government to listen to the people, look at the deteriorating environments due to lack of investment, and to put in place sustainable resilient programmes and funding schemes that bring back trust, faith and pride to communities.
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Is Councillor Gillian Ford politically motivated? I’ve always voted HRA because I believed they would ‘act’ in the interest of Havering Residents and not blindly follow political ideologies such as the ‘Climate Emergency’ and Net-Zero. “why is the government hell bent on destroying communities” is emotive language which reads like a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party. She adamantly REFUSES to disclose the details of the ‘deal’ struck with Labour to form a coalition in their Memorandum of Understanding while claiming that the HRA are ‘open, honest and transparent’. How can anyone trust a politician who insists on keeping secrets? Would Gillian care to debate this issue in a public forum?
The Conservatives are not funding councils fairly. Costs have soared, but budgets have been cut.
Simon, life is political, a councillors job certainly is and it seems you just do not want to hear a bad word about the Tories.
The Conservatives deserve to be obliterated at the next General Election. If there are any ‘good’ ones they should have spoken out by now.
It seems to me that you are assumptious.
David, I naively believed that Havering Residents Association Councillors might not be like ‘the others’. I’ll never trust or vote for them again.
Not one single Havering Councillor voted AGAINST the motion to declare a ‘Climate Emergency’ on behalf of Residents. Shouldn’t they have asked us first?
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Simon, the ‘deal struck’ as you put it was a Memorandum of Understanding and not a coalition with Labour.
This is a legal document between two parties agreeing to work together.
As there was no group elected with the numbers to gain overall control of the council, a MOU was agreed. Otherwise, the previous Conservative administration would have continued to run the council.
The agreement was that 2 members of the Labour Party would form part of the cabinet and the Mayor in the first year would be from Labour.
The current financial situation we find ourselves in has been brewing for several years. The government has been reducing the money it gives to councils year on year. This is called the funding formula.
The formula set back in 2011 has not been revisited since. While some councils do very well from this, others are starved of funds.
For example, in 2013 the money the government gave Havering to cover the Adult, Children and Homeless (all statutory services which MUST be met) was £70M.
This year the settlement from the government was under £2.5M
Havering has bucked the trend and has seen ‘growth’ in these service requirements whereas many other councils have seen this reduce.
Over the years the council has gone through efficiencies (which is a good thing) and at the same time they have been reducing services, using reserves and selling off assets.
This has gone on for so long now that finding new efficiencies is becoming extremely difficult and any reduction to the service is having a hugely negative impact on the residents. The easy-to-sell-off assets have been sold, there is no longer any low-hanging fruit and our reserves are low.
As the council is not allowed to become bankrupt, the options were, we ask for a Capitilsation Directive or we ask the Government to come in with inspectors and correct the issues.
As we have done nothing wrong – we are a low-unit-cost and well-run council, the inspectors (which cost a huge amount to the council) will ask for a Capitilsation Directive.
Until something changes in the funding formula, Havering Council will continue to be in this bizarre situation whereby the Government are starving us of funds, so we have to ask for the Government to lend us money to afford services that they used to pay for.
It is a case whereby the residents are complaining about the symptoms rather than the cause.
Thank for taking the time to reply Paul, it is much appreciated.
The agreement as you have explained seems very straightforward and I understand the necessity for compromise in certain circumstances.
Would it be possible for a Resident to see the MOU?
The HRA are (quite rightly) proud of their ‘openness, honesty and transparency’ – that’s the reason why so many of us vote for you. I’m very concerned about WHY you refuse to allow anyone to see it (in redacted form if necessary).
I want to be able to trust, and have confidence in the honesty and integrity of my elected representatives but this type of secrecy is unacceptable in the public realm.
Why won’t you just allow me to read the MOU to put my mind at ease?
Simon- Climate Change isnt a political issue. You might not like it or agree, but the worlds scientists and experts say its happening, so I will take their word over yours. If the council need to declare it an emergency thats fine with me. We elect councillors to represent us, we dont get a referendum on everything.
I strongly disagree with you David, Climate change IS a divisive political issue.
Of course the climate is changing, that fact isn’t being disputed.
You say; “the world’s scientists and experts say it’s happening” but do they all agree with each other about the causes and long term effects?
I don’t understand why you would deliberately try to suggest or imply that ‘the world’s scientists and experts’ share the same opinions.
Why would Havering (or any Council) “need” to declare a ‘Climate Emergency’?
Does the word ‘Emergency’ make you feel anxious or alarmed?
How urgent is the ‘Emergency’?
What steps should we all take immediately to deal with the Emergency?
Should these steps be voluntary or enforced by Councils with financial penalties?
So it’s fine with you that not one single Councillor (out of 55) DOES NOT believe that there is a Climate Emergency?
You’re prepared to take their word for it because you’re confident that they know far more than you about ‘The Climate’?
Have you ever been to a Full Council meeting and listened to the standard of ‘debate’ between your elected representatives?
I’ve asked Ray Morgon and Gillian Ford to debate me in public about their declaration of a ‘Climate Emergency’ but they both declined.
Are you aware that one of the main justifications cited by Sadiq Khan for his Ulez Expansion was “the Climate Emergency”? (Khan’s exact words).
If you read the thread you will note that Councillor Middleton has not replied to my request to see the Memorandum of Association.
I don’t know why. Ray Morgon and Gillian Ford have constantly refused to let anyone see it and have both come up with various lamentable excuses as to why this should NOT be in the public domain.
Do you trust them implicitly David?
Why are Morgon, Ford and now Councillor Middleton so desperate to keep it secret?
I wonder if Residents saw the contents they would EVER vote HRA again.
Its only a political issue for people unwilling to make the smallest of changes in their lives to help humanity. I think we are way past the point of debating climate change and its causes. The answers to most of your questions are in the IPCC reports, but I suspect you’re not really interested. You can drag your feet if you want, nobody is forcing you to do anything.
Conceding that other people have greater knowledge than you in certain areas is just how the world works. Trust the experts.
Initially, the HRA called their coalition with Labour “an arrangement” but now it’s a “memorandum of understanding”?
They refuse to disclose details because they promised their voters NOT to form a coalition with Labour and think NOT calling an obvious coalition a coalition, honours this election promise!
Perhaps non-disclosure is because the memorandum is little more than agreement to form a majority to replace the conservative led administration and then “after a closer look at the books” continue with the same policies as the former administration.
And so HRA support for declaring a so-called “climate emergency” simply shows they are no alternative to Labour and Conservative.
However, the irony of the vote was the only two councillors actually elected as HRA, the 2 Emerson Park councillors, abstained on the vote with Cllr Godwin saying he was old enough to member the so-called global cooling emergency!
“nobody is forcing you to do anything”? How many residents have been effectively forced to change perfectly ‘good’ vehicles? Not really the smallest of changes is it?
When you say ‘trust the experts’ are you referring to our Councillors?
Do they have more knowledge about the climate than you or me?
Councillors refuse to debate their ‘Climate Emergency’ with Residents. They are willing to hold public consultations on many issues but NOT the climate.
I asked you 11 questions, you didn’t or couldn’t answer 1 of them. I had a look at the 2022 IPCC report as you suggested but that didn’t answer any of them either.
If you aren’t inclined to answer any of the questions there’s probably no point in continuing this dialogue. Never mind.
All the best David.