Icelandic bank bill rises by £37,000: Tories hire KPMG to tell them what went wrong

Westminster Council Tax payers will have to pay another £37,000 so that that Westminster Conservatives can hire top City accountants, KPMG, to tell them about all the mistakes that were made when the Council invested £17 million in now-failed Icelandic banks earlier this year.

KPMG have been hired by Westminster City Council to review the Council’s “investment strategy and internal control systems” and to investigate “whether any failures in internal control systems have, or continue to, expose the Council to financial loss”.

Six million reasons why the Tories in Plymouth are terrible at taxation

Plymouth has been revealed as the third worst collector of Council Tax in England and Wales.

£6.26 Million remained outstanding at end of the 2007/08 financial year, a record so poor that only two councils are worse – the London Boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth.

In the South West, Bristol, a much larger city with many more Council Tax payers, had less owing than Plymouth.

This information was gathered by the Department of Communities and Local Government and is published by the GMB Trade Union in its Vision Magazine.

“Time running out for euro 2016 bid” warns Welsh Assembly Member

Wales and Scotland risk being unsuccessful in bidding to co-host the European Football Championships in 2016, unless a firm indication from the countries’ respective football associations is made in the near future, according to a Labour Member of the Welsh Assembly.

Wrexham’s AM, Lesley Griffiths – who has led the political campaign in Wales for the two nations to submit a joint-bid - was commenting after news that a rival bid by France to host Euro 2016, has taken a major step forward in recent days.

At the end of September, at a meeting in Bordeaux, UEFA changed the format of the competition to increase the number of teams from 16 to 24 teams. This move effectively ruled out a solo bid from Scotland and left the door open for a possible joint-bid to host Euro 2016 between Wales and Scotland.

A future Tory Government cutting public spending would threaten Wales’ future

The Labour-led Assembly Government’s Budget for 2009-10 will help ensure Wales comes through the global economic crisis in a fair way, Welsh Labour’s Finance Minister Andrew Davies AM has said.

The draft Budget, which was the subject of debate in the National Assembly yesterday, marks an important step forward in Welsh Labour’s commitment to creating a fairer, more self-confident, prosperous and healthy Wales.

The Assembly Government’s budget has increased from £7bn in 1999 to £15bn in 2009-10, and to £16bn in 2010-11. An additional £3.6bn will be invested in Wales’ public services between 2008-09 and 2010-11.

Camden ditches commitment to affordable new housing “on the sly”

Camden’s historic commitment to 50% affordable housing on new developments is being ditched on the sly, say Camden Labour Councillors.

New council development proposals are to introduce a new “sliding scale” of 10% to 50% to cover the amount of affordable housing required on developments of less than 50 homes - the vast majority of all developments in Camden.

The effect of this, warn Labour councillors, will be to reduce the amount of affordable homes required from developers and hamper attempts to reduce Camden’s massive housing waiting list.

In October Mayor Boris Johnson ditched Ken Livingstone’s commitment for 50% affordable housing.

Older Queen’s Park residents set to enjoy complementary care

Older residents in Queen’s Park Ward will soon be benefiting from complementary health care from the Munro Health Co-Operative, as part of the Queen’s Park Ward neighbourhood budget.
As part of the proposals put forward by Queen’s Park Labour Councillors Paul Dimoldenberg, Mushtaq Qureshi and Barrie Taylor, the Munro Health Co-Operative will be providing complementary therapies (i.e. reflexology and massage) to Queen’s Park residents with a low income over the age of 60 years old. One therapist will be treating 6 clients each week for 6 months in a venue in Queen’s Park. The cost of the project is £4,000.

The Munro Health Co-Operative Ltd is dedicated to the provision of complementary health care to people who would normally not be able to afford such treatments, as well as serving the wider community and targeting special needs…

Labour calls for compensation for the “absolutely filthy” state of the Brunel Estate

Westbourne Ward’s three Labour Councillors, David Boothroyd, Rupert D’Cruz and Papya Qureshi have joined Karen Buck MP to call for tenants and leaseholders on the Brunel Estate to be given financial compensation from City West Homes for the “absolutely filthy” state of their estate.

On a walkabout this weekend with Karen Buck MP, they say that virtually all the stair wells and most lobbies on the Brunel Estate are:

* absolutely filthy;
* covered in graffiti;
* graffiti includes ‘gang’ related messages and obscenities.

There are several shattered windows and a number of walls have holes gouged out of them.

Karen Buck MP said:

“It is absolutely obvious that no-one with any responsibility for managing the estate has walked through here in at least a year…

Westminster Labour councillors slam 1000% increase of tennis fees

Three Tennis Coaches at Paddington Recreation Ground have been asked to pay 1,000% increase in tennis fees - from £98 a month to £1,000 a month - which has forced them off the tennis courts and is set to ruin their long-standing businesses, as well as disappoint the hundreds of local residents who can no longer learn tennis with their tennis coach of choice. Labour Councillors say that the 1,000% increase in fees is completely unjustified when compared with the nearest possible comparable Tennis Coaching venue at Holland Park, where the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea charges their Tennis Coaches a monthly registration fee of £110 from November to April and £153 per month from May to October.

Southampton to pioneer new crime fighting approach

Southampton Itchen Labour MP John Denham has welcomed the announcement by Justice Secretary Jack Straw and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that Southampton is to be one of 60 Crime and Justice Pioneer Areas. The new pioneer areas will each appoint a dedicated person – a Neighbourhood Crime and Justice (NCJ) Co-ordinator – to ensure that Community Payback in the local community is visible and tough, that victims of crime are supported to reduce re-offending and that the public know the rights that the new national Policing Pledge gives them.

The coordinator will work within Southampton City Council but will be directly funded by the Government. Justice Co-ordinators will be a powerful force to take forward the radical vision set out in the Casey Review and Policing Green Paper to give the public a greater say in the way their streets are policed and how offenders are dealt with…

Westminster Conservatives’ economic recovery plan is a “con trick”

Labour Councillors say that Westminster’s so-called £100 million ‘economic recovery programme’ is nothing more than a re-hash of existing programmes which have already been agreed and has nothing to do with helping businesses or families through the current economic difficulties.

Labour say that the so-called ‘economic recovery programme’ includes £98.5m of existing approved schemes in the 2009/10 revenue budget and capital programme and around £8m out of the discretionary bids provisionally agreed by informal Cabinet on 25 September, making a total of £106.3m.