News from Westminster Labour

Westminster Labour unveils £5.5 million Council savings plan

Labour Councillors have unveiled a £5.5 million savings plan which will cut out waste at City Hall and redirect the extra money to helping residents and the local economy. The savings are:

* halving the Council’s communications and public relations budget – saving £1.5 million a year;

* a 20% reduction in the amount spent on temporary agency admin/clerical staff – saving £600,000 a year;

* a 20% reduction in the amount spent on temporary agency professional staff – saving £2.4 million a year;

* shelving plans to hire 4 new Group Directors – saving £800,000 a year;

* a 50% reduction in the amount spent on taxis and hire cars by the Council – saving £100,000;

* reducing the amount spent on food and refreshments for Councillors and Senior Officers at Council and Committee meetings – saving £30,000 a year;

* halving the amount spent by the Lord Mayor on hospitality – saving £20,000 a year;

* reducing the amount spent on the Civic Dinner – saving £20,000 a year.

Total Savings – £5,470,000 a year.

Labour say that the combination of a number of large savings items, together with a range of smaller savings, is a balanced approach to getting the Council’s finances back on track following the Council’s reckless gamble on Icelandic investments in now-failed banks which has put £17 million of Council taxpayers’ money at risk.

Last week, Labour called on the Council to pass on the 2.5% VAT reduction to residents who have paid in advance for services and to reduce prices generally in line with the VAT decrease.

Labour say that the £5.5 million savings would be reallocated to

* encouragement for small businesses by providing value-for-money premises in Westminster;

* increased resources for advice to residents on personal debt-management and benefits take-up;

* extra training for front-line Council staff to enable them to deal helpfully with distressed and vulnerable residents;

* a review of parking regulations outside shopping parades so that shoppers and traders are not penalised for minor infringements of the parking regulations;

* a freeze on rent increases imposed on small shops owned by the Council in Church Street, Harrow Road, Tachbrook Street, Lupus Street and other Council-owned shop parades.

Last month the Council’s Chief Executive, Mike More’s painted a bleak and dysfunctional picture of the Conservative-run Council which he described as “costly”, “expensive” and where “often one department doesn’t realise what other departments are doing”.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said:

“Everyone knows that there is a huge amount of waste in Conservative Westminster and it is time to cut out the costly and expensive items and put the money to work on behalf of local residents and businesses at this time of economic difficulty. So far we have identified £5.5 million of potential savings which we believe would be better spent on helping local businesses and local services.”

Other news from Westminster Labour

• Twelve questions for the next Leader of Westminster Council - 10 February 2012
• Westminster Council joint bottom of London league for Adult Social Care - 6 February 2012
• Westminster Labour calls for an 'outbreak of democracy' over election of new council Leader - 2 February 2012