LibDen-run Kingston Council forced through their budget at a meeting of the full Council on the 29th February 2024. The response from Cllr Rowena Bass, the Conservative group leader was as follows:
Thank you, Madam Mayor for letting me speak and I would also like to thank officers for their help, in particular acting s151 officer Rachel Howard and Lucy Kourpas FD of Achieving for Children for the briefings they gave us on the details of this budget. This is yet another disappointing budget from the LDs. With a maximum council tax rate rise for 5% AGAIN and further cuts to services. Where is the LibDem vision here?
Do not forget that major projects such as the Cambridge Road Estate regeneration were initiatives started by the Conservatives administration in 2014-8. Cocks Crescent in New Malden is still waiting to be developed, despite advanced plans pre 2018, and residents are down to just one aging council swimming pool for the whole of the borough with an increasingly longer wait for the Kingfisher Leisure Centre replacement.
This budget increases Council Tax for a Band D property to £2,374 up from £1,771 when the LibDems took over in 2018, an increase of 34%. Even Band C properties are above £2,000 for the first time across the borough. This is one of the highest rates in London and comes at a time when many Kingston residents are experiencing cost of living pressures due the aftermath of the pandemic and awful war in Ukraine. Conservatives are clearly the only party locally to aspire to minimise Council Tax rises for our hardworking residents.
Under the LibDems Kingston’s Council Tax in one of highest in London yet council services are further declining and fees increasing:
- Potholes getting worse - this is an issue that residents feel very strongly about and extremely dangerous for cyclists.
- Litter everywhere – just look at Robin Hood Lane in CH – constant complaints about fly tipping not being cleared.
- Less frequent grass cutting - this looks awful in summer – just weeds and dog mess!!
- Libraries on limited opening hours
- Removal of pay and display machines
- bins are left strewn along pavements on collection days making it impossible for people with pushchairs or disabled / visually impaired people to navigate.
- £150k reduction in highways maintenance
- £18 admin fee for bin replacements
- 10% increase for garden waste subscription to £95 per year
- Footpaths not maintained
- Increased parking charges
- The list goes on. These are the basics that residents expect their council to provide well with their high council tax – but have all declined since 2018.
The Government settlement for Local Government is more generous than expected this year – allowing an increase of 7.5% for 2024/5 on top of 9.2% for last year. With an extra £600m funding announced for local gov in the final settlement this year.
The Government takes local government very seriously, and of course more money would be welcome but public finances have many demands and the decisions on
how to allocate extra government receipts between health, education, defence or local government are not easy. Kingston will expect to receive £17.5m in specific grants, £6.9m grants in services
budgets and £16.8m capital grants next year and have benefited from a £30m funding from the DfE to top up SEN funding over the last 5 years. In addition Coombe Boys School is in the initial stages of a major rebuild, funded by the Department for Education, which will provide a state of the art and carbon efficient new school for the future. And substantial government funding to develop an ambitious heat transfer network
to provide green energy to Kingston College, the University and the proposed leisure centre from the sewage treatment centre.The Liberal Democrat Administration are not supporting the wellbeing of residents:
- Kingston does not have adequate pool space to ensure all children can learn to swim. It is now difficult for families to enjoy leisure time with their children as only one aging public swimming pool for a population of nearly 170,000.
- our much loved Kingfisher Leisure Centre was closed in Dec 2019 due to issues with the roof. Back then myself and other Conservative Cllrs argued for the repair the roof option at £5m to ensure that residents would not be left without a pool for an extended period of time.
- The decision process to knock it down was so flawed that former LibDem Cllr Jon Tolley publicly resigned from the group.
- Before the 2022 local elections the LDs promised us a state-of-the-art leisure centre with roof top football pitches to be completed by Autumn 2023 – yet all we have is massive great hole despite spending £3.7m on failed designs and demolition.
- At budget council last year information about the only tender received for £80m (compared to budgeted funds of £40m) was withheld from opposition councillors and only released the week after – a complete lack of transparency!!
- The council is now back at the drawing board and work on the new leisure centre will not begin until at least 2025.
- Meanwhile the New Malden Centre is old and issues now emerging with that roof. Kingston residents risk not having any public pool at all!!
The LibDems war on motorists continues:
- Despite Coombe residents voting against a blanket introduction of20mph pre 2022, the LibDems have now decided to implement 20mph across the area including the main roads Kingston Hill and Coombe Lane West regardless of public opinion.
- Over £280k has been spent on 20mph and schemes in the last two years. This money could have been better spent fixing the increasing number of potholes which affect cyclists as well. The LibDem manifesto says that 20mph schemes would only be introduced in consultation with residents!! Not the case – you have consulted then done it regardless!!
- Reluctance to oppose the ULEZ expansion – the Administration refused to support the Conservative Group in opposing this and have allowed Sadiq Khan to install his camera network across Kingston. This extra tax on cars is having a huge negative impact on many small businesses as well as hitting the poorest in our borough.
The LibDems are currently embarking on a massive fire sale of council assets – aiming to realise £10m per year - including selling community halls, caretaker cottages, green spaces, and even GH 1 and 2. We are lucky in Kingston to have such a vibrant charity sector – but youth groups and other charity groups need good and affordable spaces in order to continue – so the continued sell off of council halls is deeply worrying.
So to sum up – you (LD Administration) promised to listen to residents. However residents are realising time and time again that you are not listening to them. This is a depressing budget lacking in vision, with further cuts to services, fire sale of assets, and reduction in leisure and community facilities for an increasing population. The Conservative Group cannot support these proposals.
