Category Archives: Finance

Shock cost of repairs to Kilburn Library

Posted on May 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

In the week that Brent Council tried to remove the books from the closed Kensal Rise library, the cost of refurbishing the nearest alternative library has rocketed. For most of the next two years Brent will have only five libraries. Prior to October 2011 it had twelve.

Answers to questions asked by the Liberal Democrats reveal that the stated cost of works to Kilburn library has increased in the last 18 months from £117,360 to a staggering £650,000.

In November 2010 Brent Council told Liberal Democrat Group Leader Paul Lorber that the cost of repairs and maintenance to Kilburn Library over the next 20 years was £117,360 – less than any other library except Preston (£93,000) or Barham Park (£90,000).

After the Council recently announced a 4-month closure of Kilburn Library for repairs and refurbishment Councillor Lorber asked for an update. This time the embarrassed Labour Council had to admit that the cost would be £650,000 – a fivefold increase.

The Liberal Democrats are demanding to know why the Council did not make this figure public in 2010 when the future of Brent’s libraries was under discussion – especially as Labour Councillors claimed it was shortage of money which made them decide to close six popular local libraries.

Brondesbury Park Councillor Barry Cheese, who represents some of the residents affected by the closure of Kensal Rise library, said:

How can the Council give a figure of £117,000 one day and then decide it needs to spend £650,000 just 18 months later?

The closure of local libraries in Cricklewood, Kensal Rise, Barham, Preston, Neasden and Tokyngton could have been avoided if taxpayers money was used more efficiently.

Councillor Barry Cheese and campaigners outside Kensal Rise library

Councillor Barry Cheese (second right) and other campaigners at the volunteer pop-up library outside Kensal Green library.

When Labour councillors closed Kensal Rise library they claimed that its many young users could use Kilburn library nearby. Local people are now very angry at being misled as Kilburn library will be closed for 16 weeks including the whole of the school summer holidays. As soon as Kilburn library re-opens in September, Willesden Green library is due to close for demolition and redevelopment. It is not due to open until just before the local elections in Spring 2014. This means that for most of the next two years Brent will have only five libraries. Prior to October 2011 it had twelve.

Lib Dem councillors are demanding that the council steps in to get Kensal Rise library reopened during the Kilburn Library closure. They support the Friends of Kensal Rise Library and their plan to operate a volunteer library from the historic 110 year old building in Bathurst Gardens.

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Posted in Finance, Libraries

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108,300 Brent residents get a Lib Dem income tax cut

Posted on March 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

Today’s Budget means that no one will pay any income tax on the first £9,200 they earn from next year.

In Brent that means 12,370 people will be lifted out of paying Income Tax altogether and a 108,300 people will receive a £220 tax cut. This is on top of tax cuts of £200 last year and a further £130 next month.

Stacks of coins

The tax cut was a key pledge on the front cover of the Liberal Democrats’ election manifesto in 2010. Local Liberal Democrats have welcomed the fact that the Coalition Government is delivering the Liberal Democrat committment to increase the Income Tax threshold.

The Liberal Democrats are working for a fairer tax system where help is provided for those who need it most and where the richest pay their fair share.

Raising the Income Tax threshold to £9,205 will help average working people in Brent who have been struggling with bills and the higher cost of living.

Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander said:

Liberal Democrats have been clear in our priorities for the Budget. We wanted to see a Budget for the millions, not the millionaires.

The Coalition Government inherited an unfair tax system from Labour, who in their 13 years hit ordinary working families hardest by abolishing the 10p tax rate while letting tycoons get away with shameless tax avoidance.

Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are clearing up the mess Labour left behind, making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share by clamping down on tax avoidance, introducing a ‘tycoon tax’ and putting an end to stamp duty dodging by the super rich.

Raising the Income Tax threshold is a key Liberal Democrat commitment that the Coalition Government is implementing. The announcement in the Budget will mean almost 2m people will be taken out of paying Income Tax all together in the UK and give nearly 25m people a £220 tax cut.”

The Budget includes  measures to make the rich pay their fair share. These include a Tycoon Tax to cap tax breaks the wealthy can use; raising the rate of stamp duty to 7% for being who buy £2m mansions; and closing loopholes that allow people to buy houses in company names to avoid Stamp Duty when the property is sold.

When the Coalition came to power in 2010 the Personal Tax Allowance was £6,475. Increasing it to £10,000 will mean £700 back in the pockets of working people, or approximately £60 a month.

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Posted in Finance, Government, Liberal Democrats

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Liberal Democrats uncover Willesden Green Library redevelopment warning from history

Posted on March 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

Liberal Democrat councillors have warned Labour to learn from history after research in the archives uncovered a presentation about the existing library building given by Brent Council’s development department in 1983.

The presentation reveals that the council intended the current buildings to serve the local community for 60 years:

Effective use must be made of the Authorities’ scarce resources in providing ‘efficient’ and ‘flexible’ buildings for the next 60 years (see Willesden Green Centre presentation 1983 [PDF], page 4).

Now, just 23 years after the building opened in 1989, the council has decided that the library centre is no longer fit for purpose.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Brondesbury Park, Carol Shaw, said:

The 1983 document is full of bold promises and visionary statements that the Library Centre never delivered on. If today’s Labour councillors are not careful they will fall into the same trap. A building cannot deliver regeneration on its own. It depends on how it is managed and the services it delivers – and it needs support from local people.

The council must take the forthcoming consultation exercise seriously and listen to what local residents have to say.

The Willesden Green Centre presentation 1983 document is a fascinating insight into local priorities in the 1980s. Many are strikingly similar to those of today but there are also marked differences.

  • THEN – the council wanted to support the “revival” of Willesden Green.
  • NOW – the council talks about “regeneration”
  • THEN – “the building must meet the council’s long planned objective of giving a new Community heart to Willesden”
  • NOW – Willesden Green Cultural Centre will be a building at the heart of its community, in every sense.
  • THEN – “self-help among individuals and groups should be fostered and encouraged”
  • NOW – the council has turned its back on volunteers who want to help provided a local library service or care for their streets
  • THEN – “Commercial elements must be encouraged within the Centre to help bring life into the building and contribute towards running costs”
  • NOW – the café and cinema spaces have been empty for years. The designs for a new building will not include space for the successful Willesden bookshop.

Liberal Democrat councillors are critical of the council and the developers continuing to claim that the development will be:

at no cost to Brent council taxpayers.

According to Councillor Shaw this is wrong as the Council has confirmed that the council land being handed over to the developer by the Labour administration is worth up to £10 million.

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Posted in Finance, Libraries

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Labour councillors block lifeline for Brent libraries

Posted on February 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

Liberal Democrat councillors last night (Monday 27 February) put forward budget proposals that would have given Brent back its closed libraries, and lifted the threat to Brent’s School Crossing Patrols.

Other proposals included:

  • Reversing Labour’s cut to the highways and pavement budget – and investing extra money to tackle the maintenance backlog
  • Cleaning up Brent’s dirty streets with targeted action to tackle the roads worst affected by Labour’s street cleaning cuts
  • Cutting parking charges to give a boost to local High Streets
  • Restoring the Navratri grant and funding for other cultural festivals in Brent

The Liberal Democrats set out a costed programme of savings to pay for their plan including:

  • Slashing the bureaucracy and administration associated with ward working – where for every pound spent on a project another 94p  is spent on administration – without touching the project budget.
  • Abolishing the council’s Customer and Community Engagement Directorate and distributing its functions to other directorates
  • Streamlining the council’s spending on communications including ending the door to door distribution of Brent magazine and cutting unnecessary spending

The Liberal Democrat proposals, set out in The Liberal Democrat Alternative 2012 [PDF], maintain the council tax freeze. The council tax grant from the government means that this year is the third year in a row that there has been a council tax freeze. The first freeze was introduced in 2009 when the Liberal Democrats led the council.

The Lib Dem proposals were voted down by the Labour majority. 

Liberal Democrat Leader Paul Lorber said:

Labour has stopped listening to local residents and is no longer on their side. Labour Leader Ann John actually boasted about the library cuts when she made her speech.

The Liberal Democrats have listened to Brent residents. We have drawn up a budget which responds to their priorities and invests money in the issues they think are important including the state of our streets, the damage done by Labour’s parking charge increases and the closure of our libraries.

 Labour councillors could have clawed back some credibility by voting for the Liberal Democrat proposals last night. Sadly they ducked the test and Brent residents will suffer as a result. We will continue the fight for local people.

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Posted in Campaigns, Clean Streets, Community, Council Tax, Environment, Finance, Liberal Democrats, Libraries, Voluntary Sector, Young People

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Pay freeze for Brent Council’s highest paid staff could help protect jobs and services

Posted on February 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

As part of their budget preparations Liberal Democrat councillors have asked Brent Council to calculate how much money it could save by freezing the pay of the council’s highest paid staff.

Although most people are under the impression that public sector workers are subject to a total pay freeze, this doesn’t tell the whole story. Officers who have not reached the top of their pay scale are entitled to receive annual salary increases (known as increments) until they do. For the best paid officers these increases can be worth as much as £5,000. Increments are much smaller for lower paid workers.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Paul Lorber said:

The council’s pay structure means that the pay freeze is not being universally applied. There is a strong case for freezing the increases of the council’s highest paid officials in order to protect local services and jobs that are threatened by the Labour administration’s cuts.

We will seriously consider this as part of our budget preparations.

The highest paid officers are paid according to the Hay scale. Cllr Lorber has asked the council how much money would be saved if salary increments were not paid to officers on the Hay scale.

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Posted in Finance

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Liberal Democrats reveal unexpected surplus that gives council scope to save Brent libraries

Posted on December 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Labour councillors who run Brent Council will hear next Monday (12 December) that more council tax has been collected this year than expected.

As a result the Council is able to declare a £1 million surplus on the council tax Collection Fund. (The fund holds council tax income from taxpayers before it is redistributed to Brent Council and the Mayor of London). £226,000 of this money will go to the Mayor of London (on whose behalf Brent Council collects tax) and £774,000 will be available to spend in Brent.

Liberal Democrat finance spokesperson Councillor Javaid Ashraf said:

Brent Council should thank the vast majority of local taxpayers who have paid their council tax despite the difficult economic conditions.

Council tax collection rates increased significantly when the Liberal Democrats led the council and it is good that most local people continue to pay up. The council must continue to work hard to target the minority who try to avoid paying their fair share.

Council tax collection rates in Brent increased during the time when the Liberal Democrats led Brent Council from 93 per cent in 2006 to nearly 96 per cent four years later.

Liberal Democrat council group leader, Paul Lorber said:

This unexpected bonus wasn’t predicted by the council when Labour set the budget. As council officers say in their report to the Executive, this surplus means the council can fund services which otherwise could be cut.

£774,000 is enough to re-open closed libraries and work with the community to keep them open.

Paragraph 8.1 of the report to the Executive states that the surplus “can therefore be used to continue funding services which otherwise would have had to be cut”.

Council tax has not increased in Brent since the Liberal Democrats introduced a council tax freeze in 2010. In 2011 the Coalition Government provided money to Brent Council to enable it to freeze council tax once more. The council also plans to freeze council tax next year (2012) because of extra grant funding from the government.

So far this year the council’s Labour leadership has wasted over £154,000 on legal costs defending its decision to close half of the borough’s libraries and £258,000 on library staff redundancy costs.

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Posted in Finance, Libraries

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