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Offices sell-off will force staff to ‘hotdesk’
THE Town Hall has launched a startling new belt-tightening budget in the wake of the downturn in the economy.
It will bring rises in council tax and rent, and economies which will mean council staff having to “hotdesk” – working wherever there is a free space.
In an effort to balance the books, the ruling Lib Dems will sell off more of Islington’s “family silver ” – £150 million worth of council shops, offices and homes. The council is to invest money in housing, leisure and schools, including a £11.6 million revamp of the popular Sobell Centre in Holloway.
Lib Dem council leader Councillor James Kempton has billed the budget as a once-in-a lifetime move. He hopes the record £540 million investment will set the Lib Dems on the way to election victory in 2010.
But the council is facing stiff criticism from opponents who warn that council assets are being sold off to foot the bill.
Council tax-payers, currently paying an average band D bill of £1,200, will have to fork out an extra £30 a year.
And council tenants can expect to pay an average £228 more a year in rent, or £4.38 a week.
Labour group leader Councillor Catherine West welcomed the budget’s investment in the Olympics and in fighting crime, but accused the Lib Dems of targeting the most vulnerable.
She added: “The budget has failed people who use luncheon clubs, meals-on-wheels and day centres.”
Cllr West is alarmed at plans to raise thousands of pounds by “clamping down” on people who have fallen into arrears when paying for care services.
She said: “They’ll be chasing old people out of their homes. They’re making the cuts to the poorest people.”
Details of buildings being sold off are being kept secret until Lib Dem finance chief Cllr Andrew Cornwell has time to show his plans to other councillors. He has set aside £10 million to build new council homes.
But Brian Potter, chairman of the Federation of Islington Tenants’ Associations, said: “It’s absolutely disgraceful. By the time this council has finished there won’t be any family silver left.
“They will have sold off everything. When they sell the property, they lose rental income. I know one shopkeeper whose rent doubled when they sold off his shop last year.”
Selling council offices will mean staff facing a “smart working programme”. They will be expected to give up their desks, keep belongings in a locker, carry laptop computers and “hotdesk” – use whatever desk is available – to free up space.
Some employees will be forced to share offices with colleagues while others will work one day a week from home.
Cllr Kempton has promised that the Sobell Centre revamp will make it “second to none”.
An Olympics board will be established to decide how £60,000 should be spent, and money will be ploughed into making Holloway School’s sports facilities available to the public.
Additional places will be offered at children’s centres and money has been set aside to replace the existing Nag’s Head Safer Neighbourhoods team with a bigger staff.
There will also be money for parenting support programmes, which will focus on families affected by drug and alcohol abuse.
Cllr Kempton said: “Here we have a budget that, hopefully, will establish the record for us that we will take into the next election, elections that we will of course win in 2010 – a great budget for people scared of crime, old age.
“We have a budget about decent homes and new homes, to clean the streets, more recycling, better parks and a council tax that will remain lower than the London average.” |
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