Islington News - Council Tax Freeze | School Dinner | £100 Rebate

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 13 February 2009

Council tax freeze or free school meals? It’s your choice (but will they listen to what you say?)

Town Hall appeals through the Tribune for your views on how to ease recession blues

A COUNCIL tax freeze or free school dinners for primary schoolchildren and a £100 rebate for pensioners? This is the recession-busting choice on offer from the Town Hall.
Lib Dem leader Councillor James Kempton is appealing to Tribune readers to write, email and phone with their views on budget plans being put forward by opposing parties at next month’s full council meeting.
He said: “There’s clearly going to be a choice in front of councillors in two weeks’ time. I am asking for feedback from the public. They can email me or Councillor [John] Gilbert, leave a message on my voicemail or go to councillors’ surgeries. I’ve always believed that listening to Islington is important.”
But Cllr Kempton would not guarantee to do as the majority wish. “I’m not going to give an absolute commitment because this isn’t a referendum,” he said. “If there’s an overwhelming message then every councillor has a duty to listen to the people who elected them.”
Cllr Kempton said his own party members would not have a free vote but added that they unanimously favoured a council tax freeze.
The delicate balance of power at the Town Hall – where Labour has 23 councillors to the ruling Lib Dems’ 24 – could be upset by either lone Green councillor Katie Dawson or rebel Lib Dem former finance chief Councillor Andrew Cornwell, who has fallen out with his party.
Since Cllr Cornwell’s resignation from the cabinet, members of all three parties have been thrashing out behind-the-scenes deals to win vital votes that can swing the budget in their favour.
Following Labour’s announcement – revealed exclusively in the Tribune last month – of plans for free school meals for all primary schoolchildren over the next three years, the Lib Dems this week fought back with proposals to freeze council tax for all residents.
Labour has incorporated Cllr Cornwell’s calls for a £100 council tax rebate for all pensioners into its plans.
Finance chief Cllr Gilbert told the council executive meeting on Tuesday that Lib Dem budget plans were assembled as “the dark clouds of the recession were forming”. He added: “This budget contains £9.5million of savings. These are extraordinary times and call for extraordinary measures.”
Of the opposition’s budget, he said: “All these proposals evoke our sympathies, get good headlines but we delude ourselves if we think they are free. The people who will suffer are the council tax payers.”
Opponents argue the council tax freeze will amount to a saving of less than £3 a month for most households.
From their calculations, the most expensive homes in exclusive private road Aberdeen Park or Alwyne Place would be £5.20 a month better off, while a family in a band A home in Emberton Court on the Brunswick Park estate would only save £1.73.
Speaking after the meeting, Labour deputy leader Councillor Richard Greening said: “In tough economic times, Labour wants to give council support where it will help the most: free school meals to boost learning and save families money, and a tax discount to help relieve pensioner poverty.
“The Liberal Democrats have cobbled together a tax plan that will not help ordinary people. They want to give more money to people in some of the most exclusive houses in the country.”
Cllr Cornwell said: “This is a happy day for Islington Conservatives, who don’t have any councillors but who now find one of their proposals included in the budget. Alongside hose who are suffering from the recession, wealthy households.”

* Council tax freeze or free school meals for primary schoolchildren and a £100 tax rebate for pensioners? Email your preference to Cllr John Gilbert at john.gilbert@islington.gov.uk, with a copy marked “It’s your choice” to the Tribune at letters@islingtontribune.co.uk.

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