Agenda item

To consider motions referred from council assembly on the following:

 

• Southwark’s response to the emergency budget
• Publication of spending on goods and services over £500
• Southwark Park and the Olympics
• Southwark Capital Programme
• Nursery Row Park

 

Southwark’s Response to the Emergency Budget

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  Cabinet notes the unprecedented, game-changing cuts that government is making to public sector spending.  Cabinet also notes that local government will not be protected from those cuts and that while we will know more after the comprehensive spending review in October, the council will face upwards of a 25% reduction in funding over the next five years.

 

2.  Cabinet notes that the poorest Southwark residents and families will be hit hardest personally by the budget, with significant changes to:

 

·  Housing benefits

·  Tax credits

·  Child benefits

·  Disability Living Allowance

 

3.  Cabinet further notes that the 2.5% increase in VAT, which as a deeply regressive tax will hit the poorest hardest, and will more than swallow up any savings Southwark residents make through changes to the income tax personal allowance and council tax freeze.

 

4.  Cabinet notes that the increase in VAT will lead to higher prices for goods and services; will have a disproportionate impact on pensioners and other low income groups; and will have a severe impact on businesses, charities and community groups in Southwark.  Cabinet further notes the disproportionate effect of the budget on women and the disabled.

 

5.  Cabinet notes that the effect of the increase in VAT, when taken with other measures in the budget, will be unfair to pensioners, who have not had a compensatory increase in other benefits and allowances.

 

6.  Cabinet notes that the way the VAT increase will affect pensioners and other low income groups runs counter to the Government's Coalition Agreement statement on 20 May 2010 that it would "ensure that fairness is at the heart of those decisions so that all those most in need are protected”.

 

7.  Cabinet notes that the Institute of Fiscal Studies has stated the VAT increase was not "unavoidable," as the Chancellor of the Exchequer said in his budget speech.”

 

8.  Cabinet notes that these changes will take place at a time of rising unemployment and that the Office of Budget Responsibility’s figures show that the actions in the budget itself will lead to weaker employment growth and more serious unemployment levels.

 

9.  Cabinet notes that it has already committed to cutting waste and making efficiency savings, but that they will not be enough to prevent loss of services.  Cabinet believes that the council will have to change the way it works by being innovative if we are to both continue delivering for Southwark residents and also try to meet the greater needs that the welfare reforms, VAT changes and persistent unemployment will cause in the community.

 

10.  Cabinet further believes that meeting this challenge will require greater cooperation between the council, its neighbours, residents, businesses, local trade unions and stakeholders.  Cabinet believes that the council’s response will be stronger if local consensus can be achieved between the local parties wherever possible and resolves to go forward on that basis.

 

11.  Cabinet therefore resolves to open up the council’s budget making process by finding innovative ways of involving residents in the tough choices that lie ahead and being honest with them about the scale of the challenge.

 

12.  That the leader of the council write directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer raising concerns about the impact of the proposed VAT increase on pensioners, other vulnerable groups and businesses in Southwark.

 

13.  Cabinet agrees to write to members of parliament representing Southwark, asking that they stand up for Southwark’s pensioners, businesses and wider community, to voice their opposition to this unfair increase in VAT.

 

Publication of Spending on Goods and Services over £500

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That the cabinet resolution of 15 June 2010 in which it states it will "open up the budget making process for public scrutiny so we make better decisions" be noted.

 

2.  That in light of this commitment to the residents of Southwark, cabinet agrees to bring forward proposals, as requested by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to make details of spending on all goods and services over £500 for the public to see and scrutinise.

 

3.  Cabinet believes that local people should be able to hold politicians and public bodies to account over how their hard earned cash is being spent, and welcomes these proposals, following the coalition government's own commitment demonstrated by the online publication of the COINS database, and cabinet agrees to follow this example.

 

4.  Cabinet notes that by September, councils will be expected to make these details available and should be doing this as a matter of course by the start of next year.

 

Southwark Park and the Olympics

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  Cabinet notes the quashing of the council’s planning permission for the refurbishment of the sports and athletics facilities at Southwark Park.

 

2.  Cabinet notes the public statement of ‘disappointment’ by the leader of the council at this setback, and that securing an Olympic legacy for Southwark remains a priority for the council.

 

3.  That the cabinet member for culture, leisure, sport and the Olympics makes all efforts to make a decision on the submission of a new application to allow the possibility of the project being delivered in time for the Olympics.

 

Southwark’s Capital Programme

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  Cabinet notes that in the budget on Tuesday 22 June, the Chancellor of the Exchequer specifically excluded capital spending from budget reductions and said he wished to focus on capital “projects with a significant economic return to the country”.

 

2.  Cabinet believes that this announcement allows Southwark to make progress on delivering a variety of capital projects that will bring significant economic benefits to the borough and more widely across London.  By continuing to invest in major capital schemes the council will ensure the borough's residents have access to affordable housing, libraries, leisure centres, schools and sporting and youth facilities fit for the 21st century.

 

3.  That it be noted that council assembly supports the new administration’s view that the capital programme is of such strategic importance that it should be discussed and approved by the full council assembly.

 

4.  Cabinet notes that council assembly supported the proposal set out in item 5.2 (the report on constitutional changes) of the 14 July council assembly meeting agenda that the cabinet submit the capital programme to council assembly for approval once every four years and agrees to submit a revised programme to council assembly for approval during 2010.

 

5.  Cabinet notes that the current capital programme, agreed on 9 February by the previous administration, made no commitment to fund refurbishment work of Seven Islands leisure centre.  Instead it asked that the finance director provide more detailed options analysis and financial appraisals on the remaining bids received (including Seven Islands) for future consideration by the executive in the context of resources available and considering any additional resources which can be identified.  The total costs for these bids totaled £115m, against a budget of £55.5m available.

 

6.  Cabinet recognises the importance of Seven Islands leisure centre to a significant proportion of the borough and agrees to give careful consideration to how its refurbishment could be funded through the capital programme.

 

7.  Cabinet notes the report to the regeneration and leisure scrutiny sub-committee on 29 June identified that the Canada Water library will cost a further £0.5 million more than has been agreed in the capital programme as a result of the over-running of the construction phase of this project.  Cabinet agrees to this additional expenditure over and above the level of the commitment made by the previous administration so that this work can be completed.

 

8.  Cabinet believes it is important that the capital programme demonstrates investment in all areas of the borough and not just one community council area.  Cabinet therefore agrees to consider the needs of the whole borough in its revision of the capital programme before submitting it for approval to council assembly.

 

Nursery Row Park

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  Cabinet notes the motion and that as requested, the cabinet member for regeneration and corporate strategy has written to the Secretary of State, who has now directed that sites 52P and 53P should not be saved as housing sites.

 

2.  Cabinet welcomes the proposed open spaces development plan document and agrees that the whole of Nursery Row Park should be given planning policy protection at the earliest possible opportunity.