|
Britain is facing the worst recession since the 1930s and Sutton is no exception. But the Lib Dem-run Council will be taking more money from your pockets this year with an above average council tax increase. Local Conservatives believe that this is wrong and have been campaigning for a Council Tax freeze. Find out more by clicking on the headings below. You can click on the heading again to carry on.
Why freeze Council Tax now?
Times are hard and the Lib Dem Council should not add to that burden. The country has effectively run out of money with every child born owing about £20,000. The amount required to service that debt is more than the cost of educating that child. Our country is in negative equity.
Residents in Sutton are not immune to the global economic climate. Shops and businesses are closing, jobs are being lost. House repossessions are increasing. The economic downturn is hitting Sutton residents hard, particularly the vulnerable. The Council has the power to make people's lives better. Other London Councils have with 13 local authorities going that extra distance to freeze or cut their tax and Mayor Boris Johnson freezing the Greater London Assembly precept.
Can we afford to freeze the tax?
Absolutely! The first question that should be asked is whether frontline services would be cut by such a move and the answer is no. One controversial pet project, the Sutton Life Centre is costing the taxpayer £8million to build. The National Lottery fund that is used by the government to fill holes in its spending plans – rather than the good causes that the remainder is used for – has agreed to a grant of £4million. This leaves us as local taxpayers, with another £4million to find. The Lib Dem Council are using some £2.4million of unexpected windfalls to pay for this rather than helping residents who are having some bad luck. On top of this - £1.4million is being diverted away from school reserves
- £3million is being taken from the Council reserves and
- £3.5million of money left unspent in Adult Social Services is being taken
to plug the shortfall as well as buoying up a capital programme of building left vulnerable as property prices plummet. We believe that whatever the merits of the Sutton Life Centre, it should not be built at this time.
What is the Sutton Life Centre?
When looking at this year’s Council budget, all roads lead to the Sutton Life Centre. However, despite this being a signature project for the ruling administration, not a lot of people are aware of it and the name does not give much away.
At the heart of the Sutton Life Centre is what is described as ‘part movie set, part theme park’. A multimedia learning environment will teach children about personal safety and citizenship under the Junior Citizenship Scheme which is held each year in the Borough. It is aimed at schools within a one hour coach journey of the site on Alcorn Road, which is by the junction of Sutton Common Road and Oldfields Road.
As well as being the first of its kind in the country, the centre will host a library after the Ridge Road library is closed and a youth centre after the Centre 21 youth club was knocked down to make way for the controversial building. The planning application process did not go smoothly after the panel tried to push through approval after only starting to rush to discuss the matter after 10pm. It was revealed that despite local residents who are concerned about traffic and overspill parking being told that there would be 20,000 visitors each year, the business plan showed that 40,000 were expected. No budget has been put forward to show exactly where the money is coming from to pay for the running costs. Instead residents are being told that sales in the coffee shop will help. That is a lot of cappuccinos.
The only new facility is the multimedia area. No other council has decided to put money into a similar scheme and as one residents put it: “Frankly, I’m baffled as to how anyone has ever learned to not take drugs, not join gangs, not get involved in antisocial behaviour without the benefit of an immersive simulation ‘experience’.”
Why does the Council Tax always rise?
Firstly, there is no doubt that Sutton does get a poor deal from the Government. Only 19% of the money spent by the Council comes from council taxpayers. Sutton receives 69% of its income from the government in the form of grants and various charges make up the other 12%. Sutton’s overall budget this year is £437m. In order to freeze council tax, the budget would have to be reduced by just £2.4m or 0.55% of the total amount that is due to be spent by the Council this coming year. Unlike other authorities around London, who have been more ambitious for their residents, Sutton has not prioritised keeping Council Tax low, despite a massive 93% of a recent survey of Sutton residents saying that the amount should be frozen. The figures since the introduction of the Council tax regime in 1993 show the rapid increase of Council Tax in Sutton.
| Year |
Council Tax Increase
(1993=100) |
RPI Inflation
(1993=100) |
Band D Council Tax
(excluding London precept) |
| 1993/4 |
100 |
100 |
£374.94 |
| 1994/5 |
103.79 |
102.56 |
£389.15 |
| 1995/6 |
134.96 |
105.97 |
£506.01 |
| 1996/7 |
140.48 |
108.53 |
£526.71 |
| 1997/8 |
147.16 |
111.17 |
£551.75 |
| 1998/9 |
161.47 |
115.65 |
£605.41 |
| 1999/2000 |
171.66 |
117.50 |
£643.61 |
| 2000/1 |
179.38 |
120.98 |
£672.58 |
| 2001/2 |
192.50 |
123.12 |
£721.76 |
| 2002/3 |
208.35 |
124.96 |
£781.20 |
| 2003/4 |
233.14 |
128.88 |
£874.14 |
| 2004/5 |
250.40 |
132.08 |
£938.84 |
| 2005/6 |
262.41 |
136.27 |
£983.87 |
| 2006/7 |
272.64 |
139.76 |
£1022.24 |
| 2007/8 |
286 |
146.09 |
£1072.31 |
| 2008/9 |
295.72 |
152.20 |
£1108.76 |
| 2009/10 |
304.29 |
152.20 |
£1140.89 |
The chart below shows the rise of Council Tax in Sutton, next to the rate of inflation (RPI, Sutton’s inflation measure of choice for 15 years, until this year when CPI rose and RPI shrank to 0%). Both lines start from an index of 100 in 1993 for easy comparison.
The London Borough of Sutton has been controlled by the Liberal Democrats for over twenty years and
during that time, the amount of Council Tax which we pay has increased year after year.
Local Conservatives believe that value for money should be a higher priority when providing council services and we would like to hear your views. Only with your help can we get the Liberal Democrats to listen.
In 2008 Sutton Council only received 22 responses to their Budget Consultation. This year they
managed around 70. There are 180,000 residents in the Borough that are affected by the actions of elected politicians in the Civic Offices. Send the Council your message by completing the short online survey, telling us what you think about council tax and services in Sutton. Just click on the button below. |
