Council tax frozen in Hammersmith and Fulham to counter rise in cost of living

By Hannah Neary, Local Democracy Reporter

Council tax rates will remain the same in Hammersmith and Fulham as part of a bid to help locals cope with the rising cost of living.

The council has agreed to freeze rates for the next financial year, with people living in band D properties continuing to pay £1,227.55 a year.

The Labour-led borough will not impose the 2 per cent increase recommended by central government and plans to invest £7.4 million in services including adult social care, children’s services and the environment.

The council’s gross budget for 2022/23 is £533.5 million with £160.4 million being funded by a mix of council tax, business rates and a government grant.

Council leader Stephen Cowan said: “Families and citizens across our borough face an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis.

“Food bills are up already by about £30 a week, for each of our many of our neighbours across the borough.

“We have the highest inflation now for 30 years, the worst cost of living squeeze in 60 years, and we see rocketing energy bills and government taxes that are about to hit households around Hammersmith & Fulham.

“It is without doubt a challenging time, and as you already know, many people are struggling to pay their bills and to make their household finances balance.”

Cllr Cowan said mothers and children in the borough are struggling to afford food and the council is tackling this with its free school meals programme.

He added: “Our message to children struggling and to those parents, often mums who are going without food is we’re on your side and we’re going to step in.

“We’re very firmly on the side of the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham.”

Councillor Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler, leader of the Tory group, said: “We have a weak budget before us built around synthetic ideals.

“I teach English to people who have English as a second language and have heard many fairy tales over the years.

“Unfortunately, the administration’s budget proposals are not of the Hans Christian Andersen genre but more like Brothers Grimm.

“We are let down by Labour. Labour’s second term has seen this administration consumed by it’s own socialist schemes to the detriment of our borough and us residents.”

The Town ward representative said the council should introduce tougher licensing rules in Shepherd’s Bush and Fulham Broadway to tackle rising antisocial behaviour and slammed the authority for being dubbed the worst in England for damp and mouldy housing and poor complaint handling.

She said: “It is a disgrace. You are not doing the repairs in an acceptable time frame and rents are still going up 1.5% on homes unfit for living in.

“Our town centres are suffering from a huge increase in antisocial behaviour – drunkenness, people being sick, urinating, and worse on people’s doorsteps.”

Cllr Brocklebank-Fowler said the council has been slow to work with the government and TfL to allow traffic to return to Hammersmith Bridge, which has been closed to vehicles for almost three years.

She added: “Good functioning infrastructure is essential to a better borough.”

Cllr Cowan said the Labour group inherited the problems with Hammersmith Bridge from the Conservative group when they won the local election in 2014.

He added: “This budget – more for children, more for adults, more for crime fighting and less out of residents’ pockets.”

A report by Hammersmith & Fulham’s director of finance Emily Hill says: “The council’s budget proposals support the local recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and delivery of resident priorities.

“The ongoing pandemic and health emergency has led to an increase in demand for services whilst the upturn in inflation and resetting of the public finances, at a national level, has placed a further strain on local government.”

It says the tax freeze “will provide a balanced budget whilst resulting in a reduced burden, in real terms, on local taxpayers.”

It said: “Historically, overall government funding has reduced by £57 million from 2010/11 to 2022/23 – a real terms funding cut of 54%.”

The council agreed to freeze council tax rates with 17 votes for it, 10 against and one abstention during a meeting on Thursday February 24.