Islington Councils latest budget, as usual, is all “Doom and Glum” and continually pointed at the great hole in the borough’s finances.
Nevertheless, since the councils main funding stream is basically through council rents and Maintenance bills, their obvious solution is to raise the average Council rents by a whopping great £9.71p per week. This is in order to replenish the Housing Revenue account, and facilitate further mis-running of the borough.
However, strange though it may seem, whilst the borough is financially struggling to survive, the Council have also re-purchased 389 ex Council flats. It’s not to move islington tenants out of temporary accommodation, such as bed and breakfast, which costs the borough a fortune, but to be used as further…short term accommodation..!
Question, if this borough is having financial problems : – Just how/and from where, did they acquire the money to finance such a massive purchase?
Using a broad brush approach, approximately 389 flats at an average cost of £400.000 each? (and we all know, that in this borough you can’t buy a shoe box for that, much less 2, 3, and 4 bedroom flats) comes to approximately £155.6 million pounds!
Question, If the purchase of these flats involved a grant…how much was it in total?… if a loan, just how much undisclosed debt are we now jointly carrying?…and what % interest are we going to be paying?, to whom, and for how many years to come?. Which of course will be solved, once again, by simply, raising the RENTS and MAINTENANCE bills …Again and Again…
It “Beggars Believe” what both Tenants and Leaseholders of this borough are forking out in order to cover financial mismanagement…
Hopefully, the usual “Smoke and Mirrors” won’t be enough this time around.!!!
Dr Potter
Chairman ILA www.ila.org.uk
