The council is shortly going to consult residents on the £50 million of savings it is going to have to make as the result of central government funding cuts.
Here are a few numbers to put that into context:
- £563.5 million – amount borrowed in so-called ‘lender option, borrower option’ (LOBO) loans
- £37.2 million – ‘cost of capital financing’ (i.e. interest on loans, including LOBOs) in 2014/15 (budget)
- £111 million – cost of buying and refurbishing Newham Dockside as the council’s new HQ
- £40 million – amount ‘loaned’ to help convert the Olympic stadium for use by multi-millionaire-owned West Ham United
- £5 million – additional amount to be invested in retail & merchandising ‘opportunities’ in the Olympic Park
- £4.7 million – amount lost on the council’s ‘investment’ in the short-lived London Pleasure Gardens
- £7.1 million – estimated loss of rental income due to voids on Carpenters Estate up to 31st March 2014
- £2.1 million – estimated loss of council tax due to voids on Carpenters Estate up to 31st March 2014
- £7 million – amount Newham had invested in Icelandic banks when they crashed in 2008 (and only recently recovered)
- £1.2 million – annual allowances paid to the mayor and councillors
- £0.6 million – estimated annual cost of the Newham Mag
forestgatedotnet 
Step forward, a captain of industry, Sir Robin Wales – NOT. He’d bankrupt a sweet shop.
Thanks, this explains my sarcasm here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/recycling_and_waste too. Actually the ‘Olympics’ stuff including the ‘loan’ would probably cover most of it. It’s horribly disingenuous to make this entirely central government’s fault.