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Snouts in the trough – again

15 Aug

After a bit of prompting Newham has published details of the allowances and expenses paid to councillors during the financial year 2011/12.

The basic allowance paid to all councillors (except the mayor) is £10,829 per annum, less a £60 fee for using their council laptop for personal use and a £35 data protection registration fee. Around half of the council also receive additional ‘special responsibility’ allowances. 

In total our 61 councillors raked in £1,210,323 in allowances last year. That’s an average of £19,841 each.

The table below shows the top dozen earners on the council.

RA WALES (Mayor)  81,029
AR BAIKIE  46,389
IK CORBETT  42,811
RJ CRAWFORD  42,811
LT HUDSON  42,111
U DESAI  41,776
C MCAULEY  41,776
A KELLAWAY  37,635
CW FURNESS  37,291
JH LAGUDA  33,499
EH SPARROWHAWK  33,499
Q PEPPIATT  29,358

 

It is worth bearing a couple of things in mind while looking at this list:

Firstly, ordinary Newham people earn the second lowest wages in London at just £29,518 a year. A dozen councillors earn that or more just from their allowances, never mind any additional income they enjoy from their regular jobs.

Secondly, as recently as 2002 the basic allowance for councillors in Newham was just £533 a year. As council leader Robin Wales received an additional special responsibility allowance of £16,631. That scheme was replaced as soon as Sir Robin became mayor, when allowances rocketed to over £9,000 for councillors and £65,000 for the elected mayor.

Things have only got worse (or better, if you are lucky enough to be among the favoured few) since then.

A copy of the full report, listing all councillors, can be downloaded from the Newham website.

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Sir Robin Wales on ‘The World at One’

15 Aug

Newham’s mayor talking about employment and the Olympic legacy on BBC Radio 4’s The World at One today:

Google_Chrome_20120815_1535.mp3

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A place to live, work and stay?

6 Jul

Joe_alexander

The Carpenters Estate, on the fringes of the Olympic Park in Stratford, is going to be demolished to make way for a new east London campus for University College London. The residents are, understandably, not happy about this and I have a great deal of sympathy for their position.

It seems perverse at a time when there is a desperate need for affordable housing in London that an estate of perfectly serviceable homes is to be bulldozed and replaced by a university campus.

The borough’s motto is ‘a place to live, work and stay.’ How are people supposed to stay if you knock their homes down?

It is all very well Sir Robin banging on about building resilient communities, but how can communities develop resilience if they are scattered to the four corners of the borough – or indeed beyond – because their homes are demolished and they can’t afford anything else? How many of the flats in the shiny new blocks springing up in Stratford are truly ‘affordable’ to Newham people?

The mayor says, “you can’t do things for people, they’ve got to do it for themselves. All we can do is help. They have to build personal capacity, and that means being able to deal with the things that life throws at you. Grit, determination, aspiration, you have to build it in to communities.”

This language of ‘resilience’ is basically about blaming the poor for their own condition. Too poor to afford some where to rent or buy? Don’t know how to negotiate the bureaucracy to get yourself re-housed? Confused by complex forms and processes? The services you use and rely on no longer exist because of budget cuts? Tough. Not our problem. Go away. 

Sir Robin claims to be ambitious for Newham, but he seems not to have much empathy for the people who actually live here.

[a version of this was posted on the Newham Issues e-democracy forum]

Image from The Cheese Grater

 

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Fortress Wanstead Flats. Olympic police base takes shape. Bloody enormous.

27 Jun


on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/MYSvPckB3k/ – June 27, 2012 at 02:49PM

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These are sprouting up all over Newham. Must be something going on!

27 Jun


on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/MYRf77EB2-/ – June 27, 2012 at 02:38PM

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Cannes Update

30 Apr

The Newham Recorder has published the list of sponsors for the Mayor’s trip to Cannes.

These were:

  • Bougyes Development
  • Strand East
  • Westfield Stratford City 
  • Countryside Properties 
  • Swan New Homes
  • the Ballymore Group 
  • Capita Symonds
  • the Cathedral Group 
  • the University of East London
  • Ardmore Construction
  • Urban Initiatives, and 
  • Savills

According to the Recorder, all “have denied any suggestion that their involvement in the trip would mean they received favourable treatment when it came to future development opportunities.”

They’re all just very generous, public-spirited people… obviously.

 

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Cannes of Worms

17 Apr

Back in March, Ted Jeory, writing in the Sunday Express, reported that various local councils in the UK had been represented at an international property convention in Cannes, a resort town on the French riviera, including Sir Robin Wales at the head of a 6-man delegation from Newham council.

The story was repeated by Mike Law on his blog, highlighting the presence of Sir Robin and the revelation that the trip had not been funded by local taxpayers but by private interests.

The Newham Recorder picked this up and asked who had paid for the trip. Predictably, the council declined to say. The Recorder’s reporter claims this has been followed up by a request under the Freedom of Information Act, though as far as I know no response has yet been forthcoming.

In a comment posted on Mike Law’s blog I said that if there was a genuine and compelling reason for Newham to be present at this conference I’d have no objection to the trip being funded from public money. I’m entirely prepared to believe the trip was a worthwhile way for Sir Robin and his entourage to spend their time.

In fact, if the mayor’s presence was so vital it absolutely should have been paid for by the taxpayer. Drumming up business for Newham is part of his job. And there’s plenty of building to be done around the Olympic Park, plus a large number of brownfield sites across the borough that could be usefully redeveloped. If going to a global property conference is the best way to meet developers, then that’s the place to be. The fact that the event took place in the south of France is neither here nor there. Sir Robin didn’t choose the venue.

Public officials travelling on public business should have their expenses met from the public purse. That way everything’s above board and there’s no question about whose interests they’re representing. 

But this trip wasn’t funded with public money. And that is extremely worrying. No-one provides hospitality on this scale without some expectation of getting something in return. The fact that Newham is refusing – so far at least – to disclose who picked up the tab indicates that they feel there’s something to hide. 

Perhaps Sir Robin is pleased with himself for saving the public purse a few pounds, but it may end up being a poor bargain for Newham.

Until we know who paid for his trip the mayor must recuse himself from all discussions about regeneration and redevelopment in Newham and from consideration of all planning applications. Otherwise how can we tell if he’s doing the right thing by residents or repaying a debt to his generous sponsors?

It is a mystery to me why Sir Robin has chosen put himself in this position. It is a massive lapse of judgement.

UPDATE:

The mayor’s register of gifts and hospitality has been updated to include the trip to Cannes:

 

  • 07/03/2012 – Hospitality: Olympic Park Legacy Dinner. offered by Olympic Park Legacy Company, 29-35 West Ham Lane, London E15 4PH; Hospitality received at MIPIM 2012 International Conference, Cannes. Value: at least £25.00 ; Value £25
  • 06/03/2012 – Hospitality: Olympic Park Legacy Lunch offered by Olympic Park Legacy Co., 29-35 West Ham Lane, London E15 4PH; Hospitality received at MIPIM 2012 International Conference, Cannes. Value: at leat £25.00 ; Value £25
  • 06/03/2012 – Hospitality: City of London – The London Reception evening event. offered by City of London, Guildhall, PO Box 270 London EC2P 2EJ; Hospitality received at MIPIM 2012 International Conference, Cannes. Value: at least £25.00 ; Value £25
  • 06/03/2012 – Hospitality: London First Cocktail Evening Reception. offered by London First, Whitcomb Street, London WC2H 7HA; Hospitality received at MIPIM 2012 International Conference, Cannes. Value: £25.00 ; Value £25
  • 05/03/2012 – Travel from London to Cannes France: MIPIM 2012 Internatiional Conference offered by Various sponsors.; Travel via Eurostar – St. Pancras to Cannes, via Paris. Value: £362.28p ; Value £25
  • 05/03/2012 – Accommodation at the Croisette Beach Hotel, Cannes; MIPIM 2012 International Conference offered by Various sponsors.; x3 night accommodation 5-7 March 2012. Value: £687.00
  • 05/03/2012 – Hospitality – London First evening reception offered by London First, 3 Whitcomb Street, London WC2H 7HA; Hospitality received at MIPIM 2012 International Conference, Cannes. Value: at least £25.00 ; Value £25

 

Although the people paying for the various meals and receptions are named, the big ticket items – the cost of travel and hotel accommodation – are listed as “offered by various sponsors.” And there’s no mention here of a conference registration fee. The MIPIM 2012 website states visitor registration as being €1,590 (excluding VAT). That’s £1,312 at today’s exchange rate, plus French VAT at 19.6%.

Taken together these come to over £2,361 (excluding the VAT on the registration fee). Assuming all the other members of Newham’s delegation travelled together, stayed in the same hotel and attended the conference these “various sponsors” have stumped up well in excess of £14,000.

I repeat the question: who are these people and what do they expect in return for their largesse?

 

 

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Big Brother

11 Apr

Wales_watching

As reported in today’s Newham Recorder, there’s more CCTV cameras in Newham than Waltham Forest and Barking & Dagenham boroughs combined.

We have an average of 16 cameras for every square mile of the borough.

And, not content with this, Sir Robin wants to take over the fleet of mobile enforcement cameras being deployed for the Olympics.

Residents of Newham are the most spied on citizens in our supposedly-free country.

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5 Questions for Newham Councillors

26 Mar

On Wednesday 28 March Newham’s 60 Labour councillors and the mayor will meet to consider the latest developments in  the proposed joint venture with the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC). If this goes ahead Newham – one of the country’s poorest boroughs – will invest £40 million and take an ownership interest in the Olympic Stadium.

At the meeting councillors will vote to exclude the public and the press. Key sections of the papers for the meeting have been restricted, so the public – whose money is going to be spent – will have no idea what is going on or why.

So ahead of the meeting here are 5 questions that councillors should answer before they vote on this:

  • What additional benefits will Newham people derive from the proposed £40 million investment that they will not get if the stadium legacy is wholly funded by OPLC?
  • If these benefits of ownership are so substantial – and so obvious – why aren’t the other Olympic boroughs taking a similar stake? For that matter, why isn’t the Greater London Authority?
  • Having read the business case for the investment (you have read the business case, haven’t you?) are you confident that it is built on solid financial and commercial foundations, that the investment is therefore low risk and Newham people are not going to be stuck with a bill for a white elephant?
  • Why are the public and the press excluded from all discussion about the new £40 million offer to the OPLC? This is an investment by one public body in another – there is no legitimate claim to be made for ‘commercial sensitivity’.
  • According to the draft statement of accounts for 2010/11, the council’s “total external borrowing at 31st March 2011 was £1,186 million. Given the current financial situation, is this really the time to be taking on another £40 million in debt?

 

Newham’s Debt Timebomb

28 Feb
Last year I wrote about the enormous debt racked up by Newham council in the ten years since Sir Robin Wales was elected as executive mayor.

As the result of recent correspondance with a local Labour party member, I thought I’d revisit the issue and explain a little more why it makes me feel so uneasy.

Of course public debt isn’t like personal debt, much as the Tories may try to persuade us otherwise. But equally local government debt isn’t like national government debt either. National debt for a country like the UK, which has a sovereign currency, is always ultimately repayable through creating new money (this is what the recent rounds of quantitative easing basically involved – creating new money to buy back old debt). Obviously it’s a last resort and can go disastrously wrong, as Mugabe demonstrated in Zimbabwe, but it means the UK can never go bankrupt and will never default on its debt.

But the same does not apply to Newham. We can’t print new money to pay off the debt, so the only options are taking on new loans to pay off the old ones or ensuring revenues exceed expenses and using the difference to pay down the loans. This latter option means raising taxes, cutting costs or a combination of the two. The former option will only work for so long, as eventually your line of credit runs out or the interest payments on the debt swell to an unsustainable point.

And it’s really the question of the interest that bothers me at this point. Sir Robin has been extremely fortunate to have been able to borrow and spend at a time of record low interest rates. If you look at the council’s accounts you will see that the cost of servicing the debt today, in cash terms, is the same as it was ten years ago despite the fact that there’s almost twice as much of it. But only a fool would believe that today’s historically low interest rates will last forever – or even for as long as the life of Newham’s loans.

So when interest rates start to go back up, the cost of servicing the debt goes up.

Where are those extra interest payments going to come from? Either more borrowing – which would be extremely foolish – or from revenues. Either council taxes have to go up sharply, or services have to be cut yet further. In Newham neither looks an attractive option: make some of London’s poorest people pay a lot more tax, or cut the services they rely on.

What Sir Robin has created is a debt timebomb. If he’s lucky, or astute, he’ll have moved on to bigger things (Lord Wales?) before it goes off. But the people who live and work in the borough will be stuck with the consequences.

 

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