Hounslow amongst the three councils not to increase amount

Hounslow councillors voted to freeze the level of council tax in Hounslow for the fifth year in a row.

The freeze makes Hounslow one of only three councils in the country to have not increased their share of the council tax since 2006.

The budget for 2011/12 was agreed by councillors and includes a package of savings of £18 million, following a decrease in funding from central government.

Cllr Jagdish Sharma, leader of the London Borough of Hounslow, said: "When families across the borough are struggling to make every pound go as far as possible, it would be wrong of us to ask for more money from them. It hasn’t been easy to set this budget, and we have had to make some difficult choices. But we have spent a lot of time listening to what local people have said is important to them. By doing this, we have tried to protect vital services which have had their funding withdrawn by the government. We must now concentrate on transforming how we will provide our services in the future as we are faced with further cuts in funding for the next three years."

The budget includes investing an additional £2.8 million to protect some services for children and young people in the borough and, as a result of feedback from local residents via a consultation, the Council agreed to:
• Retain the majority of youth services
• Not cut street cleansing service
• Postpone Library savings
• Postpone Community halls savings

The council is now planning how to make the £18 million savings for 2012/13, and £12 million in each of the two following years.

Details of how this will be achieved will be made public later this year.

March 2, 2011