Fifth Council Tax Freeze
Council Tax has been frozen for a record-breaking fifth time in a row, as part of Hackney’s budget for the new financial year.
Hackney is the only local authority in the country to have achieved a five year freeze. The move was proposed last October by the Mayor of Hackney, Jules Pipe, and agreed at a meeting of full Council on 3 March. The 2010/11 financial year, which starts in April, will see the Council spend £72million on services for children and young people, such as youth clubs and care for disabled children. A total of £66million is to be spent on cleaner streets and better roads, including maintaining nearly 11,000 street lights, and sweeping 296 miles of roads daily.
Mayor Pipe said: “The Council is on the side of residents through difficult economic times. I know that the past year has been difficult for many residents due to the economic climate, and I hope that by keeping the Council Tax down we can help to make life a little easier. We are the only authority in the country to be freezing Council Tax for five years in a row, and it has been achieved alongside record investment in services.”
A budget that's on your side
Budget highlights
- £5 million will be for managing and maintaining 318 hectares of Hackney’s 62 parks and green spaces
- £119 million on adult social care including 640,000 hours of home care and 160 nursing home places
- £11 million will help residents recycle general household, food and garden waste
- £9 million will go towards funding eight libraries and a community archive – it includes over £3million to build the new Dalston Square library, and £500,000 per year to run it
- £4 million will go towards developing sports activity and helping to improve the health and wellbeing of residents
- £25 million will go towards tackling crime, and keeping Hackney safe, including paying for 27,000 camera hours of CCTV footage
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
.