Building a fairer, greener Greenwich
It’s been a busy week here at the Town Hall, which has mainly focused on setting the budget.
The work started many months ago and we’ve been absolutely clear that we are using all the resources we have to build a fairer, greener Greenwich.
Everyone knows the impact ten years of austerity has had on our public services. Fewer police officers on the streets, people stuck in hospital corridors, and more children living in poverty. Just last week we fed 150 Greenwich children in a day as part of our holiday hunger scheme.
That’s why our focus has been on investing more to reduce poverty and improving our environment.
It also means, like councils across the country, we’re having to ask residents to pay a total of 3.99% more in Council tax – 2% of which is for adult social care. This is never a decision we take lightly and I want to assure you we’re doing everything we can to manage resources properly, whilst campaigning and fighting for the resources councils like ours need to operate. But after a decade of austerity that in real terms means £1,400 for every Greenwich household has been cut from our budgets, we simply cannot just do more for less.
Our Council is committed to supporting residents in the borough, and we recognise that times are tough for many people. We’re bringing in changes to our council tax support scheme which will put money in the pockets of residents who have suffered the most from austerity. We’re also establishing a permanent Universal Credit support team to help some of our most vulnerable residents.
And it’s not just about now, it’s about the future too. Our ambitious plans will see us build more new council homes, bring world-class theatre and dance to Woolwich, regenerate our high streets and encourage more businesses and jobs into the borough.
Launching our climate emergency partnership
All of us know that our climate is changing. Whether it’s the extreme weather events we’ve seen in Australia or the flooding that’s currently happening in parts of the UK, action is needed from all of us if we’re to stand any chance of averting catastrophe. To respond to the climate emergency we’re aiming to reach net zero carbon emissions 20 years ahead of the national target.
On Tuesday, I was delighted to launch our first climate emergency partnership event. We’re going to need everyone to step up and do their bit if we’re going to make the difference, so our partnership brings together people together from across the borough including faith leaders, schools and businesses.
In simple terms, our work on our Carbon Neutral Plan (which we presented to Council and Cabinet last month) shows emissions from the Council make up 25% of the borough’s total - that includes all of our buildings, council housing and vehicles. That’s why this partnership is so important, as we’re going to need clear and measurable actions from everyone.
You can get involved by joining our climate emergency network, which will not only keep you in the loop but give you ideas about the changes you could make individually. We’re also about to launch a survey so you can have your say on the emerging priorities for the draft carbon neutral plan.
Work, work, work, work, work!
Finally, I was really pleased to see hundreds of people attending The Valley yesterday for our emergency and armed services job fair.
The event was set up by our jobs brokerage service, Greenwich Local Labour and Business, which supports hundreds of people into work every year. Job seekers could speak to representatives from emergency services like the police, ambulance and fire brigade, as well as various armed forces. It was a brilliant event and I hope that the future heroes and heroines of those services were in the room.
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