Conservative group leader Cllr Linda Huggett (Monkhams) said her members supported the proposed housing budget but feared the council was not building fast enough.
She said: “We are concerned that the council is failing at the current time to deliver. I urge the new cabinet member to start delivering on your housing promises.
“We received £20million in funding from the Greater London Authority to help with our housing shortage, which has still not been used and, if not used soon, will have to be returned.”
In January, Redbridge Council failed the government’s “housing delivery test” after building 1,929 homes in the past three years, less than two thirds of the amount needed according to the London Plan.
Ilford Town Hall and Ilford High Street 21/5/14 EL77212 1. Redbridge Council’s budget for housing after failing the Government’s “delivery test” passed unanimously but not without heated argument. The new cabinet member for housing, announced in January this year, said the council “is going above and beyond” and plans to deliver 1,000 affordable homes by 2022. The Conservative group, despite supporting the budget, argued the council was “failing to deliver” and was “one of the worst performing councils in the country”. This year, a council-owned company Roding Homes, set up in 2019, is expected to become “fully operational” and start letting homes to hundreds of homeless residents.
“I have been a member of these voluntary organisations in the past and every penny does count.”
Cllr Helen Coomb, the cabinet member for transformation and engagement, agreed the sector has done “an enormous amount of good” and that it was a “difficult decision”.
However, she argued other sources of financial support set up this year, such as the Local Lottery, would mitigate the effect, which satisfied Cllr Garfield.
However, the majority of the strategy and resources scrutiny committee voted to recommend the cabinet reconsider the proposed cut.
At the cabinet meeting on December 15, Cllr Howard Berlin (Con, Fairlop) asked the cabinet to respond by removing this saving from the budget proposals.
The council still has £19m more worth of savings to make Redbridge councillors from both parties are asking the cabinet to reconsider plans to cut £40,000 worth of support for the voluntary sector out of next year’s budget. The council predicts a £83 million budget gap by 2025 and needs to make more than £25 million in savings in next year’s budget alone. At a cabinet meeting held on December 15, deputy leader Cllr Kam Rai said the council has identified some possible savings, which it will now consult on, but has “£19 million more to find”. Councillors from both parties objected to plans to get rid of the Social Action Fund, a grant scheme set up this year to support groups helping those affected by the pandemic.