What a UK council is up to

A meeting of Westminster Council's Resources and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee took place on the 12^th of February to discuss the impact of population and migration on the central London borough. The Conservative Party-dominated Committee  met in the evening to also tackle funding and services, treasury management strategy, temporary agency contractors and asset management strategy.

Mark Page, the Chairman of the committee, opened  by  saying, of  temporary contractors: “Our issue is disadvantaged residents.” He stressed the need for  the council to encourage its contractors to hire less fortunate residents on temporary contracts. Permanent contractors were not such an issue, he said, because the council had already paid attention to them and established appropriate procedures. Members of the committee stressed the financial savings which result from hiring temporary rather than permanent workers and the need for better scrutiny of services providers.

Council offiecr Derek Barnden, the Director of Property and Strategic Projects, claimed there were major improvements in terms of increasing income and maximising returns. He mentioned the problems of Maryleborne Library and the conservation plan, which had already been implemented. Michael Brahams, a conservative councillor, enquired about the Harrow Road regeneration plan. He said: “We should be aquiring properties instead of losing them”, stressing the need for more consistent property policy.

Moxon Street will become available for £58m of planned development in 2010 after  building restriction are lifted and will cost . However, the committee suggested it would be better to use as little of the site for this as possible, leaving the rest for future use.

After property report committee has moved to the discussion of population and migration impact on council services. It is worth noting that after the central government had in 2002 cut on expenses to support EU nationals in the UK  and transferred significant part of financing outside London, councils in the capital had to struggle.

The inability of the government and local doctors to present an accurate population statistic was causing concern among the councillors, along with the impact of the migration on the job market. Westminster is one of the biggest UK job markets, however the borough's residents have only a third of the jobs, with the rest being occupied by migrants.

Finally, councillor Mark Green presented his asset allocation strategy, which proposed a plan to get a higher return from the capital. Currently Westminster council has £500m as a cash reserves each year. It has to hold just under half of this on the current account for day-to-day activities leaving the rest available for investments. However, Cllr Green's strategy was criticised for its smaller rate of return, than if the money had been deposited in the bank, coupled with a higher risk.

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