Council leader Grace Williams told councillors there was a need to ‘go further’ and make ‘even tougher choices’ to reduce a multi-million pound overspend, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Main image credit: Suman Bhaumik via Canva, inset: Waltham Forest leader Grace Williams

Residents in Waltham Forest can expect further cuts to services as the council looks to manage a £17million overspend.

Council leader Grace Williams said the authority was looking at making an “additional £10m in savings” next year.

Addressing the council chamber last night (17th October), the Labour councillor said: “We need to go further and make even tougher choices to reduce the overspend and get us on a better footing for next year.”

However, Conservative group leader Emma Best accused the council of being wasteful with the resources it had.

Cllr Best criticised the number of empty units in the borough, such as the dormant Trumpington Road care home, and the recent shuttering of the council’s own homebuilder SixtyBricks.

She also attacked the proposed closure of the Markhouse Centre, a centre for disabled adults, which many fear is a cost-cutting exercise. The council says it wants to move away from a “building-based approach”.

The town hall has been facing “unprecedented demand” on its services, which has meant increasing strain on its finances.

It is so far projected to overspend by £17m this financial year, which it called a “significant budget deficit”.

Elsewhere, the council is expected to begin ‘reviewing’ its staffing levels and is considering pausing new hires.

Chief executive Linzi Roberts-Egan said “more stringent measures” would be needed if the council did not achieve “significant progress” before the year’s end, in a letter sent to staff.

Councils that find themselves overdrawn will need to make cuts or borrow money to balance the books.

In the most dire cases, they will declare effective bankruptcy and government-appointed commissioners will take over. Their job will be to make stringent cuts to public services and internal operations.

Cllr Williams said the council would soon be launching a public consultation on reducing council tax support for residents.

The leader said the town hall “had to avoid bankruptcy,” adding: “We have to consider [the cuts] because we can no longer afford it.”

It raised council tax by the maximum amount in April, which equated to a £117.45 annual hike for residents in an average band-D property.

Cllr Williams first warned of “difficult decisions” to come at a cabinet meeting in June.

She told senior councillors: “We know if we don’t continue to take tough decisions now, then in just a year’s time we will be in a very difficult place with reserves and our ability to function.”

During her autumn statement, she praised the new Labour government for being “prepared to work with us”.

She also backed its commitment to build 1.5million new homes across the country and said Waltham Forest was “committed” to working with central government.

Cllr Best said the “honeymoon period was over” and the current government, headed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, was the “least popular new government ever”.

She added: “There shouldn’t be so many [Conservative councillors], but because of your failures there are.”

The council is largely comprised of Labour councillors, though the Conservative Party has a tight grasp on the north of the borough,

She said the leader was simply “picking up the pom-poms for ‘free gear Keir,’” but Cllr Williams argued she was instead “picking up the pieces” after 14 years of Conservative rule.

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