COUNCIL BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Schools are to receive millions of pounds worth of extra funding in a council budget described by critics as an attempt to tax residents by “stealth”, writes Kate Day.

The new council budget announced an £8m boost for schools and free swimming lessons for under-18s during school holidays.

Other measures in the spending spree include a £2.5 million investment in street lighting, a £550,000 facelift for the borough’s libraries and the extension of compulsory recycling at a cost of £250,000.

But Conservative councillors attacked the council for hitting Hackney’s residents with stealth taxes, such as increased parking charges.

Council tax has been frozen for the coming year, but rent and other service charges will rise when the budget comes into effect on April 1. Some tenants will pay an extra £5.95 a week in rent. Parking charges for council tenants are set to rise by up to 4.3 per cent.

Mayor Jules Pipe insisted that careful budget management over the past five years had brought Hackney much needed financial stability. He claimed the swimming measure, which will cost £295,000, was evidence of the council’s commitment to the young people.

He said: “The achievement of creating a sound base on which to rebuild council services should not go unrecognised.”

Conservative Councilor Shuja Shaikh said: “On the surface this budget appears sensible, but dig a bit deeper and the frivolous appears.” He added that Hackney residents were already being hit unfairly by Olympic charges.

Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Shaver said the council needed to do more to tackle drug problems and gang culture in the borough, but welcomed the extension of recycling to include plastics. He said: “How could we have a proper recycling programme without plastic recycling? This is a big step forward.”

The council budget comes just two weeks after the Greater London Authority announced that the council tax precept would rise by just over 5 per cent next year to £303 for the average property because they would pay through their council tax, the mayor of London’s precept and through the lottery.

But Mayor Pipe said that the Olympics would be of huge benefit to the borough and added that the council was investing in an enterprise network to help local businesses to take advantage of construction contracts.