Harlow Conservatives reaffirm pledge to cut council tax
News / Mon 11th Oct 2021 at 06:02am
THE Conservatives have reaffirmed their pledge to cut Council Tax for Harlow residents, following the change in Council.
They have slammed the previous Labour Council for leaving “unaudited accounts” which they say has made the job of delivering “far harder”.
The Cabinet Member for Finance at Harlow Council, Conservative Councillor Russell Perrin said:
“It is only our Conservative group that has consistently been driven by a conviction that Council Tax should be cut, we pledged to do so in the local elections in May and are on track to get the job done. We conducted our urgent budget review in the summer, but our work has not been made any easier by the fact that the previous Labour Council increased Council Tax for nearly a decade and even worse, left the council’s accounts unaudited. They failed to do the most basic of work and we are seeing the cost of their chaos.
“We are delivering our plan to level up opportunity for all in the town and build back better, whilst Labour continue to engage in pointless political bickering based on complete mistruths.
“Council Tax will be cut to ensure residents have more of their money back in their pockets.”
Mark Ingall
2021-10-11 06:21:03
Another attempt to mislead residents and avoid answering questions by Harlow Conservatives. By far the biggest increases in Council Tax over the last ten years have been those imposed by Conservatuve controlled Essex County Council, rises that were voted for by Harlow Conservatives. But now that Russell has confirmed the review of Council tax has taken place, perhaps he will tell residents when they can expect their rebate and how much it will be?
gary roberts
2021-10-11 07:54:06
It is always interesting when politicians commit to a policy and then blame others as the reason for not delivering it. It appears this time it is the local Conservatives who have not delivered on their much trailed reduction in council tax. I mean it could be that note in the Treasury in 2010, so loved by Mr. Halfon, that has stopped the reduction in council tax in 2021. And as the old saying goes nothing is a politician' fault it is everyone else from local residents' to local businesses' to the horse on the local common. Is it any wonder that the turnout at the last local ward election was 22%!
Timothy
2021-10-11 07:57:50
Well done somebody with some guts at last
novoman
2021-10-11 08:16:25
There's no point in reducing Council tax, inflation is already doing that and look what fantastic results the Conservatives austerity policy brought to the uk, underfunded nhs, underfunded schools, pot holes roads, poverty and a housing market artificially inflated to keep property developers donating friends rich... What we need is better policy decisions and greater efficiency less road development like the train of works from J7 along the A414 that wasted at least £800 million, the J7a road network wasting heaven knows how much or the proposed River Stort Valley Eastern Crossing at £64.5 to £90 millions to, as previous"improvements" produce still more congestion and pollution. When political parties campaign as did the Harlow Tory party, on false grounds by blaming problems on the district council that originate at County level then it shows a fundamentally unethical approach. It's everywhere, how can the Torys try to make a virtue of opposing the Epping related housing developments that butt our boarders, citing the detrimental effects and I the same week fanfare they want to increase the load on the town with 130000 new houses and to make Harlow a mini city. Harlow was designed to a specification that would work like any design vastly overload it and it will fail. Even Gibberd's plan was altered and the town has suffered for that meddling ever since, the rest of the plan has come full circle and now Climate change has come upon us turns out to be more relevant than ever. If Council tax were held then that in real terms is a cut, then stop wasting cash and spend more efficiently and effectively. It's not rocket science.
Dave
2021-10-11 08:59:55
Ingall puts his foot in it yet again! What a loser.
Michael Hatton
2021-10-11 11:36:39
He's done it again, M Ingall, leader of the F I M syndrome group, has really "put his foot in it again". It appears that his bunch of stooges who were running Harlow into the ground, when they were in office, haven't had the accounts audited from whenever it was. Makes one wonder, doesn't it ?
tony edwards
2021-10-11 12:28:44
The Tories knew, when the made their promise to the electorate before the election, of the technical position of the accounts (they had been audited but not signed off) as they sat on the Audit Committee. And knowing this and the thousands of pounds it would cost to resend out revised Council Tax bills they nevertheless went ahead and misled the voters. Now they are looking for reasons to justify their decision as to why they have gone back on their word.
Catherine bilsland
2021-10-11 12:46:29
The money spent on the market square in the last few years must be colossal and still ongoing it’s the most boring place in the town centre it’s a haven for the drinkers
Tony Durcan
2021-10-11 13:29:32
I’m pleased that they are actually doing something about this commitment. As Mark asks when will we have the special council meeting over this reduction and refund. Just hope this won’t be just before the next election Sad that this has been as a direct result of pressure of the previous Labour leader and the removal of the current Tory leader to make this Thanks to everyone.
Bernard
2021-10-11 14:09:58
Is Tony Edwards serious? “Audited but not signed off”! If they are not signed off it is because they are irregular. Therefore, they are not audited. The ignorance and incompetence of these mumpties is incredible. How can they be trusted with our town? Accounts must be audited. It is not optional. You should be ashamed of your negligence. Completely unfit to govern
tony edwards
2021-10-11 15:09:05
Bernard - (Look on the Council Website - Audit Committee minutes) There was nothing "irregular" about it as the Tories were fully aware. What was "irregular" was the Tories misleading the voters by saying if elected they were going to implement an immediate review and cut in council tax!
Pete H
2021-10-11 17:45:39
I note the Audit Completion Account for the Y/E 31/3/2019 was only completed on 7/6/21. There was no explanation as to why it took nearly 27 months. I would suggest that answers are required as to what was going on
novoman
2021-10-11 19:15:53
About time our politicians stopped slinging mud at each other and got on with responsible mature government and doing the best now, for the people they are meant to represent.
Carl
2021-10-12 11:53:30
The financial ignorance of the Three Stooges: Ingall, Edwards and Durcan is astounding. How the hell did Harlow residents ever vote for these clowns. I do not envy the new Administration's job of having to clean up the mess that Labour left!
Paul
2021-11-02 09:01:47
Looking at the facts the only recorded year on year reductions in council tax charges for Harlow residents were made under a Labour controlled Harlow Council with a No overall control Essex County Council in the years 1995/96 when there was a -4.83% reduction and 1994/95 when there was a -2.56% reduction. The facts are easily accessible, Council Tax bands and charges for Harlow in the current and previous years going back to 1993/94 can be found on the council website at the link below. https://www.harlow.gov.uk/council-tax/council-tax-bands-and-charges. Council TAX rises in the last 10 years are I suspect due to the severe cuts in funds made available from central government to all local authorities, with local authorities still be expected to maintain mandatory services.
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