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Riverside Reports: Wandsworth Council Tax

Wandsworth Council announces record tax hike

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At an extraordinary meeting of the council on 15th September, the council announced it would have to increase tax in response to government funding cuts and, it says, overspending by the previous Labour administration.

In a social media post, leader of the council Robert Morritt said that the changes would mean an average band D home would pay an extra £958 a year from April 2027.

Local MP Fleur Anderson said she was "in shock, as much as I think people across Wandsworth would be."

The cuts the council faces are part of the Labour Government's "Fair Funding" review, which aims to reallocate funding to more deprived areas.

But, for Wandsworth, this means a funding reduction of £84million a year by 2030.

Speaking to Riverside Breakfast's Jason Rosam and Ali Ineson, independent councillor Malcolm Grimston said: "The eighty four million pound cut from the central government grant is more than the total we raise from council tax every year at the moment."

Wandsworth's funding review also highlights that the current rate of spend would see reserves fall below £100million in a by 2027/28.

Wandsworth's Tory council blames the previous Labour one, and the Labour Government blames the previous Tory one for the current financial situation they now all face.

You can hear Riverside Breakfast's full interviews with Fleur Anderson, Malcolm Grimston and deputy leader Peter Graham below.

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