From The Citizen’s customary perch on the Town Hall press bench, John Cookson watched Kensington and Chelsea’s civic grandees reconvene after their three-month summer break. The financial welcome awaiting them might have persuaded a less dutiful gathering not to unpack their suitcases. Back from hols—and straight into a £120m hole…

Hotfoot to Hornton Street through skittering autumn leaves, past Bulgarian concertina players giving “Bésame Mucho” another squeeze, and round a small plantation of hire bikes. An obstacle course, but one must suffer for local democracy.

Inside the redbrick bulk of the Town Hall, councillors were assembling after their three-month summer break. Lucky so-and-sos. The rest of us had been keeping the borough going by paying parking fines.

Into the chamber waltzed the Mayor, Cllr. Janet Evans (Conversative, Courtfield) in full sail and resplendent in ruby-red chintz. A cheerful splash of colour before a debate on financial bloodletting.

Awaiting the returning company of councillors was a projected £120 million shortfall over four years—we’ve delved down the back of the sofa, boss, but there’s nowt there.

Welcome home, everyone. How was Tuscany? And down to business.

I don’t know what Tory Head Girl and Council Leader Cllr. Elizabeth Campbell (Conservative, Royal Hospital) was on, but she opened proceedings on her hind legs, horn-rimmed glasses quivering, firing verbal bullets like a machine gun.

In her sights: the nasty Labour government’s Fair Funding Review, leaving councillors to cut services, raise council tax and explain to the citizens of the Royal Borough how fortunate they are to have been treated fairly.

“Kensington and Chelsea has been independently ranked the most productive council in the country,” she said to a round of applause from Conservative colleagues, adding: “And the reward for doing things well… is to be hit hardest of all.

“Madame Mayor, I cannot accept this without a fight. We will not stop fighting for the residents of Kensington and Chelsea.”

Cllr. Campbell revealed she and leaders from other London boroughs were taking their submission to the Treasury on Thursday to have it out with Whitehall. So there!

For the opposition, flame-haired Cllr. Monica Press (Labour, Colville) blamed former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for causing the crisis after he fiddled around with government funding formulas.

She claimed the ruling Tory group should have seen the changes coming and added: “cuts and fair funding is hitting all London boroughs, mainly Labour boroughs who’ve been very careful also with their finances.” Cue groans from the Party opposite.

The proposed Council Plan for 2026–2030 arrived for debate carrying a respectable basket of municipal goodies. Twice-weekly bin collections would survive. Pavement-blocking e-bikes would be tackled. Council homes improved.

Chelsea was offered a new public park and 65 extra-care homes at Lots Road. For South Kensington station, there was a promise to work towards securing step-free access to every Underground line by 2030. Knees across the borough will be counting the days.

Then came the bill.

And let me pause here: Campbell spoke in the chamber of a shortfall of “over a £100 million,” in the council budget. Cllr. Cem Kemali (Conservative, clever boy at the front of the class, Royal Hospital) referred to “£108 million”, but Chief Executive Maxine Holdsworth’s report puts the four-year black hole at more than £120 million.

Confused?

Fret not, dear reader. Holdsworth’s figure reflects inflation and rising service costs.

La Campbell repeated what she told The Times recently: taxes will have to rise. The Council Plan, meanwhile, promises “tough decisions to do less.” Six words to make anyone clutching a library card sit up straight.

So which services might disappear? Which buildings might shut? The document supplies no full list. Those particulars remain somewhere beyond the reassuring prose.

Instead, the council blueprint proposes fewer, busier buildings and more income from commercial property and advertising, all while preserving the borough’s character.

A delicate operation: extracting more money from the scenery without making the scenery look as though it has been hired out.

Moving on: Town Hall language is reassuring. Performance is monitored. Processes are strengthened. Accountability is reinforced. Getting an answer about your damp walls or leaky roof? Ah. Pull up a chair, my dear!

We heard RBKC’s latest housing report reveals that barely three in ten initial formal responses to residents’ complaints went out on time between April and June. The council’s target was 95 per cent. It achieved 31 per cent. Quite a gap between the municipal ambition and the municipal postbag.

By June, residents were waiting an average of more than 30 working days for a response. Six working weeks: ample time for the damp patch to develop a personality.

Officers blame a backlog and continuing disruption following the cyber attack. They told September’s Leadership Team meeting that extra resources had since cleared the complaints backlog.

Cllr Alex Porter (Labour and Co-operative, Dalgarno), reading her maiden speech from a smartphone, rubbished the cyber attack as an excuse and went on: “Residents need honesty from the Council, not reports that obscure the truth of RBKC’s abysmal record on social housing, which they have to live with every day.

“One thing is clear, that this council still has a way to go in demonstrating it’s committed to the meaningful improvements that it promised last year, and promised the residents of Grenfell nine years ago.”

A round of applause from the Opposition benches.

There was also talk of deciding planning and licensing applications within statutory deadlines. Steady on! An answer from council officials before the applicant needs probate? Residents and businesses may wish to frame that promise.

And there you have the highlights of October’s full council meeting. Three months to recharge the batteries, and this was the voltage? Barely enough to trouble the pigeons outside the library. 

Although worth a mention: ever-youthful Cllr Tom Bennett (Conservative, Redcliffe), a former mayor, was all smiles. He’s been selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for the Chelsea and Fulham seat, where Labour incumbent Ben Coleman sits on a majority of just 152. Less a cushion than a folded handkerchief.

And newly elected Cllr Edward Whitley (Conservative, Queen’s Gate) also made his maiden speech. A touching rite of passage: stand up, clear the throat, explain how delighted you are to be here.

With Halloween approaching and £120 million missing from the financial picture, the timing was impeccable.

Welcome to you, lad—and your newbie colleague Cllr. Porter—to the nightmare on Hornton Street.

 

Photos © Rob McGibbon/The Chelsea Citizen