Southwark Council £23million gap in next year's budget

Oh joy.

I'm a bit late getting to it, but the June 27th Southwark News (Oliver Pugh) has reported that Southwark Council has identified a £23million hole in its budget (difficult to miss a hole that big) and may start reducing or eliminating services.  Government cuts are being blamed.  Naturally, there is now mud-slinging and the apportioning of blame between the different political parties involved in Southwark. 

Councillor Livingstone is reported saying that tough decisions are going to be made, but that the local community will be consulted. Quite how this will fit in with the new fast-track planning regulations recently announced by the government, which effectively cut residents out of the loop of some planning decisions, will be interesting, and possibly very grizzly, to observe.  As Southwark are pleading poverty over the seriously low-cost task of replacing nesting pontoons on Greenland Dock whilst accepting the income from really unsympathetic planning proposals like Ontario Point, I really wouldn't be surprised if there is another attempt to establish an extended marina on Greenland Dock to turn the much-valued open water into a revenue generating proposition.

It will be worth keeping an eye open on their future plans for development in Rotherhithe and elsewhere in Southwark. We'll just have to wait and see.