Havering ‘now in calmer waters’ says council leader

Havering Council’s leader Ray Morgon has said the council is “now in calmer waters” after facing a multi-million-pound budget crisis last year.

In an address to a full council meeting on Thursday (May 25) that was littered with nautical references, the leader – elected last May – said he now feels “confident” the council is in better shape.

Cllr Morgon also apologised for the council’s recent “confusion” over large increases to residents’ parking charges, which the council reversed three weeks ago.

The council leader said after residents threw the previous Conservative administration “overboard” in the local elections, he realised the “ship” was “in danger of sinking” under a £70million budget gap and “declining services”.

Cllr Morgon’s Havering Residents Association and Labour cabinet took power as the council faced huge demand for adult and children’s social care, “minimalist” government support, rising inflation and an impending cost-of-living crisis.

This meant the council had to make “some very tough choices,” including raising council tax by the maximum amount, to “steady the ship”.

Despite these challenges, Cllr Morgon argued that he has begun to deliver on some residents’ priorities, such as spending £6m on road improvements, continuing to fund extra police officers and a long-delayed upgrade to the borough’s CCTV network.

He added: “I’m pleased to say that despite the wave of issues that face us, we are now in calmer waters and focused on delivering our plans for a more effective and efficient ship.”

Within the council, his key priorities are improving customer services, “modernising” its communication systems and restructuring the organisation.

Restructuring of senior management, which is already underway, includes arranging all of the council’s services under “three pillars”: people, place and resources.

Referring to the recent uproar over large increases to parking charges which were approved in a last-minute change to the council’s budget, Cllr Morgon underlined his election pledge to make the council more “open, honest and transparent”.

He said: “Apart from being more open, it’s also about being afraid to admit when things go wrong.

“We all make mistakes, we are happy to hold our hands up, to apologise, put it right and to learn from the experience.

“The captain and his crew won’t get things 100% right all the time, however good they are.

“We know the recent parking permit rises came as a surprise to many residents and once again, I’d like to apologise for the confusion.

“We have now reverted back to the original increase charge [… and] we’re also reviewing our processes to prevent these kind of things happening in the future.”

Cllr Morgon also suggested many councillors would like to see Mayor of London Sadiq Khan “walk the plank” over the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez).

He said: “[The mayor is] bringing the policy in too soon without proper compensation through a better scrappage scheme.”