Westminster City Council Leader Paul Swaddle has suggested reducing street cleaning services on Downing Street to two sweeps a week, down from the current two daily sweeps, as a way to demonstrate the impact of a £100 million reduction in the council's funding from Central Government.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham on October 5, Cllr Swaddle said the move could remind the Prime Minister of the essential services Westminster provides. He said: "I don't necessarily want to play all my cards, but we have ideas. You know, we could test lower levels of service in certain areas of London.
"If I could find a part of London that doesn't have a lot of residents, but has a high level of service need—and I was to then test what, say, I don't know, Downing Street, and to give them, instead of two sweeps a day, offer them two a week, and see how they feel about that level of service.
Funding Cuts Threaten Services and Events
"So I think there are things that we can do. We've got to bring it home to people what the difference is, and bring it home to the rest of the country what we are doing."
A spokesperson for Cllr Swaddle later clarified: "Cllr Swaddle was making a point, not announcing a plan. No one is switching off street cleaning in Downing Street, yet, but the fact it grabs attention shows how little Westminster's workload is understood."
The funding cuts could also jeopardise the popular West End LIVE festival, which is partially funded by Westminster City Council. Last year, over 70,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square for the 21st year of the free musical festival.
Cllr Swaddle said that when faced with funding cuts, one of the first things to go is "anything discretionary". He explained: "For example, West End Live, a fantastic event that brings in 50,000 people, ends up selling thousands of theatre tickets, drives jobs and drives the economy, we contribute to that, but we get nothing from it.
Fairer Funding Review Sparks Legal Challenge
"So there's no financial benefit to the council, there's no benefit to residents. It's a visitor economy gig. And that makes that very difficult."
A spokesperson for Cllr Swaddle added: "The funding formula is built around who lives here, not the millions of people who rely on our services every day. Events like West End Live are part of what makes this city special, and the Prime Minister should think very hard about the choices they are forcing on us."
The comments come as Westminster faces a £100 million reduction in its funding over the next four years as part of the Central Government's Fairer Funding Review. Several other councils are also set to lose out on government grants, including Kensington & Chelsea Council, which is set to lose £108 million, and Wandsworth, which is set to lose £84 million.
The three London councils have been working together on a legal challenge to the review, arguing that the changes would put significant pressures on local services and residents. In a public consultation by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, 90 percent of respondents strongly supported the council's plan to use the Sustainable Communities Act to press the Government to reconsider the review.
Kensington and Chelsea Leader Vows to Fight
Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: "Almost 1,500 people took the time to share their views and I want to thank every one of them for getting involved. The scale of the response shows just how strongly our residents feel about this issue too, and how important it is that their voices are heard.
"I have been clear from the outset that we must continue to fight for a fairer funding settlement for Kensington and Chelsea. I am not prepared to implement the scale of service cuts and tax rises required without exhausting every avenue first to challenge the Government's decision.
"We will now look carefully at what people have told us and I'll discuss the findings and our proposed next steps with my leadership team before we go back to Government."
Additional reporting by Kumail Jaffer covering the Conservative Party's annual conference from Birmingham.
