Newham Still has Money to Burn

At a time of austerity, we expect a bit of belt tightening. Most staff might be unhappy, but it’s better to be in a job with a minimal pay rise than unemployed.

It was therefore something of a surprise to us to learn of one item of expenditure. When digging through the financial accounts presented to the Audit Committee in November 2023, we found Note 33 on page 73. (How sad are our lives?)

It appears that Newham has been employing an Interim Assistant Chief Executive for Marketing at the rate of £19,900 per month! In some seven months, the cost of employing this one member of staff was in the region of £149,000.

Happily, for her at least, she remains in paid employment with the borough and she is currently heading up Newham’s bid for the London Borough of Culture.

Readers might be unclear about what benefits will accrue to the citizens of Newham if the borough is awarded the Borough of Culture. Sadiq Khan asserts that “Culture has the power to transform communities and bring people together”. Fine sentiments, but his report on the “impact” is simply a list of events and a record of money spent. Culture may indeed bring people together, but how does he know? Certainly, he has never said how and he has not tried to measure the impact. At the moment this is a programme to spend money and for politicians to pat themselves on the back as they do so. It is an expensive exercise in virtue signaling.

When the colleagues of Mayor Fiaz talk of her “vanity projects”, this is what they mean. Spending money on things that are unnecessary at the same time as she is unable to balance the books.

We would remind readers that Newham is about to embark upon a round of cuts that will need to save some £40m this year.

The ‘grown-ups’ on the council are said to be pulling out what little is left of their hair in exasperation.