Spending Money You Don’t Have on Things You Don’t Need.
One of the issues that this website has repeatedly returned, is the mayor’s obsession with pursuing her pet projects, regardless of the costs or the benefit to the residents of Newham. This is an issue that both her internal and external opposition have alluded to.
One of the clearest examples of this is her desire to become the London Borough of Culture. It was never clear what benefits would accrue to Newham residents if this bid were successful. That’s not entirely true. The winner would get £1.3m for cultural events, and as we are all aware, some council-funded cultural events are just what the voters are crying out for.
Now we find that Wandsworth has been awarded the title for 2025 and Haringey for 2027.
The efficacy of the title and the programme of events that follow from it can be seen in the incredible changes to the boroughs of Waltham Forest, Lewisham and Croydon. Or maybe they were just a damp squib. A temporary flash in the pan that passed the majority of residents by, but pleased a vocal minority and made council leaders glow with pride at their place amongst London’s cultural elite.
Losing out to Wandsworth must have hurt the pride of the mayor, but when she discovered that runners-up Merton, Barnet and Greenwich were each getting £200k, that must have stung. But honestly, after her spat with Mayor Khan in which she appeared to call him a liar, did anyone think that he was going to give her £1.3m for a beanfeast?
To some of those on the Labour Group, it appeared that the Borough of Culture bid was essentially a means by which to enhance the mayor’s personal curriculum vitae, and maybe for her to rub shoulders with the local glitterati.
One of the criticisms is that it was never made explicit, just how much this bid was going to cost.
If it had been the case that a bid had been submitted by a mid-level council officer as a part of her normal duties, who could complain? But we know that it wasn’t. A director was appointed at considerable expense and a small team to support her.
Our very rough estimate, (more accurately, a guesstimate) is that their combined annual costs exceed a quarter of a million pounds per year. If this is anywhere close to the true figure (we suspect that an FOI request will soon be winging its way to Newham), then it should shock our councillors.
They have just agreed a range of cuts and stated their intentions to sell-off capital in order to balance the books. At the same time as they were wrestling with these decisions, the mayor was spending money like it had gone out of fashion.