An unusual event, today - good news from local government about council tax. The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham have announced that for the third year running they will be cutting council tax by 3%. Congratulations from the TPA!
Let's take a second to think about the true magnitude of this. We have reached such a dire situation with the majority of local councils that if you got a council tax bill through the door saying next year's tax would go down you would assume there had been a misprint or a banding error. What H&F have achieved through careful budgeting, cutting waste, restructuring wasteful departments and paying off debt (Alistair Darling take note!) is achievable by every council in the land, but few of them have the drive and the inspiration to do it.
Hammersmith and Fulham bring the lie to every council that turns its back on residents and expects them to be grateful for tax rises every year. It can be done, and every council in the land would do well to study the Hammersmith and Fulham model to learn how to do it.