Independent Socialists urge council to use £4m reserves to halt primary school closures

Cllr Penny Wrout addresses the chamber. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Hackney’s opposition groups have accused the council of presiding over “managed decline” and called for “swingeing” cuts to be reversed as the Town Hall agreed its budget for the coming year.

In response to the Labour-run council’s fiscal plans, the Green, Independent Socialist and Conservative councillors last night (26 February) put forward their alternatives for the borough.

The Hackney Independent Socialist Group (HISG), comprised of three ex-Labour councillors, proposed that the local authority uses £4 million in its reserves to allow four primary schools earmarked for closure to keep their doors open for another year.

Hackney Council is currently consulting on shutting down St Dominic’s Sir Thomas Abney, St Dominic’s, St Mary’s and Oldhill this August, due to funding deficits and falling pupil rolls.

But Cllr Fliss Premru said drawing on its emergency funding to pause these “cruel” plans would give time to address issues like the National Funding Formula (NFF) for schools.

She added that it would also allow more time for the council to complete its area-based review of pupil needs, which is tipped for April.

“To carry on regardless with this programme would be to discriminate against pupils, especially SEND pupils, and staff facing redundancies,” she said.

However, council officers stated that increasing the planned use of reserves would impact the council’s financial “resilience”, while any delay poses a risk to the financial position of other schools.

Her colleague, Cllr Penny Wrout, said she thought it “sad” that a Labour government was still forcing Hackney to make “swingeing cuts and dip into reserves, just to balance the budget”.

The HISG alternative plans include a projected income of £1m from introducing a borough-wide selective licensing scheme for private landlords from October.

They also propose halving the planned cuts to the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and reversing the closure of the borough’s popular falls prevention service.

Conservative councillor Simche Steinberger. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Hackney’s Conservatives, the largest opposition group, suggested the borough end its zero emissions network, cut waste and recycling staff by roughly 60 per cent, and scrap the council’s Love Hackney magazine.

The group also proposed cutting spending on private sector housing staff who monitor damp and mould rules in rented properties, and argued that the council should put its Pembury Circus revamp plans “straight in the dustbin”.

Cllr Simche Steinberger told the Labour benches: “Whatever you touch, you cause problems. You have the audacity to take [government funding] and waste it on something almost nobody wants – not the cyclists, not the pro-LTNS and not the anti-LTNs.

“You said you have a good relationship with your government – why don’t you go back and tell them you want to use this for necessary spending?”

Meanwhile, the Green group’s alternative budget included plans to protect the borough’s libraries, soften the VCS cuts and scrap three deputy cabinet members and the deputy mayor post.

The group would also reverse the closure or ‘privatisation’ of children centres.

Green co-leader Zoë Garbett drew parallels between the council and previous Conservative governments, arguing that its approach towards engaging with voluntary groups while cutting funding mirrored David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ vision.

She asked Mayor Caroline Woodley: “You talk positively about this budget and about the increase of £25 million that you weren’t expecting, but surely you’re outraged at the fact that you still have a huge chasm and people are desperate for services?”

Woodley said her “outrage” came from Cllr Garbett’s ability to “jump on every populist opportunity across the borough – no matter whether you actually believe in or not”.

“You get behind every protest. You stand with everyone you can and you don’t offer a clear solution.

“If you want outrage, you will see outrage – it is people taking advantage of our most vulnerable and putting them off into dangerous situations by asking them to share their needs without the proper support wrapped around them, and that is what the council offers.”

Cllr Zoë Garbett received an apology after a clash with the mayor. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Green co-leader, Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, later defended his “hard-working” colleague and said the mayor had “no evidence” behind the accusation that Garbett did not believe in the causes she espoused.

He added that the council’s budget painted a “bleak picture”, and that his party “refuses to accept the logic of managed decline”.

“The Labour administration is going to say that we should be grateful for extra government funding – despite the fact that it doesn’t touch the sides of the need,” he said.

Cllr Garbett later told the Citizen: “I agree with the first part of what the mayor said – I do speak up for residents, join protests and stand up for causes I believe in because I’m a good representative.

“The rest of it, implying that I was exploiting vulnerable people, was an unfair characterisation.”

She added that the mayor had apologised to her in person after the meeting ended.

Update: this article was amended at 10.23am on 28 February 2025. It originally stated that the Greens’ alternative budget would cost £3m more than the council’s budget, but this was inaccurate.