How the Conservatives have frozen Council Tax in Hounslow

Cllr Peter Thompson, the leader of Hounslow Council, on winning the battle to cut Council Tax in real terms despite a tough grant settlement from central Government.

Between 2007 and 2008 The Hounslow Performance Improvement Programme (PiP) has squeezed a massive £53m from management, administration and support costs for use on improving local services.

In 2006 the new administration set out our stall - zero Council Tax rises with measurable improvements in service quality. We have managed to freeze the Council Tax for the first 2 years of our administration
but we were clear that a radical overhaul of the Council was needed to release resources for service improvement and to keep the Council Tax down for the next 2 years, all against the backdrop of an appalling
settlement from central government.

In 2006 we commissioned work that told us that we needed to:

• Reduce the size of the workforce

• Improve management and leadership skills to overcome "passive management"

• Improve training

• Reduce unnecessary layers of management and supervision

• Reduce duplication of activity