Council tax frozen at first Royal Borough council meeting

COUNCILLORS voted through a budget at a full meeting of the council last night which will see council tax frozen again.

It's the fifth consecutive year that council tax has been frozen in the borough.

In presenting the budget, the Leader of the Council, Cllr Chris Roberts, said there remained "ticking time-bombs" and warned that government policies on housing benefit caps would see many families moving to Greenwich from other boroughs, adding pressure to local services.

He lashed out at cuts by the government, describing the Conservatives as "vicious, nasty and spiteful." Their Lib Dem coalition partners were "spineless," he added.

The Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Spencer Drury, said Cllr Roberts was too focussed on Westminster politics and had "taken his eye off the ball" in Greenwich.

Cllr Drury called on the council to drop parking charges on the borough's high streets and reduce what it spent on full time union employees.

The full council meeting at Woolwich Town Hall was the first since the borough was bestowed with royal status.

Light at the end of the foot tunnel

It was revealed at the meeting that the lifts in Greenwich Foot Tunnel should be operational by the end of March. The council has replaced the main contractor on the refurbishment "following severe delays to the programme."

Cllr Denise Hyland, in charge of regeneration, said the cleaning of the tunnel's interior walls would be the last thing to be done and she expected it to look "splendid" upon completion.