A Conservative petition in Havering Town Hall by Cllr David Taylor has successfully put pressure on the Residents Association/Labour coalition to keep weekly bin collections.

The planned cuts would not have seen savings for twelve years. 2000 local people backed Cllr Taylor's petition and we hope the Council sticks to its new position. They have been using twelve-year-old numbers to suggest they need to cut spending by £70m, without explaining that reduced government grant to London councils has been offset by the retention of more business rates and other funding streams. Where there are legitimate concerns about bigger social care and services costs compared to other boroughs, our MP Julia Lopez has worked cross-party to help represent the Council to Ministers. Next year Havering's core spending power will grow by 9.5%, with extra revenue support grant and money for social care. Now they are in power, the RA/Labour coalition must own their local spending choices.