March 2008 Speech
At the annual budget setting meeting on 5th March 2008 Sir Simon Milton, then Leader of the council, outlined thirty separate initiatives to improve the quality of life in Westminster.
These initiatives will form year three of our One City programme and aim to make Westminster the best governed city in the world by creating strong communities and supported by excellent council services.
As part of the annual budget speech, Sir Simon Milton also proposed that Westminster freezes its council tax.
Key point of Sir Simon Milton’s speech included:
- Our new neighbourhoods agenda is central to the goal of building strong communities. That is why we have offered each ward £100,000 towards fixing specific problems.
- We will launch three new alcohol regulation initiatives, work with the police to tackle drug trade and provide a better service to victims of domestic violence.
- New measures to go ‘green’ and programmes to improve our built environment include a significant expansion of the recycling service and the development of an innovative Carbon Partnership with businesses.
- The successful delivery of Building Schools for the Future and our academies are important. In addition the council will commit to offering new apprenticeships.
- Older people will benefit from the expansion of our Every Older Person Matter programme.
- We aim to improve housing opportunities. We will make a start on tackling overcrowding through 100 new family-sized homes and deliver 200 new homes for homeless households.
- Finally, we announce new plans to tackle some of the toughest problems we face in this city identified by Breakdown Britain. At the heart of the need approach will be three new geographically based Family Assessment Teams, which will together manage a caseload of the 600 families.
