Hello Everyone With 2025 only just beginning, it’s already been a busy week and a really cold one! I’ve been reminding my elderly parents about being outdoors during this blistering cold time and to especially wrap up warm if they step outside for any reason. For those of us with elderly parents, and youngsters in our lives, it’s natural to be concerned about their well-being through these winter months. Particularly when temperatures plummet and it becomes icy as it has been in Newham these past few days. Please keep an eye on elderly relatives and neighbours, and those you know who could be susceptible to the cold weather, including youngsters who have headed back to school this week. As you’d expect, the Council’s ‘winter preparedness’ activities are in full swing, with many of our services automatically transitioning to a winter service over the cold months and others triggered by severe weather conditions. Combined with our contingency plans to manage a wide range of emergency incidents, including those related to severe weather, we are ready! You’ll have already seen the Amber cold health alert issued by the Met Office, which continues until at least this Sunday. This has triggered actions specifically aimed at supporting the most vulnerable, such as rough sleepers. This morning I saw for myself the support that the Council is putting in place to help people at one of our Severe Winter Emergency Protocol Hubs located across the borough. As I’ve mentioned already, you don’t need to be on the streets to suffer ill effects from really cold weather, so please look out for friends and family who might be vulnerable when the temperature plummets. With colds and flu on the increase across the UK, check if you are eligible for a free jab and get a jab quick! Don’t forget, we’ve also got our network of Warm Havens in our libraries offering a place to stay warm, and lots of activities. Yesterday, along with my Cabinet, we formally signed off our draft 2025/26 Budget plan signalling the start of engagement with residents ahead of finalising budget plans for the 2025/26 financial year which we’ll be presenting to Full Council on 27 February. With £32m of savings being proposed, the Budget plan follows a robust budget challenge process chaired by me, involving independent experts, Cabinet members and senior officers over the past two months, alongside engagement with local residents. You can see our full discussion and debate here The draft 2025/26 Budget proposals show how we remain determined to continue our mission of building a fairer Newham, where we support our residents across all ages to thrive. In our draft budget plans we have protected those council services that reflect the priorities expressed by local residents through our engagement with them. We have also focused on early intervention and preventative approaches to ultimately reduce the growing cost pressures of the vast array of statutory requirements we have to deal with. The plan was developed following a robust budget challenge process which I have been chairing since last October; working with independent experts, Cabinet members and senior officers alongside residents online, face-to-face and via survey on our website. As a result, our projected budget forecast gap is now reduced over the next three-years from £175m to £157m. Our discussions for the past few months and at yesterday’s meeting have continued to put the spotlight on the London housing crisis as temporary accommodation and social services costs continue to soar. In fact, just over 75% of our budget is spent on demand-led services; those areas where need cannot always be predicted and where we have a legal duty to deliver. As I have mentioned before, we are a financially responsible Council, and would have been able to balance our budget last year and this, without the additional soaring costs of providing temporary accommodation. There was also discussion at Cabinet about our application to central government for Exceptional Financial Support, which allows us to use money from the sale of the things we own to balance our books next year; and proposals to raise Council Tax by 10 percent - which is something that the Government would expect us to do, if they were to grant the exceptional support. It will mean an extra £2.40 per week for Band D households, and if agreed in February we estimate that Newham will still have the seventh lowest Council Tax in London. We have also been clear about wanting to protect vulnerable and low income households, and while the consultation on our Council Tax Reduction Scheme continues until next Tuesday (14th); we are working on the basis of offering an 80% Council Tax Relief Scheme in our draft Budget plans. While we’ll be making a final decision following feedback from the consultation which ends next week, we aren’t planning to make any changes to the existing 90% council tax relief offered to the most vulnerable pensioner households. Until next week, when I’ll be meeting Newham’s new borough commander for the London Fire Brigade, take care and stay warm this weekend! Best wishes,
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE Follow what I am up to via X/Twitter: @rokhsanafiaz | 
