Hello Everyone,
Today’s bulletin comes hot on the heels of Newham’s Full Council agreeing on our budget for the upcoming financial year last night (Thursday 27 February). As I outlined last week, the Government’s announcement that we are one of 30 councils in the UK granted Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) allowing us to set a legally required balanced budget. This signals that our case to the Government, highlighting the financial challenges we face because of the growing costs of temporary accommodation and social care has been heard and is understood. EFS is not a financial bailout. It allows us to sell off some of the Council’s building assets we don’t use or need and use the money to fund our general spend to support our most vulnerable residents and deliver those vital frontline services for our communities across all our neighbourhoods. Every day, we work to keep our streets clean, provide 30,000 hours of adult care each week, and support hundreds of children and families through their most vulnerable moments. Here at Newham Council we have the privilege and responsibility of providing the services that touch residents’ lives on a daily basis, and our mission is clear: Building a Fairer Newham. That means fighting poverty, tackling inequality, championing anti-racism, and putting people at the heart of everything we do. Our budget for the year ahead is a reflection of those values. It’s about people, the families struggling with rising costs, the elderly relying on social care, the young people who deserve safe spaces to grow and succeed. It’s about preserving and protecting the services that make a real difference to people’s lives. Our 2025/26 Budget plans will sustain our ability to build a Fairer Newham and continuing delivering for you. Over the past year, we’ve continued to deliver for our residents. Even in tough financial times, we’ve made progress. We’ve built more genuinely affordable homes, invested in youth services, cleaned up our streets, cracked down on fly-tipping, and expanded 20mph zones to make our borough safer.
Yet, despite our progress, councils like ours have been systematically underfunded and ignored, forced to do more with less, and Newham faces unique pressures. We have the highest number of families in temporary accommodation in London, that’s over 7,000 households without a stable home. This has created an unprecedented financial strain of £100 million in temporary accommodation costs alone over the next three years. This is the result of a broken housing market and a welfare system that has failed to protect the most vulnerable. Our budget for the year ahead is one that continues to protect services, invest in prevention, drives innovation and efficiency while mitigating the demand-led pressures we face. It is a budget that allows us to build more affordable homes and reduce homelessness; fund social care, protecting our elderly and most vulnerable; invest in preventative services, keeping families out of crisis; and protect investment in public spaces, keep our streets clean, and maintaining our infrastructure. While we’ve had to make the difficult decision to raise Council Tax by 8.99%, which is the equivalent of less than £2.40 for the average household, Newham will still have the lowest Council Tax level in outer London. And we’ll still be supporting over 25,000 households through our Council Tax reduction scheme, with 80% discounts available for households in need. Plus 90% discounts for eligible pensioners.
We are transforming and redesigning the council to better serve our communities and support our residents, particularly those who need the most help. We are investing in long-term solutions and embedding our values into every decision we make. We’re committed to delivering a Fairer Newham, for our residents, and for the brighter future our borough deserves. In other news, I was delighted to hear that our library service is a finalist for both regional and national 'Library of the Year’ awards, with the final results to be announced in May. Three of our library staff have also been shortlisted for the Libraries Connected Information & Digital Award for their outstanding work in delivering inclusive and high-quality initiatives for Newham residents. This exciting news comes just after two other council initiatives were shortlisted last week for the prestigious Local Government Chronicle Awards, an achievement that makes me incredibly proud. Another significant development this week is my appointment to the Thames Estuary Growth Board. I am committed to ensuring that the interests of boroughs - representing around 2.6 million people and 100,000 businesses in northeast and southeast London - are central to the Board’s sustainable economic growth ambitions. The Thames Estuary represents the UK’s biggest growth opportunity, and I am proud to be part of it, advocating for Newham’s investment and development. Newham’s role in turbocharging prosperity and growth for the greatest city on the earth was on my mind yesterday when I joined Mayor Sadiq Khan and other London council leaders to launch the London Growth Plan. I reinforced my determination to ensure that Newham is central to the London Growth Plan which plans to make London’s economy £107bn larger by 2035 and increase prosperity for Londoners. That’s why I am pleased that Newham features significantly in the London Growth Plan, including: · Stratford with East Bank and our station expansion plans · East Bank in Queen Elizabeth Park & 3 Mills Studios · Royal Docks including ExCeL · Innovation clusters with UCL East and Here East · Three strategically important housing led development sites that could deliver 61,600 homes for London · Part of the Thames Estuary Fair Growth Region In such a busy week, I was super happy to join residents, educators, and partners in celebrating the incredible achievements of participants in our Newham Data Economy Nature Newham Connect: Biodiversity Programme. This initiative highlights the importance of shared learning around biodiversity and encouraging women and girls to enter the field, especially fitting with International Women's Day next week, as nearly all of this year’s graduates are women! It was the same with my visit today to meet with a group of amazing and inspiring women from Newham, when I attended the AWS re/Start Cloud Computing Programme graduation today. They’ve worked hard to building new careers in the burgeoning tech and data economy. Finally, as our Muslim communities begin the Holy month of Ramadan, I wanted to take a moment to wish all those who’ll be fasting a peaceful and reflective month ahead. Ramadan Mubarak. Until next week, look after yourself and your loved ones.
Best wishes,
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE Follow what I am up to via X/Twitter: @rokhsanafiaz | 
