THE priority for Kingston council is always to provide crucial services to our residents, come what may. That is why we have just taken decisive action to confront the national financial crisis facing us and other councils across the country.

We are seeing rising demand for vital support from residents in need, spiralling costs and ever-shrinking government grants, placing huge pressure on our budget.

This is not a unique problem for Kingston, but we have decided to act fast and put in place recruitment restrictions for all but the most essential roles, such as social workers, so we can do everything possible to protect core services for our residents.

More than half of everything the council spends annually goes to providing residents with social care support and children’s services and these needs are rising continuously. For instance, the number of Kingston residents living with dementia is set to soar from around 1,500 currently to more than 2,100 in 2027. Yet, despite these pressures, the Government has reduced Kingston’s central grant from £66 million in 2010 to just £4,000 this year.

Thankfully, Kingston’s effective financial management in recent years and our clear plans for the future mean the borough is in a stronger position than many councils to face the tough times ahead.

The council has already begun the work to build the resilience Kingston needs to weather the financial storm. Throughout the pandemic, we galvanised the community response and developed networks between community and voluntary groups, charities and other organisations. This meant communities were empowered and people properly supported in neighbourhoods. This working in partnership has continued, so communities have the strength to confront new challenges.

A brilliant example is the BRITE Box project. This scheme sends weekly meal kits to families at risk of food insecurity. Kingston’s four neighbourhood committees are now considering proposals to provide BRITE Box with £3,000 from each of their grant pots so the charity can continue its excellent work.

The council has also acted to strengthen its financial position, launching an asset strategy which is set to generate around £40 million over four years and achieve savings of around £1.1 million.

However, challenges still remain and with residents beginning to feel the full impact of the cost of living crisis, the council is also now suffering the consequences of this with rising energy bills further squeezing our budget, and the Government shows no sign of reviewing council funding.

Because we have put our finances in order, taken the decisive action needed and started the work to build resilience in our communities, we can continue to focus on the key services our residents rely upon and continue the important work to transform our borough environmentally, culturally and economically.

The crucial local project to replace the Kingfisher leisure centre continues to progress; the landmark regeneration of the Cambridge Road Estate - providing 2,170 new homes - will start very soon; our state-of-the-art new dementia care centre has opened in Surbiton and the borough is set to see three new schools built in coming years.

Nonetheless, it is frustrating that the central government has failed to ensure that councils such as ours are properly funded. There are now almost daily reports of councils struggling to balance budgets and declaring large overspends.

Last year, the House of Commons committee responsible for scrutinising government policies for local authorities declared council finances were “unsustainable without reform”.

While we have created a financial position in Kingston which avoids the severe difficulties many councils face, the financial pressure on all of us will only end when central government takes supporting local government seriously.