Immigration boom could mean tax rises, warns councillor

Feb 26 2010 By Adam Courtney

  INADEQUATE government funding to deal with the rise in population due to immigration could mean future hikes in local taxes, according to a borough councillor.

Harry Phibbs says the amount of money allocated to the borough from government, which this year stood at £120m, is not enough because the figure was calculated based on 2001 population stats of just over 165,000.

Current estimates, based on projection figures made in 2007, are that the figure has risen to 172,500 but, according to the council, this massively underestimates the true number due to significant surges in immigration, notably from eastern European countries like Poland. The next official census is not due until next year.

And Mr Phibbs says unless extra funding is made available soon, core council services, such as refuse collection, parks and street cleaning, will start to suffer, with tax payers picking up the bill.

He said: "I would hope we wouldn't see council tax going up but this makes it harder for us to continue to reduce it."

Figures from 2001 showed over 27% of the borough's white population was born overseas, almost double the amount for London as a whole.

In the same year, more than 3% of the borough's inhabitants had moved from overseas in the previous 12 months, with a 2004 study suggesting most tend to come from Somalia and Poland.

And, with the immigration explosion continuing throughout the proceeding years, Mr Phibbs, despite claims from government that nearly half of the 1.5m Poles who have arrived in Britain since 2004 have gone home, says council leaders regard the figures as "fantasy".

"The government doesn't come up with any solution," he said. "If we have more people here we have got a greater strain on local services and if people do not speak English as their first language that is an added problem."

Mr Phibbs denied the council, which has a Polish eagle on its Mayoral regalia, was scapegoating the local Polish community, which has a Cultural Centre yards from the town hall in Hammersmith, and hailed the contribution it makes to the community.

But he warned: "For their sake and ours we need to make sure we get a fair settlement from the government.

"We are working very hard to cut costs but we are not getting a fair reward for that."

While declining to give estimates on the true population figure, council leader Stephen Greenhalgh said: "The council has long argued that our formula grant allocation is deeply flawed and does not accurately take into account the size and transient nature of our population. It is ridiculous for the government to base its funding formula on statistics that bare little resemblance to the facts on the ground."

Meanwhile, councillors will tonight vote on whether council tax should fall by 3% next year.