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The bill for the Council’s botched attempt to re-tender the parking enforcement contract will be almost £750,000, according to Labour Councillors who have prized the information out of the Conservative-run Council. Over the next three months, the Council will pay the existing contractor, NSL, a fee of almost £750,000 for continuing to enforce parking restrictions while the whole tendering process is re-run. The Council already faces a £50 million legal claim from APCOA, one of the unsuccessful companies earlier this year. Last month the Council was forced to abandon its contract tendering process after it was discovered that there were serious flaws in the Council’s procedures.

In an email to Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Council Chief Executive says;

“Over the course of a three month period, the new contract will give rise to an additional £749,104 of unbudgeted expenditure compared to budget in 2010”

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Opposition said;

“Yet again, Westminster Conservatives are guilty of wasting huge amounts of Council Tax payers money because of their total incompetence. Westminster already rakes in huge amounts of residents’ money in parking charges and parking fines. Now, the Conservatives have the gall to add another £750,000 to the bill that residents will have to pay.”

“The sooner the Conservatives in Westminster are defeated, the better off everybody in Westminster will be”.

Labour Councillors have pledged to cut over £6 million from Westminster City Council’s budget by cutting out waste and reallocating the money to front line services and giving residents better value for money. Labour say that substantial savings can be made by cutting out the following waste;

• Temporary Agency Staff – £3 million – the Council currently spends over £12 million a year on expensive temporary agency staff and Labour say that this can be cut by at least 25%
• Council Press and Publicity – £2 million – the Council’s £3 million a year ‘spin’ budget can be cut by at least two-thirds with no impact whatsoever on front-line services
• Private health insurance for senior Council staff – £220,000
• Leased cars for senior Council staff – £235,000
• Staff bonuses for the highest paid senior Council officers – £360,000
• Council hospitality, including food and wine for Councillors – £210,000
• Civic Dinner – £23,000

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group said;

“We will save over £6million a year of residents’ money by cutting spending on agency staff, cancelling the Civic Dinner, halting private health insurance for senior officers, abolishing staff bonuses and slashing the Council’s self-congratulatory publicity and ‘spin’ budget. We will use some of the savings to support voluntary groups who provide vital front-line services to residents. We will also scrap the loss-making motorbike parking charges and use the money to cut annual residents’ parking permits by £10.”

“After investing £17 million last year in now-failed Icelandic Banks and this year losing £20 million through a massive shortfall in parking income, the Conservatives have brought Westminster’s finances to the brink of disaster. We will bring a sensible and prudent approach to the Council’s finances, starting with cutting out huge areas of wasteful spending.”