Hammersmith and Fulham LBC has revealed it will cut council tax rates by 3% next year. The Conservative-led borough has become the first major authority to declare what its council tax will be, and has claimed that resident satisfaction is currently at a record high. The move is the authority's fourth successive annual cut, and council leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, has called on others to follow suit in the face of what he calls ‘a perfect storm of social and economic challenges'. ‘Some critics have argued in the past that cutting costs is unpopular – this is nonsense,' Cllr Greenhalgh said. ‘Britain is heading for bankruptcy unless we all start making radical changes which can truly deliver better services for less money.' According to the council, it has reduced its debt by £24m, as well as cutting the number of bureaucrats by almost 600 posts. The authority's annual residents survey 2008 suggested that satisfaction levels were up by 11% to 64%, compared with 2006 – and so moved into the top five band of London councils in last year's place survey.
