Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Council challenges laid bare in leaked letter
The number of students in Canterbury is putting huge pressure on the city council’s coffers, a leaked letter reveals. Writing to the Housing Secretary, the authority’s leader Cllr Robert Thomas says the issue “presents a challenge financially as well as for community cohesion”.
Cllr Thomas highlights that a government grant which previously covered the cost of catering for students has now been reduced to zero. And he suggests introducing a “tourist tax” could be “transformative” for the authority’s finances. The council leader wrote to Robert Jenrick MP following a request made by Labour members to highlight the impact of reduced government funding on local services.
His letter sent last Monday reveals a number of other difficulties faced by the authority including council tax “inequality” and rough sleeping. Cllr Thomas writes: “As a city, Canterbury is thought to be one of the most densely populated in Europe for ratio of students to local population as well as for the number of tourist visits.
“Neither of these groups directly contribute to the finances of the council for statutory services we must provide. Council tax paying households now know that they underwrite these costs for all residents.
“This is because previously a needs-based assessment in the formula funding meant that the government provided financial support for students in the Revenue Support Grant (RSG). As I’m sure you are aware our RSG is zero.”
Cllr Thomas says the council is tackling the issue by favouring purpose-built student accommodation so residential homes currently occupied by students can be made available for local families.
He then requests a change in legislation to allow the authority to charge a “tourist tax” on city stays.
“Imagine how transformative a tourist tax could be to our council if each of the seven million visitors we receive each year paid a small levy for their stay,” he writes.
Cllr Thomas goes on to say the success of Whitstable over the past two decades has led to an inequality in council tax arrangements. “Currently we have houses in central Whitstable which were constructed in the 1800s to support the fishing industry which are band B properties and sell for in excess of £500,000 each,” he says.
But elsewhere in the town there is social housing which is band C - meaning these tenants will pay about £200 a year more. Cllr Thomas then addresses homelessness in the district, describing it as “the perfect illustration of the challenges we face”.
He writes: “We have housed 198 rough sleepers since July 2018 and helped 27 homeless former prisoners in a year but the pressure on our resources and finances continues to grow.”
But he adds: “Our success means an average of 10 new rough sleepers with complex problems arrive in our patch every month.”
Cllr Thomas also refers to London borough authorities obtaining leases for housing in the district - such as Redbridge relocating families to Howe Barracks “entirely outside of their support networks and area of employment”. He ends by inviting the Housing Secretary to visit the district.
But Cllr Jean Butcher, writing on behalf of the Labour group, condemns his letter, adding: “You have utterly failed to adequately address the growing concerns of the people of our district about the decline in council services.”