Mayor Fiaz Puts Her Head in the Sand as Newham’s Finances Spiral

Newham Council is staring down the barrel of a financial crisis, needing to find £100 million plus over the next three years simply to remain solvent. The pressures are well known: soaring costs, inadequate funding, and above all the unrelenting burden of temporary accommodation.

By Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz’s own admission, the biggest challenge is the borough’s ballooning spend on housing. Some £60 million per year is poured into nightly paid accommodation—motel-type rooms, often cramped and unsuitable, that have become the unfortunate symbol of Britain’s housing emergency.

But rather than tackling the shortage of affordable options, Mayor Fiaz has chosen to make matters worse. Her decision to close Victoria Street, one of the borough’s temporary accommodation sites, has further restricted supply. For families already pushed into uncomfortable lodgings, this move has only deepened the crisis.

“You couldn’t make it up,” one resident told us. “We’re told the number one issue is housing, and yet the Mayor actively reduces the number of units available. It’s like fighting a fire by throwing on petrol.”

More Storm Clouds on the Horizon

Housing is far from the only problem Newham faces. The council is still reeling from the C4 regulatory judgement against its housing services—a damning indictment that will require both capital and revenue funding to put right.

Meanwhile, education in the borough is facing a reckoning. With the cost of living crisis now in its fourth year, fewer families are having children, leading to record low reception intakes. Schools are feeling the squeeze: Calverton, for instance, is losing £500,000 annually and is no longer viable.

Any competent administration would have acted on falling rolls long ago. Yet no borough-wide consultation has been undertaken, no serious plan has been presented. As the figures get worse, the Mayor sits on her hands and refuses to even acknowledge this in her latest email to labour members.

Budget Kicked Into the Long Grass

The reality is this: Mayor Fiaz knows she won’t be in office when the next budget lands. As such, she appears more focused on ensuring she can claim she avoided “substantial cuts” during her tenure, rather than addressing the structural financial time bomb that will explode on her successor’s watch.

For Labour in Newham, this is a dangerous game. Any short-term political “victory” for Fiaz will quickly turn into a pyrrhic victory for her party. The incoming administration will be forced to make deeper cuts than would otherwise have been necessary—leaving residents to pay the price through another round of painful council tax hikes and service reductions.

The only real winners from Fiaz’s inaction will be Labour’s opponents in Newham, who will find ample ammunition. For the rest of us, the outcome is far bleaker: fewer services, higher costs, and a borough left poorer by the Mayor’s failure to face reality.