Camera Malfunctions Leave Hole in Council Budget
Borough still confident that it can balance books despite funding uncertainty
Camera revenue also hit by 'ghost plates' and fraud
April 3, 2025
Hammersmith and Fulham Council is ‘confident’ it will balance its books for 2024/25 despite pressures including rising temporary accommodation costs, falling revenue from the Clean Air Neighbourhood (CAN) restrictions and parking camera malfunctions.
The local authority was, as of December, forecasting spending £1.1 million more for the financial year than expected from its General Fund.
This is less than the overspends projected in its month two and six reviews, with the differences due to ongoing delivery of savings and additional income.
Cllr Rowan Ree, Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform, said at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday night (1 April) that the council expects to reduce the £1.1m down further and that he is ‘confident’ both the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) will be balanced.
The council publishes a review of its revenue budget at months two, six and nine. A full assessment, known as an outturn report, will be presented to the council’s Cabinet in September.
The report which went to Cabinet detailed how, despite including £19.9m of investment in its budget to mitigate demand and inflation, “as with many local authorities in the country, Hammersmith and Fulham continues to experience pressures across adult social care, temporary accommodation, and Children’s services”.
It continued to note that growing pressures come against a backdrop of ‘uncertainty’ in council funding, with the sum from central government for Hammersmith and Fulham decreasing by 54 per cent in real terms between 2010/11 and 2024/25.
The service area with the largest projected variance when compared with the budget is ‘parking’, with a difference of £8m.
A commentary box next to the item states: “There has been a delay in rolling out our camera network programme, which has further been compounded with camera malfunctions, which are being rectified. There has been a significant decline in our pay rates due to fraud.”
It is understood the cameras are not related to the council’s traffic schemes, such as the South Fulham (CAN, but are used for existing no entries, one-way, yellow box junctions and banned turns across the borough.
The fraud is due to a rise in ghost plates that cannot be read by cameras and false vehicle owner information kept at the DVLA.
A spokesperson for the council however said the most substantial element of the £8m, which is not referenced in the report, is the drop in fines from the CAN. The number of unauthorised drivers is estimated to be down around 30 per cent year on year.
They said, “Fines from the Clean Air Neighbourhood have fallen from £10.6m in 2023/24 to an estimated £5.5m in 2024/25 – the most significant element in the £8m shortfall in parking surplus. This is because of the success of the scheme with fewer and fewer unauthorised drivers going through the cameras.”
The second-largest item is ‘bed and breakfast’, with a projected overspend of £6.634m. This is due to the council having to put more people than expected into such accommodation, plus commercial hotels, an issue local authorities across London are having to face.
Cllr Ree told members the projected £1.1m overspend as of December is expected to be reduced further by the end of the financial year and that he is ‘confident’ the HRA will also be balanced.
The Cabinet paper stated the HRA had an ‘in-year pressure’ forecast of £7.684m, mainly due to the backlog of disrepair works and decanting costs, though that mitigations are in-place.
Council leader Stephen Cowan said, “None of us in this borough should ever forget two things. One, there’s a council going bankrupt almost every month, sometimes almost every week in England at the moment because of the dire state of public finances. The fact we have very robust finances is a tribute not just to Cllr Ree but to our senior leadership team who run a very tight shop.
“And two, people simply get things here you wouldn’t get if you lived anywhere else. I met two residents today who told me that we have some of the cleanest streets who regularly have their friends who live elsewhere saying, ‘how have you got your streets so clean?’
Cllr Cowan added he is ‘absolutely confident’ the revenue budget will continue to be balanced moving forward.
In 2023/24, Hammersmith and Fulham ended the financial year with a surplus of £300,000, which was added to its reserves.
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter