Kensington and Chelsea Council Adopts New Four-Year Plan Amidst Significant Financial Challenges

Kensington and Chelsea Council has approved a new four-year plan for 2026-2030, setting out key priorities including 'Clean streets and amazing spaces,' 'Getting the basics right,' 'Making your life easier,' and 'Value for money.' The plan, however, is being adopted against a backdrop of significant financial challenges, with an expected funding gap of over £120 million.

A bar chart and a choropleth map illustrating resident priorities for council services, with a breakdown of the most common answers by ward.
Resident priorities for council servicesSource: Leadership Team papers, 13 October 2026

The substantial funding gap is largely attributed to the 'Fairer Funding' formula, which is projected to reduce the Council's resources by £108 million over four years. This necessitates incredibly tough decisions and a strategy where we all have to do less, step back on some things, and take difficult decisions. The report indicates that 40% of our spendable money on children is going to be cut due to this formula. Furthermore, the Voluntary Sector Support Fund (VSSF) will have a reduced budget, meaning fewer organisations will receive grants.

To address the financial pressures, the Council is exploring several strategies beyond focused resource allocation. These include formally requesting the Government to provide alternative funding solutions to the 'Fairer Funding' formula, a move supported by 93% of residents in a public consultation who favoured retaining a greater share of locally generated income, such as business rates. Residents also expressed a desire for more time to adapt to funding changes. The Council is also investigating other revenue streams, such as a potential 'tourist tax.'

The Council Asset Strategy 2026-2030 proposes a move towards a smaller, more efficient, and better-utilised estate to enhance financial sustainability and income generation, through operational estate rationalisation and commercial property management. This strategy aligns with residents' preference for efficient use of buildings over service reductions.

Key elements of the new Council Plan include a commitment to co-design a 'Resident Pact' with residents and community partners to clarify the relationship between the Council and its residents. This co-design process will involve a diverse group of residents to ensure the Pact genuinely reflects community needs. The Council has already gathered initial input through the 'Let's Talk' consultation, with the aim to agree and publish the Pact by spring 2027.

A bar chart showing resident preferences for council funding, with the highest preference for allowing the council to keep a greater share of locally generated income.
Resident preferences for council fundingSource: Leadership Team papers, 13 October 2026

Under the 'Clean streets and amazing spaces' priority, specific improvements include delivering a new publicly accessible path at God's Road, maintaining twice-weekly bin collections, and increasing household waste recycling and food waste collection. The plan also commits to cleaner streets through more sweeping, more bins and better-managed commercial waste, and dealing with serious street issues such as dangerous potholes, graffiti, and fly-tipping within 24 hours of reporting. Tackling illegally parked dockless e-bikes and increasing night-time enforcement with 50 new CCTV cameras are also priorities. Furthermore, the Council will continue to deliver new 'Amazing Spaces' schemes annually, starting with Portobello Road, Stratford Road, and Gloucester Road North, and will deliver a new publicly accessible park at Lots Road, planting 500 trees across the borough.

A bar chart showing resident feedback on how they want to engage with the council, with 'To tell us when something's wrong - and when something's working' being the most selected option.
Resident engagement preferencesSource: Leadership Team papers, 13 October 2026

The 'Value for money' priority aims to use public money carefully, keeping Council Tax low and protecting essential services. This involves taking tough decisions to do less and strip out services where need or demand has evolved and tackling the cost of temporary accommodation and social care placements. Introducing modern, secure systems and increase automation to reduce the cost of running the Council and free staff time for work with residents is also a key strategy. The Council's budget consultation confirmed a strong preference for using buildings and land more efficiently rather than reducing services.

The Council plans to publish a performance framework that sets out the milestones, delivery dates and operational standards that sit behind each commitment, which will be reviewed and published annually. Success against the four priorities will be monitored through this framework, regulatory inspections, statutory returns, and performance against the sector-wide Local Outcomes Framework. Specific metrics for 'Clean streets and amazing spaces' include maintaining high resident satisfaction with waste collection and street cleaning, increasing recycling rates, achieving step-free access at South Kensington station by 2030, and securing planning permissions at Earl's Court and Kensal Canalside by 2030.

The report on removing barriers through the Sustainable Communities Act highlights that the unprecedented reduction in funding cannot be absorbed through efficiencies alone, without significant impacts on frontline services and Council Tax levels for residents.

The Council Asset Strategy 2026-2030 emphasizes that Service or community benefit is weighted alongside financial return rather than ahead of it, and that Council-owned property will always be viewed as community assets with social value on an equal footing to financial value.