Read the Annual Report 2025-26 on Yumpu.com.
Delivering a Stronger, Safer and Kinder borough
Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham
We've kept council tax in H&F the third lowest in the country – thanks to our ruthless financial efficiency.
Over the last decade we have saved a record £138million, enabling us to maintain the third lowest council tax in the country and to deliver a host of new services people would simply not get if they lived elsewhere. That is all down to our policy of Ruthless Financial Efficiency.
Fighting crime and acting to eliminate the causes of crime remain our highest priorities. So we have funded: a unique 72-strong Law Enforcement Team, the densest CCTV network in the UK and a new H&F Gangs Unit that protects our young people. In 2024, Met Police data shows a 13.6% fall in violent crime, a 10% reduction in robberies, and a 9.5% drop in burglaries.
We are spending more on our residents' health and wellbeing too. Having won a seven-year battle to save Charing Cross Hospital from closure, we're now working closely with the NHS to win new investment for our local hospitals while H&F remains the only council in England to offer free adult social care in the home.
That means people who need care are less likely to find themselves yo-yoing in and out of hospital. And it means more people are supported to live independently in their home for longer.
H&F pioneered free breakfasts for all primary school children. We've also initiated the biggest increase in youth funding in the borough's history and have built new modern youth facilities linked to our industrial strategy.
In 2017 we set out to make H&F a global hotspot in the industries of the future by launching our unique 'Upstream London' industrial strategy.
Since then H&F has generated:
- A staggering £6billion in high growth investment – which is more than all of the rest of West London combined
- More investment in green-climate technologies than Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester combined
- More start-up and scale-up businesses than anywhere else in the UK, creating 13,200 new jobs.
Working with local businesses, our new Upstream Pathway Bond offers young people new opportunities to be part of this economic success. And we're building record numbers of genuinely affordable new homes for our residents.
Meanwhile, our council has risen to become the number one in London for tackling the climate emergency. And this year we will invest more in making our borough a greener and more beautiful place to live.
There is much that's going on. As new challenges arise, we have taken the measures necessary to ensure we can meet them. Together with our residents and businesses we are building a stronger, safer, kinder Hammersmith & Fulham.