The mayor of London says he's expecting big things for the city in 2015.
Matt Brown recently spoke with BlackburnNews.com about the coming year and some of the challenges that were faced by council in 2014.
He says the new council had a baptism by fire with the Orchestra London situation.
"We have three weeks now behind us as sitting members," says Brown. "We've dealt with a significant issue already, and I think we dealt with it in a professional manner. We have debate, there is disagreement. But it is respectful disagreement, and then once a decision is made we're moving on to what's next."
Brown says he fully expects the 2015 budget process to be a challenging one. He says the new council will have its work cut out to bring in a property tax increase equal to inflation or lower.
"We've inherited a number of pressures that were the result of a slim majority of councillors pushing through what appeared to be short term benefits but they created those medium to long term pressures. We're going to need to stay focused. We're going to need to work together to keep that number as low as we possibly can."
Brown says he hopes to have council put together a strategic plan early in the new year in order to establish key priorities for the current council term. He says jobs and the local economy will certainly be among those priorities.
You can hear the full interview below.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Matt-Brown1.mp3"][/audio]
