RBKC Direct: Budgeting for challenging times, Core strategy, Watchdog praises borough services, Wornington Green

The Royal Borough has a history of prudent financial management. This approach will stand it in good stead as it faces a new decade with central government's fiscal position deteriorating and the prospects for an economic recovery remaining uncertain.

In setting its budget for 2010-11 the Council froze Council Tax. Freezing it for the coming financial year means Council Tax is likely to be about 6 per cent lower in real terms than it was five years ago.

To find out what the Council is doing to further reduce its spending.

Kensington and Chelsea is famous for its diverse range of social, cultural, business and retail activities, all of which make it one of the most desirable residential areas of London in which to live.

This popularity brings with it its own set of challenges and the Council has published the Core Strategy in an attempt to shape the way the borough evolves over the next 20 years.

The Council's ambition is to ensure that the Kensington and Chelsea is recognised as one of the best places to live in London. Its services have been consistently rated as "excellent" and in the first year of the Audit Commission's new assessment method, the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), the Council was given the highest available overall score when the results were released last December.

Its children's services and adult social care services also achieved the highest scores possible.

Kensington and Chelsea Council accepts that Wornington Green Estate in North Kensington needs to be redeveloped if its 538 homes are to be brought up to the Government's 'decent homes' standard.

The idea of regenerating the 1960s estate, which is owned by the Kensington Housing Trust has been around for many years. In 2006 the Council listed the case for redeveloping the estate as one of its 21 key projects for renewing the borough.