Public money · peer comparison

Planning and economic: every London borough ranked by spend per resident

33 councils · median £20.66/person · mean £45.76/person. From MHCLG Revenue Outturn 2024-25.

RankCouncilControlSeatsPopulationTotal spendPer residentvs median
1City of LondonInd
15,111£10.3m£684.14+3211%
2WestminsterCon
209,996£19.4m£92.45+347%
3Kensington and ChelseaCon
144,518£12.6m£87.31+323%
4CamdenLab
216,943£15.3m£70.70+242%
5Tower HamletsASP
331,886£21.0m£63.32+206%
6IslingtonLab
223,024£13.7m£61.39+197%
7SouthwarkGreen
314,786£17.0m£53.89+161%
8LewishamGreen
301,255£14.7m£48.81+136%
9LambethGreen
316,920£13.7m£43.36+110%
10HackneyGreen
266,758£10.2m£38.09+84%
11GreenwichLab
299,528£10.6m£35.52+72%
12Richmond upon ThamesLD
196,678£6.0m£30.55+48%
13Kingston upon ThamesLD
172,692£5.0m£28.88+40%
14Barking and DagenhamLab
232,747£5.7m£24.44+18%
15HaringeyGreen
263,850£6.3m£23.82+15%
16BarnetLab
405,050£9.4m£23.31+13%
17RedbridgeLab
321,231£6.6m£20.660%
18WandsworthCon
337,655£7.0m£20.58-0%
19SuttonLD
214,525£4.3m£19.95-3%
20BrentLab
352,976£7.0m£19.87-4%
21CroydonCon
409,342£7.8m£19.10-8%
22EnfieldCon
327,434£6.1m£18.68-10%
23HaveringRef
276,274£4.7m£17.18-17%
24BromleyCon
335,319£5.7m£16.94-18%
25HarrowCon
270,724£4.3m£15.96-23%
26HounslowLab
299,424£4.7m£15.65-24%
27NewhamNEW
374,523£5.8m£15.61-24%
28Waltham ForestGreen
279,737£3.6m£12.92-37%
29EalingLab
385,985£3.7m£9.48-54%
30BexleyCon
256,434£2.1m£8.23-60%
31HillingdonCon
329,185£0.1m£0.29-99%
32MertonLab
218,539£-2.3m£-10.58-151%
33Hammersmith and FulhamLab
188,687£-22.8m£-120.58-684%

What this shows. Net revenue expenditure on the planning and economic bucket from each council’s 2024-25 Revenue Outturn (RO) submission to MHCLG, divided by ONS mid-year population. Higher per-head doesn’t imply waste — it can reflect demographic need (e.g. more older residents), rurality, or policy choice (e.g. retaining in-house services rather than contracting out). Lower per-head doesn’t imply efficiency — some councils have moved costs to fees, grants, or a ringfenced account.

Caveats. Councils under MHCLG suppression for 2024-25 don’t appear here (Birmingham, Slough, Cumberland and others — see their council card for the reason). Comparisons across the tier line don’t make sense, which is why this table is filtered to one council type at a time. Source: MHCLG Local Authority Revenue Expenditure and Financing.