By Geoff Andrews

The latest round of ratecapping announced yesterday by the Department of the Environment has compelled one council to cut spending by £20 millions and its rates by more than 40 per cent.

The London borough of Baling, a Labour gain from the Conservatives in the 1986 local elections, and ratecapped for the first time, has had spending levels cut by about 16 per cent, allowing for inflation. This implies a cut of 43.5 per cent in the level of rates in the borough next year.

Waltham Forest, another London council making its first appearance in the list, is hit only slightly less hard, with spending cut by £10 million or about 11 per cent allowing for inflation.

Middlesbrough, making a second appearance on the ratecap list, will suffer the biggest changes in its spending plans with a rates cut of about 28 per cent.

One council, the London borough of Tower Hamlets, which is Liberal-controlled, has succeeded in achieving an increase in its rate limit as a result of application to the Environment Secretary, Mr Nicholas Ridley, for a redetermination of its programme, although this is only worth £2 million on a budget of £126 million.

Southwark, the only other council to take the risk of a reexamination, was disappointed at being left unchanged.

Proposed rate limits in pence with the implied percentage change in local rates in brackets are: