08 November 2002
Chief executive Peter Rogers told Public Finance that the authority would seek a judicial review if the apparent 26% drop in its population causes it to lose up to £40m from its government grant next year.
He said: 'They have either got a ten-year problem with Westminster or they had better look at the methodology and get it right.'
The census showed Westminster's population to be 181,000, substantially down on the ONS's estimate of 245,000 in 2000.
Rogers, who is scheduled to meet ONS director Len Cook next week, said: 'If the census is not changed then the government should fund a specific grant.' He made his comments after Westminster published a dossier that, it says, proves the ONS's figures are wrong.
Kit Malthouse, Westminster's Cabinet member for finance, warned that there would be swingeing cuts in services unless the population figure is revised. 'The fabric of the capital will disintegrate,' he said.
PFnov2002
