The local councils that spent the most money on the King’s Coronation

Local councils across the UK are set to spend more than £3.8 million of their own money on coronation events with research suggesting that some spent tens of thousands of pounds on events over the bank holiday weekend.

The findings from openDemocracy come amid the cost-of-living crisis, which has seen councils warned that they will need to find an extra £2.4bn this year to cover energy price rises and inflationary cost pressures.

The biggest spender on events to mark the coronation of King Charles III this weekend was Ealing Council, which spent over £180,000 on events including a live screening, performances and fireworks.

It comes after the council said in December it would have to make at least £2million of savings from its budget for public health, adult social care, and leisure centres after facing a deficit of £5million.

Barking and Dagenham Council in east London spent £155,000 over the weekend, despite being the fifth most deprived local authority in the UK.

Dominic Twomey, the deputy leader of Labour-run Barking and Dagenham Council admitted in March that the borough’s finances were at breaking point.

“We’ve already delivered more than £175m in savings since 2010 and there’s a further £5.689m planned this year – we’re reaching the point where there’s nothing left to cut,” he said.

A spokesperson for Barking and Dagenham council told The Independent the money was used for the coronation and for the borough’s Summer of Festival events. “£155k was budgeted for these events and the majority of this figure has been secured through sponsorship,” the Council said.

Meanwhile, Newham Council spent over £168,000, while Richmond Upon Thames spent £150,000 and Sheffield Council spent £101,00.

Some of the UK’s most deprived councils also spent thousands on celebrations. Birmingham City Council spent over £76,000, and Liverpool City Council spent a thousand pounds less.

OpenDemocracy also found that Conservative-led Bromley Council spent £50,000 on coronation celebrations - taken from the borough’s community fund for grants to charities.

Labour opposition leader Simon Jeal told openDemocracy while he does not oppose the spending on coronation events, “it’s odd the Conservatives don’t fund celebrations for any other sorts of events.”

He said the Conservatives rejected a plan by Labour councillors in February to create a £5,000 fund for residents to run community events for occasions including Eid, Remembrance Sunday, Black History Month, Pride month, Chanukah and Chinese New Year.

Cllr Colin Smith, Leader of Bromley Council told The Independent: “If Bromley Labour Party wish to be the Grinches who tried to sully the Coronation in Bromley more shame on them.

“I am very clear that a significant majority of Bromley residents want to see and enjoy taking part in one off pageants of history like the Coronation and make no apology whatsoever for spending a relatively small, hopefully only ever once in a generation sum, to help them mark such a special day.”

Meanwhile, Southampton City Council, which is facing bankruptcy next year, is planning to spend £5,000 on coronation signs for lamp posts, despite plans to switch street lights off for three hours every night to save on electricity bills.

The coronation is set to cost tax payers between £50million and £150million, according to unofficial estimates.

However, the total amount of public funds spent on the coronation remains unknown, but some predictions suggest Operation Golden Orb – the crowning of Charles III and the Queen Consort – could cost the nation between £50-100m.

The late Elizabeth II’s coronation cost £912,000 in 1953 – £20.5m in today’s money – while Charles’s grandfather George VI was crowned at a cost of £454,000 in 1937 – worth £24.8m in 2023 and the most expensive coronation of the last 300 years.

A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “At a time when there were many national and international visitors in our city, we were keen to reflect the Coronation in our Eurovision programming. We put on a whole day of events in the Fan Village themed around the Coronation, including a live screening of the event, and ending with the House of Suarez Royalty ball which had a Eurovision twist and saw a new King and many Queens crowned.

“The figure reflects a proportion of the costs of setting up and managing of the Eurovision Village, including infrastructure, security and stewarding.”

Meanwhile, Richmond Upon Thames Council said they allocated a maximum of £150,000 to coronation events. “£47,902.12 was spent on events, with an additional small amount spent on supporting communications and marketing. The remaining amount has not been spent,” a council spokesperson said.

Gary Clifton, Major Events Manager at Sheffield City Council, said: “The total spend from the council is estimated at £56.5k, not £101k as initially estimated.

“We know that this funding not only supported events for thousands of people in the city centre, but thousands of people across Sheffield in the community. We believe hosting events and allowing Sheffield to celebrate is vital in bringing people together, boosting the local economy and raising civic pride.

“This was a moment in history, with Sheffield gaining global coverage and as the fourth largest city in England, we are playing our part, having worked hard with communities and groups from across the city to celebrate and enjoy this momentous occasion.”

All councils mentioned have been contacted for comment.