Transcript

Club, Action on Disability and Solidarity Sports at My Choal Charities for the May of the Year. I've chosen three local charities, based in Hammersmith and Fulham, which all work very inclusively with the communities in the Bower. Fulham Reach Polk Club provides amazing opportunities to experience the liver and its physical mental benefits to other talent on this underserved, young people across the Bower from 11 state schools and an alternative~Vision school. Across all of their work Fulham Reach Polk Club is also proactive with their care, with the environment, running a range of initiatives like water quality testing, river cleanups and removing carbon emissions from their operations in the water. Action on Disability is a local disabled people's organization based in Hammersmith and Fulham, which is organized and led by disabled people and have been there for the last 44 years and then coming November will be 45 years old, so I'm kind of helping I get to reach some time. Solidarity Sports is a children's charity based in Fulham, there's something for everyone, they offer exciting range of programs and activities from bolts to art to cooking, which might be helpful for me as I can't actually cook, so I'm hoping I'll get an invite down to a listen. Giving kids the place to discover what part of joy. Solidarity Sports, Tragedy, tragically lost a family of five in the catastrophic fire that engulfed the Grenvoice Power in 2017. The Haskham family were among the many who needed me died that day, three children and their parents. One work a young girl called for dolls age 12, she had a dream of 15, but it never did. Every year, Boldarity Sports taking 20 children in a magical long weekend, a Disneyland to keep our memory alive. So I'm really looking forward to working with all my charities. I also wish you and for the council that I have appointed fellow Florian. Tap, at my cons oh again during my mayoral year. I also wish you and for the council that I have appointed council down to be my deputy mayor for the 2024-25 municipal year. And that she has appointed Mr, Mr. Beneita Brown to act as our deputy mayor's consort. This is the end of the ceremonial business. John, thank you Mayor. Apologies for absence, apologies have been received from councillor's Ben Coleman, Sally Taylor and Rosenberg, Paul Alexander, Nikos Sousler's, Patrick Walsh, Jackie Bawland, Andrew Dinsmore and David Morton. Thank you. Are there any declarations of interest? Art in minutes of the meeting and how I've done the 28th or the 28th of February 2024, agree to ask an accurate record. [silence] Offstep gives outstanding rating to H&F children's services team. On behalf of the council, I'd like to thank our children's services team who have been rated as outstanding by offset in a report published on the 16th of May. The report that found that children living in the London-Balthampton forum received excellent services and highly effective and committed leaders have continued to make improvements. So well done to everyone. I invite Councillor Sanderson, cabinet member for children and education to say a few words. Thank you very much, Mayor. Congratulations on your re-election and thank you for letting me speak on this wonderful result. After 14 years of politically illiterate or austerity, public services across their country are on their knees. From hospitals to highways, nothing is working in the way that it should. Against this backdrop, people are sicker and their needs are more complex than they have been for a very long time. And on top of this, local authority budgets have been slashed, with our real-time budgets from central government being less than half of what they were in 2010. I say this not to be miserable because I want to highlight how difficult the context is that we are operating in, and just how utterly incredible it is that despite all of the above, Hammersmith and Mullum children's services received an outstanding rating in our latest offset. This is no mean feat at the very best of times with around only 10% of local authorities receiving an outstanding judgement across the country. But in the face of such challenge on a macro level, it is utterly remarkable. What this result means is that children and young people across Hammersmith and Mullum are getting the very best possible care and support in the UK. Our committed and caring team are relentless in their pursuit of compassionate excellence, and work tirelessly to make sure that our children and young people and their families get the absolute right support at the right level at the right time, to ensure that they not just survive but thrive in Hammersmith and Mullum. This is absolutely a whole team effort, staff, politicians and partners working together as one, united in our mission to make Hammersmith and Mullum children and young people safe, happy and living the best lives they possibly can. I want to thank every single member of the children's team for their patience, drive and leadership, everyone who has come together as one to deliver outstanding support for our children and young people. I want to pay tribute to my predecessor, children's cabinet members, Councillor Singman Mullum, who oversaw the difficult journey to segregating the service from the tribe borough. And Councillor Larry Colhane, who I inherited children's from after years of his visionary leadership and good hema. I also want to thank the leader for his continued political vision and leadership, and as austerity inspectors noted, always putting children and young people at the very heart of our manifesto and political ambition. We know that our children and young people are going to shape the next 100 years of our borough, and if we want to influence that future, we have to start by getting that right in the here and now and by making sure all our children and young people get the best possible start in their lives. I want to thank him for innately understanding that from prioritising children's services through to our industrial strategy, the fundamental importance of investing in our young people and giving them the best possible start so that they can grow up to be healthy, happy citizens who make the world a better place. Because of them, we were the first council to introduce free breakfast and primary schools, something I'm looking forward to the new Labour government implementing in July. We took children out B&B accommodation, we flew social workers to Calais to provide children who had a legal right to be here with protection and support. We are now seen as thought leaders for children's services practice in Hammersmith and Mullum. On policy issues from fostering the experience of young people leaving care and by changing our corner of West London for the better for our children and young people, we are influencing positive change across not just the UK but the world with national and international groups coming to learn from us and our brilliant practical practitioners. I want to thank Offstead for our tenacious chief exec Sharon who's always been one of our biggest supporters, officers and politicians across the hall who have taken part in or otherwise supported our children's services activity. There is one person I would particularly like to play tribute to, even though she'll hate it and she's hiding up there Hammers just ducked behind a chair and that is our utterly brilliant strategic director of children's services, Jackie McShannon. Jackie exemplifies the very best of what a public servant should be. She comes to work every day because she genuinely wants, with every fibre of her being, to make the world a better place. When she called me to tell me the Offstead inspection outcome, we both wept on the phone and several times since, because it meant so much to her and to me because we knew underpinned just how special and important our work here is and what that means for our children and young people. I feel immensely privileged to work with her and her quiet determination and fierce brilliance and I really want to say thank you to her. Finally and most importantly of all I want to thank the young people of the borough, we are all so very proud of you and we can't wait to see what you go on to achieve and whenever you need us we'll be here to support you every step of the way. Thank you. On behalf of the opposition I want to offer our congratulations to children's services. As the cabinet member has said in very difficult circumstances they have performed an outstanding duty and as a father of children who are still of an age where they are looked after by children's services I'm personally grateful as well thank you very much. It is with great sadness that I have formed the council of the death of former councilor and three men of the borough the bar meant to baris stead on Monday the 18th of March 2024. Mr Stead wasn't elected as a white city come from in 1971 a position he held onto 1978 during his time as the leader of the council he enabled the founding of Riverside Studio's art center the rebuilding of the David Theatre and the acquisition of Forum Palace he will be awarded the freeman of the borough in recognition of his selfies to the borough. We would like to say a few words. Leader? Thanks. It should not be lost on any of us that we gathered almost exactly a year ago so pay homage to baris stead and indeed to thank his amazing wife Millie who was his partner who also sadly died just weeks before his own death. Barry as we said last year was a man who dedicated himself to making our lives better many of the people whose lives he improved will never know his name we'll never have known what he did but as a council leader he introduced thoughtful and progressive social policies that set out to tackle homelessness to improve welfare and to give children a good start in life. Indeed after finishing as a council leader he moved on to be the chair of a schools committee that be in a London education authority and it was interesting at his funeral last week to meet so many people who talked about the passion that he brought to shaping the future, by giving children the chance to shape their future. I think as we take a moment to reflect on a life well lived there is always a lesson for all of us as we contemplate our own mortality and what might be the difference that we make. So in that lesson Larry sets himself up in a way that would embarrass him because he put himself by his actions on a pedestal for all to us to look to when we seek direction in our own political office. Barry was somebody who would be deeply proud to know that we've just had an outstanding qualification for our children services and he would have been inspired to meet Jackie McShannon and the type of commitment that she has because in that commitment he would have recognized something that he understood all his life which was by helping others you do something more important for yourself than you can ever do. I saw Barry just a week before he died he was delivering leaflets for our Chelsea and Fulham Labour candidate Ben Coleman and it was a rainy day not unlike today and he was there in a berry and wearing a berry and dressed immaculately and I stopped him to say again how sorry I was about the recent death of Millie and that's how he was and it was so customary that he quickly turned the conversation to ask how I was what challenges I had in my life as I struggled to get the conversation back onto Barry I realized this was just hardwired into him he was just a kind lovely beautiful human being and that by the time he was in his 80s was everything that he was so all of us were fortunate to have known him all of us are fortunate to have understood the vision that he had and to recognize that whilst he's not here he has passed a battle to all of us to carry on looking to the future to make an ever more perfect society and to shape the world so that it is a kinder stronger and better place for everybody. Thank you Barry Stead. Thank you. Thank you, millie Boeman. I call the pon how come else thing. Thank you, Mayor and if I can echo the words of the leader it is tragic that a year on give or take two days where we paid tribute to a lifetime of service for John Barrington Stead and I asked him afterwards he said he didn't mind that I used his formal name I won't repeat all all the achievements that he made in Hammersmith and Fulham there was one thing that I didn't mention when I spoke supporting his nomination last year was it wasn't just Hammersmith and Fulham that he served in many of you here may not know that prior to being a counselor in Hammersmith and Fulham he was a counselor in Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and he represented Nuhlen Ward and got elected in 1964 on a check with figures where he managed to get an amazing 1,842 votes and just to put that into context of what a triumph that was for the Labour Party in K and C in 1964 that even with the current state of our party there was a by-election held in Northern Ward on Merrill Election Day which the conservatives comfortably held so it is a tribute to not only his dedication to public service but his unfortunate ability to win elections as well for the Labour party. Thank you very much. How's the Corn you'd like to speak? Thank you Mayor and congratulations on your re-election. So almost a year ago as has been mentioned we all gathered to celebrate Barry and award him the freedom of the borough and despite the sadness that I feel and the collective grief that we have over losing him I do appreciate that I get another chance to speak about him and celebrate his life and work today. So we've all spoken at length about his achievements and I think we've got the Lyric Theatre, Fulham Palace and Riverside studios to wander past and sort of contemplate his legacy as well as all the other things that he did. So you know all the political appointments are very impressive but he also helped to found A.G.U.K or the charity that is now known as A.G.K in the borough and he was also a school governor in Fulham so I was really pleased and honoured last year to have spoken on his and supported his receipt of the freedom of the borough. The thing about Barry is that he was really really modest and it occurred to me that the one thing that we can learn over the unfortunate timing of his award last year and us talking about his death this year is we really mustn't miss opportunities to appreciate and pay tribute to people that we know do amazing work particularly those of us or those in the community who are modest and don't shout out about it. I think Barry would probably been very content to slip away and not have the spectacle of us all talking about him last year but I think that we owed it to him as residents of this borough and I think that I'm going forward you know I think we should all take more opportunities to pay tribute to people who really do deserve it and we will be doing later on in this meeting. Since last year I met him on the street and the first thing he did before I could even and this was before Christmas before his wife Millie had passed away. Before I could ask him how he was. He wanted to know all the gossip about what was happening happening at Riverside Studios very very concerned and again lobbied me for what we were going to do to increase and support art in the borough so he never missed an opportunity to sort of press us and when we speak about Barry we can't avoid talking about Millie because they were such a steadfast team and frankly I think that having passed in January she was a little bit bored in the afterlife without him I'm pretty sure that she called him to join her as soon as he possibly could. At his recent memorial service there was actually very little spoken about his political and professional life and a lot more that people spoke about his personal effect that he'd had on them and one of the lessons that Barry tried to impart in me was it's really important to have a work-life balance and to take time away to reflect. In 2018 just after we had been elected in Raven's Court part he sent myself former council Donald freedom and under seat as if City Knye a letter it was about three or four days after the election posted to our house and he started off a short congratulations but very much saying and the election is only the start and I'm taking the liberty of burdening you with some of my 20 years of experience in the hope that it may be of use to you in the months ahead I want you to be successful as councillors as you were as candidates and then at the end of the letter he put try to work out a plan to keep your personal work council and ward responsibilities and balance and strikeout periods in your diary that for you to recharge I never managed to do it but please do better. So I think we can all take that away I think thanks to Barry we'll all resolve to do better. Councillor KAREN should I speak? Somebody give Councillor JOHNY like this. Yeah thank you very much Councillor STRICK. Yeah anyway congratulations and thank you and I just wanted to say a few words about Barry Sted I only met him recently a couple of years ago while working on the Labor Raven's Court campaign and however I was very happy to have had the chance to work on various local projects and cases with him. He never spoke much about his impressive achievements because he was a modest gentleman always polite and respectful he just quietly helped and assisted everyone in need he did not need to say much because he knew that actions speak louder than words. There is a never enough time and I was hoping to meet up with him again in person to talk about his most recent local endeavours but then I received an email from him saying asking if I could help a local resident that he was trying to support the resident the resident was blind and vulnerable and needed help with a safety issue in their home. Such residents are extremely at risk as they can't make phone calls or call for help themselves. Barry and I emailed back and forth and I'm happy to say that HNF officers were able to help the resident and I wrote back to Barry explaining that the situation was in hand and that the matter was resolved I didn't hear back from him which was unusual a few days later I found out that about his passing he was really helping people right up to the end an example of a genuinely caring person he helped people because it was the right thing to do not for recognition it is a side loss to the community because such compassionate people are rare and in short-supplied. I called upon Uncle Hohen mine, stay pleased. Thank you Mayor and congratulations on your re-election and thank you for joining us. you [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] Very loud and clear at the memorial service was his other life, which also chimes with what Councillor Kwan has said, about having that work life balance. Barry had another life. He had another life in a village called Flash in the Peak District. And I just want to say a little bit about that because a couple of years back, I had a long chat with him and he said, Oh, Lisa, I didn't realize you were a walker. I didn't realize that you liked to get out into the hills. You must go and stay in my cottage and flash and walk. The first time I made an attempt to do it, we were snowed out, we couldn't get there because the snow was so bad. The second time I went, I was delighted that when I returned the keys to Barry, Millie, who'd been ill for a very long time, as many of you may know, was up and about. And I was able to spend a really good hour plus with the two of them showing all the photos and sharing a glass of wine. And they were so pleased that somebody was making use of their cottage in the way that they wanted to see it use and taking time out there. And it was again, just before Millie passed away. And I had the photos already to show Barry after Millie's passing. Sadly, he never got to see those photos, but I know how much pleasure he got out of making sure that people's work life balance and their wellbeing was well taken care for. I was sorely missed by everybody. And I just think that all the tributes tonight being fantastic and we really do a massive debt this borough to Barry said Thank you very much. Before we move on, I didn't like to say a couple of words about Barry I didn't know him, really that well, what I heard about him, Barry this Barry down. I got to meet him that last year when I became mayor and I would very privileged to be able to give him, be them of the bar. To remind myself I watched it again last night, and he came across as a very humble man, and he's spoken awful lot about Millie, and about his sister Jenny. Some of you might recall he spoke about his family, in particular his mother, who was a former mayor. Now the reason I know this is because I attended the Memorial Service for Barry a few weeks ago, wearing my big bling, and some of the family were there from Canada. And they came over to me, and they said, Oh, you're the mayor and I said, yeah, I'm the mayor. And they said, oh, Barry's mother was the mayor and they had the big picture of the of the model on the mantel piece. I thought they forgot to mention, and what I forgot that he said in this meeting, with that his mother was, and I apologize to the opposition, that she was a Tory mayor, in one of the bottom, I think it would I think it would be one way I think it would be one way I've got a head like a ship and unless I write it down, I'd tell for remembering names. So he was speaking Barry last night as he was speaking about his mother with deep affection, obviously deep love, but I just, the thing that came into my head when he said it, when I watched I was, hmm. I bet that won't have been interesting at Christmas around the dinner table. So I'm interested in conversations. And sadly, he also mentioned he had his sister there that night with him Jenny, and suddenly she passed away a few weeks after Barry, she was actually organizing Peter, when she, she passed away. So I just and my deepest condolences to, to Barry's family, and just say, wherever they are, may they rest in peace, and may they be ever happy. Thank you. And with much regret that I informed the death of former my age. With much regret that I informed you of the death of former council, Dr Jenny Vaughan on Sunday, 31 March 2024, Dr Vaughan was elected as a council for Warren Ward, from 1998 2040. And transition ward from 2002 to 2006, Dr Vaughan also served on the health and social services scrutiny panel, and leadership scrutiny panel during this time. So I've been involved that countless town, laude Harris Coleman and Vaughan would like to say a few words later. I'm extremely sad to have to be talking about the death of Dr Jenny Vaughan. She died after a long and brave fight against cancer at 55 years old. I knew Jenny when we first started campaigning for the Hammersmith and Fulham Labor Party together in the 1990s, a decade where there was a conservative government. And we believe that we could bring change with the Labor government. Remember celebrating with her in 1997. On that night of change. A few years later, when both of us were elected to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's councillors, like all of the people when you're young, you share a moment in time with, you look to the future with hope, knowing that there is so much more time to come and so many more things to do. So it's important that Jenny's time has come to an end, but to recognize that within her life within her short life. She made a huge difference. I mean here as a councillor, where she fought to improve the health and well being, not just on the committees she sat on, but also as an expert neurologist, where she brought a professionalism and a discipline that allowed all of us to learn and to do things better. And it seemed that what Jenny really then went on to do when she stopped being a councillor was to continue that zeal for justice. She fought every day for it. That's why she set up an organization that specifically helped doctors who had found themselves challenged, particularly during the pandemic. Talking in TED talks were even just last year when it was obvious that her cancer was there, where she gives an insight and clear headed reasoning, but she only she could deploy on why doctors deserved to have better treatment than many of them were getting, having been blamed under atrocious conditions for making sometimes the wrong decisions or not acting quickly enough. She made fiercely sought to stand up and fight for what was right. If you tuned into news night, there was a very good chance you would see Jenny being brought on, particularly during the pandemic to talk about the need for a different approach to health care, for more funding from the NHS for better support for doctors, and for something about the need for universal health care. I know Matt Dunkley and her young boys who she has left behind will be watching in tonight and Matt does ask me to send his profound gratitude to everybody who sent condolences. They are rightly proud of Jenny, because in her short life she lived a long time, every day, making something better. And as we've Barry said and Millie said, it is a moment of reflection. Because when anyone dies, it is a chance for us to reflect what are we doing. And for all of us here to take that moment to reassert our commitment to doing the right thing. And is I think an important legacy for Jenny tonight. So I do want to say, thank you very much Jenny Vaughn, you left us too soon, but certainly in the time that you are here, you live the lifespan twice as many people. But for that, your children, your husband, and all of us who loved you are very proud. That's it all with us. Thank you very much, and congratulations, Barry on your reelection. I first met Jenny in 1999 when she when I was elected in the Crabtree, by election. She'd been elected Council of the previous year for Wallam Ward, and then 2002 went on to represent sands end. It was obvious that she engaged with her residence and was a popular counselor. We both sat on the Health and Social K. scrutiny panel together, where the panel benefited from her medical expertise and her insight. Jenny was a ward resident of mine for many years, and we would regularly bump into each other on Form Palace Road, which was dragging her luggage back for me at another medical case or conference. What I enjoyed about our relationship is that we could talk about politics, family, life in general, and I could ask questions in her professional role and feel assured that the conversation would go no further. Jenny managed to juggle being a counselor, urologist, and more importantly, a wife to Matt and mother to her two boys. That takes energy and stamina, and even when she told me she was diagnosed with cancer, she was still positive of the future. She was pragmatic, but a very caring woman who was highly regarded as a counselor with huge resources of energy and compassion for those she served. I didn't see Jenny for the last few months, which was odd, so I tried to reconnect on LinkedIn, but given her health, it is now obvious why I didn't hear back. But Jenny's family, friends, and professional colleagues should be sorely missed. Thank you. Now it's a little late. Let's see. Thank you Madam Mayor. This is getting to be a bit of a habit speaking on people that suddenly passed away. But it's a privilege to do so, with regards to Jenny. Jenny was passionate, caring, and one of the most selfless people that I think I have ever known. And she was mad about tortoises. She was always on a mission for the good of something or somebody else, and she was always very, very busy. And it's that busyness, it's why she managed to pack so much in to her life. And it leads me to reflect on a couple of personal stories about Jenny, which I'll share with everybody now, but she swore me to secrecy at the time. When she was standing but Wollum Ward back in 1998, she was very busy studying junior doctor job, all sorts of other stuff going on in a life, as well as standing for council. And as anybody in a political party will know, we all have, like, regular times scheduled for canvassing. Jenny could never make the regular times scheduled for canvassing. And then she was wanting to carve her own time at least, Lucy, will you come with me because they all don't think I'm doing enough, but I am, I am. So we had quite a few secret canvassing sessions where I went with Jenny because she obviously didn't want to go knocking and we had quite a good time doing that and I'm sure she wouldn't mind me now sharing that information. But one of the funniest situations was going to a Labour Party Women's Conference with her and I can't remember exactly what year it was it would have been probably about 2000. The conference was in Scarborough. We agreed between us that I would sort out the accommodation, she would sort out the rail tickets so that we could get there. In those days, there was no internet, you couldn't just book something and send it to somebody on an email or download an app, you had to go to the station and buy the tickets. Jenny rang me up, she said I'm going to bring your ticket round tonight, Lisa, because I might be a bit tight getting the train. So she turned up the night before, presented me with one of these really old-fashioned tickets to Scumthorp. And I said, Jenny, but we're going to Scarborough, oh my God, she says. And she said, don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody, I've just been so busy, but that was just so typical of Jenny, and that she was just very chaotic but she achieved so much and it's because she tried to do so much And she cared so much. And I know that both the late Brendan Bird, and my good friend, Colin Pavelin, who were Jenny's co-counslers in Sandzen from 2002 to 2006, will have many similar stories that they could share. And she was, as all Jenny was about last summer, when we bumped into each other along the riverside and full and reach, she was riding an electric Brompton style bike and she was enthusiastically trying to tell me why I should get off of my kind of old mechanical hybrid bike and join her with an electric bike bike at home. She said, made a massive difference to her life. At that time she was struggling and I'm really sure it did. We agreed to catch up properly. That never happened and one of my regrets is we never found the time for that to happen. So my biggest regrets was that I didn't have that opportunity, and my, my heart belt feelings go to Jenny's family. Thank you very much for letting me speak. It's a wonderful one you'd like to speak. Thank you, Mayor, and congratulations on your three elections tonight. I'm sure like many people here was extremely sad to hear about Jenny Vaughn passing away. We met, as a number you might know, as running mates in Wallen Ward in the 1998 council election. Obviously, one thing will strike you immediately is that we do have the same surname, which led to some complaints from residents that we may be passing ourselves off as a husband and wife team, or as brother and sister, and that would be attractive to some, some, some voters. So that caused some confusion, I think, and curiously though, and I looked this up last night, the candidates for the liberal Democrats also had the same surnames and I suspect they were actually husband and wife so they had a lot to put up with. Whilst one of the Tory candidates at the time was seeking to be elected when his wife had been the councillor for that ward for at least the past the previous four years so one can, you know, not so not surprise that residents of Wallen Ward may have been somewhat confused in 1998 as to who exactly they were, they were electing. However, they did choose, an excellent cancer, and obviously decided that one born was enough for that particular four years. So, Jenny as, as I previously mentioned through her heart and soul into her time as a councillor, and combined to, you know, I've also served on the health, not as an exit cancer on the scrutiny panel at the time. But she obviously her passion for her work in terms of health shown through, and was obviously something that was very valuable to the council at that time, and to the residents of the borough, as well as all the work that she did, representing constituents in both Wallen, and then in the city. But I think it's worth reflecting that, as has already been reflected tonight, that her campaigning. Her passion and her zeal grew really very much more outside of the council when she stood down. She was also a campaigner, as has been noted, against the closure of ealing, ealing, A&E, when she worked there as a neurologist. As part of which was mooted as part of shaping a healthier future. And as has also been mentioned, she was a founder of what's called the Doctors Association. And she was a key spokesperson during Covid and a very memorable, she made it very memorable appearance on Channel 4, right at the start of Covid where I think all of us were getting used to the changed world around us. And she passionately put forward, which I thought was alarming at the time, but was soon proved right, that some of her colleagues were going to die during the course of the Covid epidemic and she was proved, sadly right, very soon after that people really putting themselves on the line for for her colleagues. So I think in summing up, the council and the wider public, I think, have benefited hugely from the work, the passion, the zeal that Jenny showed throughout her life. And it is terribly sad, of course, that it's been cut short, so cut so short. And I think we should remember obviously her family and friends tonight, including particularly her husband and sons. We should be truly thankful for her life and work, a life of public service. And thank you for allowing me to share these words tonight, man. Again, before we move on, I never met Jenny, but from what I'm hearing tonight, she sounded quite a formidable woman and somebody wouldn't want to cross. I would like to send my deepest condolences to our family, and can we now please stand for a minute silence in well buried and generous memories. Thank you. Thank you. [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] Thank you, Mayor. Just a slight bit of correction from the report where it says that the allowances have been frozen for eight years. I believe they've actually been frozen since 2006. But I was looking at some of the figures and I decided to compare the figures from 2013 which was the last year of the then conservative administration. And contrasted with this year. So for instance when we're looking at the special responsibility allowances, in 2013, the sum stood at just over 287,000 pounds. Today's report and recommendations increases it to £495,000. In 2013, there were 18 special responsibility allowances. The report in front of you today, Mayor. This 39 administration special responsibility allowances, although to be fair, any 34 of them are being paid. But should the leader seek to change some of the appointments during the year, it could well be up to 39 and I just wonder who the one single member left of the administration would be, who doesn't get to qualify for the special responsibility allowance. And indeed, even the basic allowance is now going to rise to 576,000 pounds from 410,000 pounds. Mayor, the independent report, as you will recall from previous years, used to put in a section every year about limiting the number of SRA's for administration councilors. Having been ignored year after year and year after year as the administration has increased the number of its own members who get an SRA, they've just given up. I urge the administration to look back at the reports of the independent panel and to heed their words on the number of SRA's being handed out to administration members. Thank you. Are there any other speakers on this report? I'll come to the meeting. Thank you very much, Mayor, and congratulations on your re-election to this role. I'd like to start by correcting the opposition, but actually the last set of Councillormaster's proposals put forward by the party opposite was in February of 2014. As I'm sure he'll remember, just a few months later after this administration came to power, beating them in 2014, the administration cut special responsibility allowances by 10%. But an awful lot has changed since 2014 over the last 10 years, particularly something that Councillor Karmel completely failed to mention, run away inflation. Perhaps if we could compare the last Tory administrations proposed allowance scheme to the one that's proposed today, we'd get a slightly more accurate picture of what it is we're voting on today. Basic allowances in 2014, had they increased with inflation, would be worth £13,628 today. That is 18% higher than what is proposed in this report. Cabinet members' allowances, had they gone up with inflation, would be 30% higher if we were taking the figures from the last administration, and the leader and leader of the opposition's allowances would be 33% higher. Now, I'm glad that he's concerned with the cost of running a Council, because the total cost of the allowances scheme, had we kept with the Conservative proposals and increased them with inflation, would today be £1,245,000, 4% higher than what it is we're proposing today. And that is despite there being four more Councillors now than they were back in 2014, although an awful lot fewer Conservative Councillors than they were there. But it's no surprise that the party opposite don't understand inflation. Of course, this is the party that forgot to index link their awful deal to sell off the West Kenneth State. This is the party that allowed the cost of living to spiral over the last two years. This is the party who caused inflation to peak at over 11% after the disastrous mini-budget in 2022. Now, I actually read a very interesting article on Conservative Home the other week by someone, I think, written by someone who lives in the area. It was one Councillor's experience in their role. The trials and tribulations of a member of a minority party, despite the difficulties, I thought it was well-written article, despite the difficulties he was urging others to come forward and stand for election. But people can't do this if the allowances that we pay them don't keep pace with the cost of living. If people have to take time off from their jobs or from running their businesses, then they need to be compensated to do so, otherwise they won't be able to afford to live here for much longer. So if the opposition really wants to help keep the cost of Councillor allowance down in the future, I'd suggest that they start supporting policies that create a more stable economy, that's control inflation, that's tackle the cost of living. And I would suggest that to do so, they vote Labour on the 4th of July. Thank you very much. [silence] It's the report and its recommendations are raised. [silence] We'll go to the vote. Can paper place raise our hands for all place? [silence] Against. Against. Against. Not voting. At the moment since the recommendations are carried. Items 6.9, the leaders that annual report are called upon the leader to give a vote a verbal annual report, please. Thank you, I rise to my feet on the 22nd of May, some 10 years after I was also standing on my feet knocking on doors, doing the final round of knock up before the 2014 election. An election that when I arrived at the account, the former Councillor Stephen Greenhouch came up to me to say, you've won and wanted to shake me warmly by the hand. And I remember the trepidation of that night and the humility that you feel as you enter office. I can assure everyone in the council chamber that that has never left me indeed. If there's anything that defines our Labour group, it is that we have spent 10 years thinking of our community first, always over party, always trying to build a safer, stronger and kinder borough. It has been an interesting 10 years therefore that I set out when I reflect back on it. Yes, we saved Charing Cross. We saved it, facing an opposition who said it wasn't under threat and then a parliamentary candidate who said that not only was it not under threat, that he had then gone on to save it in Greg Hans. We saved the West Kensington and gives Green estates from a not just a calamity for the residents, but a financial calamity that would have beset the council for the reasons that my colleague, Councillor Rhee has just set out. We introduced free breakfast for all primary school children pioneering something across the country that was copied by the Mayor of London and will be copied by an incoming Labour government should the public choose us on July 4th. We introduced free adult social care. We have building 3000 genuinely affordable homes, which our tiny borough is a remarkable feat given that is some of the most in the United Kingdom. At every single point, we have not done this alone as a party. We have worked closely with our officials, but more importantly, we have built an alliance for change with residents, some of whom are here tonight. Doing things with people to bring about change is the only way that it can happen in a democracy and it's the only way that it can happen in such a way that you get reelected and reelected again with ever increasing majorities. It should not be lost in us then that in this citadel of social democracy for the last 10 years, but we have looked around our country and seen others who have not been so much fortunate. I don't just mean that getting your car and bump along the pothole filled roads around are great island. I don't just mean the crumbling NHS and stories of people not being able to get the care that they need or the schools that had the roofs falling in. I mean, the sense of hopelessness and most poisonous of all, the sense that maybe it doesn't matter who you vote for because change cannot come. That is an extremely dangerous sentiment that all of us who believe in democracy should deny it against. Not just because Putin has his tanks in Ukraine and his eye on the Baltic states and offering a type of autocracy that threatens the very way of liberal democracy that we believe in, but because of populist, whether in the United States or across our Western Europe, argue that the hate and the meanness and the blame, and for picking on the little guy, whether sending them to Rwanda or whether simply blaming people for not being part of the normal majority of the population. This time, this period now in 2024 is a clarion call for all of us to put country first and to argue for a different way of life. And by the demonstration of our deeds, not our words, set about making people believe again that you can bring change, you can look to the future, and in doing so, I hope, now an election has been called across our country, but that message of hope will go to every village and town, so that we can once again liberate a new future and offer the British people a very different way of life, a better stability, something that refounds Britain on the values that all of us have long believed in. It is an honour to be related tonight, Meer, I know all of us feel that in this council chamber. It's a delight to see our fantastic MP Andy Slaughter here who will feel exactly the same, have expent his life in service. Thank you very much. Leader, Leader, and Meer, I congratulate you. I think on what they call the tin anniversary, which is ten years, am I getting that correct? I'm like tin anniversary, so congratulations for ten years, and thank you for your service across the borough. I call on council to speak with the opposition, please. Thank you, Mayor. I think it's extremely important at this annual ceremonial occasion, rather than cutting oneself up to remind ourselves of why we are all in this room. We are here to serve the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham. Normally, we don't talk much about the notion of service. Perhaps it's an unfashionable concept, or perhaps the word itself is something to which we're not comfortable drawing attention. But it should be the concept that underpins everything we do as elected councillors, listening to residents and finding solutions rather than making division for purely political reasons. We must never forget the serious impact our words, decisions, and actions have on our residents' lives. It's something which can be forgotten in the heat of election campaigns, including the recently announced general election on July 4. But I believe strongly that we should all act, that we should all agree to act responsibly, regardless of political party allegiances. After all, a vote is more than a cross on a piece of paper. It is the voter telling their chosen representative, I place my trust in you. This trust confers on us real responsibility, a responsibility which we should wear with humility. We should be dedicated, we should be diligent, and above all we should be decent and truthful. And so I fervently hope that it is in this spirit that we carry out our jobs as councillors over the coming year. In a world that is increasingly fraught and increasingly dangerous, we should constantly be looking for ways to build that trust, act with integrity, and through to voters that our democratic system remains in safe hands. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Item seven reports to know 7.1 special urgency decisions monitoring report. It's a special urgency decision monitoring report noted. Right, this is the end of the first meeting. Thank you everyone for attending or watching. We will now take a 10-minute break while we get ready for the freedom of the borough. And that is settled down. Thank you. Thank you. >> I will take a few minutes. I will take a few minutes. >> I will take a few minutes. Bye. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO]