Southwark Council held an extraordinary meeting to discuss a motion of no confidence in the leader of the council and the cabinet member for finance in relation to the performance of the Housing Department. An amendment to the motion, proposed by the Labour Group, was passed and the substantive motion, as amended, was also passed.

Regulator Judgement of Southwark Council's Housing Department

The meeting was called in response to a motion of no confidence in the leader of the council and the cabinet member for finance, which was submitted by five Liberal Democrat councillors following an extremely critical report from the Regulator of Social Housing about the performance of Southwark Council's Housing Department.

The motion noted that the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) had given the council a grade of C3, indicating serious failings and a need for significant improvement. The RSH report highlighted concerns including a lack of smoke alarms and electrical safety certificates in a significant number of council homes.

The motion further highlighted a number of other serious issues that had arisen in recent years including a high number of Ombudsman complaints, failures in major works programmes and problems with the council's District Heating Networks. The motion stated that the administration had a negligent level of attention paid to housing and had wasted millions of pounds of public money. The motion was critical of the political culture of the council, suggesting that opposition members were not treated with respect, and that the council had failed to engage with its critics in a meaningful way.

Despite the judgement being made in November 2024, when it comes to transparency and accountability it is clear that the political culture of this council has not changed, with opposition members being told to “shut up” when attempting to hold cabinet members to account, the leader of the council failing to attend the overview and scrutiny committee when examining this item, and this extraordinary council assembly meeting requiring a referral to the monitoring officer to be held.

- Extract from the motion submitted by Councillor Victor Chamberlain and Councillor Emily Tester

The motion originally proposed that the council resolve that it had no confidence in the leader, the cabinet member for finance and the administration's handling of housing matters. It also proposed that an independent oversight board be convened to oversee the work of the council in relation to the regulator's findings.

Councillor Sarah King proposed an amendment to the motion, which removed the vote of no confidence. The amendment acknowledged the findings of the RSH report, but focused on the future, asking the council to work with residents to develop a Good Landlord Plan, building on the action plan submitted to the regulator. The amendment asked the council to focus on six specific areas for improvement: better homes, better estates, better repairs, better customer service, a stronger voice for tenants and more new council homes.

The Labour group's amendment was passed and the substantive motion, as amended, was also passed.