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Agenda and draft minutes
March 5, 2025 View on council website Watch video of meetingTranscript
Thank you. Please be seated. Good evening, Councillors. Before the commencement of business, I would like to start the council meeting by calling on my faith leader, Imam Dr. Sayyid Ali Abbas Razavi, to say a few words. A reflection. In 2002, the late Kofi Annan, who was a good friend of mine, advised the United Nations, in particular countries in the Middle East, of a letter which was written by an individual living 1400 years ago by the name of Imam Ali. Imam Ali was the fourth khalif and the first Imam of the Shi'i community, and you know the Shi'i community because a number of weeks ago the Yaga Khan passed away, who takes his lineage as well from Imam Ali. Five points I'd like to raise in this reflection in terms of leadership. He wrote a letter, and he wrote it to one of his governors in Egypt. Five points are as follows. He says to his governor 1400 years ago, he says leadership is a trust and not a privilege. Based on this, in the same way that Jesus taught leadership, that one is a servant of the community, and there's a need to be a servant of the community, because governance is rooted in humility and duty. He then continues on this first point, to warn against arrogance, and to be connected to the public, so that one is able to serve with humility the community. The second point, which I'd like to raise is in regards to justice and fairness, regardless of a person's background, ethnicity, orientation, race, or so forth. Imam Ali teaches his governor, be equitable at all times, and deal with humanity as one brotherhood. And so the famous lines of his were, either a person is a brother or sister in faith, or a brother or sister in humanity. The third point on reflection is compassionate leadership, allyship. Compassion as a leader is very important, and he emphasizes this. He says when you go to Egypt, you'll see people not of the Muslim faith. You should be compassionate to people, and through this compassion, lift up those people who are underprivileged in a community. For each one of us are limbs, as a body, one body in a community. If the finger hurts, the whole body hurts. So the third point is compassion. The fourth point that he raises is accountability. And that's something he said is very important. One is accountable to the people, so be very transparent. The final fifth point, really, is this. He says trust build. Politicians or leaders will see ups and downs. They'll have to make decisions which people may not like. So the most important thing is trust build. And how does one do that, he says? He says integrity and service. The more compassion you show, the more service you show people, you manage to trust build. And when that takes place, even when a person makes a difficult decision, one is then able to satisfy or assure their communities. In conclusion, the final point really is this. From a faith perspective, interfaith dialogue is important. A number of weeks ago, or at least on the 11th of February, you saw an accord which was signed. The Dromlandrig Accord, which I wrote. And for the first time in history, six denominations of Judaism and five denominations of Islam came together to sign. And then it was presented by myself to His Majesty the King. This was the first time in European history that 11 denominations have come together in the midst of what you're seeing in the Middle East. But it wouldn't have been possible if there wasn't an opportunity for us to talk and to listen to one another. So in times of conflict, it is important, firstly, to listen, and secondly, to be compassionate. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Dr. Seyyed Ali Abbas Razavi, for your words of prayer and inspiration. I'm really grateful for you coming today, and thank you again. So, apologies have been received from Councillor Cook, Councillor De La Sochelle, and Councillor Hamilton. Are there any other apologies? No. Moving on to item number one. The minutes of the meeting held on 3rd February have been circulated. Are there any objections or abstentions to me signing the minutes as a correct record? Thank you. In the absence of any objections or abstentions, I would take that as agreed. Item number two is Mayor's Announcements. Good evening, and welcome to this Council meeting. Members may be aware that it is my sad duty to inform you that former Councillor Charles McNaught Davis has passed away. Can I ask members to stand for a minute's silence before Councillors Mrs. Graham and Cooper pay tribute to former Councillor McNaught Davis. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor. You may see it. Councillor Angela Graham. Thank you, Madam Mayor. In remembrance of Charles, it was with great sadness to hear he had passed away at Christmas. As a colleague, he was a gentleman, very courteous, principled, and committed to the Ellsfield ward in his time. But for those who did not know him, Charles was born to a military family in the 1970s. He read engineering at Cambridge. And on graduation worked as an engineer in Greece, but then returned to work for British Rail. And one of the, so true to him, Charles really caused ruptures when working British Rail. For the men went on strike as he refused to join the railway union. Truly his own man and standing up for what he believed in. He was also very proud of his great-great-grandfather, Sir George Finlay, who was knighted by the Queen Victoria in the 1890s for building the Northwestern Railway. But to continue, he joined the army as an officer going to Northern Ireland. He became a commander of the bomb disposal unit. And following on, he joined the Missiles Division of British Aerospace in the design and selling of naval surface-to-air missiles. Charles was a true conservative. And meeting him in New Old York Road in that time when I had York's restaurant. He was delighted when he joined me as a fellow conservative councillor in 1998 when we won the Old Erlsfield, which until he stepped down in 2014. His council life was busy, and prior to the leader and cabinet system, he served in social services, education, planning, regeneration, and being chair of transport. Now, after the implementation of the cabinet system, he served on health, corporate resources, adult children's services, and standards. And also being deputy mayor in 2001 too, becoming an honorary alderman in 2014. Charles and I fought many a battle on behalf of our residents in Erlsfield at that time. As we put it into context, not forgetting the Greyhound Stadium and the AFC Middleton and Springfield and more. It's a pleasure but a sadness to speak tonight. But, Madam Mayor, Charles Nort Davis was most certainly served his country. And most certainly served our Erlsfield and residents in Wandsworth. And I say, rest in peace, Charles. And it's a pleasure to speak. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. That was a very moving tribute. Councillor Cooper. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. I'm sure we all feel slightly strange when we hear eulogies and tributes in this chamber because it reminds us all that at some point in the future, somebody is probably going to be doing this for us. And with Charles Nort Davis, if I'd had to invent an archetypal conservative from the point of view of someone, Labour. And I would imagine that some people in this chamber, if you had to invent an archetypal Labour woman, you might say Angela Rayner. But Charles Nort Davis would have been that sort of archetypal conservative. Double Barrel surname. Double Barrel surname. Quite a nice posh accent. Incredibly polite. Incredibly polite. Always, I was, whenever I saw him, well-dressed. And, of course, I stood against him in 2002 and Julie lost. Actually, it's quite funny listening to Councillor Angela Graham talking about Charles because she crushed him four times in elections, frankly, just as he crushed me in 2002. But Charles won every time he stood, but he always came bottom. Didn't matter whether it was just him and Angela standing in 98 or whether somebody else was introduced onto the ticket. He was always the one who came bottom. What I remember particularly about him, though, is when we were standing and we were opponents, and then he crushed me in 2002. I came onto the council in 2006. He was really, really nice during the election campaign, even though we were opponents. He was absolutely lovely when I was elected to this council. And the other reason why it's strange doing a tribute to Charles McNaught-Davis, who was so polite and so friendly and so cross-party, is that this chamber can be very tribal. This chamber has been very tribal. Quite oppositional of late. In fact, it's good to see everybody in the chamber. I'm hoping it's going to stay like that for the whole of the evening. And I think, as a tribute to Charles, it would be nice if we could all be more courteous and polite. I'm not going to rehearse his many committees that he sat on because I thought that Angela Graham would do that very adequately. But he was a colleague who I appreciated. And I think everyone that served with him appreciated him, too. Charles McNaught-Davis. Thank you, Councillor Cooper. So, as we move on from the tributes, firstly, I would like to wish all those observing Ramadan a blessed Ramadan. As you will know, this will be my last Fall Council meeting in these chambers as mayor. I must say, the most challenging part of my mayoral duties has been in this room. But I have always strived to do my best for the people of Wandsworth. Being the first Muslim mayor and the first South Asian mayor of this borough has been an incredible privilege. The warmth and support I've received from so many people is a testament to what makes Wandsworth such a fantastic place. Truly, it has been an honour. Alongside me, this will also be Mr. Riley's last Fall Council meeting as Interim Chief Executive. On behalf of Wandsworth Council, I want to sincerely thank you, Mr. Riley, for your service to the borough. You have been a tremendous asset to Wandsworth and you will be missed. So, I want to pay tribute to all our hard-working counsellors. Your dedication and service makes a real difference. And as we approach International Women's Day on the 8th of March, I want to take a moment to recognise the significant role women play in our society. To all the women here tonight, as well as Fleur Anderson, Marcia de Cordova and Rosanna Allen-Kahn, the three incredible women MPs representing our borough, thank you for being the best versions of yourself and for everything you do. And while I'm giving my tributes, I cannot forget the most important women in my life, my mother. Her unwavering love, support and prayers have been the foundation of everything I have achieved in my life. I would not be sitting here today without her. On tonight's agenda, can members please note that a number of supplementary items have been circulated and these are required to be considered as a matter of urgency. The reasons are set out in full at the top of those items. Is that agreed? Please, could all speakers keep to time and wind up your speeches when the red light comes on. When the red light comes on, you will have 30 seconds remaining to wind up. This is to allow as many as possible of all councillors to participate. Before I finish, I would just like to explain the order of the meeting to any members of the public watching. We will be considering items mostly in the order in which they appear on the published agenda. However, you will see there are two instances on the agenda at items 6 and 10 where we have matters brought forward. At these points, we will be considering two of the three motions we have on the agenda. Our traditional approach, which we will continue to follow, has been for the two groups to take it into turn to have their motion debated first. This means that it will be the Labour motion to be debated at item 6 and the Conservative motion on protecting parks and commons at item 10. Thank you. Moving on to item number 3. Are there any members who have any declarations of disclosable, pecuniary interests, other registrable interests or any non-registrable interests relevant to any matters to be considered at the meeting? Councillor Cooper. Just in case anything relevant to the Greater London Authority, Transport for London, MOPAC, the fire brigade, the police, any of those areas, just to have it recorded that I am the London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth. I can't imagine it would be any pecuniary interests, so just for transparency. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Cooper. Any other interests? Thank you. Moving on to item number 4. Members, please raise your hands to indicate if you have a petition to hand in. Once I have called your name, please announce the subject title of the petition and who you are presenting it on behalf of. Please then come forward and hand your petition to Mr Kelly. Are there any petitions? Councillor Hedges. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a petition on behalf of residents on Nightingale Lane in Ballam Ward requesting an urgent review of practical measures to reduce speeding and improve safety along this road from Wandsworth Common all the way up to Clapham Common. This petition is signed by 600 residents in response to many complaints from residents over the past few years and upon suggestion from transport officers. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Hedges. Thank you, Councillor Hedges. Councillor Locker. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a petition signed by 216 residents from Putney expressing concerns about the recent works to Putney Bridge and High Street Junctions resulting in increased traffic and congestion in the local area. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Any other petitions? Thank you. Item five is leaders' questions. Before we begin, questions may I remind all members that the overall period for members' questions to the leader and cabinet members is 45 minutes, with 20 minutes for leaders' questions and 25 minutes for cabinet member questions. However, if the leaders' questions overrun, this time is taken off the cabinet member questions. So, okay, question number one. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll summarise the question. Which of the various changes to our rules that are listed on page five of the written questions that have had the effect of reducing challenge and scrutiny in this chamber is Councillor Hedges most proud of? Councillor Hedges. Councillor Hedges. Thank you for that question. As part of our mission to become a more open listening council, we have taken a number of steps to focus on resident voices. Our popular new seven rings, seven days, guarantee, has seen thousands of residents serve faster than ever before. We now have one central phone number, one central email address to make it easier to get in touch and tell us your issues. We are putting local people front and centre, and the democracy review is an absolutely core part of that listening council work. The starting point is our current system is broken, and I think people across the chamber recognise that. It doesn't work for staff, it doesn't work for councillors, and most importantly, it doesn't work for residents. All of the proposed changes are about making sure the council is a modern, open, accountable organisation. For instance, I think it would be, despite your valiant efforts, Madam Mayor, I think it would be completely unclear to a member of the public trying to follow this meeting, what is happening from the agenda. And that is something that we will need to look at in future. Our democracy is not as accessible as it should be. We have already updated our cabinet meetings, and our cabinet members answer public questions on our website each week. Next, we are enhancing the scrutiny function that our committees can do. Committees will no longer be about this last-minute, eleventh-hour scrutiny, which is, frankly, better at producing arguments than it is at improving policy. They will look much more like parliamentary select committees, with the ability to control their work plans and agenda, and they will take that long-term approach. And, of course, all our public meetings will be live-streamed so people can see us doing their business in the daylight. We have worked with the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny for over a year to understand what an appropriate model looks like for modern-day scrutiny, and that is what we are going to use to transform the way we work. This will have the effect of opening up the council to more public scrutiny and listening to more voices, particularly those seldom-heard voices. And, like all high-functioning organisations, we will have a relentless focus on listening and delivering what people want. Thank you. Supplementary? Thank you, Madam Mayor. The Leader of the Council talks about letting in the sunlight. Doesn't he accept that many of the bad decisions that his administration has been taking have only come to light because of the work that opposition councillors have been doing, and the rights that opposition councillors have to get information, to call debates, and ask questions. All of the rights that his administration has been curtailing. I want to ask a specific question, though, about Bradstow School, which members know is very important to me and was the reason why we walked out at the last council meeting. It was only because opposition councillors used our legal rights under regulation to uncover the council's asset management plan, which first proposed selling off Bradstow School. When we surfaced that plan, the leader of the council completely disowned it and said it was an internal office of paper and wasn't the council's policy. Months later, the council then opened a consultation into closing Bradstow School. So can he answer me this? If he won't tell me which of the anti-democratic measures I listed earlier he's most proud of, will he say if he's proud if he ends up closing Bradstow School? And will he say he'll be proud if he closes any of the other assets that were listed in the asset management programme, including the Doddington Activity Centre, the Royal Hampton Youth Club, or York Gardens Children's Centre? Councillor Hogg. Thank you for those questions. By the way, nice that you've stayed around this time to actually ask them, to hear the answers. We got through stacks of questions last time when you weren't here, so let's see how many we get through this time. First off, we do not need lectures from the party that presided over this system. You had 44 years to change this system, but you preferred to keep the system we had. We do welcome scrutiny. We do realise your point, which we recognise from opposition as well, that error correction is hugely important. It does improve policies. Councillor Belton will tell you he spent decades knocking the rough edges of conservative policies, and maybe that didn't work out in the very long run, but that is 100% a feature of democracy, and it's what works very well. But Wandsworth Council was a pre-internet dinosaur of governance when we took over, one that valued the thickness of agendas and technical appendices over the quality of scrutiny and public accountability. We are changing that, and we are becoming a modern council, which is just bringing us into line with best practice for the sector. The constitutional relics that you are clinging to now play almost no role in the high-performing councils everywhere else across the country. As I was saying, our current system is broken. The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny told us that at present, committees are busy and challenging, but not necessarily making much difference. They debate and vote, but they are unable to influence at the conclusion. And I served in this system that you created for 12 years in opposition. I know it's a bad system, and I want to change it, and we can move forward. Again, it's a bit rich lecturing on Bradstow School. While we were here at last council meeting talking about Bradstow School, you were in the pub taking selfies. You cannot raise issues about a lack of democracy. You lost a vote, and you walked out. It's unacceptable. The public want to know how we're spending their money to make their lives better. Wandsworth will be an open, listening council that makes clear and fair decisions. Thank you, Councillor Mayorkas. I'm sensing a common theme in the contributions from this side of the chamber, but I too share the curiosity as to how long members opposite will stay in the chamber. Because nothing truly says democracy like prioritising a cheap photo opportunity over fulfilling our civic duty at the expense of our residents. So in a more positive note, in a more positive note, you wonder why you don't get to speak, and it's because you spend so much time wasting everyone's time. Can the leader tell us? Madam Mayor, I'll wait to finish my question whilst I carry on talking. Is that all right? Finished? So on a more positive note, can the leader tell us a bit about some of the ways that we're opening up access for residents to engage with the town hall? Councillor Hogg. Councillor Hogg. Thank you for that question. This is the People's Town Hall. It is for everyone. We're physically getting more people into the town hall more often. I'd like to thank the Mayor for hosting children who come in every week. It was great to see recently young people from All Farthings, St Anne's, Parkgate House and Honeywell. We get brilliant feedback from those children who do a treasure hunt. They do mock debates in this chamber. We've opened up a whole wing of the town hall for the voluntary sector. There's dozens of workspaces there. There's meeting rooms so we can work creatively together. Thanks to our access for all scheme, low-income residents can now get married for half price in the town hall. It's lovely to see people here having, you know, the nicest day of their life. You sometimes get to be an impromptu photographer. But I've been asked to say please don't throw confetti inside the building. But you are very welcome to come here for your wedding. We're opening up cabinet meetings and we're talking about issues raised to us with residents. And we're making them easier to find online. I've covered almost every ward in the borough with my monthly leaders drop-ins. It's brilliant to get out into the heart of the community. The people we represent, I know councillors, have got just as engaged as residents. And again, decent sandwiches and really helpful council officers help with that. So those have been really positive. So this is what happens when we focus on residents. And I agree, it is unfortunate, the increasingly bizarre behaviour of Tory councillors with these walkouts. It's, you know, the party of Beresford and Lister and Heaster just reduced to student politics. And the truth is, to be a serious opposition, they have to come to terms with being in opposition. I'd like to thank you, Madam Mayor, for your diligent and dignified service this year. And I think their behaviour towards you in the past year has been nothing short of disgraceful. It's unacceptable to repeatedly ignore your rulings and to disrespect this council. They owe you an apology for their unprofessional and disgraceful behaviour. Thank you, Councillor Hogg. Mayor and my members, although I have two ears, I mean, I can only listen to one person at a time. So let's be respectful. And please, when somebody is talking, let them finish and then you can have your little laugh. Thank you. Moving on to question number two. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think some of those comments will age very poorly when Bradstow School is shut by this council. I'll summarise the next question again. Question number two to the leader. With the council now raiding the reserves to fund day-to-day expenditure and proposing borrowing of 1.9 billion, how can he say with a straight face this is sound financial management? Councillor Hogg. I'm very proud of this council's record of sound financial management. Wandsworth Labour is freezing your council tax this year for the third year in a row. You will continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country. And sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do. Wandsworth has one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London, allowing us to freeze council tax and invest in what matters to residents. We did inherit housing revenue account debt of 52 million pounds from the previous administration when we took the council in 2022. Thanks to that sound financial management, we've paid down 43 million pounds of that debt. So we have one of the lowest debt levels in London. The potential future debt he mentions relates to new housing investment. These plans are fully costed and affordable. They're going to build a thousand new council homes for local people and their sons and daughters. And that investment will, of course, repay itself through rental income and will also help avoid the very significant costs of temporary accommodation for homeless families we're seeing. As I hope, the party opposite is still aware. Housing funds are legally separate to the general funds, which is for other day-to-day spending. And just to put it in perspective, the potential future debt repayments over the HRA business plan are equivalent to 85 pounds per person. The potential future debt payments for the approved capital program is equivalent to about 12 pounds per person per year. We have robust financial controls. There will be no borrowing to fund day-to-day spending. We have significantly increased investment in frontline services next year. Our council remains in a strong and stable financial position. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The leader refers to the interest that is accompanying the debt that he wants to take out. We have had to drag those figures out of the administration. The HRA alone is going to take on 885 million pounds just of interest payments. So the interest is going to cost more than the principal. For the capital program, that's 81 million. The leader referred to it in his written answer, but he referred to it in his oral answer as well, that the future debt repayments for the HRA are 85 pounds per person per year. And then for the capital program, it's 12 pounds per year. With the figures that the Finance Committee heard, I can't get to those calculations. So could the leader tell this chamber what the calculations are that get to the 85 per person figure and the 12 pound per person figure? Or, to save time, can he just tell us where in the council papers tonight that calculation is? Councillor Hogg. I think I'll have to get back to him with his slightly baffling question. I didn't refer to interest. I think he was doing a bit of a Kemi Badenock. He was just reading out the thing he wanted to say anyway. But I want to come back to the core of the question. We find ourselves once again having to school the Wandsworth Tories on the difference between revenue and capital, the difference between the housing revenue account and the general fund. There is no possibility. You know, you can't mix them. You legally can't. Well, you may attempt to. Good luck. But our housing program has not added a penny to your council tax, nor will it in future. This housing revenue account borrowing is a smart investment. It will be paid back through rental income, plus we will save money on temporary accommodation. So, councillors, we're not having a debate. It's leader's question still. Carry on, Councillor Hogg. Thank you, Madam Mayor. This fantastic investment in affordable homes we're making will long outlast the repayment period. They will be available for generations to come. We know Wandsworth Tories oppose this affordable house building. They've been clear about that. But we will never apologise for investing in genuinely affordable homes for local people to fight this terrible housing crisis that we have. Thank you, Councillor Paul. Thank you, Madam Mayor. In my ward in Wandsworth, I have seen the investment in the Henry Prince Estate club room. Also, across the borough, I've noticed pavement and road improvements. Can you tell me how we have been able to invest in Wandsworth while still maintaining sound financial management? Councillor Hogg. Yeah. That's a good question. How do we do it? And first to pay tribute to your excellent work as a ward councillor. And you will see not just the extra housing at the Atheldine there, not just the club room and the playground and the sports pitch at the Henry Prince Estate, but roads and pavements throughout Wandsworth will be improved by a decade of renewal as well. And I am proud of our cast iron commitment to sound financial management as we deliver an even better Wandsworth. So just to break it down, our innovative better services partnership saves around £10 million a year. The new change programme will deliver efficiencies of up to £9 million. And thanks to our smart investment decisions, we will earn £32 million this year alone. The reality is that residents suffered decline under the Tories, but we're now seeing investment under this Labour administration. We're delivering a thousand new council homes. We have the biggest cost of living fund in London and are a dedicated Borough of Sanctuary for refugees. We've set up an ambitious Access for All programme, have our new Seven Rings Seven Days commitment, your two free bulky waste collections, and now the launch of our Borough of Culture. These are all services that residents did not see under the Tories. Every single one of them. And they have refused to support our ambitious agenda at every single turn. I think voters understand that all of that progress is at risk at the next election. We are building the future, and they want to take us back to the past. Thank you. Question number three. Question number three to the leader. Thank you, Councillor Warrell, for that question. We all know Wandsworth is a fantastic place to live, to work, to do business. But we know there's more we can do to give our residents the best possible service. That's why we're becoming a listening council to listen to residents and to deliver on their priorities. We understand that dreadful frustration of being left on hold for 20 minutes when you're trying to get through to the council. So we change this with our new Seven Rings guarantee. Call our dedicated helpline. Council staff will pick up in Seven Rings. You no longer need to know the extension number or the direct dial for every service. And a new email address, hello at wandsworth.gov.uk, is there to make it even easier for residents to get in touch with us. We also recognise that good customer service is not going to be everything without swift action to resolve the issues that people have actually brought up. And we understand how important pride in your neighbourhoods is. So, if you report graffiti or a dangerous pothole or a broken street sign, we will fix it in seven days. And to deliver cleaner streets, every household now gets those two free bulky waste collections a year. Fully 2,000 people have booked free bulky waste collections since we launched it a month ago. It's been hugely popular. So, I'd finish by saying it's about ensuring every action we take is grounded in our residents' priorities. We will always put them at the forefront because we are a council that is truly at the service of our residents. Thank you. Thank you. Supplementary? Thank you, Madam Mayor. On a recent walkabout with Councillor Apps and the Sifona Estate, residents actually were commenting on our new initiative, the Seven Rings, and how much easier we made it for them to contact the council. So, a big thanks from the residents of the Sifona Estate to what we were actually doing. It was really great to hear that. However, it's now been a month since the initiative was actually put into place. And as with any new service, not all the KPIs have actually been met. And in your written answer, you actually acknowledge this. I was wondering, could the leader comment what mechanisms and processes are actually being put in place in order to meet these pledges in the future? Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Hogg? Yeah, thank you. That's a good question. So, I'd say, yeah, the launch has generally been really well received by our residents and partners. To show our performance, weekly statistics are published, which I think you're quoting, on the Seven Rings, Seven Days Guarantee, together with monthly updates on actions we're taking to get up to 100% success rate. In our first month, we achieved 100% success on graffiti, fixing broken street signs and dangerous potholes within seven days. And just to say, we're really keen to add other council services into that seven days guarantee. You know, watch this space, because residents should always be given a timeframe for seeing action when they raise an issue with us. Seven Rings was our most ambitious target. And we have set up a really good new multidiscipline customer service team. And we've implemented new technology to identify those areas of the council with higher call waiting times. And it's been really good to visit those teams and to hear from residents who are being helped quicker than ever. But at the end of month one, I think it was 37,000 calls, which seems like a lot for a month, but that's what it says. 66% were answered within Seven Rings. So clearly, we're not there yet. And there's work to do. This is a big improvement compared to the two-minute wait average time that we had in summer last year. When back, you know, before we started this program, there was a 45% answer rate. So already, we're driving internal change as well as external delivery. And we know our residents deserve better. So that's why we're working with services such as housing to reduce wait times and make more staff available to answer more calls. We've hired some fantastic new staff. And we are learning important lessons about where our services can be redesigned or improved. And we'll keep going, you know. And keep in mind, this is part of a wider culture shift to make sure residents receive excellent service across the board. Thank you. Councillor Corner. Thank you. I second supplementary, Madam Mayor. The council leader has just set out in response to this question that 34% of calls are not currently answered within Seven Rings. However, this hasn't stopped the council spending £19,490 on a leaflet to all residents in the borough promising that their calls would be answered within Seven Rings. Why did the council leader think it was appropriate to spend that taxpayer's money advertising a service that he had not bothered to check that the organisation could actually deliver on? And why did he not wait to confirm that the council could deliver on it before sending out that communication? Councillor Hock. Councillor Hock. Councillor Hock. Thanks very much for the question, which I think is really important because it shows the difference here. Like, the old Wandsworth would have waited two or three years until it was perfect. And then you'd have mentioned in Brightside that you were trying to do it. What you actually did was set up a load of phone loops that people couldn't get out of to try and deflect people from contacting the council. Councillor Hock. It's a new world. We test and learn. We move forward. We bring the public in. Their user testing is absolutely essential to this. And we are absolutely transparent and accountable and open that we're not there yet. We are trying. But you don't wait until something's perfect and say, it's perfect, there you go. We constantly listen. There is no done. It's never finished. We're going to keep moving forward and trying to improve it. Thank you, Councillor Hock. The time for leaders' questions has now finished. The whips have agreed that item 18, the motion on lowest council tax and record investment for Wandsworth residents will be taken next. Can I ask Councillor Hock to move and Councillor Akinola to second the motion in their names? Moved. Seconded. Thank you. An amendment to the motion has also been circulated. May I ask Councillors Peter Graham and Richard Jones to move and second their amendment? Formally moved. Seconded. Thank you. Could I ask Councillor Hock to, yeah. You can start your speech. Wandsworth Labour is freezing your council tax for the third year in a row. You will continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country. Sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do. Wandsworth has one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London, allowing us to freeze council tax and invest in what matters to you. I'll highlight three areas quickly. Our seven rings, seven days guarantee. Call us on 0208 871 6000 and we'll answer in seven rings. Report graffiti, dangerous pothole or a broken street sign and we'll fix it for you in seven days. Second, cleaner streets. Cleaner streets. Every household now gets two free bulky waste collections a year. We're expanding our fantastic mega skip scheme and guarantee to keep your weekly waste and recycling collections. And third, safer neighbourhoods. We have a network of over 1,200 CCTV cameras to monitor the borough 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And we're investing in our parks, town centres and public spaces to make them safer and more welcoming for everyone. Looking after our most vulnerable residents is crucial. We will continue to provide excellent care for older residents and to support our NHS. An increase of 2% in the adult social care precept this year will help to fund this vital work. Wandsworth is London's Borough of Culture 2025 and we're inviting everyone to take part. We had a wonderful launch event last week at Battersea Arts Centre with 400 guests. And kicking off in April there will be big cultural moments throughout the year, plus community-led events all over the borough for you to enjoy. This council tax freeze is a great result for local people in a really difficult year for local government. Almost all London boroughs will increase their council tax by the maximum amount and many are having to make tough decisions about services. We will continue to invest strongly in frontline services. And I'd like to thank Councillor Ireland, Mrs Merry and all the finance team for their excellent work in this area. It's been lovely to get out and share our council tax news with local people. Residents have told us they've experienced council tax being double the rate in other boroughs and that Labour's low council tax helps, especially hearing this from people with young children, which is very rewarding. Many residents say that the first thing people mention when talking about Wandsworth is its low council tax. We have made changes to make council tax more fair. From next month, second homes in Wandsworth will be charged double their usual council tax. This is because we want homes in Wandsworth, wherever possible, to be lived in and enjoyed by our residents. We have informed residents with leaflets to all households. We've got more than half a million impressions on social media and council tax bills will start arriving with you next week. We always seek to communicate with residents when we're introducing new services or taking big decisions on their behalf. But freezing council tax does not mean we're standing still. We have reversed the years of declining services and underinvestment. A thousand new council homes, the biggest cost of living fund in London, doubled investment in our roads and pavements, the wonderful new access rule programme, that seven days, seven rings guarantee, monthly mega skips and now free bulky waste collections. Labour is delivering a fairer, more compassionate, more sustainable council. We're taking care of the things that matter to you so that together we can keep Wandsworth special. Thank you, Councillor Hogg. Councillor Richard Jones. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Wandsworth Conservatives support low tax. We, for decades, set the UK's lowest council tax at Wandsworth. We made this borough famous for low council tax. But the secret to our success over the decades was sustainable, sound finance so that we could keep the council tax low in the long term. This budget tonight is a radical departure from that. This year alone, there is an £11 million hole in the budget. It's only because of the reserves that Councillor Hogg inherited from the last Conservative administration that means he can plug that hole tonight. But if he didn't have those Conservative reserves, he would need to find a 15% increase in the council tax to plug his budget hole. So, spending is now out of control in this council. Last year, an extra £16 million budget uplift was added to the budgets above and beyond inflation. An extra £4 million was then added as a contingency. And even then, this month's finance committee reported an additional £4 million of overspent. And there is not a whiff of a plan as to how to get that overspending under control. In fact, the council finances, to conceal the fact that there is trouble down the road, actually models real terms decreases in expenditure in years to come. That is absolutely fanciful, madame. When the leader talks about sound financial management, we really are in Alice in Wonderland territory. This council is now raiding its savings to pay for day-to-day expenditure. That is the opposite of sound financial management. They are burning through the reserves. By May 2026, 90 million of the reserves they inherited will be depleted, with total plans to spend £150 million of the reserves. The council leader doesn't understand how the reserves are being used. He said a moment ago that there was no use of revenue reserves for the housing revenue account. That is not true. You are tying up £50 million of the reserves in internal borrowing for the housing revenue account. And on that subject, the real horror show here, quite apart from the depletion of the reserves, is the debt that this council is taking on. The numbers are staggering and they are unprecedented. The housing revenue account will take on £780 million, plus an extra £885 million. The council leader was wrong to say that that will be paid back in council rents. A good chunk of it is going on simply getting our stock up to scratch from existing stock. The rest of it is going towards a housing programme that doesn't add a single new house to the borough above and beyond the plan he inherited from the last Conservative administration. The capital programme is now out of control. There is £185 million of borrowing with £81 million of debt, all for projects that Sill could cover if he hadn't diligently been posturing ideologically and letting his cabinet members run wild, driving private investment out of this borough and shrinking Sill receipts. That is in total £1.9 billion of reserves. Rachel Reeves, when she gleefully axed the winter fuel allowance from the majority of our pensioners, said, If we can't afford it, we can't do it. Well, what would she even make of this budget? This Labour administration are prisoners of their own ideology. An ideology that puts borrowing above private investment, puts vibes over proper financial controls and management, and prioritises headlines over the hard yards of proper local government work, and looking after our finances so we can look after the vulnerable in our borough. This is a travesty of a budget. It's a car crash with an inbuilt time delay. Because if it carries on like this, council tax rises are coming, and they are coming big. There is still time to get this under control, to rein in spending, to cancel the debt, and to properly rationalise these programmes. But that change will only come with a change of political control of this council in May 2026. Thank you. Councillor Vath Raj. Thank you, Madam Mayor. The Bondsworth Council is a White Ribbon accredited organisation, and as a woman councillor, I am pleased this council is doubling its investment to support victims of domestic abuse as part of our strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. 2025's International Women's Day will be marked at a time of unparalleled crisis at every front. The climate disaster, the economic turmoil, the aftermath of the pandemic, and the multiple conflicts raging around the world. During these times of austerity, we witness the resilience, determination, and strength of women as they keep families and communities together. In Wandsworth and across the country, women are breaking barriers, challenging norms, and leading in ways that were thought to be impossible when the suffragettes started campaigning for women's rights to vote. The 8th of March is a time to celebrate the incredible achievements of women in both public and private sectors. The powerful women in this chamber, and the women across our borough. From the women pioneers who break barriers in science, politics, arts, and business, to women who are at the forefront of progress, and the women whose stories are untold. As we celebrate these victories, we must recognise the ongoing struggles every woman continues to face. The fight for gender equality is far from over. I want you all to think about the women who have shaped your lives, your mothers, sisters, daughters, partners, and friends. What kind of a future do you want for them? I see a future for women free from discrimination and fear, equal rights and equal pay, for every woman to live in society where they are valued, respected, and empowered. But what kind of a world are women living in today? A world where one in three women will suffer physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. A world where women are not paid equally to their male counterparts. And a world with limited access to healthcare, education, and opportunities for women. But in Wandsworth, our women are leading the way. With employment rates of 76%, which is higher than the London and national average, women in our borough have a higher life expectancy of 70 years compared to the national average of 64 years. And in education, women in Wandsworth have achieved remarkable success, with 70% holding a degree or equivalent qualification completing higher education. As women, we get told, break the glass ceilings. But we should be dismantling those ceilings that exist in the first place, in our political system, in our workspaces, and in our daily lives. As a woman of South Asian heritage and politics, I understand first-hand how deep-rooted systemic inequalities affect women of diverse backgrounds. It is women from marginalised communities that are often not at the table when decisions are made that shape their future. Their voices are silenced and their needs are overlooked. It is important that we continue to work towards representation that reflects the diversity of our society, and to be inclusive in the conversations we have. I am proud Wandsworth has three women MPs who represent the diversity of our borough. We are fighting for half of the world population, so gender equality can't be achieved without men being an ally to women. Men have a duty to stop the centuries of misogyny, stop the normalisation of hate against women, and stop the silencing of women voices. We need policies that foster environments for women to thrive. This Council is deeply committed to preventing violence against women and girls, and providing support to domestic abuse victims. Our violence against women and girls strategy was developed by listening to the voices of survivors. We are committed to making our streets safer, and providing training for residents to become an active bystander. The Council runs the Safe Space Clapham Junction in partnership with the police, giving women a safe space to go late on a Friday night for support and advice. Our weekly drop-ins at Wandsworth's one-stop shop in Battersea and Royalhampton offer free and discreet support. We also have a community forum to bring together organisations and individuals. We stand to honour every victim and remember all of the lives lost because of violence perpetrated against women and girls. Let us all continue to create a Wandsworth where our future reflects the needs, aspirations and dreams of all women. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Bathuraj. A really, really inspirational speech. Thank you. Councillor Grimston. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And if my voice gives out halfway through, well then, it's not the microphone, it's the voice. There's a lot of good stuff in this motion, and I congratulate the majority group for it. I think I felt for some time that we were in real danger of leaving behind those who were not savvy with the internet when it came to contacting the Council. And being able to actually get to talk to an individual on a phone, I think, is a move in the right direction. One of the examples I would suggest where going back to the past is no really bad thing, because there was an age when, of course, that's the way most of the Council's business was done. Nonetheless, and reflecting on the words of the Imam at the start about trust and the idea about opening and listening, there is one thing which has bugged me for a long time, and it bugged me when the previous government was in control, it bugged me when the present opposition was in control. We are not freezing the Council tax. It's entirely and absolutely indefensible to say that the Council tax is being frozen. It's there on page 13 of the main report here, where it says in very clear annual Ban D bill for what Wandsworth charges is going up by £9.95 a month. And the idea that there's some difference in this distinction about the social services precept as opposed to the rest. It's rather like someone going into a Starbucks and asking for a black coffee and being told, well, we put black coffee at the bottom, sorry, we put milk in at the bottom, we fill the rest up with black coffee, but nonetheless, most of this cup is black coffee. Most of it is the same concept there, that for those who will look at their Council tax bills, as many will, they will see that the Wandsworth proportion has gone up by 2%, or to put it another way, Wandsworth could have chosen genuinely to freeze its proportion of the bill. It could have chosen to retain it at the level of £489.74, as it was last year. They chose not to, we had full discretion. I agree with the decision, because I think that money has to be raised. But what does this social care precept actually mean anyway? It's there at a figure of 89.89 for this coming year. If my back of envelope calculations are right, that means that it will raise £13.4 million. We're genuinely saying to our residents that we spend only £13.4 million on social care, the single biggest item in the multi-billion pound budget of Wandsworth. It's ridiculous and it is misleading, and I would suggest it's the very opposite of treating people, I would be tempted to say actually, treating people as grown-ups within this. And the thing that I just don't understand is, it is actually a very good message. As the leader rightly said, compared to many authorities around the country, to only be raising the Wandsworth proportion by 2% below inflation is a good story. And I don't see why you can't go out and sell that story in a truthful way. Because instead, the good people of our borough have had the pleasure of paying for a leaflet, coming into every home, telling them the untrue statement that Wandsworth is freezing its proportion of the council tax. And it's not even true, let alone whether that's a good use of the money that residents are saying. So I really would say, if you're serious about this, and I entirely agree with the leader, going out and saying this is what we're going to do, before doing it, and giving people a chance to come back and say it's not working, I think that's good governance. I think it's brave, I disagree with the point that was made earlier, that you shouldn't do it until you're absolutely right, you're going to get everything right. Because frankly, we very rarely get into that position. So there are many things in here going right. But what I for the life of me can't understand is why you stick to this fiction, which was introduced by the previous governments and exploited by the previous administration, but why you stick to this fiction about freezing council tax. It doesn't look serious. It doesn't look like you're actually trying to level with the residents of the borough. And ultimately, the damage that will do, I suspect, to relations between the borough and the council and the residents, will much outweigh any short-term benefit that might accrue from this fiction that council tax is being frozen. Thank you, Councillor Grimston. Councillor Hedges? Thank you, Madam Mayor. I had some feedback last week from a well-respected member of the Labour Administration, who shall remain anonymous, that you don't hear enough from me. So here goes. I do believe we're all here for the same reason, to serve our residents and to make a positive difference to our community. Where our sides dramatically differ isn't just on our political ideologies and policies, but on our interpretation of what sound financial management means. The Labour Administration would have residents believe sound financial management is at the heart of everything they do, when in reality, behind Labour's shiny new pink leaflet, stating Wandsworth Council is freezing your council tax for a third year in a row, is a budget deficit of £13.3 million, paid for out of the reserves. Overspending of £13 million last year and £9 million this year, and not forgetting the council's new logo, costing nearly £20,000, also on the new shiny leaflet. In the year I was born, in 1978, the Conservatives won Wandsworth Council. From then on, for the next 44 years, the Conservatives successfully led Wandsworth Council, by controlling spending, by not ratcheting up debt, cutting council tax where possible, governance and sound financial management. This is a stark difference to that of the current Labour Administration, where we're seeing excessive spending, unprecedented borrowing and running down of the council's reserves. This strategy is short-sighted and, at worst, disastrous. As we all know, reserves can only be spent once, so this can never be an answer to long-term funding problems. Madam Mayor, it's important to acknowledge a pattern of failing Labour councils across the country. Nottingham City Council, for instance, recently issued a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring itself bankrupt. This is not an isolated incident. Other Labour councils, such as Croydon, bankrupted by Labour three times for toxic financial mistakes. Liverpool City Council has faced significant financial challenges. Slough Borough Council issued a Section 114 notice as a result of years of financial mismanagement, which led to a significant budget deficit. Birmingham City Council bankrupted by Labour's financial mismanagement. These Labour-run councils have all faced similar financial crises. The root cause of these financial woes lie not in the lack of funding, but in poor governance and financial mismanagement. The failures we have witnessed are primarily attributable to failures in management, governance, debt and excessive spending. This is an important reminder to my colleagues on the other side that sound financial management is crucial for the effective functioning of Wandsworth Council, or any council for that matter. The unsound financial management of Wandsworth Labour Council will have far-reaching consequences for the diverse community it serves. We will continue to challenge financial decisions and lobby for the adoption of sound financial practices, even when we are deliberately shut down and silenced. Only then can we hope to restore trust in our local governance and ensure the effective delivery of vital services to our community. Worryingly, I had a resident in Ballham say to me recently, it's depressing as it looks like Labour have a plan to deplete the reserves and borrow millions. As a resident and taxpayer, the Labour administration's management of our cash is economically illiterate. It's hard to believe that Wandsworth will potentially go from being one of the few councils with no debt to then borrowing millions due to Labour's spending plans. If the council's finances continue on this trajectory, this will inevitably be the end of Wandsworth Labour's administration, and indeed the end of the reserves. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Fraser. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm delighted to speak in this debate tonight and ahead of International Women's Day to follow women councillors on both sides of the chamber this evening. I'm going to highlight just some of the things that Wandsworth Council is delivering for its residents, all whilst delivering the lowest council tax in London. Five years on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, life and the needs of those who live in Wandsworth looks different for many. This may mean that people are looking for help in any number of areas, including support with mental and physical health needs or financial assistance to cope with the ongoing cost of living crisis. It's right, therefore, that Wandsworth Council has sought to change and pivot the way that we support our residents, especially those most in need of our assistance. Whether that be through London's largest cost of living support fund or through supporting our vital voluntary and community sector, who do amazing work, ranging from providing food and warm spaces, right the way through to providing advice and guidance, community outreach. The council is ensuring that those most vulnerable in our borough are not left isolated. It's not just the low council tax, though, which is helping the finances of our residents. Through the hard work of our officers and further investment in the low-income family tracker, we're also now more precisely able to reach residents who aren't aware of the support they're entitled to, ensuring they receive the grants and dispensations that are available to them. Through investments in upgrading our leisure centres, including vital works at Ballham and Putney Leisure Centres, we're supporting our residents to stay healthy. To provide further support that those most need it, our Access for All scheme allows free access to these facilities, ensuring that there are no barriers for those who wish to use our leisure centres. And as a proud councillor in South Ballham, how could I not give a mention to the LIDO, and as a proud member of the South London Swim Club. Through significant investment by this council, we've ensured the LIDO is able to be enjoyed by thousands of people all year round, allowing them to feel the health benefits of cold water swimming. I was also delighted to see last summer that Access for All was extended to the LIDO, enabling residents to enjoy the best of a summer swim at the UK's largest outdoor LIDO on their doorstep in Tooting. But it's not just investment in Access for All and leisure services. We're also mindful of getting the basics right, and I'm delighted to see that Transport, under the leadership of Councillor Jenny Yates, deliver the biggest financial investment of upgrades to roads and pavements this year, that Wandsworth has seen. This 10.25 million investment corrects decades of underinvestment, meaning that regardless of how residents travel across our borough, and regardless of whether that road is on an estate or not, we've broken down those barriers to see roads and pavements across the borough upgraded in the year ahead. Residents in my ward were delighted that Elmfield Road, which has a Ravenstone school at one end and a popular doctor's surgery at the other, will now have its pavements upgraded in the coming year, as will the Ridevale estate. Regardless of whether you walk or wheel, this will now be done on safer, smoother roads and pavements, and supported by a forward plan of investment totalling 40 million for Wandsworth walking and cycling strategy. I could go on if time allowed, but I'll end by saying that a time of unprecedented demand on council services, Wandsworth Council and Wandsworth Labour are supporting our residents through high-quality services and all delivered with sound financial management by Councillor Ireland. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Fraser. The matter now before the council is an amendment moved by Councillor Peter Graham and seconded by Councillor Richard Jones. All those in favour of the amendment? Other in favour of the amendment? Those against? Any abstentions? Thank you. 18 in favour, 33 against. The motion is not carried. As amended. Sorry, the amendment is not carried. Okay, so now we're moving on to the substantive motion. All those in favour of the substantive motion. Those against? Any abstentions? So 33 in favour, 20 abstentions. The substantive motion is carried. Moving on, questions to the cabinet members will now be taken. So we're going to start with question number 10. Councillor Brooks. Okay, thank you. So the question, for people that haven't got it in front of them, it relates to the license application for events in our parks and the events policy. Unfortunately, the question seems to conflate the two into one issue and actually they are two separately related issues. So I'll just explain that first so that we know what we're talking about. So we've got Wandsworth Borough of Culture this year. It's going to be fantastic. We want to put some amazing events on for the community, with the community, by the community. Unfortunately, only Battersea Park has a license to put on live events. So anything, anything from singing, dancing, Shakespeare, any choirs, anything you can think of, it needs to have a license. So our other spaces, in particular at Wandsworth Common, Tooth in Common, King George's Park, we can't currently put anything on. So our partner in ABLE started applying for a license and they used the existing events policy for guidance. So the existing events policy brought in by your administration with, I believe, the consultation with the friends groups at the time, brought in this policy and it is currently very wide-ranging. There is the possibility to have lots of large events but that has never been abused to my knowledge. So enable use that for guidance and unfortunately it very much scared and concerned residents because I guess people didn't know how wide-ranging that existing policy was. So we heard loud and clear from residents they were really, really concerned about the possibility of long events, late events, large events. We heard that very, very clearly. We asked and able to withdraw that blanket license application, of course, because it was scaring, concerning, worrying people. So now they have just two license applications in at the moment, one for a lovely dance event in Battersea Park and one for a country music festival on Tooth in Common just for a weekend and it would be very similar to an event that was run on that common was very, very popular. So those two applications are in but they are for consultation. The licensing process involves consultation. Residents can write in or write in to me, write into the licensing committee with their views. The licensing committee will then decide in whatever way they decide. We are listening to what residents are concerned about. So then related to that but not exactly the same issue is that we are also revising, updating the events policy. It was brought in 2014, it's a long time ago. Best practice has moved on. So our offices have drafted a new policy for guidance. We discussed it at Environment Committee a week or two ago. Again, it became clear that residents were concerned about some of the language in the new policy. Actually, the new policy is designed to be tighter on the issues that people care about. So better protection of our biodiversity and green spaces and nature. Better, more stringent controls on noise so that the locals don't get disturbed. So actually, our aim was to tighten our controls on the events that we run. The language perhaps didn't reflect that. We've heard that. We've met with the friends and MAX groups. We've heard their concerns. There was a big debate at Environment Committee. We've heard that residents should be consulted. We are consulting. So there is now a new draft events policy that will go out for consultation. We will listen to our residents. So that is where we're at. And I don't accept any of the other premise of the question. We are listening. We are consulting. We will work with residents to have the best possible events policy, the best possible events in our open spaces. Thank you, Councillor Gasser. Supplementary? Yes, please. Thank you. Well, it's a joy to hear so much from you. I think that was a longer answer than all of your remarks in every single environment committee we've had so far. So wonderful to hear from you. I think you've been a bit glib, to be honest, about the changes to the open spaces events policy. It's not an update. It's a gutting of all the protections that were there before of our sports pitches, grass areas in the wintertime, late night cutoffs, setup and takedown periods, events on the same ground weekend to weekend, and you took out the decibel limit without putting a new one in. The only reason to change the policy, as you have done, is to facilitate the types of events that were described in the licensing applications in January. What happened is you got your comm sequencing wrong and got caught. How is damaging the landscape, ruining sports pitches and closing sections of the parks off to the public in any way a celebration of the borough's culture? So I'm afraid you are deliberately misconstruing what our intention was and stirring up worry and concern to our residents, because that is not the case. So on noise, the noise controls will be more stringent. It will be done on the distance from the houses. So a decibel level on the common is going to affect somebody closer much more than somebody further away. Each house is a decibel level at the house. That's my understanding of it. I'm not an expert, but it's to be tighter. It's more stringent, more stringent on what you talk about the green spaces and the football pitches. We will only ever allow events on there when the football pitches or whatever pitch or green area is in the right condition. It just gives us a little bit of leeway, our suggestion, and it is from consultation, a little bit of leeway so that the port pitches could be used off season if they're in a good enough position. Why would I want to ruin our sports pitches? I'm passionate about sport, and I'm passionate... Well, we'll come on to the money in a minute, if you like. But so you know that I'm passionate about biodiversity. We've agreed on the advice of the friends to change the wording around the biodiversity so we won't be having events in biodiverse rich areas or even areas adjacent to diverse rich areas. So we have taken on board all of the friends and the Mac's comments and we look forward to taking on board other people's comments across the borough. It's not about money. We were not the party that brought in Formula E to Battersea Park to raise money, which was hated by everybody and you had to get rid of it. We were not the party that outsourced the whole of the leisure and culture directorate to make money to generate money. We were not the party that was you who privatised the one o'clock club, the children's zoo, the adventure playground. That was your party that worries about money. We do not need to raise money, any more money from that. We're putting on free events. You know what? We're putting on a free Battersea Park run. We put on free weekend activities for families this weekend. There's a free five-day taster pass at the moment going on. We've got free access for all. We've got free swimming in the Lido. We are providing free residents, free activities for our residents. We need it. This is not about money. This is about providing the best possible activities and events for our residents, with our residents. Councilor White. Second supplementary. Since at least the middle of the 18th century, Wandsworth Commons have had holiday fairs, often attracting big crowds. I hope this tradition of holding events on the common, that are very popular amongst a wide range of people, will not be stopped. Well, no, this is what the Borough of Culture and Beyond is all about, actually. We want to have lovely community family events, but we want them to be controlled by us and the events policy, and actually the licensing restrictions as well, can control how those events are. They mustn't be too noisy. They mustn't ruin our areas. They must be family friendly. We don't want late nights. We don't want booze ups. We certainly don't want anything like we've seen on Clapham Common, which is the scare story that's going around. Over My Dead Body will we have Clapham Common types events. It's not about that. It's about family community events for and by and with our communities. Thank you, Councilor. Question number 11. Councilor Ambash. Question number 11 on the London Borough of Culture launch. Councilor Akinola. Twins. That's great. Yes, thank you, Councilor Ambash, for your question about the launch. First of all, I want to start by saying thank you to all of the officers, the performers that worked so hard to put on what was just such an incredible, very early Tuesday morning. And thank you to everybody that attended. I'm sure that you all had a really wonderful time. It was great. Bacon sandwiches, dancing, music, people, three people standing on top of each other. It was really, it was really great. And as you have all heard, over 400 people attended. But what you may not have heard is one of my all time greatest goats. I think it's, as the young people say, Romeo from So Solid was there. That was amazing. So yeah, it really did give a really nice flavour of what is to come over this following year. And it also inspired a lot of the voluntary sector organisations who may not have thought that they had anything to offer for the Borough of Culture. It inspired them to think about what, in addition, they will be able to do. So I've had loads of emails and conversations with people about things that they do normally, things that they want to celebrate over the year, and how they can really be involved in it. So the other thing that the event actually launched, apart from inspiration and the media launch, was also a programme. So I encourage everybody here to go onto the website, welcometowansworth.com, and look at some of the main activities that will be happening across the year. And also the other thing is that organisations, charities, anyone really, can submit new ideas that they would like to be included in the programme subject to fitting the criteria of the year about connection, networking, and ultimately improving health for everyone across the borough. So I imagine that the programme that you can see on the website is only going to grow over the course of the year. But you don't have to wait for the Borough of Culture to start, because indeed this Saturday we have the Southfields Art Festival, so that's worth going to. Wandsworth Makes Music will be happening on the 31st of March, and there's also the Oxford-Cambridge race, which will, with a bit of added spice, which will all be revealed closer to the time which is happening in the middle of April. So that's going to be really wonderful. But what you actually asked me was, what is happening? 26th of April, everyone put this in your diaries. If you could put the 26th of April in your diaries, it would be wonderful to see you all there doing the dance. And I don't know if, Mayor, you can make it mandatory that everybody turns up and actually takes part, but that would be wonderful. But I really think we should all try and attend. And I was speaking to, you know, one of the opposition earlier today, and it really is, it's a cross-party project that we all agree to. There is, there's no reason for any of you not to come. We should all be really proud that this is what's happening in our borough. So I really hope that you will all turn up, you'll be welcomed by not just us, but everybody else that's there. Everyone likes to see councillors actually take part in activities and events that they're putting forward. The other thing that's happening is also the Wimbledon Art Fair, which is actually in Tooting, even though it says Wimbledon, it's actually in Tooting. That's happening in the middle of May as well. And we will also, and I think this is in the written answer, you'll also get a bit of a flavour about the Wandsworth Way, which is the Riverside Studios radio drama that you can also take part in, if you want. I'm going to be in it. It's going to be exciting. And so that will be, that will be really wonderful. So I hopefully, that gave you a bit of a flavour, Councillor Ambash. I love that you're repping as well. First supplementary. Councillor Ambash. Thank you. Could I just congratulate Councillor Jaffray on your brilliant year as Mayor first, before I ask the supplementary. You've represented the borough as a great ambassador, and thank you for all you've done with poison dignity throughout the year. So the supplementary on borough of culture is how are we promoting the arts and culture over the year to reach all our diverse communities throughout the borough. Councillor Lacanola. Thank you. Well, that equality and diversity is always at the forefront of my mind. And some of the things that actually are happening along, across the year are specifically targeting equality and diversity. We have the Liberty Festival, which is a disability-led festival. It's going to be run or curated by a disability-led organisation called Cryptic Arts, which is super important. I think in May, the Bait Bean Company are are producing a show called The Things We Lost, which I'm quite excited to go and see. That's at the Royal Academy of Dance. We have Access Able, those Access Able guides. I've spoken about this before, but it's a group of people with a variety of disabilities who've gone out and surveyed our buildings, buildings that we might use for the borough of culture, including council buildings, actually, as well, and see how accessible they are. And then, actually, it will show people how they can maneuver their way through them or how they can be used. And, for example, Battersea Arts Centre do some... What's the word? What's the word? They do special screening. They do special shows. Thank you. They do relaxed performances for people that might not be able to cope with a lot of noise or a lot of lights. And these guides will be coming out end of April, but before we launch the Borough of Culture on the 26th. So that will be very useful. In terms of ensuring that we are keeping these things in the forefront of our mind, the Liberty Festival has a steering group made up of people with disabilities from across the borough who make sure that we're on track, make sure we're thinking about all the different kinds of disabilities through experience themselves or because they have family that they've looked after or organisations that they run that support a variety of different disabilities. We also have the London Borough of Culture Champions. We have the London Borough of Culture Champions who are from a variety of backgrounds who ensure that equality is on the forefront of our mind. In terms of grants, there's more to come. In terms of grants, we have the South Asian History... South Asian Month Fund that, again, our mayor actually instigated a couple of years ago. And we also have the Black History 365 grants specifically for arts and culture, although if anyone wants to apply for them, they need to do that soon because those dates are closing. And yeah, these are some of the many things that we're doing. But I think you'll see from the programme the variety of different activities, cultural events across the borough from a wide range of people. Thank you, Councillor Canola. Councillor Corner. Thank you, Madam Mayor. One of the many things that the Council should make sure that it's doing as we approach the London Borough of Culture year is making sure that the walk routes into the borough are open and safe and welcoming. And that cultural sites that have previously hosted events during the popular Wandsworth Art Fringe in recent years are also available for events. Sadly, this is not the case at Riverside Walk in Nine Elms, where the Nine Elms Pavilion has been occupied by a long-running, seemingly never-ending protest that has caused huge disruption to residents, blocked a walkway into the borough and shows no sign of ending, despite the representations that residents themselves have made in this town hall, most notably at the December meeting. Now, since that meeting in December, it has emerged that there are many, many actions that the Council... Madam Mayor, could we ask that he comes to a question, please? Sorry, I think people's patience is being tried. Okay. If you stop talking, I'll come to the question. Thank you. There are many things the Council could be doing to take action against this protest that has more than passed its end by date, including passing a bylaw about protests in the area and also engaging more with protest planners. What is the Cabinet Member going to do to make sure that all cultural sites and areas in the borough are available for the Wandsworth Borough of Culture events, including the Nine Elms Pavilion, and will she commit to taking action to make sure these sites are renovated, made to look lovely for the year and, most importantly, actually available to use? Thank you for your question. I think it's very true to say that a lot of our organisations, and I think not just in Wandsworth, but those across the whole of London, the cultural organisations are really suffering from a lack of funding and support. So I would ask that Councillor Corner, maybe you would be able to go to as many of the Borough of Culture events as you can, show your support for these cultural organisations, maybe pay for a couple of them as well, because every penny really does count into ensuring that they stay open and that they're useful for many years to come. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Akinola. Before I move on to the next question, I'd just like to say thank you to Councillor Ambash for his kind words, and also I'd like to congratulate Wandsworth for becoming London Borough of Culture 2025, and well done to Councillor Akinola for all your hard work. I can feel your passion for the Borough of Culture. And at the launch, I did actually meet lots of excited residents and people who were really forthcoming with the idea. So well done for your hard work. Moving on to question number 13. Councillor McLeod. 12, sorry. Councillor Austin. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Number 12. Yes, to Councillor Belton. Sorry, thank you. Thank you. Can I answer, can I say first of all, Councillor Austin asked how many times a standing order procedure was used to stop planning applications since the year 2000? The answer's
- There were also three at the last council meeting that didn't actually get put because of the somewhat unusual situation of the minority party walking out, depriving Councillor Austin of the chance of making about three speeches, I think. I feel sorry for him. One of the problems that I faced as a minority for many years, and let me just mention this to the minority party in general, was that if you played your cards too powerfully, then the majority party changed the standing orders. Now, the leader of the opposition said, we never did that to you. Does he really want a lesson from me? I could list a dozen without even trying to think of it, the number of standing orders that you changed? Will he take the intervention? That will be at a later date, however. Thank you very much. The point, really, of the question is to highlight what Councillor Austin talks about as the undemocratic nature of it. In fact, he ought to have thought a little bit further about how he could be flexible, as I used to have to do. And in fact, you will find in the agenda tonight, under the planning applications report, report number three, specific mention about the applications in Whitnall Way that he wanted to talk about. And if he could have persuaded his colleagues to take a debate on them as being sufficiently important, he could have discussed them. It is not true, whatever he may think, it is not true that this majority party prevented that happening. What the majority, it is not true, you could have raised it there. What the majority party has done, what the majority party has done is to get rid of an obsolete standing order. And I say obsolete, you will notice, you will notice, you will notice that the last time it was used was 2013. And that is because since 2013, the regulations about the planning committee have changed. And it is now an executive committee on its own right, like the licensing committee. You cannot stop a licensing committee decision. You never have been able to. And actually, you can't really stop a planning committee decision. Because to take part in a planning meeting discussion and decision, you've had to have had training in planning applications law. And most of the members of this council have not had that. However, you could, if you wanted, move a motion on the item that I mentioned, a vote of no confidence in the planning application members. You could do that. I just give you a tip for future reference. I doubt whether you'll win it. But you could, in fact, move it. We did not do that. And we have not stopped discussion. And so I, the answer is 13. And I reject the accusation that it's been in any way undemocratic. What we have done is abolish a procedure which wasted time in the planning process. And I thought your party was as, as keen on stopping the waste of time through the planning law as our party was. I've obviously mistaken. You want to delay things just for the fun of delaying it. Councillor Austin, supplementary. But please kind of, can we all keep it swift? Because we've passed the time. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Firstly, I'd just like to thank the chairman of the planning applications committee for being the only member of the administration to give a straight answer to a question. With the Whitner Way planning application taking 393 days to come to committee, I don't think that Councillor Belton can blame stop notices for delaying the process. I also mentioned that they, the planning applications are for note, the individual, not for decision and therefore a motion can't be moved against them. So can I ask, what is he so afraid of? Councillor Belton, I beg your pardon, what was that last phrase? I really didn't catch it. What are you so afraid of? Councillor Austin, I am not in the least bit afraid. But, but, can I just suggest to you that there are no planning grounds at all for this, your position on this particular application. And the only ones that you could conceivably have had, in terms of densities or, or bad planning grounds, did not, I notice, apply to five applications made by the previous council, which infilled on estates at much higher densities than this. And if you doubt me, there's try Randall Close, which I got the figure slightly wrong in the committee, but actually, actually, six times over the density we're talking about here. So we're not, it's not in the same order. Randall Close, Gideon Road, Lytton Road, I beg your pardon, Pat Moore, I couldn't quite see it, Lytton Road, and Platt's, Thamesmead. You actually passed five major infill applications, and I commend you for, and I commend you for it, and I voted for them. The only difference with this one, which is doing, addressing a need that we all recognise, is that this was about council housing. That was the only difference. And if you were to take on an argument with me, or with any member of the Labour Group, about the worthiness of council housing, in public, in any audience you like, I'm game for it any day. Councillor Boswell? A second supplementary, Madam Mayor. I thought you said we'd gone past the time. Thank you, Chair of the Planning Committee, Councillor Belton, for your wonderful and marvellous knowledge of history here, which is particularly valid when it comes to the history of planning applications. Can you see any reason why these particular stop notices, these three have been stopped? Is there any connection between them? Because they're not particularly contentious. Thank you, Councillor Boswell. I should say they're not particularly contentious, except for Councillor Austin and the people he managed to persuade in a violation. Let's be honest and straightforward about it. Let's be straightforward about it. And Councillor Dickerton went to extraordinary lengths talking them through it, and so the case is. And anyone who doesn't know the pushing forward planning applications almost anywhere has its level of unpopularity. Nonetheless, we supported you. To answer the specifics of Councillor Boswell, I've kind of answered it before. There were no planning grounds. The development review panel said it was a good application, well designed. It is actually in just about the least dense estate in the borough. It's one of the greenest places in the borough. It is very open and accessible. One of the main complainants actually lives about 100 yards away and is back down to the Putney Heath. I mean, it is absolutely a beautiful environment. And the one thing this council does not want to do, and I know this is true of Councillor Dickerton, does not want to spoil the environment of these delightful estates. We value them and protect them. But we also recognise there's a housing shortage in this borough. There's a housing shortage in London. And the one and only thing that identifies these three as being worthy of you stopping it, is it's because it's for council tenants and for people in housing need. And Randall Close in my ward, six times the density, you're going to make available for private sale. We flipped it and they're now council housing and I approve of that too. If that's the platform you want to stand on, then stand on it next year and you'll lose again. Thank you, councillors. That was the end of question time. We now turn to report number one, items for decision. I move reception of that report and will ask the council whether they approve the recommendations in paragraph one, proposed pay policy for 2025 to 26, paper number 25 to 93. Other recommendations approved? Unanimously? Yeah. Paragraph two, council tax requirement and council tax for 20, 25, 26, paper number 25 to 89. Other recommendations approved? The motion will be put to a recorded vote. The motion will be put to a recorded vote. Councillors, please indicate for, against or abstain when your name is called. Councillor Akinola. Councillor ANBASH. Councillor ANBASH. Councillor ANAN. Councillor APPS. Councillor Austin. Abstain. Councillor Ayres. Councillor Belton. Councillor Birchall. Councillor Boswell. Councillor Brooks. Councillor Caddy. Abstain. Councillor Colckley. Councillor Cooper. Councillor Corner. Abstain. Councillor Critchard. Councillor Crivelli. Councillor Davies. Councillor Dickerdom. Councillor Councillor Dobres. Councillor French. Councillor Fraser. Councillor Gasser. Councillor Gossain. Councillor Govindia. Councillor Mrs Graham. Abstain. Councillor Graham. Councillor Grimston. Against. Councillor Hedges. Abstain. Councillor Henderson. Councillor Hogg. Councillor Humphreys. Councillor Ireland. Councillor Jeffreys. Councillor Justin. Councillor Lawless. Councillor Lee. Councillor Locker. Councillor Marshall. Councillor Mayocress. Councillor McLeod. Councillor Osborne. Councillor Osborne. Councillor Owens. Abstain. Councillor Paul. Councillor Pridham. Councillor Richard Jones. Abstain. Councillor Rigby. Councillor Stock. Councillor Sutters. Abstain. Councillor Sweet. Councillor Tiller. Councillor Varatharaj. Councillor St. Walund. Councillor Warial. Councillorbrush. Councillor Jupiter. Councillor Waringe. Councillor Julian. Wardt Mr Warrant. Councillor Wyll. Councillor Warrant. Councillor Yates. Councillor Warrant. Councillor Miss Mundy.良 cetera, neighbourhood dig諒. The recommendations have been approved, 33 for, 1 against, and 20 abstentions. Moving on to paragraph 3, proposed additions. On a point of order, Madam Mayor, I'm under strict instructions not to do this, but I can't help in circumstances. As the minority party have chosen to abstain on the most important decision of the year, do you think we can dispense with them and ask them to leave every meeting, and we'll gladly accept Councillor Grimstone as a much more honourable and worthy opposition? Sorry, Councillor Belton, I can't do that. Moving on to paragraph 3, proposed additions to the General Fund Capital Programme, paper number 25 to 84. Are there recommendations approved? Are we going for a vote? Yes. Okay. All those for? All those for? Doesn't make sense. All those against? No. No. Any abstentions? No. So, the recommendations have been approved, 33 for, 0 against, and 21 abstentions. Moving on to paragraph 4, Council's Treasury Policy for 2025 to 26, paper number 25 to 86. Are the recommendations approved? All agreed. All agreed. All agreed. All agreed. All agreed. All agreed? Moving on to paragraph number five, the Democracy Review, paper number 25 to 104. Could I invite Councillor Abbes to speak? Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. Thank you very much for the privilege of speaking on our democratic renewal of the Council. This debate was requested by the opposition, but I'm very pleased to discuss our plans that we are very proud of and we are ambitious to continue reform. And can I also say thank you to my husband for being here tonight. Just like our Council, he's always prepared to listen. Many Councillors across the country admire, envy even, our low Council tax, our sound financial management, our green spaces, our sense of community, our weekly bin collection, our food waste collection, our free bulky waste. But they don't admire our governance system. Our committees have been described by experts as unclear, of questionable value. Our Council like a sixth form debating society. Can I say we're raising our game tonight? Well done, everyone. We've had a thumbs down from the LGA peer review, from the Centre for Scrutiny, Governance and Scrutiny, and from many councillors and some public. Wandsworth's unique style of governance does not have many fans. But I'm very pleased to see them all here tonight. As a new councillor in 2022, it's taken me to now to really assess the governance system. It's really antiquated. It was a retro system when it actually was introduced in 2020, pretending to be something else. It's opaque, it's unclear in its decision-making, it's flat out with officers and councillors in an endless treadmill of paper, with insufficient time to even look up, as Councillor Grimstone often reminds us. For decades, what overview and scrutiny committees have done has been dictated by the Cabinet and by officers. They've been asked to approve decisions just weeks or even days before decisions were due to be made anyway. It's like asking what you think of your present on Christmas morning. Soon, overview and scrutiny committee members, our backbenchers, will decide which decisions are really important to look at. They will give their ideas and recommend at a time when the Cabinet can still listen. They can help with policy development. They can be more strategic. In other words, they can give value to the work of backbenchers. The second proposal is to define key decisions. Wandsworth's unusual that it hasn't defined key decisions, and it can help both in sort of looking at the financial threshold and also looking at the number of wards and so forth that are affected. What that allows Cabinet and also scrutiny committees and scrutiny members to do is to clearly identify some of the big decisions. They can also look at some of the others, but it helps them to define their scope. And we are also reforming call-in. Currently, our call-in system is not fit for purpose. It's simply 24 hours for councillors to call in with no guidance. We will now, in common with almost all other councils, extend the deadline so that councillors have longer to ask for things to be called in and have a committee that is designed to consider the serious requests that are made. Tonight, I suspect that we'll be told that we haven't considered this properly, that we haven't given ample time, that, you know, we need to look at all this again. But actually, if you actually look at it, the Democracy Review has had more time on the clock for consultation than practically any other policy that this council has looked at. We started off with the LGA peer review. We then had in-depth consultation meetings with many councillors meeting with the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, both separately and also together. We've had a task and finish group, one of the first that our council has had, that has looked over these very issues that we're taking through tonight and discussed them at length. We've also had reports on the Democracy Review going many times to the General Purposes Committee. And finally, the ultimate arbiter tonight is full council itself. These proposals are enabling. They're about bringing us into line with practically every other council in the country. But now, the real work starts. We're a listening council. We want you as well to help us shape these policies. Let's consider now, together, and we've got a whole programme of meetings to consider, how we give the public more real say in our decisions, how we get better at cross-cutting issues, and how we move from a culture of political posturing to being reflective and robust. We need all councillors to help shape that work. We urge you to support these proposals and to make the most of a new system designed to allow all councillors to contribute to the effective running of our council. Thanks very much. Thank you, Councillor Aps. Councillor Peter Grimm. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Tonight, the paper and Councillor Aps has spoken about CFGS, the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny. This is what they say about changing the constitution. Changes should be considered by a working group and then go to a formal council committee like Auditor General Purposes before being submitted for final approval at council. Most of the changes before us tonight went straight to the executive, which is not a formal council committee and excludes the opposition. It excludes backbenchers and it even excludes councillor Aps. At Monday's meeting, the leader of the council spoke in generalities. There were no comments or questions and the changes were nodded through in under two minutes. The final approval tonight is our first sight of these changes and the only debate. And because this is an item for decision, we have no ability to ask questions, no ability to move amendments and no ability to respond point by point. We just have a speech. Repeatedly, in private and in public, we have stressed to Councillor Aps and others our willingness to engage on change. We are not against change, but our offer has been repeatedly ignored. The working group has never met in person. It's only met twice, virtually. It's never discussed a work plan. And rather than agreeing options, was presented with pre-written ones. It didn't even support those, as the notes from officers prove. Tonight's papers say that the subject matter of the proposals was considered at general purposes. That isn't true either. The following changes have never been considered before tonight. Creating a new general overview and scrutiny committee. Not allowing for Council to select its chair. Only having two opposition members on it and removing the need to consult them about when it meets. Removing every OSC's ability to produce a report that's relevant to the borough if it doesn't relate to a specific Council function. Removing the ability of OSC chairs, your chairs, to call in a decision. Removing their ability and ours to refer papers up to Council. Removing every single member's right to get an SO83A notice scrutinised by an OSC. Putting such limiting restrictions on call in that it can barely be used at all, contrary to the law and statutory guidance. Introducing a new six-month exemption for related decisions, which are left completely undefined. Imposing a blackout on officer decisions worth up to a million pounds if they relate to a non-executive function. Ending advanced publicity for all decisions under one million and any requirement for those decisions to be taken in public. And removing documentation and recorded reasons if a decision is below £214,000. That is 14 unconsidered changes. Changes we didn't see. And I could go on. The threshold for key decisions will be double what's dubiously asserted as the average in London and at least five times what applies now. It is a blatant power grab. For any papers that still get written after tonight, you're removing the requirement for them to come to committee with no replacement system agreed or even outlined. Your call-in threshold requires us to prove not only that an action breaches the policy framework or budget, but that it breaches the principles of decision-making as well. Nothing could be a greater breach of those principles than tonight's paper. Yet we find the opposite of intervention. And you will whip these changes through as one by one rules are removed or become meaningless, swept aside in a slew of arbitrary rulings. We can't get our rights upheld now. We can't even get basic answers. As councillors, we are democratically elected, but this council has ceased to operate democratically. Tonight's procedure is a farce. And once these changes are passed, we will have to resort to rifling through papers in Richmond to find out what's happening in our own borough. In its consistent contempt for the rights of members, the executive is showing contempt not just for its own backbenchers and not just for opposition councillors. We are representatives. Your contempt is contempt for the residents who elected us. Thank you, Councillor Osborne. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think what has brought many of these comments to the surface is a basic problem with the way the council operates and the trap in which we all find ourselves of a timetable and a structure which is outmoded. And what these papers before you tonight are offering is a blueprint for something different. Yes, it is moving forward at pace and we have paid a bit of a price in the level of consultation we would have liked. Although what we have done is we have inserted in the future an extra meeting of the General Purposes Committee for looking at some of this stuff. We have also created a series of visits to other councils which will take a much more discursive form in their structure and their examination of what happens in other boroughs in London and other systems we are trying to build into the process to make sure that people from all sides of the chamber are able to examine, interrogate and move forward. Are you asking me to... Can I give way? I will give way. Can I ask Councillor Osborne one simple question? Does he accept that none of those 14 changes I listed ever came near the working group that he leads or the General Purposes Committee? Now I'm not putting that on him but does he accept those 14 changes that we want to pass tonight or he wants to pass tonight we never got to examine those. We've never seen them and this is the first time they're being discussed. Actually, I don't fully accept that at all. No, I don't. Because in the meetings that we had we went as deep as we possibly could and I accept, by the way, there were genuine disagreements in the informal meetings that took place. For example, there was a disagreement about where the locus of decision-making should be on much of this. Executive or General Purposes Committee. A genuine disagreement. And we took advice from the CFGS on which was most important. They said to us, look, your General Purposes Committee may be the parent body for your discussion but the decision-making place must be the executive. And we took that advice and that was the advice they gave in a meeting at this town hall. A live meeting. Not one of the informal meetings but a live meeting face-to-face. I take the point about the need for a greater number of face-to-face meetings and the point here is this. I think that the position we are offering up is it partisan? No, it is not. It is not partisan. It is relying entirely on advice, on procedure, practice, good practice, expertise beyond the boroughs of this council. Are you surely not asking me to give away one more time? Very briefly then. Thank you to Councillor Osborne. Look, if you do really want to seek a cross-party consensus and you have already admitted in your speech that we do need to look at this again at a future meeting of the General Purposes Committee that is specially being called, how on earth can you endorse this vote to the council today? Okay, as I said, we must move forward at pace, wholesale and with a new style of work and that is precisely what we are going to do. The question, the objectives which we have set out for this council are greater and better decision-making, more cross-cutting, more strategic decision-making, the kind of things which is going to give better decision-making in the interests of the people of this borough, the residents of Wandsworth. Look at what you think they might want from us. They will want, yes, they will want a party system where an alternative view is put. Of course they do. But they do not want the kind of barracking and bickering and hostility and suspicion that has been dominating this council for months now. They want us to move forward with something quite different. And we are offering up something quite different. Is it going to be palatable for all? No, it is not. I understand that. I understand that there are going to be disagreements with it. And let me put on record, I deeply regret the fact that so much of this work has boiled down to majority decision-making when I would have preferred consensus. And I passionately hope that in future, as we go forward with greater consensus, greater consultation, we will be able to move forward in a more collegiate way on these decisions. And I am committed to making sure that that is what hangs on these papers. And I am saying to you tonight, we must move forward at pace, we must move forward wholesale, and we must move forward with a new style of working because it is a new beginning for this borough and it is in the interest of the residents of Wandsworth Council. Thank you, Councillor Osborne. Are the recommendations approved? So all those in favour? All those in favour? Thank you, come on. Thank you. All those in Ryu. To your pardon? I am. I am. I am. I am. so the recommendations have been approved 28 in favor and 21 against moving on to item 9 is the matters of local or topical interest we have received notice of two matters to consider this evening councillor gossain you have up to three minutes to speak on the matter being raised by the conservative group which is poor report from the independent regulator of social housing would you like to start thank you madam mayor madam mayor i've lived in social housing all my life i know how much it matters when a council gets housing right and i know firsthand as a husband and father the cost when they get it wrong that's why i ran for office to make housing safer better and fairer labor ran on that promise too and now three years into their four-year term it's official they haven't just failed to deliver change they've delivered failure itself large scale deep-rooted institutionally entrenched failure last week the independent regulator for social housing confirmed what residents already know labor's housing policy isn't just failing it's failing on a catastrophic scale eighty percent of communal areas and forty percent of homes had no electrical safety test eighteen hundred overdue fast safety remedial actions all over a year late only six and a half percent of homes surveyed this isn't just mismanagement it's negligence and when the stamming report landed on their desks did they act did they own up no they sat on it for three weeks they concealed it scrambling for an excuse let's be clear this isn't about a problem they inherited it's about a manifesto promise they made and now it's about a promise they've broken labor promised safer better maintained housing instead they neglected it labor promised to listen to residents instead they ignored them labor promised to fix social housing instead they're breaking it so what's the reality after three years of labor neglected safety tests ignored fire hazards incomplete and outdated housing records residents locked out of decision making yet they always find the money for something else millions funneled into grand projects but not into fire safety master plans for future developments while homes people live in now go neglected running up a six million overspend while failing to carry out basic inspections this council is taken out alone with a lifetime cost of one and a half billion debt residents will repay for decades a lifetime's burden signed sealed delivered without hesitation and yet when it comes to the most basic safeguards the inspections repairs far safety measures that protect lives suddenly there's hesitation suddenly there's delay suddenly there's just not enough and while labor divers families and children just like my own are left in unsafe homes the message to residents is clear labor will mortgage your future for future for its ideology but when it comes to what you need now you're just an afterthought madam mayor no amount of spin no desktop review no last minute recovery plan can change the facts labor has failed its residents and failures this serious cannot go unanswered when policy fails this comprehensively when people are left in unsafe homes and unheard they deserve more than excuses as the imam said this evening they deserve accountability residents aren't fooled by labor they see through labor's excuses and they will remember labor's broken promises thank you councillor councillor dickardum you have three minutes should you wish to respond all right thank you um we're we're very disappointed with this result um we accept the uh recommendations of the regulative social housing fully um and you know honestly it's a it's a it's a disappointment we were you know we were we were upset and i think the most important thing and the thing that i'm slightly frustrated with this speech that was just given is we need to commit to residents right now on record about the safety concerns that were raised in that report because i think uh it's really important that residents feel safe in their homes that's something i'm completely committed to um and it's something that is deeply important to us uh you'll be aware that there are four different categories that the regulator regulator for social housing measures on safety and quality transparency neighborhood and community and tendency and the reasons we think we got a c3 so just for the general public there's c1 down to c4 and we got a c3 which is needs improvement um was not on transparency neighborhood or tendency but on those safety and quality standards and there are three things that stood out in the report um the first mentioned was electrical safety certificates now they had not been a legal requirement previous to the regulator of social housing um in 2021 the previous conservative administration recognized that that was the direction that things were going in and uh we we went into a contract to do those safety safety certificates and you know we didn't manage that contract properly um and that contract as of the publication date of the review shows that we are now up to 75 percent and 70 in those units so for anyone who's watching at home i want them to know that they can feel safe when it comes to those uh safety requirements now the second one was to do with fire safety and again that is very emotive and i was hoping you weren't going to try and scare residents because you've got to put those 1800 in the context of the 38 000 high risk fire remedial actions that we had completed those 1800 uh they are basically they're they're administrational things that we need to get done that we haven't done fast enough but they were basically i'm going to use a word that's i i don't mean this word in the way that's understood but it's a kind of technical term by the fras the fire risk assessment these are what we describe as trivial remedial actions so this is things like no smoking signs in corridors not things that are the the major safety concerns with fire safety now it's it's not acceptable that some of those have been waiting for a year or so to be done that's that's not good within the next two weeks 700 700 of them will have been but part of the reason that we have these 1800 leftovers because we focused very specifically on the the very high risk ones and got through 38 000. you've got to understand in wandsworth we have a much higher number of tower blocks and buildings with severe kind of fire safety assessment needs and so we have a workload issue um but that's that's not an excuse it's you know safety comes first but i i have to echo this publicly so residents feel safe in their homes because those two those two criteria are not criteria that i would that i would argue would make our homes unsafe um and then the final one is to do a stock condition survey and this is where i i really agree with the regulator because and i don't want to bash the administration that came before me too much but in you know we kind of inherited your methodology methodology and we start with your methodology so in 2003 the council did a one percent sample of its stock that was the usual rick's industry guidance that most councils did um in 2012 you did about five percent of the stock in a stock condition survey and in 2022 we we inherited the stock condition survey that was meant to be of 10 we got access to 6.5 and obviously that doesn't mean that we don't enter more than 6.5 of our homes the argument of the old rick's guidance was that you did a sample survey and you know ravi's sitting here ravi you know that part of the reason the sample survey was successful for this council was it allowed you to hold a 100 decency rate because you had quite a small sample now we inherited that methodology okay i've never heard any of you come and argue against using that methodology i think the regulator for social housing is correct to say that that methodology is out of it's out of fashion it's out of it doesn't work anymore the reason it doesn't work is because the basis is that lots of people are making and i might go a bit over because i think it's a really serious issue and i want to make sure that the opposition okay okay okay um but i just on stock condition we obviously go and inspect many properties through repairs so residents call up so we're going in and out of properties all the time this is just the methodological separate exercise that we do for stock condition survey but big housing associations have seen that sometimes an older lady a little old lady might not call in that repair and so we are moving for the first time you know this this never happened before we are the ones doing it as an administration to 100 rolling stock condition survey okay you don't want me to talk about this i'm i i wanted to be open and transparent on an issue that you think i should resign over yeah yeah okay fine so um i'm happy to take further written questions on this but um i just want to say that we are going to be meeting with the regulator every month and we're going to make sure that all of the things that have been picked up are addressed in the coming weeks and we'll give regular updates to the leader on the issues of social housing in this bar thank you councillor dickardim for the reassurance um moving on to the second matter of local or topical interest could i ask councillor warrell to speak on the issue being raised by the the labour group which is delivering on onesworth council's commitment to strengthening the voluntary sector and civil society councillor warrell you have three minutes thank you madam mayor when people speak about the voluntary sector and the community sector they often think of small groups of people doing good around the borough in reality however the vcs is a rich and diverse collection of organizations skills and people which actually brings in over 18 billion pounds to the uk economy every year and here in onesworth we have course to celebrate we have over 800 amazing organizations you only have to think about batsy dog's home onesworth carer center the rotary club catherine lowe center first down project or the southwest london law centers just to name a few the vcs or the voluntary and community sector underpins our social infrastructure it helps deliver public services meets needs connects communities and individuals and helps address systemic inequality in our society the sector has a deep rooted trust with those who are often not heard in our communities and helps provide solutions mobilization development and empowers both communities and individuals by the nature of the sector they are the public voice they challenge us they hold us to account and importantly they're also our critical friend and our partners the vcs often has the ability to be more flexible and innovative in developing solutions to complex problems as was shown by the covert pandemic in comparison bureaucratic organizations are often slow to mobilize and to respond however the sector is not without its challenges high demand with limited resources often complex and difficult monitoring processes small organizational structures often one or two people and of course being dependent on a large number of volunteers who give their time their experience and yet have lives outside of volunteering in the last general election the voluntary sector manifested stated the voluntary sector isn't nice to have it doesn't exist for handouts and here in wandsworth we understand this we recognize the richness and experience of the sector and what it actually brings to us and as a listening council we are limited we are committed to resourcing and working in partnership i believe the strategy will strengthen the sectors influencing our decision making processes help break down silo working contribute contribute to local democracy and most importantly provide the places and spaces that people trust and so help bring us together across our divides this document is a collaboration and also is a trust building in action it is our commitment to shared values and working in and it is also a journey that all of us as councils have a part to play in a partnership in making wandsworth fairer safer and sustainable and finally i'd like to say a big thank you to the officers to the volunteers to the council staff who gave their time their insight their insight and most of all their commitment in taking this initiative forward a big thank you to you all thank you councillor warrell councillor akalola you have three minutes should you wish to respond thank you so much um councillor i think like words are absolutely excellent and that's exactly how i feel uh about the voluntary sector and i do believe that this strategy does represent a new era for how we wandsworth council do work with uh the voluntary sector um i think we've come quite a long way in the past two and a half years um in 2022 before 2022 the voluntary sector had no relationship with the council and so we set about uh getting an organization rocket science to write a report about our relationship with them so now in 2025 we are actively listening to them we're investing in them and we're working alongside them which i think we can all agree is a huge improvement it's a big shift from the onesworth way and i'm not talking about the uh radio show that we'll all be listening to in a couple of in a couple of weeks um but it's a shift to place-based relationships uh focused on equitable and inclusive local growth um the report that rocket science commissioned if you all didn't read it was quite a few pages um did say that it identified quite a few barriers number one that there was no strategic vision between wandsworth council and the voluntary sector two that there was inconsistent and i would say non-existent data sharing between both organizations and this may helped to make the voluntary sector feel very unappreciated three there was an onward resourcing of marginalized uh communities um which meant that they had no voice and they had no influence despite as councillor oral has said actually delivering a lot of the services that we need and four there was limited and no access to community buildings including council buildings so this new strategy does uh reset the relationship and these issues so we have allocated as everyone knows uh or everyone has heard today um space in the council vcs hub so that they so the voluntary sector are in the heart of our community so this is providing them with space within the council building we've approved hundreds of thousands of pounds for capacity building for these organizations to help with infrastructure and innovation and these are all key to placemaking the vcs strategy of course is not stagnant this is a working document it's a roadmap for long-term change with them um which was created obviously through two years of co-production um ensuring that small groups and grassroots uh organizations as well as well-known organizations were heard this creates a clear process for the sector to shape priorities and the kpi so we can hold ourselves and them to account so so finally yeah like anyway um so this is just the start this strategy is about creating a sector that thrives that was the end moving on the whips have agreed that item 19 will be taken next item 19 is a motion on protecting ones worth parks and commons can i ask councillor brooks to move and councillor caddy to second the motion in their names i move the motion thank you seconded thank you an amendment to the motion has also been circulated may i ask councillor gasser and councillor calcolo to move and second the amendment thank you can i invite councillor caddy to give a motion thank you madam mayor when i listen to residents talk about why they love living in wandsworth one theme consistently comes up again and again we have beautiful well managed parks and commons whether you're a teenager wanting to kick a ball around or hang out somewhere green and relaxing with your mates a mum with kids going for a walk or to feed the ducks a dog walker a runner or just a nature lover our parks genuinely enhance everyday life for tens of thousands of people and they're also a truly universal provision anyone can access them pretty much any time and they're completely free so this tells me that whatever changes we make to the stewardship of these wonderful assets should be incredibly carefully scrutinized and considered the principle of if it ain't broke don't fix it should probably largely apply so it was with some trepidation that i saw the changes to the events policy were included in our environment papers to be honest given the really positive rhetoric from the opposition on our open spaces i was fairly confident that they would want to protect them as much as i do so i was really surprised and disappointed to see the suggestions being made i guess one of one of my questions was initially whether the cabinet member and obviously subsequently the cabinet more widely even read the proposed changes because to me they seemed so damaging to the governance of our open spaces perhaps a hint at the answer to that came when the opposition immediately agreed to the ones with common max excellent proposal to reinstate the consultation requirement for friends groups also on our list of suggested amendments why on earth would the cabinet member propose such a change surely surely she values the input of these groups and can see that they offer value when they are consulted in advance as well as rather than just retrospectively these proposals may be only going for consultation as the committee kept reminding us but they are the suggested changes the positive choice of this administration why are they watering down the policy that exists to protect our commons and parks from overuse and damage from events i was slightly concerned that it was financial although again the cabinet member denies this and without re-running the finance debate clearly the council is in dire financial straits but to govern is to choose and there are other savings that should be chosen before compromising our parks and commons on the specifics of the changes just picking out the most egregious examples taking out the requirement not to damage sports pitches wandsworth is already one of the worst places for children's sport being cancelled due to poor pitches kids who want to get outside and play rugby or football at the weekend will have even more sessions compromised removing the 10 pm time limit no one wants events disturbing the peace late at night or have noisy crowds leaving late through residential streets removing the consecutive weekends rule give the grass and the residents a rest at least every other week some people only get to use the commons at weekends and then finally taking away the formal noise limit in decibels i just can't understand why anyone would want to water this down there's been a suggestion that another part of the proposal on noise strengthens the rules well great but don't remove the decibel limit which gives events a clear maximum to have to adhere to to perfectly honest the only complaints that i've really heard about open spaces in wandsworth are where events have gone wrong such as the fairground on ones with common and that would of course imply that tighter regulation is needed rather than more flexibility and far and away the biggest complaints that i hear about events are those based in merton and lambeth which is why i was truly horrified at committee to hear that one of the reasons being given to change our policy was to bring it in line with neighboring boroughs i think we can safely say that that is the last thing our residents want and if you are in any doubt go and have a five minute conversation with anyone who lives near clapham common so for goodness sake do the right thing let's have a cross-party rethink of this and make proposals for changes that actually enhance our parks thank you madam mayor to members of the public who are watching you may be concerned about what the opposition party has said so i want to provide a bit of reassurance yes we're making changes to the events policy because we want we want to see more events happening in our parks and open spaces but we will also strengthen protections in several areas such as consultation with residents and protecting areas of ecological importance such as counter gasser had highlighted earlier at the environment committee meeting where we discussed this paper the tories came up with a bunch of points that they didn't like about the policy and wanted to amend they had the option to give us the amendments before the meeting that way we could have an informed discussion on each point and maybe use some of them but did they do that no they tried to amend the paper even though none of us had read their amendment meaning that none of us could support it why do they do this so they can put on their leaflets so they can post about on social media so they can collect email addresses with their unnecessary petition and then what do you know they brought it up twice here in full counter too just because they think it's a nice juicy topic to use to rag on the administration it's all about their political gain and trying to win the next election by worrying residents that we're going to host horrible events in the parks and open spaces even though the ones with tories are the party that tried to bring formula e to bassey park so we won't take any lectures from them about cash grabbing and the most ludicrous thing about this motion is that the paper the policy is a draft paper this is only the first step and we're now going to consult with our dedicated friends and residents groups our volunteer groups to make sure it works well for everyone so please withhold your judgment until we see the final paper and stop trying to whip up fear among our residents so i'll say again what my colleagues and i said at the committee we are committed to protecting our green spaces we're just updating our policy so we can get more out of our parks and no that doesn't mean we're going no that doesn't mean we're going to be hosting a drum and bass wave on ones with common or formula e on bassey park because we care about what happens in our parks and we want to help all users from all backgrounds as councillor caddy said enjoy them to their fullest for that reason we propose an amendment to the motion reaffirming the counter's commitment to taking care of our parks and open spaces but leaving out the politicized messaging that the tories put in it and i say again to my colleagues opposite on the environment committee next time please give us notice collaborate with us and that way you'll actually have a chance to have a positive influence on policy instead of just trying to get some zingers to put on your leaflets thank you thank you councillor cochlear madam mayor um it's been a very enjoyable debate and i'm sorry not to hear from other colleagues but the council has now sat for so it has now sat for more than two and a half hours and we've got a lot more to do i move that the remaining business of the council on the agenda is disposed of under the procedure in standing order 32 thank you do we have a seconder as the council has sat for more than two and a half hours it has been moved and seconded that the remaining items of business on tonight's agenda be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of standing order number 32 which means that the necessary motions to deal with reports for decisions shall be formally moved and seconded and immediately voted on without debate is a motion to deal with the remaining business in this way agreed all those in favor all those against any abstentions the may the motion has been moved um with 31 in favor 20 against and zero abstentions so now we are going to be voting on the motion itself so all those in favor of the amendment the amendment of item 19 so the motion is carried with 31 in four, sorry the amendment is carried. So there's a 31 in favour, 19 against, and one abstention. Okay. As the amendment is carried, we're going to go now to the vote of the substantive motion. So all those in favour? As amended. As amended. All those in favour? All those against? Any abstentions? No abstentions. Okay. The motion is carried with 31 in favour, 20 against, and zero abstentions. Moving on to item number 11 is the paper on the interim senior management arrangements. Are those recommendations agreed? So I look forward to welcoming Mr. Travis. We now turn to executive report number 2. I move reception of the report. Can paragraphs 1 to 13 and paragraphs 14 in the supplementary paper be received for information? Thank you. Item 12 is from the Planning Applications Committee, report number 3. Councillor Belton, would you like to move it? I move the report of the Planning Applications Committee. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to item number 14 is from the Joint Staffing Committee. The report from this meeting has been considered under report number 1, Items for Decision, and in item 11, Interim Senior Management Arrangements. Is that for information? Yeah. Item number 15 is from the Health and the Health and the Health and Wellbeing Board Report number 5. Councillor Henderson. Madam Mayor, thank you. And thank you for your excellent chairing of this Council over the past year. Paragraphs 1 to 6 for information. Thank you, Councillor Henderson. Item 16 is a revision to committee memberships, members 25 to 106 and 25 to 106 A. Are the recommendations approved? Thank you. For item 17, can I ask the Council to appoint a chair for the item? Yes, can I please propose after some delay? Councillor Belton for chair. Seconded, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Councillor Belton, you are now the chair. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I meant to keep this very short, but my only ever chance of chairing a meeting of this Council, I'm going to tell you all to behave and you'll have real trouble from me. So let me start the evening by asking Councillor Hogg to move the motion in his name and Councillor and Councillor Richard Jones to second. Moved. Seconded. Thank you. Any amendments? No amendments? Good. All those in favour? Great. And any against? Any abstentions? I declare the motion moved anonymously on the end of my reign. Thank you, Councillor Felton. The motion has been moved. Item 20 is the motion on the £11 million hole in the budget. Can I ask Councillor Peter Graham to move and Councillor Hedges to second the motion in their name? Formally moved. Seconded. Thank you. All those in favour of the motion? And those against? Any abstentions? The substantive motion is carried. Oh, sorry. It's not carried. The substantive motion is not carried. So, um, 20 in favour and 31 against. Thank you, Councillors. That concludes the business of this meeting for this evening. But before we leave, I know colleagues would like to say a few words of appreciation for Mr Reilly on his last Council meetings. Councillor Richard Jones? Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you for allowing me to say just a few brief remarks about Mr Reilly, who we will miss dearly when he leaves after this Council meeting. When I was first elected a councillor in 2018, I was told by the first of my colleagues who I met, or who met me when I first came into this town hall, that Mr Reilly was a member of the gilded circle of officers that were held in really, really high regard by both groups in the Council. Um, and my experience with him since then, although we never worked directly, um, other than on some Northcote issues, uh, it has been nothing but positive. Um, you were a director of an extremely important department in the Council. I was always struck that this Council had always retained its Council housing, and unlike other councils where often Council housing is sold off to a social housing provider, Wandsworth never did that. Wandsworth always took its obligations to its housing tenants extremely seriously, and that's why we kept Council housing in-house. And so it was only appropriate that an officer of your quality and ability oversaw that department. You joined us in 2001, thereafter we became the first Council to reach the Labour government's decent home standards. Um, and you were held highly, uh, in regard, not just by members, but also by officers. And I know it was the, the courage, the leadership, the collegiality, uh, and also the sense of humour that you displayed in your time here. Uh, those are the qualities that meant you became our interim, uh, chief executive, and before that, the deputy chief executive. Uh, it's been an interesting time in your, your, your brief but memorable period as our interim chief executive. Uh, and you've needed that sense of humour, I think, perhaps more than any other time in your, um, in your time at Wandsworth. Um, I'm sure you'll miss these meetings in particular. Um, but they are on the webcast. Uh, I'm sure, I'm sure you'll tune in from a suitable location, uh, in the Caribbean. Um, and let's hope it's, it's not goodbye. It's just au revoir. Don't be a stranger. Come back and see us. Well said, Councillor Richard Jones. Oh. Councillor Grimston, would you like to say a few words? Uh, thank you, uh, Madam Mayor. Housing's always been very, very dear to my heart since I spent my single year chairing the old housing committee, uh, in 97, 98, uh, under Mr. Ali's, uh, distinguished, uh, predecessor, Dick Shepherd, who sadly left us, uh, recently. Uh, but I think we've been extremely lucky throughout my time on the council with the quality of the, uh, leadership that we've had from the housing department. And as Councillor Richard Jones said, it wasn't just that we held, uh, that we kept, uh, social housing, uh, uh, uh, in house. It was that 93%, if I remember the figure being right, of the residents voted to keep the housing in house. Uh, something which I think would have been the envy of pretty much any council in the country. And of course you don't get to that position without extremely good leadership. Uh, I would say on both political and managerial, uh, sides of the, uh, equation. Um, and I think Mr. Riley and I have had a, uh, an interesting relationship through the time. Um, I clearly, I think the time when we've interacted most in more recent years was over the issue of, uh, sprinklers in our, in our high rise, uh, buildings four or five years ago. Uh, when he and I, uh, took different views, I think, uh, on both sides for honorable reasons, I would argue, but it did bring out to me how the, the, the difference there fundamentally of our role as members, which ultimately is to reflect the view of the residents in front of us and the role of officers whose view it is, whose position it is to reflect council policy and to reflect their own professional agreement. Uh, I think, I like to think that we came through that time, uh, remaining, uh, respectful of each other. I certainly maintain my respect for Mr. Uh, uh, uh, right the way through, uh, the time there of those interesting, uh, days. Um, and I think it's, uh, a further tribute to him that when the political control of the council did change, uh, he was able to make that change and develop a relationship of trust with the new administration, which he had developed with the previous one. And that's always a very good sign of a, of an effective professional officer that they genuinely will work with the politically elected council of the day to put those policies into, into account in the best way that they can without carrying their own, uh, views into that, uh, chamber. And, and I think Mr. Riley has been an absolute model of that. So, uh, yeah, I will certainly miss him. Uh, I, I think his time as chief exec has been, uh, admirable as, as, uh, his time in all his other roles at the council, but, uh, as Councillor Richard Jones says, I hope this is far from being the last that we see of you. And we'll look forward to seeing you around. Thank you, Councillor Grimston. Councillor Ducadim. Yeah. Um, I always like to say, I say I work with, um, a giant of the housing movement and local government, both kind of existentially and literally, uh, Brian, um, the, the, the, the kind of the, the, to be honest, the first time I joined the council, I thought all the officers were conservative party members. That's how I thought it worked. So when I was at my first committee, I was probably quite aggressive. I think I probably shouted about Taylor Wimpy at you, um, about selling homes, about council housing. Um, but I quickly learned that there are, there are a few people, um, that I've ever met in my life who have such a dedication to delivering genuinely quality housing for working class people, um, and for protecting some of the most vulnerable residents in Monsworth. Um, and also who believe in the principles of council housing, which, um, I'm really glad you raised the issue of keeping it in house. Cause I think that was a really, really important decision and one that has stood the test of time, um, and, and, and has left ones within a really good position in, in trying to, to build that, build that, that idea of public and municipal housing out. Um, yeah, I mean, some of my best memories are, you know, you dragged me off to Manchester housing conference the day after Glastonbury with all of you on the train. I was just barely holding it together. Um, I got to see you without a suit, which was incredible. You have a similar silver chain. I really liked that. I was like, this is my bro. Um, uh, you know, learn all about your music tastes. Um, whenever there's an emergency, whenever something serious is happening in our blocks, you can always call Brian. Brian will know what's going on. He'll know who's on the ground. There will be an action plan. We are so lucky to have someone who is in so in control of the department when things go wrong. Um, and you've really, you've really smashed the chief executive job. I feel like you're, you were a natural at it. Um, you've already got the car to kind of drive around in your kind of gangster mobile. You've got your own fiefdom in Reed House. I mean, you were, you were, you were born to be a chief exec and you've, there are some of the most knotty problems that we have a council that you've just got in and you've got your hands in and you've fixed them in such a way that, you know, is a testament to how school for you are as a local officer. You will be really, really deeply missed. I'm going to keep calling you and asking you for advice when I need to. Um, but it's been an absolute pleasure to come up through the ranks and work alongside you. So thank you so much Brian. Thank you. Um, good evening everyone. Sorry. Good night.
Transcript
Thank you. Please be seated. Good evening, Councillors. Before the commencement of business, I would like to start the council meeting by calling on my faith leader, Imam Dr. Sayyid Ali Abbas Razavi, to say a few words. A reflection. In 2002, the late Kofi Annan, who was a good friend of mine, advised the United Nations, in particular countries in the Middle East, of a letter which was written by an individual living 1400 years ago by the name of Imam Ali. Imam Ali was the fourth khalif and the first Imam of the Shi'i community, and you know the Shi'i community because a number of weeks ago the Yaga Khan passed away, who takes his lineage as well from Imam Ali. Five points I'd like to raise in this reflection in terms of leadership. He wrote a letter, and he wrote it to one of his governors in Egypt. Five points are as follows. He says to his governor 1400 years ago, he says leadership is a trust and not a privilege. Based on this, in the same way that Jesus taught leadership, that one is a servant of the community, and there's a need to be a servant of the community, because governance is rooted in humility and duty. He then continues on this first point, to warn against arrogance, and to be connected to the public, so that one is able to serve with humility the community. The second point, which I'd like to raise is in regards to justice and fairness, regardless of a person's background, ethnicity, orientation, race, or so forth. Imam Ali teaches his governor, be equitable at all times, and deal with humanity as one brotherhood. And so the famous lines of his were, either a person is a brother or sister in faith, or a brother or sister in humanity. The third point on reflection is compassionate leadership, allyship. Compassion as a leader is very important, and he emphasizes this. He says when you go to Egypt, you'll see people not of the Muslim faith. You should be compassionate to people, and through this compassion, lift up those people who are underprivileged in a community. For each one of us are limbs, as a body, one body in a community. If the finger hurts, the whole body hurts. So the third point is compassion. The fourth point that he raises is accountability. And that's something he said is very important. One is accountable to the people, so be very transparent. The final fifth point, really, is this. He says trust build. Politicians or leaders will see ups and downs. They'll have to make decisions which people may not like. So the most important thing is trust build. And how does one do that, he says? He says integrity and service. The more compassion you show, the more service you show people, you manage to trust build. And when that takes place, even when a person makes a difficult decision, one is then able to satisfy or assure their communities. In conclusion, the final point really is this. From a faith perspective, interfaith dialogue is important. A number of weeks ago, or at least on the 11th of February, you saw an accord which was signed. The Dromlandrig Accord, which I wrote. And for the first time in history, six denominations of Judaism and five denominations of Islam came together to sign. And then it was presented by myself to His Majesty the King. This was the first time in European history that 11 denominations have come together in the midst of what you're seeing in the Middle East. But it wouldn't have been possible if there wasn't an opportunity for us to talk and to listen to one another. So in times of conflict, it is important, firstly, to listen, and secondly, to be compassionate. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Dr. Seyyed Ali Abbas Razavi, for your words of prayer and inspiration. I'm really grateful for you coming today, and thank you again. So, apologies have been received from Councillor Cook, Councillor De La Sochelle, and Councillor Hamilton. Are there any other apologies? No. Moving on to item number one. The minutes of the meeting held on 3rd February have been circulated. Are there any objections or abstentions to me signing the minutes as a correct record? Thank you. In the absence of any objections or abstentions, I would take that as agreed. Item number two is Mayor's Announcements. Good evening, and welcome to this Council meeting. Members may be aware that it is my sad duty to inform you that former Councillor Charles McNaught Davis has passed away. Can I ask members to stand for a minute's silence before Councillors Mrs. Graham and Cooper pay tribute to former Councillor McNaught Davis. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor. You may see it. Councillor Angela Graham. Thank you, Madam Mayor. In remembrance of Charles, it was with great sadness to hear he had passed away at Christmas. As a colleague, he was a gentleman, very courteous, principled, and committed to the Ellsfield ward in his time. But for those who did not know him, Charles was born to a military family in the 1970s. He read engineering at Cambridge. And on graduation worked as an engineer in Greece, but then returned to work for British Rail. And one of the, so true to him, Charles really caused ruptures when working British Rail. For the men went on strike as he refused to join the railway union. Truly his own man and standing up for what he believed in. He was also very proud of his great-great-grandfather, Sir George Finlay, who was knighted by the Queen Victoria in the 1890s for building the Northwestern Railway. But to continue, he joined the army as an officer going to Northern Ireland. He became a commander of the bomb disposal unit. And following on, he joined the Missiles Division of British Aerospace in the design and selling of naval surface-to-air missiles. Charles was a true conservative. And meeting him in New Old York Road in that time when I had York's restaurant. He was delighted when he joined me as a fellow conservative councillor in 1998 when we won the Old Erlsfield, which until he stepped down in 2014. His council life was busy, and prior to the leader and cabinet system, he served in social services, education, planning, regeneration, and being chair of transport. Now, after the implementation of the cabinet system, he served on health, corporate resources, adult children's services, and standards. And also being deputy mayor in 2001 too, becoming an honorary alderman in 2014. Charles and I fought many a battle on behalf of our residents in Erlsfield at that time. As we put it into context, not forgetting the Greyhound Stadium and the AFC Middleton and Springfield and more. It's a pleasure but a sadness to speak tonight. But, Madam Mayor, Charles Nort Davis was most certainly served his country. And most certainly served our Erlsfield and residents in Wandsworth. And I say, rest in peace, Charles. And it's a pleasure to speak. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. That was a very moving tribute. Councillor Cooper. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. I'm sure we all feel slightly strange when we hear eulogies and tributes in this chamber because it reminds us all that at some point in the future, somebody is probably going to be doing this for us. And with Charles Nort Davis, if I'd had to invent an archetypal conservative from the point of view of someone, Labour. And I would imagine that some people in this chamber, if you had to invent an archetypal Labour woman, you might say Angela Rayner. But Charles Nort Davis would have been that sort of archetypal conservative. Double Barrel surname. Double Barrel surname. Quite a nice posh accent. Incredibly polite. Incredibly polite. Always, I was, whenever I saw him, well-dressed. And, of course, I stood against him in 2002 and Julie lost. Actually, it's quite funny listening to Councillor Angela Graham talking about Charles because she crushed him four times in elections, frankly, just as he crushed me in 2002. But Charles won every time he stood, but he always came bottom. Didn't matter whether it was just him and Angela standing in 98 or whether somebody else was introduced onto the ticket. He was always the one who came bottom. What I remember particularly about him, though, is when we were standing and we were opponents, and then he crushed me in 2002. I came onto the council in 2006. He was really, really nice during the election campaign, even though we were opponents. He was absolutely lovely when I was elected to this council. And the other reason why it's strange doing a tribute to Charles McNaught-Davis, who was so polite and so friendly and so cross-party, is that this chamber can be very tribal. This chamber has been very tribal. Quite oppositional of late. In fact, it's good to see everybody in the chamber. I'm hoping it's going to stay like that for the whole of the evening. And I think, as a tribute to Charles, it would be nice if we could all be more courteous and polite. I'm not going to rehearse his many committees that he sat on because I thought that Angela Graham would do that very adequately. But he was a colleague who I appreciated. And I think everyone that served with him appreciated him, too. Charles McNaught-Davis. Thank you, Councillor Cooper. So, as we move on from the tributes, firstly, I would like to wish all those observing Ramadan a blessed Ramadan. As you will know, this will be my last Fall Council meeting in these chambers as mayor. I must say, the most challenging part of my mayoral duties has been in this room. But I have always strived to do my best for the people of Wandsworth. Being the first Muslim mayor and the first South Asian mayor of this borough has been an incredible privilege. The warmth and support I've received from so many people is a testament to what makes Wandsworth such a fantastic place. Truly, it has been an honour. Alongside me, this will also be Mr. Riley's last Fall Council meeting as Interim Chief Executive. On behalf of Wandsworth Council, I want to sincerely thank you, Mr. Riley, for your service to the borough. You have been a tremendous asset to Wandsworth and you will be missed. So, I want to pay tribute to all our hard-working counsellors. Your dedication and service makes a real difference. And as we approach International Women's Day on the 8th of March, I want to take a moment to recognise the significant role women play in our society. To all the women here tonight, as well as Fleur Anderson, Marcia de Cordova and Rosanna Allen-Kahn, the three incredible women MPs representing our borough, thank you for being the best versions of yourself and for everything you do. And while I'm giving my tributes, I cannot forget the most important women in my life, my mother. Her unwavering love, support and prayers have been the foundation of everything I have achieved in my life. I would not be sitting here today without her. On tonight's agenda, can members please note that a number of supplementary items have been circulated and these are required to be considered as a matter of urgency. The reasons are set out in full at the top of those items. Is that agreed? Please, could all speakers keep to time and wind up your speeches when the red light comes on. When the red light comes on, you will have 30 seconds remaining to wind up. This is to allow as many as possible of all councillors to participate. Before I finish, I would just like to explain the order of the meeting to any members of the public watching. We will be considering items mostly in the order in which they appear on the published agenda. However, you will see there are two instances on the agenda at items 6 and 10 where we have matters brought forward. At these points, we will be considering two of the three motions we have on the agenda. Our traditional approach, which we will continue to follow, has been for the two groups to take it into turn to have their motion debated first. This means that it will be the Labour motion to be debated at item 6 and the Conservative motion on protecting parks and commons at item 10. Thank you. Moving on to item number 3. Are there any members who have any declarations of disclosable, pecuniary interests, other registrable interests or any non-registrable interests relevant to any matters to be considered at the meeting? Councillor Cooper. Just in case anything relevant to the Greater London Authority, Transport for London, MOPAC, the fire brigade, the police, any of those areas, just to have it recorded that I am the London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth. I can't imagine it would be any pecuniary interests, so just for transparency. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Cooper. Any other interests? Thank you. Moving on to item number 4. Members, please raise your hands to indicate if you have a petition to hand in. Once I have called your name, please announce the subject title of the petition and who you are presenting it on behalf of. Please then come forward and hand your petition to Mr Kelly. Are there any petitions? Councillor Hedges. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a petition on behalf of residents on Nightingale Lane in Ballam Ward requesting an urgent review of practical measures to reduce speeding and improve safety along this road from Wandsworth Common all the way up to Clapham Common. This petition is signed by 600 residents in response to many complaints from residents over the past few years and upon suggestion from transport officers. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Hedges. Thank you, Councillor Hedges. Councillor Locker. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a petition signed by 216 residents from Putney expressing concerns about the recent works to Putney Bridge and High Street Junctions resulting in increased traffic and congestion in the local area. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Thank you, Councillor Locker. Any other petitions? Thank you. Item five is leaders' questions. Before we begin, questions may I remind all members that the overall period for members' questions to the leader and cabinet members is 45 minutes, with 20 minutes for leaders' questions and 25 minutes for cabinet member questions. However, if the leaders' questions overrun, this time is taken off the cabinet member questions. So, okay, question number one. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll summarise the question. Which of the various changes to our rules that are listed on page five of the written questions that have had the effect of reducing challenge and scrutiny in this chamber is Councillor Hedges most proud of? Councillor Hedges. Councillor Hedges. Thank you for that question. As part of our mission to become a more open listening council, we have taken a number of steps to focus on resident voices. Our popular new seven rings, seven days, guarantee, has seen thousands of residents serve faster than ever before. We now have one central phone number, one central email address to make it easier to get in touch and tell us your issues. We are putting local people front and centre, and the democracy review is an absolutely core part of that listening council work. The starting point is our current system is broken, and I think people across the chamber recognise that. It doesn't work for staff, it doesn't work for councillors, and most importantly, it doesn't work for residents. All of the proposed changes are about making sure the council is a modern, open, accountable organisation. For instance, I think it would be, despite your valiant efforts, Madam Mayor, I think it would be completely unclear to a member of the public trying to follow this meeting, what is happening from the agenda. And that is something that we will need to look at in future. Our democracy is not as accessible as it should be. We have already updated our cabinet meetings, and our cabinet members answer public questions on our website each week. Next, we are enhancing the scrutiny function that our committees can do. Committees will no longer be about this last-minute, eleventh-hour scrutiny, which is, frankly, better at producing arguments than it is at improving policy. They will look much more like parliamentary select committees, with the ability to control their work plans and agenda, and they will take that long-term approach. And, of course, all our public meetings will be live-streamed so people can see us doing their business in the daylight. We have worked with the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny for over a year to understand what an appropriate model looks like for modern-day scrutiny, and that is what we are going to use to transform the way we work. This will have the effect of opening up the council to more public scrutiny and listening to more voices, particularly those seldom-heard voices. And, like all high-functioning organisations, we will have a relentless focus on listening and delivering what people want. Thank you. Supplementary? Thank you, Madam Mayor. The Leader of the Council talks about letting in the sunlight. Doesn't he accept that many of the bad decisions that his administration has been taking have only come to light because of the work that opposition councillors have been doing, and the rights that opposition councillors have to get information, to call debates, and ask questions. All of the rights that his administration has been curtailing. I want to ask a specific question, though, about Bradstow School, which members know is very important to me and was the reason why we walked out at the last council meeting. It was only because opposition councillors used our legal rights under regulation to uncover the council's asset management plan, which first proposed selling off Bradstow School. When we surfaced that plan, the leader of the council completely disowned it and said it was an internal office of paper and wasn't the council's policy. Months later, the council then opened a consultation into closing Bradstow School. So can he answer me this? If he won't tell me which of the anti-democratic measures I listed earlier he's most proud of, will he say if he's proud if he ends up closing Bradstow School? And will he say he'll be proud if he closes any of the other assets that were listed in the asset management programme, including the Doddington Activity Centre, the Royal Hampton Youth Club, or York Gardens Children's Centre? Councillor Hogg. Thank you for those questions. By the way, nice that you've stayed around this time to actually ask them, to hear the answers. We got through stacks of questions last time when you weren't here, so let's see how many we get through this time. First off, we do not need lectures from the party that presided over this system. You had 44 years to change this system, but you preferred to keep the system we had. We do welcome scrutiny. We do realise your point, which we recognise from opposition as well, that error correction is hugely important. It does improve policies. Councillor Belton will tell you he spent decades knocking the rough edges of conservative policies, and maybe that didn't work out in the very long run, but that is 100% a feature of democracy, and it's what works very well. But Wandsworth Council was a pre-internet dinosaur of governance when we took over, one that valued the thickness of agendas and technical appendices over the quality of scrutiny and public accountability. We are changing that, and we are becoming a modern council, which is just bringing us into line with best practice for the sector. The constitutional relics that you are clinging to now play almost no role in the high-performing councils everywhere else across the country. As I was saying, our current system is broken. The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny told us that at present, committees are busy and challenging, but not necessarily making much difference. They debate and vote, but they are unable to influence at the conclusion. And I served in this system that you created for 12 years in opposition. I know it's a bad system, and I want to change it, and we can move forward. Again, it's a bit rich lecturing on Bradstow School. While we were here at last council meeting talking about Bradstow School, you were in the pub taking selfies. You cannot raise issues about a lack of democracy. You lost a vote, and you walked out. It's unacceptable. The public want to know how we're spending their money to make their lives better. Wandsworth will be an open, listening council that makes clear and fair decisions. Thank you, Councillor Mayorkas. I'm sensing a common theme in the contributions from this side of the chamber, but I too share the curiosity as to how long members opposite will stay in the chamber. Because nothing truly says democracy like prioritising a cheap photo opportunity over fulfilling our civic duty at the expense of our residents. So in a more positive note, in a more positive note, you wonder why you don't get to speak, and it's because you spend so much time wasting everyone's time. Can the leader tell us? Madam Mayor, I'll wait to finish my question whilst I carry on talking. Is that all right? Finished? So on a more positive note, can the leader tell us a bit about some of the ways that we're opening up access for residents to engage with the town hall? Councillor Hogg. Councillor Hogg. Thank you for that question. This is the People's Town Hall. It is for everyone. We're physically getting more people into the town hall more often. I'd like to thank the Mayor for hosting children who come in every week. It was great to see recently young people from All Farthings, St Anne's, Parkgate House and Honeywell. We get brilliant feedback from those children who do a treasure hunt. They do mock debates in this chamber. We've opened up a whole wing of the town hall for the voluntary sector. There's dozens of workspaces there. There's meeting rooms so we can work creatively together. Thanks to our access for all scheme, low-income residents can now get married for half price in the town hall. It's lovely to see people here having, you know, the nicest day of their life. You sometimes get to be an impromptu photographer. But I've been asked to say please don't throw confetti inside the building. But you are very welcome to come here for your wedding. We're opening up cabinet meetings and we're talking about issues raised to us with residents. And we're making them easier to find online. I've covered almost every ward in the borough with my monthly leaders drop-ins. It's brilliant to get out into the heart of the community. The people we represent, I know councillors, have got just as engaged as residents. And again, decent sandwiches and really helpful council officers help with that. So those have been really positive. So this is what happens when we focus on residents. And I agree, it is unfortunate, the increasingly bizarre behaviour of Tory councillors with these walkouts. It's, you know, the party of Beresford and Lister and Heaster just reduced to student politics. And the truth is, to be a serious opposition, they have to come to terms with being in opposition. I'd like to thank you, Madam Mayor, for your diligent and dignified service this year. And I think their behaviour towards you in the past year has been nothing short of disgraceful. It's unacceptable to repeatedly ignore your rulings and to disrespect this council. They owe you an apology for their unprofessional and disgraceful behaviour. Thank you, Councillor Hogg. Mayor and my members, although I have two ears, I mean, I can only listen to one person at a time. So let's be respectful. And please, when somebody is talking, let them finish and then you can have your little laugh. Thank you. Moving on to question number two. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think some of those comments will age very poorly when Bradstow School is shut by this council. I'll summarise the next question again. Question number two to the leader. With the council now raiding the reserves to fund day-to-day expenditure and proposing borrowing of 1.9 billion, how can he say with a straight face this is sound financial management? Councillor Hogg. I'm very proud of this council's record of sound financial management. Wandsworth Labour is freezing your council tax this year for the third year in a row. You will continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country. And sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do. Wandsworth has one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London, allowing us to freeze council tax and invest in what matters to residents. We did inherit housing revenue account debt of 52 million pounds from the previous administration when we took the council in 2022. Thanks to that sound financial management, we've paid down 43 million pounds of that debt. So we have one of the lowest debt levels in London. The potential future debt he mentions relates to new housing investment. These plans are fully costed and affordable. They're going to build a thousand new council homes for local people and their sons and daughters. And that investment will, of course, repay itself through rental income and will also help avoid the very significant costs of temporary accommodation for homeless families we're seeing. As I hope, the party opposite is still aware. Housing funds are legally separate to the general funds, which is for other day-to-day spending. And just to put it in perspective, the potential future debt repayments over the HRA business plan are equivalent to 85 pounds per person. The potential future debt payments for the approved capital program is equivalent to about 12 pounds per person per year. We have robust financial controls. There will be no borrowing to fund day-to-day spending. We have significantly increased investment in frontline services next year. Our council remains in a strong and stable financial position. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The leader refers to the interest that is accompanying the debt that he wants to take out. We have had to drag those figures out of the administration. The HRA alone is going to take on 885 million pounds just of interest payments. So the interest is going to cost more than the principal. For the capital program, that's 81 million. The leader referred to it in his written answer, but he referred to it in his oral answer as well, that the future debt repayments for the HRA are 85 pounds per person per year. And then for the capital program, it's 12 pounds per year. With the figures that the Finance Committee heard, I can't get to those calculations. So could the leader tell this chamber what the calculations are that get to the 85 per person figure and the 12 pound per person figure? Or, to save time, can he just tell us where in the council papers tonight that calculation is? Councillor Hogg. I think I'll have to get back to him with his slightly baffling question. I didn't refer to interest. I think he was doing a bit of a Kemi Badenock. He was just reading out the thing he wanted to say anyway. But I want to come back to the core of the question. We find ourselves once again having to school the Wandsworth Tories on the difference between revenue and capital, the difference between the housing revenue account and the general fund. There is no possibility. You know, you can't mix them. You legally can't. Well, you may attempt to. Good luck. But our housing program has not added a penny to your council tax, nor will it in future. This housing revenue account borrowing is a smart investment. It will be paid back through rental income, plus we will save money on temporary accommodation. So, councillors, we're not having a debate. It's leader's question still. Carry on, Councillor Hogg. Thank you, Madam Mayor. This fantastic investment in affordable homes we're making will long outlast the repayment period. They will be available for generations to come. We know Wandsworth Tories oppose this affordable house building. They've been clear about that. But we will never apologise for investing in genuinely affordable homes for local people to fight this terrible housing crisis that we have. Thank you, Councillor Paul. Thank you, Madam Mayor. In my ward in Wandsworth, I have seen the investment in the Henry Prince Estate club room. Also, across the borough, I've noticed pavement and road improvements. Can you tell me how we have been able to invest in Wandsworth while still maintaining sound financial management? Councillor Hogg. Yeah. That's a good question. How do we do it? And first to pay tribute to your excellent work as a ward councillor. And you will see not just the extra housing at the Atheldine there, not just the club room and the playground and the sports pitch at the Henry Prince Estate, but roads and pavements throughout Wandsworth will be improved by a decade of renewal as well. And I am proud of our cast iron commitment to sound financial management as we deliver an even better Wandsworth. So just to break it down, our innovative better services partnership saves around £10 million a year. The new change programme will deliver efficiencies of up to £9 million. And thanks to our smart investment decisions, we will earn £32 million this year alone. The reality is that residents suffered decline under the Tories, but we're now seeing investment under this Labour administration. We're delivering a thousand new council homes. We have the biggest cost of living fund in London and are a dedicated Borough of Sanctuary for refugees. We've set up an ambitious Access for All programme, have our new Seven Rings Seven Days commitment, your two free bulky waste collections, and now the launch of our Borough of Culture. These are all services that residents did not see under the Tories. Every single one of them. And they have refused to support our ambitious agenda at every single turn. I think voters understand that all of that progress is at risk at the next election. We are building the future, and they want to take us back to the past. Thank you. Question number three. Question number three to the leader. Thank you, Councillor Warrell, for that question. We all know Wandsworth is a fantastic place to live, to work, to do business. But we know there's more we can do to give our residents the best possible service. That's why we're becoming a listening council to listen to residents and to deliver on their priorities. We understand that dreadful frustration of being left on hold for 20 minutes when you're trying to get through to the council. So we change this with our new Seven Rings guarantee. Call our dedicated helpline. Council staff will pick up in Seven Rings. You no longer need to know the extension number or the direct dial for every service. And a new email address, hello at wandsworth.gov.uk, is there to make it even easier for residents to get in touch with us. We also recognise that good customer service is not going to be everything without swift action to resolve the issues that people have actually brought up. And we understand how important pride in your neighbourhoods is. So, if you report graffiti or a dangerous pothole or a broken street sign, we will fix it in seven days. And to deliver cleaner streets, every household now gets those two free bulky waste collections a year. Fully 2,000 people have booked free bulky waste collections since we launched it a month ago. It's been hugely popular. So, I'd finish by saying it's about ensuring every action we take is grounded in our residents' priorities. We will always put them at the forefront because we are a council that is truly at the service of our residents. Thank you. Thank you. Supplementary? Thank you, Madam Mayor. On a recent walkabout with Councillor Apps and the Sifona Estate, residents actually were commenting on our new initiative, the Seven Rings, and how much easier we made it for them to contact the council. So, a big thanks from the residents of the Sifona Estate to what we were actually doing. It was really great to hear that. However, it's now been a month since the initiative was actually put into place. And as with any new service, not all the KPIs have actually been met. And in your written answer, you actually acknowledge this. I was wondering, could the leader comment what mechanisms and processes are actually being put in place in order to meet these pledges in the future? Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Hogg? Yeah, thank you. That's a good question. So, I'd say, yeah, the launch has generally been really well received by our residents and partners. To show our performance, weekly statistics are published, which I think you're quoting, on the Seven Rings, Seven Days Guarantee, together with monthly updates on actions we're taking to get up to 100% success rate. In our first month, we achieved 100% success on graffiti, fixing broken street signs and dangerous potholes within seven days. And just to say, we're really keen to add other council services into that seven days guarantee. You know, watch this space, because residents should always be given a timeframe for seeing action when they raise an issue with us. Seven Rings was our most ambitious target. And we have set up a really good new multidiscipline customer service team. And we've implemented new technology to identify those areas of the council with higher call waiting times. And it's been really good to visit those teams and to hear from residents who are being helped quicker than ever. But at the end of month one, I think it was 37,000 calls, which seems like a lot for a month, but that's what it says. 66% were answered within Seven Rings. So clearly, we're not there yet. And there's work to do. This is a big improvement compared to the two-minute wait average time that we had in summer last year. When back, you know, before we started this program, there was a 45% answer rate. So already, we're driving internal change as well as external delivery. And we know our residents deserve better. So that's why we're working with services such as housing to reduce wait times and make more staff available to answer more calls. We've hired some fantastic new staff. And we are learning important lessons about where our services can be redesigned or improved. And we'll keep going, you know. And keep in mind, this is part of a wider culture shift to make sure residents receive excellent service across the board. Thank you. Councillor Corner. Thank you. I second supplementary, Madam Mayor. The council leader has just set out in response to this question that 34% of calls are not currently answered within Seven Rings. However, this hasn't stopped the council spending £19,490 on a leaflet to all residents in the borough promising that their calls would be answered within Seven Rings. Why did the council leader think it was appropriate to spend that taxpayer's money advertising a service that he had not bothered to check that the organisation could actually deliver on? And why did he not wait to confirm that the council could deliver on it before sending out that communication? Councillor Hock? Councillor Hock? Councillor Hock? Councillor Hock? Well, thank you very much for the question, which I think it's really important because it shows the difference here. Like, the old Wandsworth would have waited, well, you'd never have tried, but you'd have waited two or three years until it was perfect, and then you'd have mentioned in Brightside that you were trying to do it. What you actually did was set up a load of phone loops that people couldn't get out of to try and deflect people from contacting the council. It's a new world. We test and learn. We move forward. We bring the public in. Their user testing is absolutely essential to this. And we are absolutely transparent and accountable and open that we're not there yet. We are trying. But you don't wait until something's perfect and say, it's perfect, there you go. We constantly listen. There is no done. It's never finished. We're going to keep moving forward and trying to improve it. Thank you, Councillor Hock. Thank you, Councillor Hock. The time for leaders' questions has now finished. The Whips have agreed that item 18, the motion on lowest council tax and record investment for Wandsworth residents, will be taken next. Can I ask Councillor Hock to move and Councillor Akinola to second the motion in their names? Moved. Seconded. Thank you. An amendment to the motion has also been circulated. May I ask Councillors Peter Graham and Richard Jones to move and second their amendment? Formally moved. Seconded. Oops. Thank you. Could I ask Councillor Hock to, yeah. You can start your speech. Wandsworth Labour is freezing your council tax for the third year in a row. You will continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country. Sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do. Wandsworth has one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London, allowing us to freeze council tax and invest in what matters to you. I'll highlight three areas quickly. Our seven rings, seven days guarantee. Call us on 0208 871 6000 and we'll answer in seven rings. Report graffiti, dangerous pothole or a broken street sign and we'll fix it for you in seven days. Second, cleaner streets. Cleaner streets. Every household now gets two free bulky waste collections a year. We're expanding our fantastic mega skip scheme and guarantee to keep your weekly waste and recycling collections. And third, safer neighbourhoods. We have a network of over 1,200 CCTV cameras to monitor the borough 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And we're investing in our parks, town centres and public spaces to make them safer and more welcoming for everyone. Looking after our most vulnerable residents is crucial. We will continue to provide excellent care for older residents and to support our NHS. An increase of 2% in the adult social care precept this year will help to fund this vital work. Wandsworth is London's Borough of Culture 2025 and we're inviting everyone to take part. We had a wonderful launch event last week at Battersea Arts Centre with 400 guests. And kicking off in April there will be big cultural moments throughout the year, plus community led events all over the borough for you to enjoy. This council tax freeze is a great result for local people in a really difficult year for local government. Almost all London boroughs will increase their council tax by the maximum amount and many are having to make tough decisions about services. We will continue to invest strongly in frontline services. And I'd like to thank Cancer Island, Mrs Merry and all the finance team for their excellent work in this area. It's been lovely to get out and share our council tax news with local people. Residents have told us they've experienced council tax being double the rate in other boroughs and that Labour's low council tax helps, especially hearing this from people with young children, which is very rewarding. Many residents say that the first thing people mention when talking about Wandsworth is its low council tax. We have made changes to make council tax more fair. From next month, second homes in Wandsworth will be charged double their usual council tax. This is because we want homes in Wandsworth wherever possible to be lived in and enjoyed by our residents. We have informed residents with leaflets to all households. We've got more than half a million impressions on social media and council tax bills will start arriving with you next week. We always seek to communicate with residents when we're introducing new services or taking big decisions on their behalf. But freezing council tax does not mean we're standing still. We have reversed the years of declining services and underinvestment. A thousand new council homes, the biggest cost of living fund in London, doubled investment in our roads and pavements, the wonderful new access rule programme, that seven days, seven rings guarantee, monthly mega skips and now free bulky waste collections. Labour is delivering a fairer, more compassionate, more sustainable council. We're taking care of the things that matter to you so that together we can keep Wandsworth special. Thank you, Councillor Hogg. Councillor Richard Jones. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Wandsworth Conservatives support low tax. We, for decades, set the UK's lowest council tax at Wandsworth. We made this borough famous for low council tax. But the secret to our success over the decades was sustainable, sound finance so that we could keep the council tax low in the long term. This budget tonight is a radical departure from that. This year alone, there is an £11 million hole in the budget. It's only because of the reserves that Councillor Hogg inherited from the last Conservative administration that means he can plug that hole tonight. But if he didn't have those Conservative reserves, he would need to find a 15% increase in the council tax to plug his budget hole. So, spending is now out of control in this council. Last year, an extra £16 million budget uplift was added to the budgets above and beyond inflation. An extra £4 million was then added as a contingency. And even then, this month's finance committee reported an additional £4 million of overspent. And there is not a whiff of a plan as to how to get that overspending under control. In fact, the council finances, to conceal the fact that there is trouble down the road, actually models real terms decreases in expenditure in years to come. That is absolutely fanciful, madame. When the leader talks about sound financial management, we really are in Alice in Wonderland territory. This council is now raiding its savings to pay for day-to-day expenditure. That is the opposite of sound financial management. They are burning through the reserves. By May 2026, 90 million of the reserves they inherited will be depleted, with total plans to spend £150 million of the reserves. The council leader doesn't understand how the reserves are being used. He said a moment ago that there was no use of revenue reserves for the housing revenue account. That is not true. You are tying up £50 million of the reserves in internal borrowing for the housing revenue account. And on that subject, the real horror show here, quite apart from the depletion of the reserves, is the debt that this council is taking on. The numbers are staggering and they are unprecedented. The housing revenue account will take on £780 million, plus an extra £885 million. The council leader was wrong to say that that will be paid back in council rents. A good chunk of it is going on simply getting our stock up to scratch from existing stock. The rest of it is going towards a housing programme that doesn't add a single new house to the borough above and beyond the plan he inherited from the last Conservative administration. The capital programme is now out of control. There is £185 million of borrowing with £81 million of debt, all for projects that Sill could cover if he hadn't diligently been posturing ideologically and letting his cabinet members run wild, driving private investment out of this borough and shrinking Sill receipts. That is in total £1.9 billion of reserves. Rachel Reeves, when she gleefully axed the winter fuel allowance from the majority of our pensioners, said, If we can't afford it, we can't do it. Well, what would she even make of this budget? This Labour administration are prisoners of their own ideology. An ideology that puts borrowing above private investment, puts vibes over proper financial controls and management, and prioritises headlines over the hard yards of proper local government work, and looking after our finances so we can look after the vulnerable in our borough. This is a travesty of a budget. It's a car crash with an inbuilt time delay. Because if it carries on like this, council tax rises are coming, and they are coming big. There is still time to get this under control, to rein in spending, to cancel the debt, and to properly rationalise these programmes. But that change will only come with a change of political control of this council in May 2026. Thank you. Councillor Vath Raj. Thank you, Madam Mayor. The Bondsworth Council is a White Ribbon accredited organisation, and as a woman councillor, I am pleased this council is doubling its investment to support victims of domestic abuse as part of our strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. 2025's International Women's Day will be marked at a time of unparalleled crisis at every front. The climate disaster, the economic turmoil, the aftermath of the pandemic, and the multiple conflicts raging around the world. During these times of austerity, we witness the resilience, determination, and strength of women as they keep families and communities together. In Wandsworth and across the country, women are breaking barriers, challenging norms, and leading in ways that were thought to be impossible when the suffragettes started campaigning for women's rights to vote. The 8th of March is a time to celebrate the incredible achievements of women in both public and private sectors. The powerful women in this chamber, and the women across our borough. From the women pioneers who break barriers in science, politics, arts, and business, to women who are at the forefront of progress, and the women whose stories are untold. As we celebrate these victories, we must recognise the ongoing struggles every woman continues to face. The fight for gender equality is far from over. I want you all to think about the women who have shaped your lives, your mothers, sisters, daughters, partners, and friends. What kind of a future do you want for them? I see a future for women free from discrimination and fear, equal rights and equal pay, for every woman to live in society where they are valued, respected, and empowered. But what kind of a world are women living in today? A world where one in three women will suffer physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. A world where women are not paid equally to their male counterparts. And a world with limited access to healthcare, education, and opportunities for women. But in Wandsworth, our women are leading the way. With employment rates of 76%, which is higher than the London and national average, women in our borough have a higher life expectancy of 70 years compared to the national average of 64 years. And in education, women in Wandsworth have achieved remarkable success, with 70% holding a degree or equivalent qualification completing higher education. As women, we get told, break the glass ceilings. But we should be dismantling those ceilings that exist in the first place, in our political system, in our workspaces, and in our daily lives. As a woman of South Asian heritage and politics, I understand first-hand how deep-rooted systemic inequalities affect women of diverse backgrounds. It is women from marginalised communities that are often not at the table when decisions are made that shape their future. Their voices are silenced and their needs are overlooked. It is important that we continue to work towards representation that reflects the diversity of our society, and to be inclusive in the conversations we have. I am proud Wandsworth has three women MPs who represent the diversity of our borough. We are fighting for half of the world population, so gender equality can't be achieved without men being an ally to women. Men have a duty to stop the centuries of misogyny, stop the normalisation of hate against women, and stop the silencing of women voices. We need policies that foster environments for women to thrive. This Council is deeply committed to preventing violence against women and girls, and providing support to domestic abuse victims. Our violence against women and girls strategy was developed by listening to the voices of survivors. We are committed to making our streets safer, and providing training for residents to become an active bystander. The Council runs the Safe Space Clapham Junction in partnership with the police, giving women a safe space to go late on a Friday night for support and advice. Our weekly drop-ins at Wandsworth's one-stop shop in Battersea and Royalhampton offer free and discreet support. We also have a community forum to bring together organisations and individuals. We stand to honour every victim and remember all of the lives lost because of violence perpetrated against women and girls. Let us all continue to create a Wandsworth where our future reflects the needs, aspirations and dreams of all women. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Bathuraj. A really, really inspirational speech. Thank you. Councillor Grimston. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And if my voice gives out halfway through, well then, it's not the microphone, it's the voice. There's a lot of good stuff in this motion, and I congratulate the majority group for it. I think I felt for some time that we were in real danger of leaving behind those who were not savvy with the internet when it came to contacting the Council. And being able to actually get to talk to an individual on a phone, I think, is a move in the right direction. One of the examples I would suggest where going back to the past is no really bad thing, because there was an age when, of course, that's the way most of the Council's business was done. Nonetheless, and reflecting on the words of the Imam at the start about trust and the idea about opening and listening, there is one thing which has bugged me for a long time, and it bugged me when the previous government was in control, it bugged me when the present opposition was in control. We are not freezing the Council tax. It's entirely and absolutely indefensible to say that the Council tax is being frozen. It's there on page 13 of the main report here, where it says in very clear annual Ban D bill for what Wandsworth charges is going up by £9.95 a month. And the idea that there's some difference in this distinction about the social services precept as opposed to the rest. It's rather like someone going into a Starbucks and asking for a black coffee and being told, well, we put black coffee at the bottom, sorry, we put milk in at the bottom, we fill the rest up with black coffee, but nonetheless, most of this cup is black coffee. Most of it is the same concept there, that for those who will look at their Council tax bills, as many will, they will see that the Wandsworth proportion has gone up by 2%, or to put it another way, Wandsworth could have chosen genuinely to freeze its proportion of the bill. It could have chosen to retain it at the level of £489.74, as it was last year. They chose not to, we had full discretion. I agree with the decision, because I think that money has to be raised. But what does this social care precept actually mean anyway? It's there at a figure of 89.89 for this coming year. If my back of envelope calculations are right, that means that it will raise £13.4 million. We're genuinely saying to our residents that we spend only £13.4 million on social care, the single biggest item in the multi-billion pound budget of Wandsworth. It's ridiculous and it is misleading, and I would suggest it's the very opposite of treating people, I would be tempted to say actually, treating people as grown-ups within this. And the thing that I just don't understand is, it is actually a very good message. As the leader rightly said, compared to many authorities around the country, to only be raising the Wandsworth proportion by 2% below inflation is a good story. And I don't see why you can't go out and sell that story in a truthful way. Because instead, the good people of our borough have had the pleasure of paying for a leaflet, coming into every home, telling them the untrue statement that Wandsworth is freezing its proportion of the council tax. And it's not even true, let alone whether that's a good use of the money that residents are saying. So I really would say, if you're serious about this, and I entirely agree with the leader, going out and saying this is what we're going to do, before doing it, and giving people a chance to come back and say it's not working, I think that's good governance. I think it's brave, I disagree with the point that was made earlier, that you shouldn't do it until you're absolutely right, you're going to get everything right. Because frankly, we very rarely get into that position. So there are many things in here going right. But what I for the life of me can't understand is why you stick to this fiction, which was introduced by the previous governments and exploited by the previous administration, but why you stick to this fiction about freezing council tax. It doesn't look serious. It doesn't look like you're actually trying to level with the residents of the borough. And ultimately, the damage that will do, I suspect, to relations between the borough and the council and the residents, will much outweigh any short-term benefit that might accrue from this fiction that council tax is being frozen. Thank you, Councillor Grimston. Councillor Hedges? Thank you, Madam Mayor. I had some feedback last week from a well-respected member of the Labour Administration, who shall remain anonymous, that you don't hear enough from me. So here goes. I do believe we're all here for the same reason, to serve our residents and to make a positive difference to our community. Where our sides dramatically differ isn't just on our political ideologies and policies, but on our interpretation of what sound financial management means. The Labour Administration would have residents believe sound financial management is at the heart of everything they do, when in reality, behind Labour's shiny new pink leaflet, stating Wandsworth Council is freezing your council tax for a third year in a row, is a budget deficit of £13.3 million, paid for out of the reserves. Overspending of £13 million last year and £9 million this year, and not forgetting the council's new logo, costing nearly £20,000, also on the new shiny leaflet. In the year I was born, in 1978, the Conservatives won Wandsworth Council. From then on, for the next 44 years, the Conservatives successfully led Wandsworth Council, by controlling spending, by not ratcheting up debt, cutting council tax where possible, governance and sound financial management. This is a stark difference to that of the current Labour Administration, where we're seeing excessive spending, unprecedented borrowing and running down of the council's reserves. This strategy is short-sighted and, at worst, disastrous. As we all know, reserves can only be spent once, so this can never be an answer to long-term funding problems. Madam Mayor, it's important to acknowledge a pattern of failing Labour councils across the country. Nottingham City Council, for instance, recently issued a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring itself bankrupt. This is not an isolated incident. Other Labour councils, such as Croydon, bankrupted by Labour three times for toxic financial mistakes. Liverpool City Council has faced significant financial challenges. Slough Borough Council issued a Section 114 notice as a result of years of financial mismanagement, which led to a significant budget deficit. Birmingham City Council bankrupted by Labour's financial mismanagement. These Labour-run councils have all faced similar financial crises. The root cause of these financial woes lie not in the lack of funding, but in poor governance and financial mismanagement. The failures we have witnessed are primarily attributable to failures in management, governance, debt and excessive spending. This is an important reminder to my colleagues on the other side that sound financial management is crucial for the effective functioning of Wandsworth Council, or any council for that matter. The unsound financial management of Wandsworth Labour Council will have far-reaching consequences for the diverse community it serves. We will continue to challenge financial decisions and lobby for the adoption of sound financial practices, even when we are deliberately shut down and silenced. Only then can we hope to restore trust in our local governance and ensure the effective delivery of vital services to our community. Worryingly, I had a resident in Ballham say to me recently, it's depressing as it looks like Labour have a plan to deplete the reserves and borrow millions. As a resident and taxpayer, the Labour administration's management of our cash is economically illiterate. It's hard to believe that Wandsworth will potentially go from being one of the few councils with no debt to then borrowing millions due to Labour's spending plans. If the council's finances continue on this trajectory, this will inevitably be the end of Wandsworth Labour's administration, and indeed the end of the reserves. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Fraser. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm delighted to speak in this debate tonight and ahead of International Women's Day to follow women councillors on both sides of the chamber this evening. I'm going to highlight just some of the things that Wandsworth Council is delivering for its residents, all whilst delivering the lowest council tax in London. Five years on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, life and the needs of those who live in Wandsworth looks different for many. This may mean that people are looking for help in any number of areas, including support with mental and physical health needs or financial assistance to cope with the ongoing cost of living crisis. It's right, therefore, that Wandsworth Council has sought to change and pivot the way that we support our residents, especially those most in need of our assistance. Whether that be through London's largest cost of living support fund or through supporting our vital voluntary and community sector, who do amazing work, ranging from providing food and warm spaces, right the way through to providing advice and guidance, community outreach. The council is ensuring that those most vulnerable in our borough are not left isolated. It's not just the low council tax, though, which is helping the finances of our residents. Through the hard work of our officers and further investment in the low-income family tracker, we're also now more precisely able to reach residents who aren't aware of the support they're entitled to, ensuring they receive the grants and dispensations that are available to them. Through investments in upgrading our leisure centres, including vital works at Ballham and Putney Leisure Centres, we're supporting our residents to stay healthy. To provide further support that those most need it, our Access for All scheme allows free access to these facilities, ensuring that there are no barriers for those who wish to use our leisure centres. And as a proud councillor in South Ballham, how could I not give a mention to the LIDO, and as a proud member of the South London Swim Club. Through significant investment by this council, we've ensured the LIDO is able to be enjoyed by thousands of people all year round, allowing them to feel the health benefits of cold water swimming. I was also delighted to see last summer that Access for All was extended to the LIDO, enabling residents to enjoy the best of a summer swim at the UK's largest outdoor LIDO on their doorstep in Tooting. But it's not just investment in Access for All and leisure services. We're also mindful of getting the basics right, and I'm delighted to see that Transport, under the leadership of Councillor Jenny Yates, deliver the biggest financial investment of upgrades to roads and pavements this year, that Wandsworth has seen. This 10.25 million investment corrects decades of underinvestment, meaning that regardless of how residents travel across our borough, and regardless of whether that road is on an estate or not, we've broken down those barriers to see roads and pavements across the borough upgraded in the year ahead. Residents in my ward were delighted that Elmfield Road, which has a Ravenstone school at one end and a popular doctor's surgery at the other, will now have its pavements upgraded in the coming year, as will the Ridevale estate. Regardless of whether you walk or wheel, this will now be done on safer, smoother roads and pavements, and supported by a forward plan of investment totalling 40 million for Wandsworth walking and cycling strategy. I could go on if time allowed, but I'll end by saying that a time of unprecedented demand on council services, Wandsworth Council and Wandsworth Labour are supporting our residents through high-quality services and all delivered with sound financial management by Councillor Ireland. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Fraser. The matter now before the council is an amendment moved by Councillor Peter Graham and seconded by Councillor Richard Jones. All those in favour of the amendment? All those in favour of the amendment? Those against? Any abstentions? Thank you. Thank you. 18 in favour, 33 against. The motion is not carried. As amended. Sorry, the amendment is not carried. Okay, so now we're moving on to the substantive motion. All those in favour of the substantive motion. Those against? Any abstentions? So 33 in favour, 20 abstentions. The substantive motion is carried. Moving on, questions to the cabinet members will now be taken. So we're going to start with question number 10. Councillor Brooks. Okay, thank you. So the question, for people that haven't got it in front of them, it relates to the license application for events in our parks and the events policy. Unfortunately, the question seems to conflate the two into one issue and actually they are two separately related issues. So I'll just explain that first so that we know what we're talking about. So we've got Wandsworth Borough of Culture this year. It's going to be fantastic. We want to put some amazing events on for the community, with the community, by the community. Unfortunately, only Battersea Park has a license to put on live events. So anything, anything from singing, dancing, Shakespeare, any choirs, anything you can think of, it needs to have a license. So our other spaces, in particular at Wandsworth Common, Tooth in Common, King George's Park, we can't currently put anything on. So our partner in ABLE started applying for a license and they used the existing events policy for guidance. So the existing events policy brought in by your administration with, I believe, the consultation with the friends groups at the time, brought in this policy and it is currently very wide-ranging. There is the possibility to have lots of large events but that has never been abused to my knowledge. So enable use that for guidance and unfortunately it very much scared and concerned residents because I guess people didn't know how wide-ranging that existing policy was. So we heard loud and clear from residents they were really, really concerned about the possibility of long events, late events, large events. We heard that very, very clearly. We asked and able to withdraw that blanket license application, of course, because it was scaring, concerning, worrying people. So now they have just two license applications in at the moment, one for a lovely dance event in Battersea Park and one for a country music festival on Tooth in Common just for a weekend and it would be very similar to an event that was run on that common was very, very popular. So those two applications are in but they are for consultation. The licensing process involves consultation. Residents can write in or write in to me, write into the licensing committee with their views. The licensing committee will then decide in whatever way they decide. We are listening to what residents are concerned about. So then related to that but not exactly the same issue is that we are also revising, updating the events policy. It was brought in 2014, it's a long time ago. Best practice has moved on. So our offices have drafted a new policy for guidance. We discussed it at Environment Committee a week or two ago. Again, it became clear that residents were concerned about some of the language in the new policy. Actually, the new policy is designed to be tighter on the issues that people care about. So better protection of our biodiversity and green spaces and nature. Better, more stringent controls on noise so that the locals don't get disturbed. So actually, our aim was to tighten our controls on the events that we run. The language perhaps didn't reflect that. We've heard that. We've met with the friends and MAX groups. We've heard their concerns. There was a big debate at Environment Committee. We've heard that residents should be consulted. We are consulting. So there is now a new draft events policy that will go out for consultation. We will listen to our residents. So that is where we're at. And I don't accept any of the other premise of the question. We are listening. We are consulting. We will work with residents to have the best possible events policy, the best possible events in our open spaces. Thank you, Councillor Gasser. Supplementary? Yes, please. Thank you. Well, it's a joy to hear so much from you. I think that was a longer answer than all of your remarks in every single environment committee we've had so far. So wonderful to hear from you. I think you've been a bit glib, to be honest, about the changes to the open spaces events policy. It's not an update. It's a gutting of all the protections that were there before of our sports pitches, grass areas in the wintertime, late night cutoffs, setup and takedown periods, events on the same ground weekend to weekend, and you took out the decibel limit without putting a new one in. The only reason to change the policy, as you have done, is to facilitate the types of events that were described in the licensing applications in January. What happened is you got your comm sequencing wrong and got caught. How is damaging the landscape, ruining sports pitches and closing sections of the parks off to the public in any way a celebration of the borough's culture? So I'm afraid you are deliberately misconstruing what our intention was and stirring up worry and concern to our residents, because that is not the case. So on noise, the noise controls will be more stringent. It will be done on the distance from the houses. So a decibel level on the common is going to affect somebody closer much more than somebody further away. Each house is a decibel level at the house. That's my understanding of it. I'm not an expert, but it's to be tighter. It's more stringent, more stringent on what you talk about the green spaces and the football pitches. We will only ever allow events on there when the football pitches or whatever pitch or green area is in the right condition. It just gives us a little bit of leeway, our suggestion, and it is from consultation, a little bit of leeway so that the port pitches could be used off season if they're in a good enough position. Why would I want to ruin our sports pitches? I'm passionate about sport, and I'm passionate... Well, we'll come on to the money in a minute, if you like. But so you know that I'm passionate about biodiversity. We've agreed on the advice of the friends to change the wording around the biodiversity so we won't be having events in biodiverse rich areas or even areas adjacent to diverse rich areas. So we have taken on board all of the friends and the Mac's comments and we look forward to taking on board other people's comments across the borough. It's not about money. We were not the party that brought in Formula E to Battersea Park to raise money, which was hated by everybody and you had to get rid of it. We were not the party that outsourced the whole of the leisure and culture directorate to make money to generate money. We were not the party that was you who privatised the one o'clock club, the children's zoo, the adventure playground. That was your party that worries about money. We do not need to raise money, any more money from that. We're putting on free events. You know what? We're putting on a free Battersea Park run. We put on free weekend activities for families this weekend. There's a free five-day taster pass at the moment going on. We've got free access for all. We've got free swimming in the Lido. We are providing free residents, free activities for our residents. We need it. This is not about money. This is about providing the best possible activities and events for our residents, with our residents. Councilor White. Second supplementary. Since at least the middle of the 18th century, Wandsworth Commons have had holiday fairs, often attracting big crowds. I hope this tradition of holding events on the common, that are very popular amongst a wide range of people, will not be stopped. Well, no, this is what the Borough of Culture and Beyond is all about, actually. We want to have lovely community family events, but we want them to be controlled by us and the events policy, and actually the licensing restrictions as well, can control how those events are. They mustn't be too noisy. They mustn't ruin our areas. They must be family friendly. We don't want late nights. We don't want booze ups. We certainly don't want anything like we've seen on Clapham Common, which is the scare story that's going around. Over My Dead Body will we have Clapham Common types events. It's not about that. It's about family community events for and by and with our communities. Thank you, Councilor. Question number 11. Councilor Ambash. Question number 11 on the London Borough of Culture launch. Councilor Akinola. Twins. That's great. Yes, thank you, Councilor Ambash, for your question about the launch. First of all, I want to start by saying thank you to all of the officers, the performers that worked so hard to put on what was just such an incredible, very early Tuesday morning. And thank you to everybody that attended. I'm sure that you all had a really wonderful time. It was great. Bacon sandwiches, dancing, music, people, three people standing on top of each other. It was really, it was really great. And as you have all heard, over 400 people attended. But what you may not have heard is one of my all time greatest goats. I think it's, as the young people say, Romeo from So Solid was there. That was amazing. So yeah, it really did give a really nice flavour of what is to come over this following year. And it also inspired a lot of the voluntary sector organisations who may not have thought that they had anything to offer for the Borough of Culture. It inspired them to think about what, in addition, they will be able to do. So I've had loads of emails and conversations with people about things that they do normally, things that they want to celebrate over the year, and how they can really be involved in it. So the other thing that the event actually launched, apart from inspiration and the media launch, was also a programme. So I encourage everybody here to go onto the website, welcometowansworth.com, and look at some of the main activities that will be happening across the year. And also the other thing is that organisations, charities, anyone really, can submit new ideas that they would like to be included in the programme subject to fitting the criteria of the year about connection, networking, and ultimately improving health for everyone across the borough. So I imagine that the programme that you can see on the website is only going to grow over the course of the year. But you don't have to wait for the Borough of Culture to start, because indeed this Saturday we have the Southfields Art Festival, so that's worth going to. Wandsworth Makes Music will be happening on the 31st of March, and there's also the Oxford-Cambridge race, which will, with a bit of added spice, which will all be revealed closer to the time which is happening in the middle of April. So that's going to be really wonderful. But what you actually asked me was, what is happening? 26th of April, everyone put this in your diaries. If you could put the 26th of April in your diaries, it would be wonderful to see you all there doing the dance. And I don't know if, Mayor, you can make it mandatory that everybody turns up and actually takes part, but that would be wonderful. But I really think we should all try and attend. And I was speaking to, you know, one of the opposition earlier today, and it really is, it's a cross-party project that we all agree to. There is, there's no reason for any of you not to come. We should all be really proud that this is what's happening in our borough. So I really hope that you will all turn up, you'll be welcomed by not just us, but everybody else that's there. Everyone likes to see councillors actually take part in activities and events that they're putting forward. The other thing that's happening is also the Wimbledon Art Fair, which is actually in Tooting, even though it says Wimbledon, it's actually in Tooting. That's happening in the middle of May as well. And we will also, and I think this is in the written answer, you'll also get a bit of a flavour about the Wandsworth Way, which is the Riverside Studios radio drama that you can also take part in, if you want. I'm going to be in it. It's going to be exciting. And so that will be, that will be really wonderful. So I hopefully, that gave you a bit of a flavour, Councillor Ambash. I love that you're repping as well. First supplementary. Councillor Ambash. Thank you. Could I just congratulate Councillor Jaffray on your brilliant year as Mayor first, before I ask the supplementary. You've represented the borough as a great ambassador, and thank you for all you've done with poison dignity throughout the year. So the supplementary on borough of culture is how are we promoting the arts and culture over the year to reach all our diverse communities throughout the borough. Councillor Lacanola. Thank you. Well, that equality and diversity is always at the forefront of my mind. And some of the things that actually are happening along, across the year are specifically targeting equality and diversity. We have the Liberty Festival, which is a disability-led festival. It's going to be run or curated by a disability-led organisation called Cryptic Arts, which is super important. I think in May, the Bait Bean Company are are producing a show called The Things We Lost, which I'm quite excited to go and see. That's at the Royal Academy of Dance. We have Access Able, those Access Able guides. I've spoken about this before, but it's a group of people with a variety of disabilities who've gone out and surveyed our buildings, buildings that we might use for the borough of culture, including council buildings, actually, as well, and see how accessible they are. And then, actually, it will show people how they can maneuver their way through them or how they can be used. And, for example, Battersea Arts Centre do some... What's the word? What's the word? They do special screening. They do special shows. Thank you. They do relaxed performances for people that might not be able to cope with a lot of noise or a lot of lights. And these guides will be coming out end of April, but before we launch the Borough of Culture on the 26th. So that will be very useful. In terms of ensuring that we are keeping these things in the forefront of our mind, the Liberty Festival has a steering group made up of people with disabilities from across the borough who make sure that we're on track, make sure we're thinking about all the different kinds of disabilities through experience themselves or because they have family that they've looked after or organisations that they run that support a variety of different disabilities. We also have the London Borough of Culture Champions. We have the London Borough of Culture Champions who are from a variety of backgrounds who ensure that equality is on the forefront of our mind. In terms of grants, there's more to come. In terms of grants, we have the South Asian History... South Asian Month Fund that, again, our mayor actually instigated a couple of years ago. And we also have the Black History 365 grants specifically for arts and culture, although if anyone wants to apply for them, they need to do that soon because those dates are closing. And yeah, these are some of the many things that we're doing. But I think you'll see from the programme the variety of different activities, cultural events across the borough from a wide range of people. Thank you, Councillor Canola. Councillor Corner. Thank you, Madam Mayor. One of the many things that the Council should make sure that it's doing as we approach the London Borough of Culture year is making sure that the walk routes into the borough are open and safe and welcoming. And that cultural sites that have previously hosted events during the popular Wandsworth Art Fringe in recent years are also available for events. Sadly, this is not the case at Riverside Walk in Nine Elms, where the Nine Elms Pavilion has been occupied by a long-running, seemingly never-ending protest that has caused huge disruption to residents, blocked a walkway into the borough and shows no sign of ending, despite the representations that residents themselves have made in this town hall, most notably at the December meeting. Now, since that meeting in December, it has emerged that there are many, many actions that the Council... Madam Mayor, could we ask that he comes to a question, please? Sorry, I think people's patience is being tried. Okay. If you stop talking, I'll come to the question. Thank you. There are many things the Council could be doing to take action against this protest that has more than passed its end by date, including passing a bylaw about protests in the area and also engaging more with protest planners. What is the Cabinet Member going to do to make sure that all cultural sites and areas in the borough are available for the Wandsworth Borough of Culture events, including the Nine Elms Pavilion, and will she commit to taking action to make sure these sites are renovated, made to look lovely for the year and, most importantly, actually available to use? Thank you for your question. I think it's very true to say that a lot of our organisations, and I think not just in Wandsworth, but those across the whole of London, the cultural organisations are really suffering from a lack of funding and support. So I would ask that Councillor Corner, maybe you would be able to go to as many of the Borough of Culture events as you can, show your support for these cultural organisations, maybe pay for a couple of them as well, because every penny really does count into ensuring that they stay open and that they're useful for many years to come. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Akinola. Before I move on to the next question, I'd just like to say thank you to Councillor Ambash for his kind words, and also I'd like to congratulate Wandsworth for becoming London Borough of Culture 2025, and well done to Councillor Akinola for all your hard work. I can feel your passion for the Borough of Culture. And at the launch, I did actually meet lots of excited residents and people who were really forthcoming with the idea. So well done for your hard work. Moving on to question number 13. Councillor McLeod. 12, sorry. Councillor Austin. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Number 12. Yes, to Councillor Belton. Sorry, thank you. Thank you. Can I answer, can I say first of all, Councillor Austin asked how many times a standing order procedure was used to stop planning applications since the year 2000? The answer's
- There were also three at the last council meeting that didn't actually get put because of the somewhat unusual situation of the minority party walking out, depriving Councillor Austin of the chance of making about three speeches, I think. I feel sorry for him. One of the problems that I faced as a minority for many years, and let me just mention this to the minority party in general, was that if you played your cards too powerfully, then the majority party changed the standing orders. Now, the leader of the opposition said, we never did that to you. Does he really want a lesson from me? I could list a dozen without even trying to think of it, the number of standing orders that you changed? Will he take the intervention? That will be at a later date, however. Thank you very much. The point, really, of the question is to highlight what Councillor Austin talks about as the undemocratic nature of it. In fact, he ought to have thought a little bit further about how he could be flexible, as I used to have to do. And in fact, you will find in the agenda tonight, under the planning applications report, report number three, specific mention about the applications in Whitnall Way that he wanted to talk about. And if he could have persuaded his colleagues to take a debate on them as being sufficiently important, he could have discussed them. It is not true, whatever he may think, it is not true that this majority party prevented that happening. What the majority, it is not true, you could have raised it there. What the majority party has done, what the majority party has done is to get rid of an obsolete standing order. And I say obsolete, you will notice, you will notice, you will notice that the last time it was used was 2013. And that is because since 2013, the regulations about the planning committee have changed. And it is now an executive committee on its own right, like the licensing committee. You cannot stop a licensing committee decision. You never have been able to. And actually, you can't really stop a planning committee decision. Because to take part in a planning meeting discussion and decision, you've had to have had training in planning applications law. And most of the members of this council have not had that. However, you could, if you wanted, move a motion on the item that I mentioned, a vote of no confidence in the planning application members. You could do that. I just give you a tip for future reference. I doubt whether you'll win it. But you could, in fact, move it. We did not do that. And we have not stopped discussion. And so I, the answer is 13. And I reject the accusation that it's been in any way undemocratic. What we have done is abolish a procedure which wasted time in the planning process. And I thought your party was as, as keen on stopping the waste of time through the planning law as our party was. I've obviously mistaken. You want to delay things just for the fun of delaying it. Councillor Austin, supplementary. But please kind of, can we all keep it swift? Because we've passed the time. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Firstly, I'd just like to thank the chairman of the planning applications committee for being the only member of the administration to give a straight answer to a question. With the Whitner Way planning application taking 393 days to come to committee, I don't think that Councillor Belton can blame stop notices for delaying the process. I also mentioned that they, the planning applications are for note, the individual, not for decision and therefore a motion can't be moved against them. So can I ask, what is he so afraid of? Councillor Belton, I beg your pardon, what was that last phrase? I really didn't catch it. What are you so afraid of? Councillor Austin, I am not in the least bit afraid. But, but, can I just suggest to you that there are no planning grounds at all for this, your position on this particular application. And the only ones that you could conceivably have had, in terms of densities or, or bad planning grounds, did not, I notice, apply to five applications made by the previous council, which infilled on estates at much higher densities than this. And if you doubt me, there's try Randall Close, which I got the figure slightly wrong in the committee, but actually, actually, six times over the density we're talking about here. So we're not, it's not in the same order. Randall Close, Gideon Road, Lytton Road, I beg your pardon, Pat Moore, I couldn't quite see it, Lytton Road, and Platt's, Thamesmead. You actually passed five major infill applications, and I commend you for, and I commend you for it, and I voted for them. The only difference with this one, which is doing, addressing a need that we all recognise, is that this was about council housing. That was the only difference. And if you were to take on an argument with me, or with any member of the Labour Group, about the worthiness of council housing, in public, in any audience you like, I'm game for it any day. Councillor Boswell? A second supplementary, Madam Mayor. I thought you said we'd gone past the time. Thank you, Chair of the Planning Committee, Councillor Belton, for your wonderful and marvellous knowledge of history here, which is particularly valid when it comes to the history of planning applications. Can you see any reason why these particular stop notices, these three have been stopped? Is there any connection between them? Because they're not particularly contentious. Thank you, Councillor Boswell. I should say they're not particularly contentious, except for Councillor Austin and the people he managed to persuade in a violation. Let's be honest and straightforward about it. Let's be straightforward about it. And Councillor Dickerton went to extraordinary lengths talking them through it, and so the case is. And anyone who doesn't know the pushing forward planning applications almost anywhere has its level of unpopularity. Nonetheless, we supported you. To answer the specifics of Councillor Boswell, I've kind of answered it before. There were no planning grounds. The development review panel said it was a good application, well designed. It is actually in just about the least dense estate in the borough. It's one of the greenest places in the borough. It is very open and accessible. One of the main complainants actually lives about 100 yards away and is back down to the Putney Heath. I mean, it is absolutely a beautiful environment. And the one thing this council does not want to do, and I know this is true of Councillor Dickerton, does not want to spoil the environment of these delightful estates. We value them and protect them. But we also recognise there's a housing shortage in this borough. There's a housing shortage in London. And the one and only thing that identifies these three as being worthy of you stopping it, is it's because it's for council tenants and for people in housing need. And Randall Close in my ward, six times the density, you're going to make available for private sale. We flipped it and they're now council housing and I approve of that too. If that's the platform you want to stand on, then stand on it next year and you'll lose again. Thank you, councillors. That was the end of question time. We now turn to report number one, items for decision. I move reception of that report and will ask the council whether they approve the recommendations in paragraph one, proposed pay policy for 2025 to 26, paper number 25 to 93. Other recommendations approved? Unanimously? Yeah. Paragraph two, council tax requirement and council tax for 20, 25, 26, paper number 25 to 89. Other recommendations approved? The motion will be put to a recorded vote. The motion will be put to a recorded vote. Councillors, please indicate for, against or abstain when your name is called. Councillor Akinola. Councillor ANBASH. Councillor ANBASH. Councillor ANAN. Councillor APPS. Councillor Austin. Abstain. Councillor Ayres. Councillor Belton. Councillor Birchall. Councillor Boswell. Councillor Brooks. Councillor Caddy. Abstain. Councillor Colley. Councillor Cooper. Councillor Corner. Abstain. Councillor Critchard. Councillor Crivelli. Councillor Crivelli. Councillor Davis. Councillor Dickerdom. Councillor Dobrez. Councillor French. Councillor Fraser. Councillor Gassar. Councillor Gossain. Councillor Govindia. Councillor Mrs Graham. Abstain. Councillor Graham. Councillor Grimston. Against Councillor Hedges. abstain councillor henderson for councillor hogg councillor humphreys councillor ireland councillor jeffries councillor justin councillor lawless councillor lee councillor locker councillor marshall councillor mayocress councillor mcleod or councillor osborne councillor owens abstain councillor paul councillor pridham councillor richards jones abstain councillor rigby for councillor stock councillor sutters abstain councillor sweet councillor tiller for councillor varatharaj for councillor white for councillor warrell for and councillor yates for the recommendations have been approved 33 for one against and 20 abstentions moving on to paragraph three proposed it on a point of order madam mayor i'm under strict instructions not to do this but i can't help in i can't help in circumstances as the minority party have chosen to abstain on the most important decision of the year do you think we can dispense with them and ask them to leave every meeting and we'll gladly accept councillor grimston as a much more honourable and worthy opposition sorry count sorry councillor belton i can't do that moving on to paragraph number three proposed additions to the general fund capital program paper number 25 to 84 are there recommendations approved are we going for a vote okay all those for doesn't make all those against any abstentions so the recommendations have been approved 33 for zero against and 21 abstentions moving on to paragraph four council's treasury policy for 2025 to 26 paper number 25 to 86 are the recommendations approved all agreed so the recommendations have been aggrieved agrees agreed sorry moving on to paragraph number five the democracy remove review paper number 25 to 104 could i invite councillor apps to speak thank you very much madam mayor thank you very much for the privilege of speaking on our democratic renewal of the council and this debate was requested by the opposition but i'm very pleased to discuss our plans that we are very proud of and we are ambitious for to continue reform and can i also say thank you to my husband and for being here tonight just like our council he's always prepared to listen many councillors across the country admire envy even our low council tax our sound financial management our green spaces our sense of community our weekly bin collection our food waste collection our free bulky waste but they don't admire our governance system our committees have been described by experts as our committees have been described by experts as unclear of questionable value our council like a sixth form debating society so can i say we're raising our game tonight well done everyone um we've had a thumbs down from the lga peer review from the center for scrutiny governance and scrutiny and from many councillors and some public wansworth's unique style of governance does not have many fans but i'm very pleased to see them all here tonight as a new councillor in 2022 it's taken me to now to really assess the governance system it's really antiquated it was a retro system when it actually was introduced in 2020 pretending to be something else it's opaque it's unclear in its decision making it's flat out with officers and councillors in an endless treadmill of paper with insufficient time to even look up as councillor grimston often reminds us for decades what overview and scrutiny committees have done has been dictated by the cabinet and by officers they've been asked to approve decisions just weeks or even days before decisions were due to be made anyway it's like asking what you think of your present on christmas morning soon overview and scrutiny committee members our backbenchers will decide which decisions are really important to look at they will give their ideas and recommend at a time when the cabinet can still listen they can help with policy development they can be more strategic in other words they can give value to the work of backbenchers the second proposal is to define key decisions wansworth's unusual that it hasn't defined key decisions and it can help both in sort of looking at the financial threshold and also looking at the number of wards and so forth that are affected what that allows cabinet and also scrutiny committees and scrutiny members to do is to clearly identify some of the big decisions they can also look at some of the others but it helps them to define their scope and we are also reforming call-in currently our call-in system is not fit for purpose it's simply 24 hours for councillors to call in with no guidance we will now in common with almost all other councils extend the deadline so councils have longer to ask for things to be called in and have a committee that is designed to consider the serious requests that are made tonight i suspect that we'll be told that we haven't considered this properly that we haven't given ample time that you know we need to look at all this again but actually if you actually look at it the democracy review has more had more time on the clock for consultation than practically any other council policy that this council's looked at we started off with the lg lga peer review we then had in-depth consultation meetings with many councils meeting with the center for governance and scrutiny both separately and also together we've had a task and finish group one of the first that our council has had this that has looked over these very issues that we're taking through tonight and discuss them at length we've also had reports on the democracy review going many times to the to the um general purposes committee and finally the ultimate arbiter tonight is full council itself these proposals are enabling they're about bringing us into line with practically every other council in the country but now the real work starts we're a listening council we want you as well to help us shape these policies let's consider now together and we've got a whole program of meetings to consider how we give the public more real say in our decisions how we get better at cross-cutting issues and how we move from a culture of political posturing to being reflective and robust we need all councillors to help shape that work we urge you to support these proposals and to make the most of a new system designed to allow all councillors to contribute to the effective running of our council thanks very much thank you councillor apps councillor peter graham thank you madam mayor the tonight the paper and councillor apps has spoken about cfgs the center for governance and scrutiny this is what they say about changing the constitution changes should be considered by a working group and then go to a formal council committee like auditor general purposes before being submitted for final approval at council council most of the changes before us tonight went straight to the executive which is not a formal council committee and it excludes the opposition it excludes backbenchers and it even excludes council wraps at monday's meeting the leader of the council spoke in generalities there were no comments or questions and the changes were nodded through in under two minutes the final approval tonight is our first sight of these changes and the only debate and because this is an item for decision we have no ability to ask questions no ability to move amendments and no ability to respond point by point we just have a speech repeatedly in private and in public we have stressed to cancer apps and others our willingness to engage on change we are not against change but our offer has been repeatedly ignored the working group has never met in person it's only met twice virtually it's never discussed a work plan and rather than agreeing options was presented with pre-written ones it didn't even support those as the notes from officers prove tonight's papers say that the subject matter of the proposals was considered at general purposes that isn't true either the following changes have never been considered before tonight creating a new general overview and scrutiny committee not allowing for council to select its chair only having two opposition members on it and removing the need to consult them about when it meets removing every osc's ability to produce a report that's relevant to the borough if it doesn't relate to a specific council function removing the ability of osc chairs your chairs to call in a decision removing their ability and ours to refer papers up to council removing every single member's right to get an os 80 so 83a notice scrutinized by an osc putting such limiting on restrictions on call-in that it can barely be used at all contrary to the law and statutory guidance introducing a new six-month exemption for related decisions which are left completely undefined imposing a blackout on officer decisions worth up to a million pounds if they relate to a non-executive function ending advance publicity for all decisions under one million and any requirement for those decisions to be taken in public and removing documentation and recorded reasons if decision is below 214 000 pounds that is 14 unconsidered changes changes we didn't see and i could go on the threshold for key decisions will be double what's dubiously asserted as the average in london and at least five times what applies now it is a blatant power grab for any papers that still get written after tonight you're removing the requirement for them to come to committee with no replacement system agreed or even outlined your call-in threshold requires us to prove not only that an action breaches the policy framework or budget but that it breaches the principles of decision making as well nothing could be a greater breach of those principles than tonight's paper yet we find the opposite of intervention and you will whip these changes through as one by one rules are removed or become meaningless swept aside in a slew of arbitrary rulings we can't get our rights upheld now we can't even get basic answers as councillors we are democratically elected but this council has ceased to operate democratically tonight's procedure is a farce and once these changes are passed we will have to resort to rifling through papers in richmond to find out what's happening in our own borough in its consistent contempt for the rights of members the executive is showing contempt not just for its own back benches and not just for opposition councillors we are representatives your contempt is contempt for the residents who elected us thank you councillor councillor councillor osborne thank you madam bear i think what has uh brought many of these comments to the surface is a basic problem with the way the council operates uh and the trap in which we all find ourselves of a timetable and a structure which is outmoded and what this uh these papers uh before you tonight uh offering or is a blueprint for something different uh yes it is moving forward at pace and we have paid a bit of a price in the level of consultation we would have liked although we what we have done is we have inserted uh in the future an extra uh meeting of the general purposes committee for looking at some of this stuff we have also created a series of visits to other councils which will take a much more discursive form in their structure and their examination of what happens in other boroughs in london and other systems we are trying to build into the process to make sure that people from all sides of the chamber are able to examine interrogate and and move forward are you asking me to i will give way well can i ask councillor osborne one simple question does does he accept that none of those 14 changes i listed ever came near the working group that he leads or the general purposes committee now i'm not putting that on him but does he accept those 14 changes that we want to pass tonight or he wants to pass tonight we never got to examine those we've never seen them and this is the first time they're being discussed actually i don't fully accept that at all no i don't because in the meetings that we had we went as deep as we possibly could and i accept by the way there were genuine disagreements in the informal meetings that took place for example there was a disagreement about uh where the locus of decision making should be uh on much of this executive or general purposes committee a genuine disagreement and we took advice from the cfgs on which was most important they said to us look your general purposes committee may be the parent body for your discussion but the decision making place must be the executive and we took that advice and uh that was the advice they gave in a meeting at at this at this town hall a live meeting not one of the informal meetings but a live meeting face-to-face i take the point about the need for greater face a greater number of face-to-face meetings and the uh point here is this i think that the uh the position we are offering up is it partisan no it is not it is not partisan it is relying entirely on uh advice on procedure practice good practice expertise beyond the boroughs of this council are you asking are you surely not asking me to give way once one more time very briefly then um thank you to councillor osborne look if if you do really want to seek a cross-party consensus and you've already admitted in your um speech that we do need to look at this again at a future meeting of the general purposes committee that specially be called how on earth can you endorse this vote to the council today okay as i said we must move forward at pace wholesale and with a new style of work and that is precisely what we are going to do the question the objectives which we have set out for for this council are greater and better decision making more cross-cutting more strategic decision making the kind of things which is going to give better decision making in the interests of the people of this borough the residents of wandsworth look at what you think they might want from us they will want yes they will want a party system where an alternative view is put of course they do but they do not want the kind of barracking and bickering and hostility and suspicion that has been dominating this council for months now they want us to move forward with something quite different and we are offering up something quite different is it going to be palatable for all no it is not i understand that i understand that there are going to be disagreements with it and let me put on record i deeply regret the fact that so much of these this work has boiled down to majority decision making when i would have preferred consensus and i passionately hope that in future as we go forward with greater consensus greater consultation we will be able to move forward in a more collegiate way on on these decisions and i am committed to making sure that that is what hangs on these these papers and i am saying to you tonight we must move forward at pace we must move forward wholesale and we must move forward with a new style of working because it is a new beginning for this borough and it is in the interest of the residents of wandsworth council thank you councillor osborne are the recommendations approved so all those in favor all those in favor let them so the recommendations have been approved 28 in favor and 21 against moving on to item 9 is the matters of local or topical interest we have received notice of two matters to consider this evening councillor gossain you have up to three minutes to speak on the matter being raised by the conservative group which is poor report from the independent regulator of social housing would you like to start thank you madam mayor madam mayor i've lived in social housing all my life i know how much it matters when a council gets housing right and i know firsthand as a husband and father the cost when they get it wrong that's why i ran for office to make housing safer better and fairer labor ran on that promise too and now three years into their four-year term it's official they haven't just failed to deliver change they've delivered failure itself large-scale deep-rooted institutionally entrenched failure last week the independent regulator for social housing confirmed what residents already know labor's housing policy isn't just failing it's failing on a catastrophic scale 80 percent of communal areas and 40 of homes had no electrical safety test 1800 overdue fast safety remedial actions all over a year late only six and a half percent of homes surveyed this isn't just mismanagement it's negligence and when the stamming report landed on their desks did they act did they own up no they sat on it for three weeks they concealed it scrambling for an excuse let's be clear this isn't about a problem they inherited it's about a manifesto promise they made and now it's about a promise they've broken labor promised safer better maintained housing instead they neglected it labor promised to listen to residents instead they ignored them labor promised to fix social housing instead they're breaking it so what's the reality after three years of labor neglected safety tests ignored fire hazards incomplete and outdated housing records residents locked out of decision making yet they always find the money for something else millions funneled into grand projects but not into fire safety master plans for future developments while homes people live in now go neglected running up a six million overspend while failing to carry out basic inspections this council has taken out a loan with a lifetime cost of one and a half billion debt residents will repay for decades a lifetime's burden signed sealed delivered without hesitation and yet when it comes to the most basic safeguards the inspections repairs far safety measures that protect lives suddenly there's hesitation suddenly there's delay suddenly there's just not enough and while labor dithers families and children just like my own are left in unsafe homes the message to residents is clear labor will mortgage your future for its ideology but when it comes to what you need now you're just an afterthought madam mayor no amount of spin no desktop review no last minute recovery plan can change the facts labor has failed its residents and failures this serious cannot go unanswered when policy fails this comprehensively when people are left in unsafe homes and unheard they deserve more than excuses as the imam said this evening they deserve accountability residents aren't fooled by labor they see through labor's excuses and they will remember labor's broken promises thank you councillor councillor councillor councillor dickerdom you have three minutes should you wish to respond all right thank you um we're we're very disappointed with this result um we accept the uh recommendations of the regulative social housing fully um and you know honestly it's a it's a it's a disappointment we were you know we were we were upset and i think the most important thing and the thing that i'm slightly frustrated with this speech that was just given is we need to commit to residents right now on record about the safety concerns that were raised in that report because i think uh it's really important that residents feel safe in their homes that's something i'm completely committed to um and it's something that is deeply important to us uh you'll be aware that there are four different categories that the regulator regulator for social housing measures on safety and quality transparency neighborhood and community and tendency and the reasons we think we got a c3 so just for the general public there's c1 down to c4 and we got a c3 which is needs improvement um was not on transparency neighborhood or tendency but on those safety and quality standards and there are three things that stood out in the report um the first mentioned was electrical safety certificates now they had not been a legal requirement previous to the regulator of social housing um in 2021 the previous conservative administration recognized that that was the direction that things were going in and uh we we went into a contract to do those safety safety certificates and you know we didn't manage that contract properly um and that contract as of the publication date of the review shows that we are now up to 75 and 70 in those units so for anyone who's watching at home i want them to know that they can feel safe when it comes to those uh safety requirements now the second one was to do with fire safety and again that is very emotive and i was hoping you weren't going to try and scare residents because you've got to put those 1800 in the context of the 38 000 high risk fire remedial actions that we had completed those 1800 uh they are basically they're they're administrational things that we need to get done that we hadn't done fast enough but they were basically i'm going to use a word that's i i don't mean this word in the way that's understood but it's a kind of technical term by the fras the fire risk assessment these are what we describe as trivial remedial actions so this is things like no smoking signs in corridors not things that are the the major safety concerns with fire safety now it's it's not acceptable that some of those have been waiting for a year or so to be done that's that's not good within the next two weeks 700 700 of them will have been but part of the reason that we have these 1800 leftovers because we focused very specifically on the the very high risk ones and got through 38 000 you've got to understand in wandsworth we have a much higher number of tower blocks and buildings with severe kind of fire safety assessment needs and so we have a workload issue um but that's that's not an excuse it's you know safety comes first but i i have to echo this publicly so residents feel safe in their homes because those two those two criteria are not criteria that i would that i would argue would make our homes unsafe um and then the final one is to do a stock condition survey and this is where i i really agree with the regulator because and i i don't want to bash the administration that came before me too much but in you know we kind of inherited your methodology and we stuck with your methodology so in 2003 the council did a one percent sample of its stock that was the usual ricks industry guidance that most councils did um in 2012 you did about five percent of the stock in a stock condition survey and in 2022 we we inherited the stock condition survey that was meant to be of 10 we got access to 6.5 percent um and obviously that doesn't mean that we don't enter more than 6.5 of our homes the argument of the old ricks guidance was that you did a sample survey and you know ravi's sitting here ravi you know that part of the reason the sample survey was successful for this council was it allowed you to hold a 100 decency rate because you had quite a small sample now we inherited that methodology okay i've never heard any of you come and argue against using that methodology i think the regulator for social housing is correct to say that that methodology is out of it's out of fashion it's out of it doesn't work anymore the reason it doesn't work is because the basis is that lots of people are making and i might go a bit over because i think it's a really serious issue and i want to make sure that the the opposition okay okay okay um but i just on stock condition we obviously go and inspect many properties through repairs so residents call up so we're going in and out of properties all the time this is just the methodological separate exercise that we do for stock condition survey but big housing associations have seen that sometimes an older lady a little old lady might not call in that repair and so we are moving for the first time you know this this never happened before we are the ones doing it as an administration to 100 rolling stock condition survey okay you don't want me to talk about i wanted to be open and transparent on an issue that you think i should resign over yeah yeah okay fine so um i'm happy to take further written questions on this but um i just want to say that we are going to be meeting with the regulator every month and we're going to make sure that all of the things that have been picked up are addressed in the coming weeks and we'll give regular updates to the leader on on the issues of social housing in this bar thank you councillor dickardim for the reassurance um moving on to the second matter of local or topical interest could i ask councillor warrell to speak on the issue being raised by the labour group which is delivering on onesworth council's commitment to strengthening the voluntary sector and civil society councillor warrell you have three minutes thank you madam mayor when people speak about the voluntary sector and the community sector they often think of small groups of people doing good around the borough in reality however the vcs is a rich and diverse collection of organizations skills and people which actually brings in over 18 billion pounds to the uk economy every year and here in onesworth we have cause to celebrate we have over 800 amazing organizations you only have to think about batsy dogs home onesworth carer center the rotary club catherine lowe center first down project or the southwest london law centers just to name a few the vcs or the voluntary and community sector underpins our social infrastructure it helps deliver public services meets needs connects communities and individuals and helps address systemic inequality in our society the sector has a deep rooted trust with those who are often not heard in our communities and helps provide solutions mobilization development and empowers both communities and individuals by the nature of the sector they are the public voice they challenge us they hold us to account and importantly they're also our critical friend and our partners the vcs often has the ability to be more flexible and innovative in developing solutions to complex problems as was shown by the covert pandemic in comparison bureaucratic organizations were often slow to mobilize and to respond however the sector is not without its challenges high demand with limited resources often complex and difficult monitoring processes small organizational structures often one or two people and of course being dependent on a large number of volunteers volunteers who give their time their experience and yet have lives outside of volunteering in the last general election the voluntary sector manifested stated the voluntary sector isn't nice to have it doesn't exist for handouts and here in wandsworth we understand this we recognize the richness and experience of the sector and what it actually brings to us and as a listening council we are limited we are committed to resourcing and working in partnership i believe the strategy will strengthen the sectors influencing our decision making processes help break down silo working contribute to local democracy and most importantly provide the places and spaces that people trust and so help bring us together across our divides this document is a collaboration and also is a trust building in action it is our commitment to shared values and working in and it is also a journey that all of us as councillors have a part to play in a partnership in making wandsworth fairer safer and sustainable and finally i'd like to say a big thank you to the officers to the volunteers to the council staff who gave their time their their insight and most of all their commitment in taking this initiative forward a big thank you to you all thank you councillor warrell councillor akalola you have three minutes should you wish to respond thank you so much um councillor i think like words are absolutely excellent and that's exactly how i feel about the voluntary sector and i do believe that this strategy does represent a new era for how we onesworth council do work with uh the voluntary sector um i think we've come quite a long way in the past two and a half years um in 2022 before 2022 the voluntary sector had no relationship with the council um and so we set about uh getting an organization rocket science to write a report about um our relationship with them so now in 2025 we are actively listening to them we're investing in them and we're working alongside them which i think we can all agree is a huge improvement it's a big shift from the onesworth way and i'm not talking about the uh the radio show that we'll all be listening to in a couple of in a couple of weeks but it's a shift to place-based relationships uh focused on equitable and inclusive local growth the report that rocket science commissioned if you all didn't read it was quite a few pages did say that it identified quite a few barriers number one that there was no strategic vision between onesworth council and the voluntary sector two that there was inconsistent and i would say non-existent data sharing between both organizations and this may helped to make the voluntary sector feel very unappreciated three there was an on-resourcing of marginalized uh communities um which meant that they had no voice and they had no influence despite as councillor oral has said uh actually delivering a lot of the services that we need and four there was limited and no access to community buildings including council buildings so this new strategy does uh reset the relationship and these issues so we have allocated as everyone knows uh or everyone has heard today um space in the council vcs hub so that they so the voluntary sector are in the heart of our community so this is providing them with space within the council building we've approved hundreds of thousands of pounds for capacity building for these organizations to help with infrastructure and innovation and these are all key to place making the vcs strategy strategy of course is not stagnant this is a working document it's a road map for long-term change with them um which was created obviously through two years of co-production um ensuring that small groups and grassroots uh organizations as well as well-known organizations were heard this creates a clear process for the sector to shape priorities and the kpis so we can hold ourselves and them to account so so finally yeah i anyway um so this is just the start this strategy is about creating a sector that thrives that was the end moving on the whips have agreed that item 19 will be taken next item 19 is a motion on protecting onesworth's parks and commons can i ask councillor brooks to move and councillor caddy to second the motion in their names i move the motion thank you seconded thank you an amendment to the motion has also been circulated may i ask councillor gasser and councillor calcolo to move and second the amendment yeah moved seconded thank you can i invite councillor caddy to give a motion thank you madam mayor when i listen to residents to talk about why they love living in wandsworth one theme consistently comes up again and again we have beautiful well-managed parks and commons whether you're a teenager wanting to kick a ball around or hang out somewhere green and relaxing with your mates a mum with kids going for a walk or to feed the ducks a dog walker a runner or just a nature lover our parks genuinely enhance everyday life for tens of thousands of people and they're also a truly universal provision anyone can access them pretty much any time and they're completely free so this tells me that whatever changes we make to the stewardship of these wonderful assets should be incredibly carefully scrutinized and considered the principle of if ain't broke don't fix it should probably largely apply so it was with some trepidation that i saw the changes to the events policy were included in our environment papers to be honest given the really positive rhetoric from the opposition on our open spaces i was fairly confident that they would want to protect them as much as i do so i was really surprised and disappointed to see the suggestions being made i guess one of my questions was initially whether the cabinet member and obviously subsequently the cabinet more widely even read the proposed changes because to me they seemed so damaging to the governance of our open spaces perhaps a hint at the answer to that came when the opposition immediately agreed to the ones with common max excellent proposal to reinstate the consultation requirement for friends groups also on our list of suggested amendments why on earth would the cabinet member propose such a change surely surely she values the input of these groups and can see that they offer value when they are consulted in advance as well as rather than just retrospectively these proposals may be only going for consultation as the committee kept reminding us but they are the suggested changes the positive choice of this administration why are they watering down the policy that exists to protect our commons and parks from overuse and damage from events i was slightly concerned that it was financial although again the cabinet member denies this and without re-running the finance debate clearly the council is in dire financial straits but to govern is to choose and there are other savings that should be chosen before compromising our parks and commons on the specifics of the changes just picking out the most egregious examples taking out the requirement not to damage sports pitches wandsworth is already one of the worst places for children's sport being cancelled due to poor pitches kids who want to get outside and play rugby or football at the weekend will have even more sessions compromised removing the 10 pm time limit no one wants events disturbing the peace late at night or have noisy crowds leaving late through residential streets removing the consecutive weekends rule give the grass and the residents a rest at least every other week some people only get to use the commons at weekends and then finally taking away the formal noise limit in decibels i just can't understand why anyone would want to water this down there's been a suggestion that another part of the proposal on noise strengthens the rules well great but don't remove the decibel limit which gives events a clear maximum to have to adhere to to perfectly honest the only complaints that i've really heard about open spaces in wandsworth are where events have gone wrong such as the fairground on wandsworth common and that would of course imply that tighter regulation is needed rather than more flexibility and far and away the biggest complaints that i hear about events are those based in merton and lambeth which is why i was truly horrified at committee to hear that one of the reasons being given to change our policy was to bring it in line with neighboring boroughs i think we can safely say that that is the last thing our residents want and if you are in any doubt go and have a five-minute conversation with anyone who lives near clapham common so for goodness sake do the right thing let's have a cross-party rethink of this and make proposals for changes that actually enhance our parks thank you madam mayor to members of the public who are watching you may be concerned about what the opposition party has said so i want to provide a bit of reassurance yes we're making changes to the events policy because we want we want to see more events happening in our parks and open spaces but we will also strengthen protections in several areas such as consultation with residents and protecting areas of ecological importance such as counter gasser had highlighted earlier at the environment committee meeting where we discussed this paper the tories came up with a bunch of points that they didn't like about the policy and wanted to amend they had the option to give us the amendments before the meeting that way we could have an informed discussion on each point and maybe use some of them but did they do that no they tried to amend the paper even though none of us had read their amendment meaning that none of us could support it why do they do this so they can put on their leaflets so they can post about on social media so they can collect email addresses with their unnecessary petition and then what do you know they brought it up twice here in full counter too just because they think it's a nice juicy topic to use to wag on the administration it's all about their political gain and trying to win the next election by worrying residents that we're going to host horrible events in their parks and open spaces even though the ones with tories are the party that tried to bring formula e to bassey park so we won't take any lectures from them about cash grabbing and the most ludicrous thing about this motion is that the paper the policy is a draft paper this is only the first step and we're now going to consult with our dedicated friends and residents groups our volunteer groups to make sure it works well for everyone so please withhold your judgment until we see the final paper and stop trying to whip up fear among our residents so i'll say again what my colleagues and i said at the committee we are committed to protecting our green spaces we're just updating our policy so we can get more out of our parks and no that doesn't mean we're going no that doesn't mean we're going to be hosting a drum and bass wave on ones with common or formula e on bassey park because we care about what happens in our parks and we want to help all users from all backgrounds as cali said enjoy them to their fullest for that reason we propose an amendment to the motion reaffirming the counter's commitment to taking care of our parks and open spaces believing out the politicized messaging that the tories put in it and i say again to my colleagues opposite on the environment committee next time please give us notice collaborate with us and that way you actually have a chance to have a positive influence on policy instead of just trying to get some zingers to put on your leaflets thank you thank you thank you councillor coakley councillor abs thank you madam mayor um it's been a very enjoyable debate and i'm sorry not to hear from other colleagues but the council has now sat for so it has now sat for more than two and a half hours and we've got a lot more to do i move that the remaining business of the council on the agenda is disposed of under the procedure in standing order 32 thank you do we have a seconder as the council has sat for more than two and a half hours it has been moved and seconded that the remaining items of business on tonight's agenda be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of standing order number 32 which means that the necessary motions to deal with reports for decision shall be formally moved and seconded and immediately voted on without debate is the motion to deal with the remaining business in this way agreed all those in favor all those against any abstentions the may the motion has been moved um with 31 in favor 20 against and zero abstentions so now we are going to be voting on the motion itself so all those in favor of the amendment the amendment the amendment of item 19 item 19 yes any abstentions any abstentions any abstentions so the motion is carried with 31 in four the amendment sorry the amendment is carried so there's a 31 in favor um 19 in favor um 19 against and one abstentions okay no that's that's okay yeah okay as the amendment is carried um we're going to go now to the vote of the substantive motion so all those in favor as amended as amended all those in favor all those in favor all those in favor okay 10 Tanzania all those in favor all those in favor any abstentions дор yes The motion is carried with 31 in favour, 20 against, and 0 abstentions. Moving on to item number 11 is the paper on the interim senior management arrangements. Are those recommendations agreed? So I look forward to welcoming Mr. Travis. We now turn to Executive Report number 2. I move reception of the report. Can paragraphs 1 to 13 and paragraphs 14 in the supplementary paper be received for information? Thank you. Item 12 is from the Planning Applications Committee, report number 3. Councillor Belton, would you like to move it? I move the report of the Planning Applications Committee. Thank you. Moving on to item number 14 is from the Joint Staffing Committee. The report from this meeting has been considered under report number 1, Items for Decision, and in item 11, Interim Senior Management Arrangements. Is that for information? Yeah. Item number 15 is from the Health and Wellbeing Board, report number 5, Councillor Henderson. Madam Mayor, thank you, and thank you for your excellent chairing of this Council over the past year. Paragraphs 1 to 6 are for information. Thank you, Councillor Henderson. Item 16 is a revision to committee memberships paper numbers 25 to 106 and 25 to 106A. Are the recommendations approved? Thank you. For item 17, can I ask the Council to appoint a chair for the item? There's one. There's one. Thank you. Sorry, apologies. Yes, can I please propose, after some delay, Councillor Belton for chair. Seconded, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Councillor Belton, you're now the chair. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I meant to keep this very short, but my only ever chance of chairing a meeting of this Council, I'm going to tell you all to behave, and you'll have real trouble from me. So, let me start the evening by asking Councillor Hogg to move the motion in his name, and Councillor Rich Jones to second. Moved. Seconded. Thank you. Are any other, any amendments? No amendments? Good. All those in favour? And any against? Any abstentions? I declare the motion moved anonymously on the end of my reign. Thank you, Councillor Felton. The motion has been moved. Item 20 is the motion on the £11 million hole in the budget. Can I ask Councillor Peter Graham to move, and Councillor Hedges to second the motion in their name? Afforming vote? Seconded. Thank you. All those in favour of the motion? 20. And those against? Any abstentions? The substantive motion is carried. Oh, sorry, it's not carried. The substantive motion is not carried. So, 20 in favour and 31 against. Thank you, councillors. That concludes the business of this meeting for this evening. But before we leave, I know colleagues would like to say a few words of appreciation for Mr Riley on his last council meetings. Councillor Richard Jones? Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you for allowing me to say just a few brief remarks about Mr Riley, who we will miss dearly when he leaves after this council meeting. When I was first elected a councillor in 2018, I was told by the first of my colleagues who I met, or who met me when I first came into this town hall, that Mr Riley was a member of the gilded circle of officers that were held in really, really high regard by both groups in the council. And my experience with him since then, although we never worked directly, other than on some Northcote issues, it has been nothing but positive. You were a director of an extremely important department in the council. I was always struck that this council had always retained its council housing, and unlike other councils, where often council housing is sold off to a social housing provider, Wandsworth never did that. Wandsworth always took its obligations to its housing tenants extremely seriously, and that's why we kept council housing in-house. And so it was only appropriate that an officer of your quality and ability oversaw that department. You joined us in 2001. Thereafter, we became the first council to reach the Labour government's decent home standards. And you were held highly in regard, not just by members, but also by officers. And I know it was the courage, the leadership, the collegiality, and also the sense of humour that you displayed in your time here. Those are the qualities that meant you became our interim chief executive, and before that, the deputy chief executive. It's been an interesting time in your brief but memorable period as our interim chief executive. And you've needed that sense of humour, I think, perhaps more than any other time in your time at Wandsworth. I'm sure you'll miss these meetings in particular, but they are on the webcast. I'm sure you'll tune in from a suitable location in the Caribbean. And let's hope it's not goodbye, it's just au revoir, don't be a stranger, come back and see us. Well said, Councillor Richard Jones. Oh. Councillor Grimston, would you like to say a few words? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Housing's always been very, very dear to my heart since I spent my single year chairing the old housing committee in 97-98. Under Mr Raleigh's distinguished predecessor, Dick Sheppard, who sadly left us recently. But I think we've been extremely lucky throughout my time on the council with the quality of the leadership that we've had from the housing department. And as Councillor Richard Jones said, it wasn't just that we held, that we kept social housing in-house. It was that 93%, if I remember the figure being right, of the residents voted to keep the housing in-house. Something which I think would have been the envy of pretty much any council in the country. And of course, you don't get to that position without extremely good leadership, I would say, on both political and managerial sides of the equation. And I think Mr Raleigh and I have had an interesting relationship through the time. Clearly, I think the time when we've interacted most in more recent years was over the issue of sprinklers in our high-rise buildings four or five years ago. When he and I took different views, I think on both sides for honourable reasons, I would argue. But it did bring out to me how the difference there, fundamentally, of our role as members, which ultimately is to reflect the view of the residents in front of us. And the role of officers, whose position it is to reflect council policy and to reflect their own professional agreement. But I think, I like to think, that we came through that time remaining respectful of each other. I certainly maintain my respect for Mr Raleigh right the way through the time there of those interesting days. And I think it's a further tribute to him that when the political control of the council did change, he was able to make that change and develop a relationship of trust with the new administration, which he had developed with the previous one. And that's always a very good sign of an effective professional officer, that they genuinely will work with the politically elected council of the day to put those policies into account in the best way that they can, without carrying their own views into that chamber. And I think Mr Raleigh has been an absolute model of that. So, yeah, I will certainly miss him. I think his time as chief exec has been admirable, as his time in all his other roles at the council. But, as Councillor Richard Jones says, I hope this is far from being the last that we see of you. And we look forward to seeing you around. Thank you, Councillor Grimston. Councillor Dickardim. Yeah, I always like to say, I work with a giant of the housing movement and local government, both kind of existentially and literally. Brian, the kind of, to be honest, the first time I joined the council, I thought all the officers were Conservative Party members. That's how I thought it worked. So, when I was at my first committee, I was probably quite aggressive. I think I probably shouted about Taylor Wimpy at you, about selling homes, about council housing. But I quickly learned that there are a few people that I've ever met in my life who have such a dedication to delivering genuinely quality housing for working class people and for protecting some of the most vulnerable residents in Wandsworth. And also who believe in the principles of council housing, which I'm really glad you raised the issue of keeping it in-house, because I think that was a really, really important decision and one that has stood the test of time and has left Wandsworth in a really good position in trying to build that idea of public and municipal housing out. Yeah, I mean, some of my best memories are, you know, you dragged me off to Manchester Housing Conference the day after Glastonbury with all of you on the train. I was just barely holding it together. I got to see you without a suit, which was incredible. You have a similar silver chain. I really like that. I was like, this is my bro. You know, learn all about your music tastes. Whenever there's an emergency, whenever something serious is happening in our blocks, you can always call Brian. Brian will know what's going on. He'll know who's on the ground. There will be an action plan. We are so lucky to have someone who is in control of the department when things go wrong. And you've really smashed the chief executive job. I feel like you were a natural at it. You've already got the car to kind of drive around in your kind of gangsta mobile. You've got your own fiefdom in Reed House. I mean, you were born to be a chief exec, and there are some of the most knotty problems that we have at council that you've just got in and you've got your hands in, and you've fixed them in such a way that, you know, is a testament to how school for you are as a local officer. You will be really, really deeply missed. I'm going to keep calling you and asking you for advice when I need to. But it's been an absolute pleasure to come up through the ranks and work alongside you. So thank you so much, Brian. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Sorry. Good night. Good night. Good night.
Summary
The meeting approved the Council’s budget, including a council tax freeze for the third year in a row. The meeting also approved a package of reforms to the Council’s constitution, including new rules about which decisions are treated as “key decisions” and a new process for scrutinising Cabinet decisions.
Bradstow School
A petition was presented to the Council signed by 1,699 people regarding the Council’s proposal to close Bradstow School. The petition requested that the Council cease the consultation on closing the school and instead work with Kent County Council and other stakeholders to find a viable financial and operating model. The Headteacher of Bradstow School, Ms Sarah Adams, also spoke to the Council about the school. The Council voted to receive the petition for information, which effectively meant it ignored the petition’s requests.
it's depressing as it looks like Labour have a plan to deplete the reserves and borrow millions. As a resident and taxpayer, the Labour administration's management of our cash is economically illiterate. It's hard to believe that Wandsworth will potentially go from being one of the few councils with no debt to then borrowing millions due to Labour's spending plans.- Councillor Hedges.
Council Tax
The Council approved a freeze to its portion of the council tax. A 2% increase to the Adult Social Care precept was also approved. Councillor Grimston argued that the freeze to the Council’s portion of the council tax was not a real freeze because of the increase to the Adult Social Care precept. He stated:
“We are not freezing the Council tax. It's entirely and absolutely indefensible to say that the Council tax is being frozen. It's there on page 13 of the main report here, where it says in very clear annual Ban D bill for what Wandsworth charges is going up by £9.95 a month.”
The Council’s Finances
Councillor Richard Jones argued that the Council’s finances were not sustainable. He claimed that the Council was using reserves to fund day-to-day expenditure and stated that the total planned use of reserves was £150 million.
Councillor Hogg defended the Council’s finances. He argued that the Council was making “smart investments” that would repay themselves, such as by building new council homes.
Councillor Hedges argued that there was a pattern of Labour councils across the country going bankrupt, and expressed concerns that Wandsworth would soon follow suit.
Open Space Events
The Council approved a consultation on a proposed new Open Spaces Events Policy. Councillor Caddy raised concerns about the changes to the policy. She argued that the proposed changes would allow for more events in parks and open spaces, which could damage sports pitches and cause disruption to residents.
Councillor Gasser defended the proposed changes. She argued that the policy was being updated to allow the Council to run a wider variety of events, particularly as part of Wandsworth’s year as London Borough of Culture in 2025. She stated:
This is what the Borough of Culture and Beyond is all about, actually. We want to have lovely community family events, but we want them to be controlled by us and the events policy, and actually the licensing restrictions as well, can control how those events are. They mustn't be too noisy. They mustn't ruin our areas. They must be family friendly. We don't want late nights. We don't want booze ups. We certainly don't want anything like we've seen on [Clapham Common](https://www.google.com/maps/search/Clapham+Common+Wandsworth/), which is the scare story that's going around. Over My Dead Body will we have Clapham Common types events. It's not about that. It's about family community events for and by and with our communities.
Social Housing
Councillor Ghossain expressed concerns about the performance of the Council’s housing department. He referenced a recent report from the Regulator for Social Housing which he described as “catastrophic”. He claimed that:
80 percent of communal areas and 40 of homes had no electrical safety test 1800 overdue fast safety remedial actions all over a year late only six and a half percent of homes surveyed this isn't just mismanagement it's negligence.
Councillor Dikerdem, the Cabinet Member for Housing, responded by saying that the Council accepted the recommendations of the Regulator of Social Housing and that it was taking steps to improve the performance of its housing department. He explained that the Council had inherited a methodology from the previous administration which relied on a small sample of properties to assess housing standards, and stated that this methodology was no longer fit for purpose. He went on to state that:
we are moving for the first time you know this this never happened before we are the ones doing it as an administration to 100 rolling stock condition survey
The Voluntary and Community Sector
Councillor Worrall introduced a new strategy for strengthening the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in Wandsworth. She argued that the VCS was an important part of the Council’s social infrastructure and that the new strategy would help to improve the Council’s partnership working with the sector. Councillor Akinola, the Cabinet Member for Voluntary Sector, Business Engagement and Culture, responded by praising the work of the voluntary and community sector and by saying that the new strategy represented a “new era” for how Wandsworth Council worked with the sector. She stated that:
before 2022 the voluntary sector had no relationship with the council um and so we set about uh getting an organization [Rocket Science](https://www.rocketscience.co.uk/) to write a report about um our relationship with them so now in 2025 we are actively listening to them we're investing in them and we're working alongside them which i think we can all agree is a huge improvement.
Democracy Review
The Council approved a series of reforms to its constitution which were described as a “Democracy Review”. The changes included the introduction of a £1 million threshold for defining a decision as a “key decision” and the establishment of a new General Overview and Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise key decisions taken by the Cabinet.
Councillor Apps argued that the changes would modernise the Council and make it more efficient, and stated that:
our committees have been described by experts as unclear, of questionable value. Our Council [is] like a sixth form debating society.
Councillor Peter Graham argued that the reforms were undemocratic, because they reduced the ability of backbench councillors to scrutinise decisions taken by the Cabinet. He claimed that the Council had been ignoring requests from the opposition to properly scrutinise the reforms.
Councillor Osborne responded to these concerns by saying that the reforms were necessary to improve the Council’s decision-making, and stated that the changes were not being made for partisan reasons. He expressed regret that the Council had not been able to reach a consensus on the changes.
Attendees
Documents
- Agenda frontsheet 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council agenda
- Public reports pack 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council reports pack
- 1. Report No.1
- 2. 25-93 Appendix A Pay Policy other
- 3. 25-89 Appendix A other
- 4. 25-89 Appendix B other
- 5. 25-89 Appendix C other
- 6. 25-89 Appendix D other
- Report No.2
- 25-106 Revisions to Committee Memberships other
- 25-105 Interim Senior Management Arrangements other
- Interim Senior Management Arrangements Paper No. 25-105 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council
- Paper No. 25-116 Conservative MOLTI other
- Paper No. 25-117 Labour MOLTI other
- 25-112 Mayoralty Motion other
- Supplementary Agenda - Motions and Matters of Local or Topical Interest 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Counci other
- Paper No. 25-113 Labour Motion other
- Paper No. 25-114 Conservative Motion other
- Paper No. 25-115 Conservative Motion other
- Supplementary - Reports Nos. 1 2 3 and 5 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council other
- REPORT NO. 2 FOSC
- Report No.3 PAC
- Report No. 5 HWBB
- Paper No. 25-113 Conservative amendment to Labour Motion other
- Supplementary - Committee Memberships and Amendments to Motions 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council other
- Questions to Leader and Cabinet Members 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council other
- Question Schedule FINAL
- Questions for oral response FINAL
- 25-106A Addendum Changes to memberships other
- Paper No. 25-114 Labour amendment to Conservative Motion other
- Printed minutes 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council minutes
- Written Questions to Cabinet Members and Committee Chairs 05th-Mar-2025 19.30 Council
- Questions for written reply Final