Transcript

My way of introduction, spring is here, it usually puts a bit of a spring in our step, the sunshine coming up, blossom on our trees, but there has been a spate of vandalism, so I'll be pleased to welcome the deputation shortly to talk about how we protect our trees. We've had quite a lot of activity here in Hackney around how to offer family support, early help and early intervention, and we're really pleased to welcome permanent secretaries to Lyndon Children and Family Hub last week from the DWP and DFE. And also very much welcome the extension from the DWP of the household support fund, and there will be a report on our allocation to follow this evening. Also in our capital update and property disposals, we'll be talking of news of a 2.2 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards the reimagining Hackney Museum project, and at the same time I know there will be concerns there tonight about B22 and Ashwin Street, and we'll be taking questions from members of the public. I can also see Dalston Curve Garden representation here tonight as well as well, so we look forward to hearing from you. We had the pleasure this month of celebrating International Women's Day, and also at the opening of a green skills hub that will be referred to in the capital update, where there was great representation of women in construction, which was a really great moment to celebrate, and also the graduation of young people from our Hackney 100 Skills Plus offer, which also includes adults and older people, and the fact that we'll be able to support that work will be a key moment for tonight, and a big thank you to Councillor Carol Williams for setting up those events. And finally, we want opportunities for all ages, and especially our young people, so really, really good to see Hackney Youth Parliament joining us this evening, and they'll be raising some questions out for our Cabinet members and myself. So, going straight to the agenda. Item one, apologies for absence, I haven't received any apologies, no. Item two, declarations of interest. Do members have any interest they wish to care? Councillor Kennedy. I just need to apologise for going early. I have to leave for another meeting at quarter to seven. Thank you. Thank you. Item three, urgent and restrictive business. I don't believe there are any urgent items of business. Item four, notice of intention to conduct business in private. No representations have been received and there are no exempt reports or appendices to be considered. Item five, questions, deputations. One deputation has been received from Mark Westcott. relating to pre-vandalism in K's Nova and Hackney Downs wards. The deputation text was published at agenda item five in the agenda plaque. A total of 15 minutes has been set aside. This includes a brief introduction from Councillor Patrick Pinkerton. Five minutes for the deputation leaders to set out the issues. I believe we have two marks, so you'll be sharing that five minutes if you can. Five minutes for Cabinet to question the deputation leaders and debate the issues. And then five minutes for the Cabinet leave member to respond. We've got a packed agenda, so I will be quite strict with time. So I'd like to start by inviting Councillor Pinkerton to come up. Thank you, Mayor. So I'm sure that everyone in this chamber is really proud of the work Hackney Council has done in planting thousands of street trees over the last number of years. And that means I'm equally confident everyone will share in the sense of shock and outrage that has brought these residents here this evening over the senseless acts of violence against our street trees in Casanova and in neighbouring wards. These attacks on our streets are really attacks on our entire community. And Mark and Mark and others have gone to great efforts to highlight this already through their community activism. They're bringing this deputation this evening to ensure this issue remains firmly on the agenda for everyone in Hackney. And I'll now hand over to Mark Westcott, who will I'm sure be very eloquent and clear in setting out the purposes of this deputation this evening. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Cabinet, for inviting us here. We have been experiencing a spate of attacks on young street trees in Casanova Ward. We've lost count. It was in excess of 20 before Christmas. It feels like it's somewhere between 30 and 60 now. It's along a fairly limited geographical area which runs along Northwold Road from Stoke Newington Common to Upper Clapton Road. It branches along Northwold Road, the streets off it on both sides. So into Northwold, I'm sorry, into Hackney Downs Ward, Casanova Ward and all the way along. And tend to be younger trees which can be bent in half and snapped in two. So that loses the growing crown to an extent. Some have been completely destroyed and removed, which is a point I'll come back to. These have been going on since late November to the present day with recent attacks in Hackney Downs Ward. And it's always in areas with limited or no CCTV, be that council or private. Whoever this is, is quite aware of whether or not they're being overlooked or overwatched. Who is it? We don't know. One of the residents of the Tower Gardens Estate on Gelderston Road did catch the attacker on camera after two attacks on trees. And he's, I believe, given a full witness statement to the Casanova Ward Safer Neighbourhoods team. Why are they doing this? We really don't know. The offender seems to be, or offenders, male, late teens to early twenties, paleish complexion. That's the one we've got on camera. The attacks follow a very, very similar pattern. So it's reasonable to assume it could just be one offender. Given the local nature of the attacks, very, very localised to North World Road. What's being done, Metropolitan Police Safer Neighbourhoods team, Casanova Ward Safer Neighbourhoods team, have been going door to door asking if people have seen anything or got doorbell camera footage. They've issued doorbell cameras to a few residents as well to see if anything can be caught on camera. And residents have been posting about attacks on social media, making each other aware. Of course, we've had, thanks to Susan and Morris, a temporary CCTV camera has been put in place to overlook potential target trees on Gelderston Road. We've been working with our ward councillors and councillor for Harna and other groups such as Snug, the Stoke Newton Users Group, Casanova Area Action Group. They're posting updates to their members as well. I've given a few television and radio interviews and spoken to local press. The purpose of that, as far as I'm concerned, being to get awareness, get witnesses to come forward, talk to the police, talk to their councillors. The council's initial response, I think, was, shall we say, a little bit slow. I think people didn't quite appreciate initially the scale of this, the aggression of it, frankly. We were always of the view that if you're that violent and the nature of some of these attacks is violent, that's very unlikely to be the only outlet for your aggression, frankly. And we love the trees. Thank you for making this a green borough. You know, our trees have been on the streets since probably 2010. One minute. And so, yes, we would call on the council. We need to catch this person. We're all being held hostage. We do have a temporary camera in place. Recently, we've had the safer, the low traffic neighbourhood planting along Northwold. We've been told no more trees until this person is caught. You've got to bait a trap here. We need to move a covert camera to overlook where the new planting is and bait them in. We can't have this. We can't be held hostage by this person. They need to be caught. If they need help for a mental health issue, they shall be given it. But otherwise, prosecute, get them out. We've had enough. Thank you very much. And it's good to hear your passion for addressing this issue. You know, it's in my former ward where a lot of this vandalism has taken place. And already I'm looking to see how some of the trees that I've enjoyed last spring are getting on and seeing them decimated. So, you know, it's obviously a key issue. Any questions from Cabinet? Councillor Pallis, Councillor Young. Okay, Councillor Pallis. Yeah, thank you, Mark and Mark, for all your work that you've been doing. You know, we've got hundreds of new street trees in Casino, so we want to do our utmost to protect them. My question is about how we can support the community and you to raise reports of kind of vandalism going forward. How can you support the community? We would like what we would like to see is any damaged trees that have had to be removed. We would like to see them replaced. I completely understand the tree team's reticence because they just think it's going to happen again and it might well. But if we can maybe, as I say, use a covert camera, the camera that we have is a deterrent and it seems to be working very well on our streets. But we've not caught this person yet and we do need to catch them. So that would help. I think it's we can't move until this stops. Kelsey Young. Hi, and you absolutely, as you say, it's not just a tragedy. It's an outrage that this is happening. It hasn't just been happening in Casino Ward. We've also seen trees damaged and we've also seen trees damaged in some other wards as well. I just wanted to ask a bit about how we ensure that how we help you and the community and the council to ensure that people really are understand the essential importance of not just trees but also rain gardens, also the other green infrastructure that the council has put in and is committed to improving and supporting as part of our nature recovery plan, as part of our green infrastructure strategy. So we haven't planted 5,000 plus trees just because they look nice. We've planted them because they're essential to keeping us cooler in summer. And we've put in our rain gardens to help to prevent flooding and we putting in other bits of green infrastructure, you know, really in order to ensure that our lives are sustainable for the future. So how do we help to get across that message to people that these are important to our survival? They're not just a pleasant thing for people to have. Councillor, I think in fairness, I think a lot of people are aware of that message. We've actually been out, you know, talking to people who will say to us, apart from anything else, you know, we need these trees because they're scrubbing the atmosphere. Don't just make the place take the rough edges off the urban environment. So I think people do understand. And as for educating this person, well, I think that might be locking the stable door after the horse has bolted, frankly. Thank you. Can I invite Councillor Bajana Thomas to respond to the deputation? Thank you, Mayor Woodley. Thanks very much, Mark, for being here. I hope you're both Mark, both Mark for this, presenting the deputation to the cabinet tonight and for your dedication in working with your neighbours and the council as well as with the police over the last few months to make our borough safer and greener for all of us. As you know, since you brought this matter to my attention, I've worked with you, other residents, the community safety team, the police, as well as your ward councillors, councillor police. Thanks for the work you have done, as well as councillor Piquentin being here tonight and to ensure that we are responding appropriately together. In accordance with your request in your deputation, we have nominated our community safety manager, Maurice Mason, which you've met and you've mentioned to lead our partnership response to prevent any further damage to sampling trees in acne as well as to ensure that we bring those responsible to justice. That would be the ultimate thing to do. That would be the ultimate thing to do. Maurice, we work closely with streets in. Mine, Holly, Jake, and Sarah Young, the police and other key stakeholders, including yourselves, over the next few months until we are confident that we have somebody or we've arrested or the police, not us. As these are crime, the police have taken primacy in investigating deported trees, vandalism in the borough. And your Sifa neighborhood team, you mentioned that, have been working on the chief inspector, Steve Connolly, who will be taking over this investigation. And I will encourage resident yourself to please continue to report any vandalism to the police. But since we have met, this case has gone on to what we call a community safety tasking meeting. The tasking meeting is a multi-agency meeting that includes the police. And as you are aware, we have implemented quite a few, or made a few interventions, which include the installation of the temporary CCTV camera in this location. And the CCTV team are tasked to monitor the location daily and report any suspicious activities directly to the police. Our enforcement officers have been patrolling the area with the support of the police officers, the Sifa neighborhood police officers as well. So the area now have two patrol team, the police as well as the council enforcement officer. The police have distributed a number of free ring video bells to residents in the area to support the capture and retriever of suspect images. We have held two meetings. We have held two meetings. We were at that meeting. We were as representatives with your ward councillors, and we shared the plans with you. And you were happy with the direction the council is taking at this time. The police gathered an image, again, you mentioned it in your comment, of a suspect following thorough investigation. The suspect was not arrested. I'm not going to go in. One minute. It's a commentary around police investigation at this point, but that is under review. And we've committed to when, whenever the temporary, we're going to install temporary CCTV whenever the replanting of the sampling is going to happen. And following the meeting on the 10th of March, we've set, we are setting a new date to report back to you. Any issues or anything from the CCTV. But finally, I'm pleased I know my time to say that since the implementation of the CCTV and the partnership plan, we have not received any reports of damage to trees in this location. Probably the perpetrator is now the allies that we ought to him or her and have stopped the vandalism. We're not too sure, but we're going to keep monitoring what happens next. Thanks again for being here. Thanks, Mayor Woodley. Thanks so much for joining us. And certainly we'll pick up the question of replacement. We would plant in the winter anyway. So there's time to hopefully resolve this issue, identify the culprit and find ourselves in a better place. Thanks very much again. Questions were received from members of the public and from councillors. And these will be considered at the relevant agenda items. So I'll move on to item six, which is unrestricted minutes of the previous meeting of cabinet. Do cabinet have any comments they wish to make on the unrestricted minutes? Can we approve the minutes? Great. Thank you. Item seven, unrestricted minutes of the cabinet procurement and in sourcing committee. Councillor Chapman, do you want to share brief observations from CPIC just because we've got such a busy agenda? Thank you, Mayor. Only to say that, again, CPIC shows just how much important work the council does. And in this particular meeting, we let an important contract or consider the costs of refurbishing schools and also the vital project to ensure that the coalval heating project is delivered. So other than that, as set out. Thank you. Thank you. Can cabinet note the unrestricted minutes of the previous meeting of cabinet procurement in sourcing committee held on the 3rd of February 25? Thank you. Item eight, Hackney Youth Parliament presentation. I'll invite Deputy Mayor Bramble to introduce this item. Thank you, Mayor Woodley. As lead member for cabinet of education, social care and young people, it's a pleasure to welcome you, parliament, to the chamber and to see you as well. Thank you again. And all of cabinet welcome you as well, because as you know, it's not just education that you advocate and are interested in, but all of the things across the council. Hackney Youth Parliament is one of the exciting things that we get to do here as a council, it's something that we continue to highlight the importance of it. And you as young people are critical for the role of advocating for other young people, you like us have been through elections, you like us have pledged and stood on your manifesto and you like us are here delivering on the things that you said that you would stand up for. Yeah, the voice of young people continues to shine a light throughout the council. So one of the things that you will be aware of and is part of the role that officers in the council spoke to you about is the work around the young futures. That's where we spoke to over 2,500 people and asked them a series of questions. What would you do if you were mayor of the day? More importantly, what would you like to see working better in Hackney? And it was fantastic when we gave young people the platform, we didn't just hear about the issues they faced us and gave us the solutions and that report is now out there and it's something that we are working with young people and the commission and the legacy, the legacy on building that forward. forward. One of the important things about that is that one of the recommendations was how we as a council listen to the voice of young people differently. And as adults, we get really excited and we always think we're hearing the voice of a young person and really just had to reflect on how we work differently across the council. I think one of the important roles that we had was the training manager role that was held as a young person overseeing that. And I think one of the one of the things that if you're not aware of is that youth parliament, as soon as you came into role was your first event within getting elected a couple of weeks, I think, was the big work that you've done around Black History Month. And that's one of the events that you've done in the youth hub. So as soon as you were here, you were in the ground running. And I know that myself and colleagues in the mayor have enjoyed listening to you, speaking to you. You know, there are, you know, we welcome as a labour administration, of course, working with a labour government in power. So we have that national labour government, that local labour government, but because the Conservative government have been in power for a long time, we're still negating and moving and moving through what that looks like. And while we remain aspirational for Hackney, we still have some difficult decisions that are in the making. And your voice and being key to that is critical as we go through that process. And really proud that you are here. I also just want to acknowledge all the work that you've done this far. And thank you. I'll pause there because I'm not sure if I have much time left. But yeah, really looking forward to your presentation and debate going forward. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. We've got 15 minutes for this item. So I think we've got Ella, Zoe, Noah, Talia, James, Martha and Leo. Is that right? Or perhaps not everybody able to be here tonight. Yeah, there's five of you. So do introduce yourself and please make your presentation. You've got five minutes. Okay. Good afternoon. Thank you for having us today at the council meeting. Today we stand as a very small portion of the Hackney Youth Parliament that's responsible, as you have outlined already, to represent the views of the young people and the needs of them in our community. So my name is Rafaela Davis and I'm quite recently elected youth speaker of Hackney. And before we go into a brief review of what we have done this year as a youth parliament in this parliamentary year, I'm going to give a brief introduction before we go into that and then subsequently our questioning for the council. So as I've said, I am Rafaela Davis, the youth speaker of Hackney. At the front, we have Talia and Zoe, the newly elected members of the London Youth Assembly. And behind me, we have Noah and James, who are leaders at Hackney and Parliament. So now that you have been introduced, I'm going to give it over to Noah, who will give us a brief review. Hello. Thank you, Ella. One of the things that Hackney Youth Parliament has done in the past year was a campaign to respond to the cuts made to young services, as we believed it wasn't fair that young people were not being made aware and had no say in the matter. So we launched a campaign and this entailed a petition asking for young people to be to have a say in what would be cut and what wouldn't. This petition accumulated roughly 240 signatures. We also met with the Green Party to describe our campaign and we have their full support. So I'm now going to hand over to Zoe, who's going to discuss some other things that we have done this year. Hello, I'm Zoe. I'm going to give an overview of our Pact to School Appeal 2024. At Hackney Youth Parliament, we organised the Pact to School Appeal to assist families affected by the cost of living crisis with their children's or child's transition from year six to year seven. We accommodated 130 young people with the most common necessities of a typical year seven student, which includes a black rucksack, a scientific calculator, pencil case and a pack of pens. I'm going to give you over to James. Hi, I'm James. At HYP, we ran a Black History Month every October. It's our biggest event and we host a plethora of activities. I myself ran an activity which was a scavenger hunt last year, which was received quite well. So I'm going to hand it over to Tilia now. We also underwent a consultation with the Children's Society about financial exploitation. And we also had a consultation about public health in Hackney schools and how we thought it could be improved. And I'll hand over to Ella. A few months back, we participated in Democracy Day event in this parliamentary chamber, in which we managed to not only have a few interactive sessions with outside organisations, but also have a very enriching debate with another youth parliament. Specifically on the issue of the use of technology phones in schools. So now that we have given you a brief review of what we have done during this year, we're going to go to our subsequent questioning of the council, if that's OK. So first, I would like to go to Zoe. We would like to know that following the recent cuts and restructure of the young Hackney, can the council now guarantee that they will make no further cuts to young people services over the next two years? Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for that presentation and that sort of breadth and depth of campaigning that you've done. It's extremely impressive. I'll hand over to Councillor Chapman to respond to your first question. Thank you. Thank you for your question and your adversity of the youth voices in Hackney. And I'm acutely aware of your concerns about budget cuts and how I may affect your interests. I want to begin by assuring our youth parliament that despite our challenging financial circumstances, we will not forget our young people. As you may be aware, from 2022 to 23 to 25, 26, young Hackney has contributed savings of around 2 million towards setting our balanced budget. The service was subject to review in 2023. And while our review concluded that the service is highly effective, the recommendations made for future delivery are now being implemented. The service has been real guys to build on its strength to drive efficiencies. We are introducing local initiatives to match the new family hub structure and provision is being refocused on the 10 plus age group. The reorganisation of delivery is also aligned with the anticipated new national youth strategy. The council has experienced significant financial challenges, as I'm sure you know, due to the growing need for temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention and adult and children's social care pressures. A picture that we are continuing to see across the country. The ongoing pressure on our services meant we have planned to use 10 million pounds of reserves in 25, 26, next financial year. Something that we haven't needed to do for a very long time. Relying on our reserves is not sustainable and we need to ensure we continue to reduce our overspend and to look to replenish reserves where we can. The current median term financial plan estimates, which is where we look at some finances over a longer period, estimate the council has a cumulative budget gap of 51 million pounds for the three year period from 2026-7 to 2028-29. As I outlined initially, we will continue to explore creative means to invest in our young people. As one example, we continue to invest in our children and family hubs. These hubs support our aspiration to give every child the best start in life and to grow up in a child friendly borough where they receive the support that they need when they need it. And just last month, the mayor opened the Woodbury Down Children and Family Hub, becoming the fourth such facility in the borough. And we are very proud of the hub as it demonstrates our commitment to support our young people, even at the most challenging financial times. Thanks again for your question. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want to move to your next question unless there's a point of clarity? Well, I have two questions. Firstly, as in our aforementioned review, we spoke about the consultation that we had with the Children's Society about financial exploitation. We just were wondering, as a parliament, what provisions do you have in place to teach young people in Hackney schools about financial exploitation? Because children in Hackney are more vulnerable coming from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to financial exploitation. And secondly, in the last time that Hackney was here with the cabinet, there was an agreement that the amount of work experience being provided by the council would be improved. Hackney Parliament did ask, would the amount of work experience being provided to Year 10 and Year 11 to be doubled? We were just wondering if that agreement had been fulfilled. Is that one for Councillor Williams? Thank you. I can respond to your question about work experience. I know you also had a question there on financial exploitation, which probably we might want to come back to. I'm looking to Councillor Bramble in writing. So thank you for your question on work experience. Supporting work experience opportunities is a key manifesto commitment for this Labour administration. And we're keen to provide children with young people, sorry, with the best pathway towards sustainable employment. We also want to inspire young people to consider work experience as a key milestone in their professional advancement and an opportunity to build skills required for a long and enjoyable career. As you may be aware, the council offered a total of 68 school work experience opportunities in 2023. And in 2025, the council is on track to deliver over 120 work experience opportunities, more or less doubling the offering of school experience placements. Thank you. I will bring Deputy Mayor Bramble back in at the end of the round of questions. Do you want to move to the next question? On the subject of work experience, the Hackney 100 is a paid work experience project which was only available for 16 and over and is only currently available for those 25 and over. Will you be considering lowering the age back to 16? Councillor Williams. Thank you for your question again. And I just wanted to begin by noting that our skills acquisition and work experience programme allows us to build community wealth and create the opportunities where our young people are the first to benefit. Enjoying that more of the jobs, opportunities and growth and money spent in Hackney stays in Hackney. You are right in suggesting that Hackney 100 Skills Plus, which we launched in October 2024, is targeted to individuals aged 25 and over. However, we are also offering Hackney 100 green construction programme for young people wanting a 2-4 week place to work experience in the priority sector. And the Hackney 100 individual placement programme offers paid work placements to young people and older residents that face additional barriers to employment such as disabilities, including learning disabilities and autism. This programme caters to the unique circumstances of those residents needing personalised and supportive work placements. And I'm more than happy to provide additional information on these programmes from the officers or you can directly contact the officers who are supporting them. Thank you. Can I ask for the next question? Previously, Hackney's Parliament asked the council to allow Hackney's Parliament for use of the council buildings. So that includes the town hall chamber and the assembly rooms for events for young people. For example, the career events. We were wondering, would this still be offered for 2025? Councillor Kennedy. Absolutely. Delighted to say yes. So you've got four bookings to do with what you will during the course of that time. But I would say, I hope it's not only on those occasions that you come in and engage with the council. I've got a meeting of the Tobacco Control Alliance coming up later this week, Chair. We're looking at all the people we've talked to to help us formulate our position on tobacco and vapes. Missing there, actually, as far as I'm concerned, is the voice of young people. So I will be getting in touch to work out a way of actually getting your feedback into that. And Wednesday, the 23rd, in here, I believe, of April, you've got a joint Health in Hackney and Children and Young People's Scrutiny Commission looking at neurodiversity, specifically ADHD and autism. And we're seeing a very marked increase in diagnoses of both those during the last decade. And it'd be great if we could hear from you that as well. So I hope it's not just those four occasions, but many more that the Youth Parliament engage. Thank you. That's almost exactly at 15 minutes, but I'll allow you to come back on some of those points up to Mayor Bramble and I'd like to thank everybody for coming in. Thank you, Mayor Woodley, and I'm happy to respond further in writing to the young people. Just thank you for coming along today and to build on Councillor Kennedy's points. One of the things that we do for young people around work experience is one of our youth hubs, but if you prefer that experience to be in the town hall, we're happy to accommodate that. You mentioned about campaigning before and said no one spoke to you about the budget or the changes to the youth service. I think I've got to work more closely with officers and I'm sorry that you weren't informed about what happened before, but myself, the previous group director and the previous head of service and the lead, a senior lead for finance. We all met with Youth Parliament some time ago to speak through the changes that was happening around the budget, to hear your feedback and all of us went through at several points and we reflected what young people said to feed into that now. So I will apologise on behalf of all of us that that wasn't fed back to you and I'm sorry that that wasn't told to you. And I'm sorry that we didn't come and meet with you sooner, but I've liaised with, we've got Naeem, who's our new direct group director for finance, and he's happy to come back to meet with you as the new youth parliament alongside me to continue to have those conversations going forward. So that's something that I'm going to take both officers because it wasn't acceptable that you weren't informed that actually young people were spoken to, heard and listened, and making sure that what happened now, what they said fed in. And I'm sorry that that wasn't related to you, but we will make sure we'll engage with you going forward. Thank you, Chair. Okay, that's a strong commitment. Do you want to raise your hand, Naeem, so everyone knows who you are? There's no escape now. All right. Thanks so much, everyone, for coming in. That concludes your presentation. Thank you. I'll move to item nine then. This is the capital update property disposals and acquisitions report. And as I said, I know we've got questions accompanying this report. It essentially updates the cabinet on the capital programme agreed in 24... Sorry, Councillor Moema. Thank you, Mayor Woodley. I just wanted it to be recorded that I'm going to leave for this item, then I'll be back for the next one. Okay, noted. Thank you. So, of course, this report needs to be contextualised in the difficult financial circumstances that are facing across the country and certainly in Hackney. We still have opportunities where we can tackle them and I'll be picking up that point in the Corporate Peer Challenge report later. But essentially, it's looking at what assets we have and whether we can reprovision them or indeed release them for sale in order to invest in other work. So this report recommends the sale of three properties, including 10 to 16 Ashwin Street. And I'm acutely aware of the public concern for the sale, particularly for those seeking to protect the arts in Hackney. The sites do require comprehensive repair, refurbishment and modernisation to make them letable under prevailing regulations. Under current fiscal circumstances, we feel it's not economically viable for the council. I do, however, want to assure this chamber that this administration will do everything in its power to protect and empower the arts and culture. It's part of my lived background. I went to art school back in the day, spent 20 years working in the arts and really believe that Dalston and the wider Hackney area is a creative place that if we're going to offer opportunities to people young and old, lifelong learning indeed, there needs to be a place for arts and affordable workspace. So I know there is a commitment to do the absolute best we can to retain that opportunity. And again, seeing Marie here that we have that connection with not only with art, but with nature in what can be a very grey area of our borough if we're looking at Dalston. So I will hand over to Councillor Chapman to introduce the report and I'll invite people up to ask their questions as we go through this item. No, because those are members seats, but they can come up and use the stand. Are you unable to see? Oh, I know that the audio in here is really challenging. I'm sorry about that. Yeah. Do you want to sit with those those chairs there maybe so that you're not so tucked behind? Councillor Chapman, can you introduce the report? Yes, thank you Mayor. As you've checked out, there are a number of items in this report and obviously the ones that grab the most attention is the proposed disposal of the properties in Ashman Street. As you said, well, we dispose of properties very rarely in Ashman actually, but it becomes necessary when things get into such a level of disrepair that they become very expensive to repair and dangerous. And I think we have no, as I think it's well known, we have insufficient resources of our own to be able to bring these back into use and use it ourselves. So we'll be looking to dispose of them both for so they can be brought into useful occupation and also to provide a capital receipt for us in these difficult times that will enable us to get on with our other capital priorities, both in Dalston and elsewhere. I absolutely take to heart your commitment there to the artistic endeavours in Hackney and the importance of that. Obviously, it's not completely not appropriate for us to go into negotiations at this point, but approval to this item will enable our officers to go ahead and talk to the appropriate parties and let's hope we come for a satisfactory arrangement. The update report also contains a couple of other important things. First of all, UTAS Dexion 106 managed to fund Hackney Works project, which is a project which works with young people to get particular state apprenticeships, both within contractors that are employed by the council and elsewhere. And it's a really, really important project that has so far introduced, I think it's supported 615 residents into employment, including 122 apprenticeships, and this resource will enable it to do many more. Lastly, I just refer to the acceptance of Grant National Lottery Heritage Fund towards the Reimagining Hackney Museum project, which you referred to at the beginning of your introduction tonight. It's a really well-loved museum here. It's a really well-loved resource to the museum here and this will enable appropriate updating so I can continue to serve the community. Thank you. I commend the report to Council. Thank you, Councilor Chapman. Are there any questions or comments from Cabinet? Councilor Kendi. Thank you. Just very quickly before I have to go to say that with all those caveats and ways of working, I absolutely support the decision that we're taking on the sale of the buildings in Dalston. Absolutely always bearing in mind what you said, Chair, about our cultural vision and maintaining that as we go through that process. And the second thing, just so pleased that we've got the Heritage Lottery money for the museum redevelopment project. And actually, if you needed any good, solid example of our commitment to culture, it's the fact that we went through a very gruelling process to apply for that money. And it's what we've put in ourselves as an organisation that has convinced National Heritage Lottery that we're a good place for them to invest that money. Thank you. Thank you. And I would like to ask Marie Murray, who is here to ask us our first public question. I'm here to ask my question from the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden on behalf of all the Hackney residents who benefit from spending time in the nature and green space. The garden is 15 years old this year. I'm really not my question that I've submitted the Dalston plan. But I know you will sign off states that development of adjacent sites must give quote regard to the immunity of the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. Does demolition of the building at 10 to 16 Ashland Street would have a catastrophic effect on the existence of the garden? Can members attach a condition to its disposal saying it must be retained and refurbished? Thank you, Marie. I'll come back on this. So just to reaffirm that we recognise that physical proximity between 10 to 16 Ashland Street and the Curve Garden and all the opportunities that that brings as well. Whatever happens in the future, we would be looking to mitigate any effects in the garden. Any proposals demolition, I hope it wouldn't come to that, is that they would require planning consent. And the process of applying for that would require them to make sure their plans did not compromise the interests of their neighbours. The council would enforce this process and its consideration of the effects on the garden, safeguarding against detrimental impacts. And I should let you know that I had a call today from the deputy mayor of London for culture just in Simon's office to basically demonstrate their support for the area as well. And it's and it's, you know, the connection for culture and nature in that area. So there's a lot of people looking very closely at this from the point of view of planning and the sort of the local plan and its commitment. And so I hope that offers you some assurance. Forgive me, in terms of can you put a condition that says no demolition? I think, yeah, I don't know if it would be a case of putting a condition. I've got officers here who might want to comment. I think it's more about reassuring you that planning would bring that protection. Did you want to comment, David or Chris? Sorry, I should just say, I mean, in terms of where the building is sold rather than once it reaches the planning stage. At the moment, sorry. Hi, Marie, we haven't seen each other for quite some time. I'm Chris, Director of Strategic Property. Hi. We will rely on planning as far as we can to put restrictions on sale documents. Ties our hands in more ways than we want them to be at the moment. So we want to keep our options open, basically. So the reliance comes from planning. Sorry, can you hear the last bit? Our reliance is on the planning policy. That doesn't sound very encouraging. Oh, no, no, it is. You know, it would be a definite commitment to enforcement if we were to, if anything was to be in breach of that. I mean, that's why planning enforcement exists. So, you know, that is a, that should be an assurance. Is this the concept can't? I'm afraid normally we, we. Yeah. Yeah. The concept can't attach a condition requiring that the building is not to, that the building is retained. What safeguards can you, the cabinet members, assure us you can put in place during the disposal to ensure that the development, any future development does not undermine the amenity, the access and the long term sustainability of the garden as required by the Dawson plan. In other words, what safeguards can you put in place because waiting until planning leaves us incredibly vulnerable and hostages to fortune. The garden is 15 years old this year and a much loved community asset in Dalston. Thank you. I don't know if you want to comment on planning, Councillor Nicholson. As I say, we've got a political commitment to retaining the garden. Any planning application would have to have really rigorous demonstration of how it wouldn't have an impact if demolition was to come. My hope is it wouldn't come to demolition anyway, but I don't know if, Councillor Nicholson, you want to come in on a specific about planning. Yeah, thank you, Mayor Woodley and Marie. Hi, good evening. You mentioned the Dalston plan quite appropriately and quite rightly, and the Dalston plan recognises very much the activities that are currently going on inside the buildings along Ashwin Street, as well as recognising the garden itself, as you're more than aware of. And thank you for your contributions to the making and shaping and forming of that plan. In addition to that, there is a conservation area overlay and all of this, as I'm sure you're aware, brings a great deal of scrutiny to bear on anybody who may wish to come forward and redevelop or repurpose or renovate any of the either buildings or develop on those empty sites along the empty sites along the Ashwin Street area. So what I would suggest is that take some reassurance from the fact that there are these different policy overlays. It wouldn't be appropriate, unfortunately, to give an unconditional precondition around development. It can only react and respond to proposals being formally submitted as part of the due planning process. But what we've tried to ensure is that what the Council has at its disposal is a range of policies that can be delivered through the planning process to ensure that it is appropriate development, its purposeful development and, importantly, high-quality development, whether it be renovation or redevelopment, as may be seen fit. Hopefully that kind of helps just reassure slightly. Thanks, Mayor Woodley. Sorry, I need to ask Ansel Crute to come up to ask that question, but thanks, Marie. My question follows on from that. Over the past few weeks, we have spoken to many of you. We've expressed strong support for Hackney's artists and creative industries, especially in Goldstone. But can you tell us what practical steps the Council has actually taken to preserve and promote affordable workspace for artists in the borough? Thank you. Council Nixon? Yeah, thank you, Ansel. And if I may, just sort of following on from my response to Marie, just add to that in terms of an ongoing response and continuation to your helpful question. The Council has for many years now worked with stakeholders, investors and partners to promote, encourage and support the road of the arts, creative and cultural industries in Hackney's local economy. And this still remains the case today. Workspace provision for a range of sectors, which includes the arts, creative and cultural sectors, is incorporated into both the borough's planning policies and regeneration led policies too. And these include area-based plans, such as those for Shoreditch, Hobson and Hackney Central, and of course in Dalston, as we've just been touching upon, and I'll come back to that again in a moment. In Hackney Wick, the Council has been working alongside the Mayor of London to ensure the arts and creative industries remain at the heart of the new development that is unfolding in that new neighbourhood centre. In addition to that, there is a programme of repurposing older buildings, some of which are owned indeed by the Council itself. And all of this is progressing and evolving as the new Wick neighbourhood, if I may describe it in that way, is starting to take shape on the ground in that part of the borough. As mentioned previously, and just in exchange with Marie there, the Dalston plan, which has been recently adopted, very clearly kind of steers landowners and future developers towards a range of employment-led uses, or a mix of uses, and not outright residential development within the town centre itself. The policy on affordable workspace is reinforced, and that policy is set in LP 33, that's Hackney's local plan, and that seeks to secure a minimum percentage of affordable workspace in new developments. So when new employment-led developments, so when new employment-led developments come forward, that condition is applied as a condition of planning and planning gain. The plan also goes on to identify Ashwin Street as Dalston's cultural quarter. It supports the presence of the Arcola Theatre, Bootstrap, Cafe Otte and V22, to name a few, you're more than familiar. As I mentioned earlier, it supports the garden too, and it's very, very clear about that crucial offer that it gives to Dalston, and indeed the reputation for Dalston as a destination, not just for residents, but for visitors alike, to the borough. Should new development come forward, as I was sort of mentioning to Marie, it will ensure the teams, the regeneration teams and the planning teams will ensure that the arts, creative and cultural sectors are championed in any form of redevelopment or renovation that comes forward. The council also has a number of buildings around the borough, in different parts of the borough, that it owns, where it is agreed leases with third-party space providers. That is led by the property team negotiating with these partners to come forward, many of whom provide discounted space for arts, cultural and creative uses. These include very familiar names, and I'm sure you're more than familiar with many of these names, which range from things like Milco, Main Yard Studios, Space Studios, Arbeid Studios, Eat Work Art, Bootstrap of course, on Ashman Street itself, Peer UK, Shoreditch Town Hall, Shoreditch Town Hall, the list is quite extensive, and it represents a very significant portfolio that has been delivered by the property services team in support of the arts, cultural and creative sectors in the borough. I hope that kind of responds to your question. Thank you very much. Do you have a supplementary if you need a point of clarity? Sorry, may I ask for supplementary? Yes, for a point of clarity, yes. So just to kind of dig down to that a little bit, there is a published report that suggests that a building will potentially be used for residential development. And at the same time, if there's a restriction on it for commercial use under Article 4, how do these two things align? I don't know if you're aware, because that wasn't really a point of clarity, that was an additional question. Are you able to answer or do you need to respond in writing? Sorry, May Woodley. Yes, I don't know the answer to that question this evening. And if I may suggest, May Woodley respond in writing, if I may answer to that question. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. For the next question, Rachel Maga is unable to attend and has asked for the question to be read out in their absence. The question is, in view of the eviction of artists from Dalston's Ashwin Street, please can you detail which plans are in place for rehousing them and protecting their continued artistic production in line with the council's initiatives? I know officers would not like the terming of this in terms of eviction. I know we are looking at how we can decant and support. We've been working with V22 and, as I say, had a call from the GLA earlier to see how they might also support. And we would absolutely do our best to smooth that process, but we'll offer a full response in writing. In addition to questions from members of the public, we've also received questions from councillors. I'd like to invite Councillor Adebayo to ask their question. Thank you so much. In light of the concern raised by the local artists and cultural stakeholders, regarding the future of the building on 10 to 16 Ashwin Street, what assurance can the council provide that the sale or the transfer of the building will prioritise the the preservation of the cultural and the artistic value rather than leading to conversion into private housing? Thank you, Councillor Adebayo. Quite similar, I think, to Ansel's question. Councillor Chapman, are you able to respond? I mean, technically, physically, any which way. Easy to move. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, Geoff. And can I thank Councillor Adebayo for a question and her leadership in addressing these community concerns in Dorset, which I think is temporary. The council has a statutory obligation to secure best consideration when disposing of assets. There are specific rules within which the council takes into account in the rare event of a disposal. We don't dispose of properties that often. These rules, combined with the council's overall financial position, limit our ability to consider the possibility of accepting an undervalue on the site. So, it's got to be a reasonable value. While it would be inappropriate for the council to discuss the possible terms of a disposal in advance of negotiations, the approval of this item, as I said earlier, will give full authority for council officers to enter in those negotiations. And we could all wish that they come to a speedy conclusion to the satisfaction of all the parties involved. While the legal and financial context for the issue of Ashland Street must be respected, I would like to draw attention to the fact the council has a long and consistent history of encouraging the cultural and artistic activities of Ashland Street, and elsewhere, as set out by the Mayor earlier in the introduction. This has required hard financial and legal commitments over the years. Our ambition has not diminished, even if the rules and resources have come. The Dalton plan, as a key contributor to the planning policy, steers landowners and developers towards either commercial uses or a mix of uses, and not outright residential development. Ultimately, the planning system, as we've discussed earlier, informed by the Dalton plan, is the main leader that the council has to preserve in the character of the area. Thank you. Do you have a supplementary? Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Let's try to find. Let's try to find. Given the uncertainty and the anxiety among the local artists, regarding the potential sales of 10 to 16 Ashland Street, what support does the council intend to provide to the artist during this difficult time? And what specific plan does the Council have to ensure that Corp Garden is protected? Thank you. The Council supported the 22 over the years and thoroughly briefed the tenant on the challenges of the building. In December 24, they were notified by the Council and briefed in detail. And further time and resources were invested by the Council to make the building safely habitable for a further three months. And I think we're at the end of that period now, so it's important to move to negotiations. The Council has also encouraged the 22 to look at ways to ease the transition and check the availability of other spaces available with relevant providers in the borough, signposting them to available space directly and via an agent who specialises in the local property market. Meanwhile, the Council has also some space available nearby, and it's offered this to be 22 some weeks ago, and the discussions are in there. But as I said earlier, let's hope that more substantive discussions can be concluded successfully as soon as possible. I'd like to invite Councillor Root to ask her question. Thank you, Kim. Thank you, Mayor. I noted that on page seven of the report, it says that the sites in Ashland Suite would require comprehensive repair, refurbishment and modernisation to make them letterable. So my question is about the future, really. How many other buildings are at risk of future sale given the Council's current parlous financial situation as a result of poor long-term maintenance of Council assets? And also, given the postponement of various capital investment projects also outlined in this report, like for instance in Stoke Newington Town Hall, are we storing up more problems for the future with dilapidating buildings? Councillor Chapman? Thank you. Thank you for your question, Councillor Root. The Council has a portfolio of buildings which are led to a variety of organisations capable of delivering value, either rental income, capital growth or social and economic benefits, or a combination indeed of all of these. The Council has to maintain its stock to statutory standards, and there are points in the life of buildings at which routine maintenance alone is insufficient to sustain them, and capital expenditure is required to refurbish and upgrade them to meet challenging regulatory standards. As you recognise, as we discussed earlier, capital expenditure has to be carefully managed and prioritised across many completing priorities. Where the use of a building or a site is no longer economically sustainable, we will consider disposal, and this has typically been Hackney's last result. Sales can raise valuable funds to help finance our other capital commitments, and this, I fully accept, is an increasing priority given the financial pressures we are under in current circumstances. The Council has made long-term value the priority for its real estate, and that can be seen from the use of different ownership and leasing structures applied over the years. Investments in the voluntary sector portfolio, development of Dr. Surgis, for example, strategic land acquisitions and extreme rarity disposals. While nobody can predict the future, we have to be proactive if we are to have the freedom to determine our own strategy and priorities. We regularly review Hackney's portfolio to assess the use of sites and their performance and their viability, to ensure that their contributions are the most advantageous to the Council and to our residents, as they most practically can be. If I can cheekily add a footnote, I do think it's worth acknowledging how community support has helped when it comes to some of these buildings and bringing in heritage lottery funding, because it obviously has to have that community support. So the transformation of Abney Chapel, of the Portico in terms of that GP surgery, and indeed the Hackney Mortuary, the incredible work that's gone into that. It is worth noting that when we have that community support, external funding, and the skills of our own team and strategic property, you know, we can make a tremendous difference. Did you want a supplementary or quite a clarity? I suppose really, first of all, I note that Councillor Chapman isn't saying that we're not going to be selling off more buildings, which is slightly scary, but I also note that we've got nearly half a million pounds that was earmarked to be spent on Stoke Newton Town Hall that's being pushed forward. And it does concern me that with a particular historic building like that, it's a big building, it has had problems in the past, that it could quite easily become dilapidated if we keep pushing that forward. And we know that the Council's got problems going forward too, so how many years will that money be postponed before it's spent? Do you want to come back on that? Yeah, I was just saying, well, I really don't think it's appropriate for me to speculate at this stage about the fate of any particular site, because there are lots of options over, lots of discussions to be had. Absolutely, we don't have huge amounts of resources to invest in than our stock, and some of the properties we have are in a similar situation where the amount of investment in terms of that we're required to bring them back into use would be uneconomical, and we have to look to possible disposal as an alternative to just letting them sit there for years and years and years and crumbling away. I mean, on Stoke Newington Town Hall, it is worth saying that now it's on the Heritage at Risk Register, there is again an opportunity to work with the community to develop a plan and to seek heritage funding. I don't think that would be on your disposals list to speak to your concern. Councillor Garbett, would you like to ask your question? Thank you. And just to say, I was really positive by what some of the comments around negotiation, and obviously the beginning of this paper talks about the social and economic value of this site, but some of the comments this evening about keeping the options open and not recognising that the demolition of this site would be an absolute disaster for the garden, I think is really concerning. It's really important that artists do have somewhere to go, but it's a community and this space is incredibly unique. And you've got a proposal on the table to work with B22 and the garden on creating and protecting something incredibly magical here. So my question is about how can you give more detail about how the council is, and this is a quote from the paper, managing the disposal to take into account social and economic potential as far as it's practically possible to complement the council's overall objectives for their cultural core in the Dalston area. Because I just want to say, if we don't protect this area, it means the Dalston plan is not worth the paper it's written on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Woodley, and thank you, Councillor Garber, for your question. And I'm sure everybody in the chamber this evening and who may be listening online would concur and agree that, indeed, the Dalston plan wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on if it's not actually been applied and used. But what I can assure everybody, Mayor Woodley, is that certainly speaking for and on behalf of the planning service, they will be applying the principles and the objectives and the future vision and ambition that is captured in the Dalston plan. As touched upon earlier in response to Ansel's question, the recently adopted plan does steer new development in the town centre towards employment-led or mixed-use development. We must emphasise and stress that and it is exactly that that will be pursued by the planning service as and when there may be future planning applications and, indeed, pre-application negotiations going on. The character of Ashwin Street is also clearly identified and captured in that plan and that includes the role, the place of the garden itself adjacent to Ashwin Street, as I know we're all aware. That destination created by the arts and cultural activities along the street, very, very much recognised by the council, which, again, I hope is clearly articulated in the response to Ansel's question. The council recognises and appreciates, and coming to your point about social and economic benefits and how it kind of precedes those, the council recognises and appreciates those long-term social and economic benefits. And as I also said to Ansel, it has now done so for many, many years, from the beginnings of Hoxton through into the 90s and the noughties, for example, it has not only led the regeneration of the borough, but it has led it through an arts, creative and cultural-led set of objectives to actually realise it in the neighbourhoods around the borough. But every town centre, every neighbourhood is different in Hackney, and long may that remain the case. Hoxton is not the same as Dalston, which in turn is not the same as Hackney Wig. All of these places, very, very different, very different characters, very different drivers. That is recognised by the council in terms of what it is that's happening in and around the streets of Dalston and Ashwin Street is no exception to that. However, following the approval, should that be the decision taken of this evening's decision, that will enable the negotiations to take place and they can commence with third parties. Offices then have the authority to enter into those negotiations and apply those values and those policy objectives into the future of all three of these locations that are identified on Ashwin Street. And it will then encourage those interested parties to come forward, who, like the council, recognise and respect the role of the arts in the future of Dalston and its growth. Now, I appreciate that there is, of course, with all of these negotiations, with all of these engagements and these changes, there is always going to be a risk. All I would perhaps suggest is that we all may, with a very, very common focus, that we recognise the value of the arts, the creative and the cultural sector, and we recognise the value it has brought to Hackney over the last 30 years and continues to do so, and long may that still remain the case. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm very conscious that we've gone away over time, so I think that's the end of the questions, unless there's a point of clarity. Yeah, I think I'd like a follow-up, if that's okay. And I just want to state that, I think, if we start not interrogating what we mean by affordable workspace, we will just create Dalston, which will have, like, WeWork drop-in space and other kind of affordable workspace, which isn't what we've got now. You mentioned Hackney Wick. Hackney Wick was created by artists who made that place what it was, and now it's been gentrified. And that's exactly what's going to happen to Ashwin Street. So my follow-up, and Clarke... I think that's presumptuous, given that we've set out that we are excited by the vision that's been presented, and we recognise the importance of that cultural quarter, and really a supplementary question should be for a point of clarity rather than a speech. I've just got one point of clarity to follow up specifically on what you've just said then. Can Cabinet make a specific commitment that you support the proposal that has been put forward by B22 and the Cove Garden? So I think we've made it pretty clear that we are on board with the proposal for an arts quarter, that it retains a connection with the Dalston Cove Garden. What we can't do is undermine that sort of fiscal rule that Councillor Chapman set out. So we have to allow officers to go forward and have those negotiations. We're pretty optimistic about those negotiations, but it's not for us as politicians to be able to determine them in advance. It has to be the right result for Hackney as a whole. Okay. Can we now move the recommendations as set out in the report? Do I need a show of hands as well as verbal affirmation? Thank you. Item 10, the overall financial position report. This overall financial position does present the stark reality of the challenges faced in Hackney and by local government more broadly. However, we are seeking to stabilise the Council's financial position and support continuation of service delivery, as well as advance our work in transformation. I'd like to invite Councillor Chapman to introduce the report. And thank you, Maria and Ansell, for coming in. I recognise many people from B22 attended as well. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, this is probably the last... the overall financial position report. Well, we'll have an output report at some stage, but it's obviously almost the final position of the year. And we are predicting an overspend of 36.859 million after mitigations, which I think we've discussed a number of times before. And obviously, it represents a sort of serious financial position that Council unfortunately remains in due to the pressures of homelessness, prevention, adult and social care costs, which continue to increase. although you'll note, and I'm pleased to report, that there has been a substantial reduction in the predicted overspend for the temporary accommodation element of that, of something like 1.6 million. It would be unwise to say at this stage that, you know, we've turned the corner. But obviously, it is welcome and an improvement. So, you know, there's some news in there, although the overall position is still serious. If I can just draw attention to... Thank officers for the mitigations that have taken place and set out in Section 2 of the Group Director's Report. But note that there is a continued overspend within those figures, not additional, on agency costs. And as you were specifically pointing the direction of bearing down on agency costs in the period of the report, and measures have been put in place to do that. But obviously, there is concern that despite all of that, the agency costs are still rising. I've spoken to the director about that, and I understand you'll be going back to CLT with a view of looking at what they're doing and seeing if it's appropriate to put some increased measures in place to bear down on those. The reasons for the... why we use agency is fully set out in the report. And there are reasons we have to use agency, you know, temporary work, for filling in gaps, where the reorganisations are delayed is important. But I think it's important that we try and bear down further on the overall thing. I've been asked a question on that, and I've tried to deal with most of the points in that as well. In my introduction, I hope I've succeeded. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, obviously, because we had the members of the public questions, and we still took a single question from each opposition member groups present. We've sort of run out of others. Thank you for weaving that into your introduction. Any questions or comments from Cabinet? No? Can we move the recommendations to set out? No. Apologies, Councillor Binney-Lubbert. Because we had the deputation and the representation for our youth parliament, and members of the public questions, and I had agreed to take a question from each opposition group, we've limited it to one question. We should have finished this meeting at seven o'clock. So I've already extended considerably this evening. Apologies, I thought you have been advised that we would be taking one question from each group tonight. As Councillor Chapman said, he attempted to answer within his introduction, so I hope that was helpful. I'll happily follow up in writing, Chair, if that's helpful, and I would expect a further report back in future IFPs on what the election's taken. Thank you. No, if you could ask. Again, can I ask for the recommendations to be agreed by hand as well as by verbal affirmation? Thank you. Item 11, use of Hackney household support fund allocation. The Department for Work and Pensions have announced that Hackney's household support fund allocation for the coming 12 months will be just shy of 5 million. The household support fund will assist us to continue providing vital support for our residents who are experiencing financial hardship, some of whom may come from very small, underrepresented communities, which is not as visible to statutory authorities. I commend this report to Cabinet and invite Councillor Chapman and Councillor Williams to introduce the report. I'll be introducing the report this evening. The paper reflects a 12% reduction on the funding for household support fund. However, we did want to note and welcome the Government's decision to extend the fund past September 2024, when it was due to come to an end, providing certainty for councils. This was an important step to ensure that we were in the best position to continue to offer local welfare assistance to residents. In Hackney, we have plans to maintain the breadth and depth of our household support fund program to survive the reduction in funding, and we are not planning for anyone to fall through the gaps. We have kept the amount allocated to provide crisis support via the open application route administered by the Here to Help service. Grants allocated to 12 community infrastructure organisations to provide support with food and other essentials, as well as advice and guidance to residents, will remain in the same as last year. The Household Support Fund was designed as a short-term solution to cover the cost of living crisis and increase in inflation. What councils need is a scheme that provides early help and prevention to stop residents from falling into financial hardship. Until the Government introduces a permanent solution, we will support five outreach advice workers based on the Here to Help service, an outreach worker dedicated to helping residents in temporary accommodation facing financial hardship, two system conveners-enabled services to work together to deliver a program of support residents' need in locations convenient to them, five organisations to provide access to low-cost food. This is on top of holiday food support to children and young people eligible to five school meals, to free school meals and equivalent support to children in the Orthodox Jewish community, payments to foster carers, special guardians and shared lives carers and families with children in need, food and fuel vouchers to residents accessing support from citizens advice and small grants to over 50 grassroots community organisations. In closing, Chair, as local government finance settlements improve and when the cost of living crisis comes to an end, we know the Household Support Fund won't and shouldn't be required as the Government works towards a long-term sustainable solution that supports low-income households and those living in poverty. Thank you very much. Any questions or comments from Cabinet? OK, can we move the recommendations as set out in the report? Shared hands and verbal affirmation, please. Thank you very much. Item 12, the Corporate Peer Challenge Report and Action Plan. As you'll have heard me say before, the importance of bringing in Corporate Peer Challenge was something both myself and the Chief Executive felt was really important during my election and securing Dawn in that permanent Chief Executive role. The report highlights our understanding of the communities we serve, our ambitions for addressing inequality and the positive outcomes we have delivered for residents. It recognises strength and leadership, collaboration between officers and counsellors, our effective financial management and our transformation programme that will help us change in order to tackle the challenges we face. We do face grave challenges and we've obviously been discussing that tonight, including long-standing deprivation, inequality and increased demand for public services. The huge financial pressures felt across local government and our partner organisations means we cannot stand still. The Corporate Peer Challenge Report has helpfully provided us with a number of recommendations, helping us to address the urgency of our financial challenge, to work with external partners and support our elected members. It recommends that we go further with our transformation programme to deliver the change we need. It did check out that we still have options. It recognised that we're really financially well managed, that we are low borrowing, that we still have reserves, some councils do not, and that we have assets. And as we've discussed tonight, it may be that we can dispose of some of those in order to invest, to save across the borough in future. We fully accept the recommendations as set out by the Corporate Peer Challenge, and the action plan enclosed within this report outlines how we will act from here on. I commend this report to Cabinet. Are there any questions or comments from Cabinet? Can we move the recommendations to set out on the report? Thank you very much. Item 13, update on the Local Development Scheme and Local Plan Review. I'd like to invite Councillor Nickerson to introduce this report. Thank you, Mayor Woodley. I'll try and be succinct and very brief, but first just to, if I may, acknowledge the work led by the Assistant Director for Planning, who's joining us this evening, and for the Senior Project Team Leader for Policy, who is also joining us in the Chamber this evening, who have put this piece of work together. As mentioned in the introduction, there is a number of significant reasons as to why this has come before us this evening. And one of those is to do clearly with the need for us to keep planning policy as a council, as a community, up-to-date, relevant, and focused on the world of today rather than the world of yesterday from some ten years ago, et cetera. And that is very important. It's very important because it kind of brings forward the opportunity to review the very nature of affordable homes and indeed the different needs and demands that the community in Hackney are currently experiencing and how new developments, the local development, can perhaps meet and address some of those deficits and some of those concerns. So it's a very timely kind of proposition that the local development scheme is before us this evening. In addition to that, as I think we're all aware, I'm sure, that we've been hearing that the new government is bringing forward a kind of ambitious and comprehensive programme of review and reform of the national planning policy framework at national level. And indeed, wrapped up with that are many objectives in the terms of delivery of new homes, for example, and of course, the economic growth and the infrastructure required. It's probably worth noting that Hackney has been delivering on the most extraordinary growth over the course of the last ten years or so. We have seen the highest local economic growth in the local economy over that period of time than anywhere else in the country. We have also seen the most extraordinary delivery of new homes that is going on, new homes of all tenure types. And with that, as has often been said in the Chamber of Cabinet, Mayor Woodley, comes the infrastructure to support such growth and a growing community. And that infrastructure comes along in all shapes and forms. And as you mentioned earlier this evening, it ranges from GP surgeries and providing fit for purpose, modern facilities, healthcare facilities for a growing community alongside the work and investment that goes into our school estates. And to keep those schools the best or one of the best, if not the best in London. And so the list goes on. And with that, it's important that we bring forward this timetable of policy and plan making. And I must stress, this is just a timetable. So quite a technical document, but it has to be formally approved and adopted by the Council. Once we have concluded this evening's business, and assuming that it will be approved, it will, of course, be shared with central government, who have kind of instructed that we all, and by we, I mean local planning authorities across the country, submit by the end of the month. Actually, I think if I'm being more accurate, I'm looking to this direct confirmation here. I think it may have been the middle of the month of March, but because of our decision-making timetable, it's more like the end of the month as to when we will be submitting. With that, the report is as set out, and I commend this report to Cabinet. Thanks. Thank you very much. I thank officers in advance for your work. Any questions from Cabinet? Sorry, it's from Cabinet. Sorry, I wasn't only in advance that we would have to ask a few questions. Because of the number of public questions then coming in, you should have been advised that we were only going to be able to take one. We are now half an hour over our allotted time. Any questions I take is at Chair's discretion, and I allow 15 minutes, which was fully taken up with the public questions to be honest, and I still extended it in order to take a question from Councillor Roo and from Councillor Garvey. If I'd realised that that hadn't been communicated to you, I would have given you the option to swap those questions out. But I'm very keen to conclude business this evening within whatever reasonable time we've got left, given that we're half an hour over. Any questions from Cabinet? No? Okay. In that case, can we move the recommendations as set out? Show of hands as well as verbal affirmation. Thank you very much. Item 14, supporting residents with additional needs to thrive. Councillor McKenzie, I invite you to be brief in your introduction. If you can turn your mic on. Hello, can you hear me? Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Mayor Woodley. As you can see from the flavour and tone of this report, Hackney Council Housing Services team is committed to enabling our residents to live well and thrive in their homes and communities. We know there are times when this can be more difficult for some people. Disability illness, bereavement, exposure to trauma, adverse childhood experiences, deprivation and disadvantage, including racism and poverty, can have an effect on residents' physical and mental health, employment prospects and ability to access services and maintain their tenancies. This can be made worse by housing factors such as overcrowding, damp and mould and ongoing antisocial behaviour. We know that the one-size-fits-all approach to delivering housing services will not work for some people. And to be truly inclusive, we must offer people more personalised services. This new policy sets out Hackney's housing commitment to ensuring residents with additional needs can access our services, sustain their tenancies and live in their homes. It has been developed in line with Hackney Council's housing services ambitions, where we are to hopefully treat residents fairly and with respect, to be easy to do business with, keeping people safe, keeping our promises and to be actively anti-racist. In developing this policy, we've sought out the views of residents with additional needs, to understand their experiences. We've listened and learnt from complaints, scrutinised case work and had one-to-one conversations with residents who have additional needs and also had focus group drop-ins where residents with additional needs have given their views. We've also heard from staff about their experiences of helping people with additional needs to resolve their housing challenges. The policy sets out how housing services will identify and respond to residents who have additional needs. This includes basics, such as examples around ensuring translations are available for those who need them, through our specific adjustments that apply to certain service areas such as anti-social behaviour, gas safety, repairs and rent arrears. We will set up a network of additional needs champions who will be responsible for leading the rollout of this work in their teams and service areas. This will be led by the Assistant Director of Tenancy Services and will be a way of bringing staff across housing together to deliver the critical project in a joint-up way. I commend this report to Council. Thank you, Councillor McKenzie. It's good to hear that we were taking the experiences of our residents on board, given that we've had previous deputations around this. I know this is also a response to the Regulator of Social Housing's consumer feedback and indeed the Housing Ombudsman. Any questions or comments from Cabinet? In that case, can we move the recommendations to set out, show of hands and verbal affirmation, please? Thank you, everybody. And the final item, item 15, nomination for appointment of local authority governor. I'll hand straight over to Deputy Mayor Bramble. Thank you, Chair. And this is to nominate Sally Lindsay German as the Governor on Webbook Nursery. She has been a Chair since 2015 and has got a strong commitment and dedication to early years. And it was a strong nomination. All those that know her had advocated for that. And I know I thank schools, but I am, you know, before I was a qualified teacher, I was a trained nursery nurse and, you know, not as many people know about early years and understand the work that goes into those early formative years as we do and talk about schools. I just want to acknowledge all of the work in our early year settings and all the fantastic work that they do and that the Mayor and I get to see when we go out to visit and just, yeah, nominate Sally to be appointed as the Governor. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Can we move the recommendations as set out and the report? Thank you very much. Thank you for bearing with me on a much extended meeting. Very, very busy agenda, but it was good to hear from all of those groups. So thank you very much for sticking with us to the end. And thanks to the officers too. Thank you. Thank you.

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