Transcript
and Leader of the Council and I'm chairing this evening's meeting. This meeting has been webcast to enable those who cannot attend in person to follow the proceedings. Please could I ask all attendees to turn on and off their microphones when invited to speak and remember to turn on your microphone and remember to turn it off when you finish speaking.
Firstly, I'd like to welcome our Councillor Angelo Weeks, our new Exec Member for Community Safety. This is his first meeting.
Thanks, Councillor Weeks, and I know you're going to do a brilliant job. You've already hit the ground running.
Please note this, sorry, please note this Council meeting held in public and not a public meeting. All remarks should be addressed through me as chair.
Also, we're not expecting a fire alarm this evening, so if the alarm is Sandy's, please follow my instructions and evacuate the building.
As usual, each item will be introduced by an Exec Member, followed by an opportunity for members to ask questions, and then an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions.
Questions must relate to the agenda item being deliberated.
When questions on each item are complete, I will move the agenda item to a vote.
Once the vote has been taken, there will be no further discussions of the item.
I would like to reassure everybody that the Executive Members have read all the reports and appendies supplied to them for this meeting.
Thank you.
First of all, I'm going to take item one. Apologies for absence. I've had none.
Item two, declarations of interest. Do any members have any interest to declare?
Item three, minutes of the previous meeting held on the 28th November 24, pages one to six of the agenda pack.
Can we agree the minutes of the last meeting as a correct record, please?
Item four, appointees to be made by the Executive, pages seven to ten of the agenda pack.
Please, can we agree the appointments on page seven of the agenda pack to the London Boroughs Grants Committee and the North London Foundation Trust?
Thank you.
Thank you.
The first item to consider is item B5, draft budget proposals 25-26 and the medium-term financial strategy.
Before I ask Council Award, I would just like to say to thank everybody involved in this, all the officers and everybody.
I'm really, really proud that this Council has actually set a budget.
Many Councils are really struggling, so over to you, Council Award.
Thank you, Chair.
Councilor Halloran is absolutely right.
A tremendous amount of work has gone into this budget.
I want to thank every Councillor involved and I want to thank every officer right across the Council who's been involved.
Our finance team, of course, but every single part of the Council has been involved in making sure that we have a balanced budget.
It's incredibly difficult for local government.
We've just come out of 14 years of Tory-imposed austerity.
The green shoots are beginning, but we are not out of the woods yet.
And that's why it's incredibly important we keep on delivering those frontline services for people most in need.
And everything we do is reflected in our five missions.
They need to be key to absolutely everything, every decision we make.
And Councilor Wolfe has just hit the ground running as housing lead, taking over from Councilor Halloran, who's done some great work.
And there are 200 million in this budget over the next two years in boosting homelessness support and prevention.
And amid evictions and homelessness going up right across London, that is so incredibly important.
Councilor Bell-Bradford lives and breathes an inclusive, fair local economy.
And we've got 1,000 apprenticeships in this budget and putting 5,000 people back into work.
Councilor Champion is working so hard to create a greener, healthier borough by continuing to invest in improving recycling.
And they're planting 600 trees a year.
Councilor Ngongo is intimately involved in creating a child-friendly borough where young people can fulfill their potential.
And we're providing a seamless offer of support to all school-aged children.
Councilor Chapman and, of course, all of us right across the Council are involved in empowering people, providing the right support that ensures a quicker, more effective response to resident inquiries, including by improving the Council's online offer.
This budget has been incredibly hard.
There has been many, many hard choices.
But this is all about our five missions and protecting those frontline services.
Thank you, Chair.
Do I have any questions from the Executive?
Any questions?
I'll take Councilor Banani first.
Thanks very much.
First of all, I just wish Councilor Ward best of luck in the announcement today and whatever happens.
And I appreciate the time that you've made to kind of talk through budgets with us on a variety of players and look forward to working with whoever comes next.
So thank you.
A quick question, because I know it's been delayed from the last Executive.
Can you confirm the proposed change in rates for resident street parking?
Because I know that was a decision that wasn't at the last Executive, and it's not massively clear in the current papers of what percentage change we might be looking at.
Can you take me to where you're looking at in the budget, Councilor Hamdash?
Well, that's the challenge.
It's not clear in the budget.
So in the last Budget Papers, it was said that resident street parking would come to the next Executive.
So the question's not in the current Budget Papers.
So what's the exact question?
What is the proposed level of changes to resident street parking fees?
We're only taking questions on the Budget, so happy for you to email and we'll get a response to you.
But tonight we're talking about the Budget.
Well, can I ask then why those figures aren't in today's Budget when it was promised in the last Executive?
Sorry, I'm not sure that it was promised in the last Executive that those particular figures would be in the Budget.
I can defer to Councilor Champion, who might be able to give me more, but really if you want to email us, Councilor Hamdash, I'm sure we can answer your question.
I can't prove a negative here.
Thank you.
So, an unrelated question.
So, our HRA parking.
So, is there not a concern that it's substantially underpriced for people who don't live on estates?
We have a fee for people who live out of borough or aren't on estates.
These are particular people who are driving into the borough, who are driving into, or perhaps live on one of our car-free developments.
What kind of benchmarking do we do in terms of pricing those costs for those type of drivers?
I don't consider it's underpriced.
I know that benchmarking takes place on every kind of fee and charge that we look at.
And I will defer to – actually, we haven't got our Director of Homes and Communities in the room, but we can certainly get you an answer to that about the exact nature of benchmarking.
But all of our fees and charges are benchmarked.
I don't consider it to be underpriced.
This is a draft budget, and this will go through several hurdles, including the Corporate Resources and Economy Committee and Audit Committee.
And this can be discussed in all of those forums.
Just as an example, every single commercial alternative that's available out there is nearly double the price at least.
I think the other thing that's an issue is that this fee is a flat fee across the borough.
And when commercial prices tend to be higher, the further and more central you come to London.
So the fact that we are charging a flat fee for an estate in Angel versus a flat fee for an estate in Crouch Hill, have we ever considered gradiated HRA parking based on the location of the estate?
We'll certainly take your suggestion away, Councillor Hamdash.
Have you finished your questions?
No, no, fine for you to carry on.
Thank you very kind, Councillor Halloran.
So one of the big substantial fee increases is the increase from the North London Waste Authority, which has increased by 17%.
It would be good to understand how much of that fee increase is associated with the overrunning and overcost mega incinerator at Edmonton.
Sorry, the overrunning of the mega incinerator in Edmonton.
All of the costs are to do with the North London Waste Authority, which provides all of our waste services, Councillor Hamdash.
Right, so does the continued need to implant millions in budget cuts represent a broken promise by the Labour Party?
No, it doesn't.
I like to think I'm a very, very talented, Councillor Hamdash.
I like to think that Councillor Halloran is very, very talented.
I like to think all my executive colleagues are.
None of us are talented enough to reverse 14 years of Tory austerity in six months.
And so, no, it doesn't represent a broken promise.
Islington Labour are very, very clear in their manifesto promises, and it doesn't.
This Labour government has inherited a huge hole in the public finances, has promised multi-year settlements for local government coming next year.
That in itself will be an absolute game changer.
But we cannot reverse 14 years of stifling Tory austerity in six months.
One of the things that I think the Labour administration did very notably and positively during those years was unite and work together with fellow Labour councillors to resist austerity.
It would be good to understand how is the current Islington Council making representations to our new Labour government that the current agreement with local government isn't right and isn't working.
Councillor Halloran, what's next to that?
Councillor Hamletash, I've been very, you know, we're talking about the budget tonight.
The questions have to be on the budget, please.
You know, you're really steering off some of the questions.
So, I'm going to move on to Councillor Onestas.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair.
Just to say, I do believe Councillor Hamletash is also very talented.
As many others in the room as well.
Speaking of talent, Islington Council is proud to be a child-friendly borough.
And I know that the executive member is working really hard for us to also become a toddler-friendly borough.
So, what really concerns me is to see the budget cuts that stem from toddlers to adolescents.
We've got cuts to oral health.
We've got cuts to playgroups.
We've got cuts to nurseries.
We have cuts, potentially, in two or three years' time, to children's services, in terms of children's centres.
And, again, even more sooner than that, cuts to children's services of almost a quarter of a million.
So, how can we hold ourselves up to be calling ourselves a child-friendly borough if we're making these substantial cuts?
Is there a specific thing that you're referencing here, Councillor?
And if so, can you take me to it?
Yep, happy to.
So, can the executive confirm that the over 1 million cuts that will happen to two to three years from now
will not mean that we have to close children's centres?
As I said, can you take me to the part of the budget you're referring to?
Also, just to add, this Labour-run council is a child-friendly borough, puts children at the heart of what we do.
If things are done differently, as we know school numbers are down,
I can assure you we have the best services and the best start of life for any baby-born, child-born.
I can tell you that, my daughter-in-law is in upminster and she said,
I wish we have the services you have in Islington.
So, I'm really sorry, unless you can talk a question.
And, Councillor Gongo is looking at me now, who fights light and day for this, for children.
What I'm not going to do is just take very vague statements about millions.
Refers to a part of the budget, please.
Can I speak, please?
Yeah.
I want just to ask to your question, Anastas.
Yourself, you remember.
Two weeks ago, when I brought my annual report to the scrutiny,
I spoke about baby-friendly borough and child-friendly borough.
And we are bringing again on 24th scrutiny, the clear plan in details from work about child-friendly borough.
And yourself, you witnessed the first-end work, what we are doing.
Sometimes we need to do things differently.
It's not just to do with the budget or cutting.
And I even explained when I gave my report to the scrutiny, our approach about child-friendly borough is about community approach.
That means we are working with our VCS and across different portfolios here to make sure we are making our children to have the best, especially since they are very young until they become adults.
That means even when you are saying about closed children's center, your question is a bit vague.
Please, if we can really understand what you mean.
I know our approach is about, we have to understand the needs of our current young people's goals is different from 10 years ago or 15 years ago.
And sometimes we are still using the old system.
We need to review and to upgrade ourselves.
And for upgrading ourselves, as yourself, you know, I even mentioned to the scrutiny.
We are going live on consultation with families, young people, including my colleagues.
Yourself, you're going to receive a surveyor about what is our next move with our children's center.
Because sometimes they are not fit in purpose.
They are not answering the needs of our current needs.
That is what we need to do differently.
And for us to do differently, it hurts.
And for us to build up the system, that is where we are going.
It is not about reducing the budget.
It is about what can we do differently to meet the current needs we are facing.
Thank you, Chair.
If I can answer Councillor Ward's question.
So, I am specifically referring to the new proposal, which is a 1.15 million cut in 2027 to 2028.
And it is to reduce the general fund subsidy for vacant places in council-managed children's centers with nurseries.
So, again, projecting forward, we know that we are closing schools because there aren't any spaces.
We are reducing the subsidy.
Are you ensuring that we are protecting children's centers?
There is a lot more to this than what you have outlined.
It is effectively a funding swap.
I am going to give you a second.
Yeah, so just on that, so just on the child care subsidy, I think it is important to note that part of the rationale is because there have been changes in national policy.
The government are going to meet those costs rather than the council having to meet those costs.
So, again, if we want to give you more detail, Councillor, we can do that outside of the meeting.
But know that it is actually a funding swap, as Councillor Waller has alluded to.
Thank you for that.
Just to clarify, it was not regarding the child care bursary.
I completely understand what is going on there.
It was to do with the children's centers.
But, again, I am happy to pick up offline to make sure what the long-term plan is to make sure that our children's centers are protected and are viable.
If I could ask my second question, Chair.
Yeah, but just going back on that, I think Councillor Nogongo did say to you, we are going, everything we do, we are talking to people and it will be about the need.
We want the best service for the children and the children's centers.
So, you know, you will be very much part of it because I know you've got a young family.
So, it's not, you know, I don't want people just out there now stuck and worried about children's centers because there's been no decisions.
But it is very good to look at the need, what young people need now, what when I was growing up, when you was growing up, our children.
We want the very best.
We're a child-friendly borough.
We want our toddlers.
We want for our, we're getting, we're a younger generation.
We're going to be now a very much older population and we need to look and see if our services meets what needs coming.
Thank you.
I'm happy for you to clarify.
The Equality Assessment Impact, which says that this budget potentially will have a negative impact.
It does use that word and it's involved in the report.
So, what I would like to understand is, again, happy to look at clarification on that.
What I would like to understand is what would it take for a budget to be, have a positive impact and are we likely to see this in the next five years?
I actually don't know what you're talking about, Councillor Ernestis.
Can I defer to the Corporate Director?
The Equality Impact Assessments are there for members to understand the potential impacts of the savings, obviously.
But you need slightly more precise about which bit you're talking about, I think.
And I think it's going to be very, very difficult to answer your question as you've framed it, to be honest.
I mean, I know the Chair mentioned that the report has been read by everyone, referring to the Equality Impact Assessment.
You can't just make vague statements.
If you want to refer me to a line in the budget, then refer me to a line in the budget, please.
I'm referring you to the budget item on the Equality Assessment.
Page, please.
You can come back to it, I'm sure.
So, on the Equality Assessment, right at the top, I believe it's page number five, sorry, page number six, which says,
Equality Impact, Overall Cumulative Impact.
The overall assessment is that there is a potential...
What page of this meeting's papers, Councillor?
Page 104.
Thank you.
The overall assessment is that there is a potentially negative impact.
I think, really, Councillor Ernestas, it's...
I'm really upset that anyone would play politics like that and just select one line rather than read the entire paragraph.
The overall assessment is that there is a potential negative impact because of the budget saving proposals for 25 to 26.
Much of this is due to the current climate we find ourselves in, with the cost of living crisis impacting the lives of our residents.
The impact of savings may only be felt by those residents who use or are affected by some environmental services.
Of course, there are hard choices in this budget, Councillor.
This budget is all about our five missions and protecting frontline services.
And to pick out one line, instead of reading the entire paragraph, reading the context.
I think that's quite disingenuous.
Can I just add to that, thank you for congratulating Councillor Ward on his third budget.
I really do hope the newly formed Green Independent Group are at full council to agree the budget because we have a duty to our residents not to play party politics to set a budget yearly.
And I would really hope that there is an agreement on this budget.
I'm now going to move on.
Thank you for the questions.
Can we agree the recommendations 1.1 and 1.2, which are the exec's responsibilities on page 11 of the agenda, Pat?
Can we also, do I need to agree them one at a time?
We can do, yeah.
Do I need to agree them one at a time?
No, no, no.
Can we also recommend point 1.3 to page 1.27 on pages 11 to 13 of the agenda, Pat?
To the councils for approval, please.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm now going to take the next item, item C6, the procurement strategy for the supply and installation of the maintenance of CCTV equipment, and the one-year call for off from the existing CCTV contract.
It says it's Councillor Wolfe, but we've got the new exec member, Councillor Weeks, who will be delivering this.
Thank you, Chair.
Just for context, with regard to CCTV in the borough, so there are over 2,100 cameras across the borough.
This includes those on housing estates, council buildings and on the street.
The on-street cameras are monitored 24-7 from the council control room, and over the last four years, the team have provided key evidence for murder investigations,
as well as helping to prevent phone snatches, find missing vulnerable people and preventing gang violence.
With regard to this paper, this report seeks pretender approval for the procurement strategy in respect of a CCTV supply, installation and maintenance framework agreement.
As the paper also says, the procurement of the framework agreement will be led by this council and delivered in partnership with London boroughs of Ealing, Hounslow and Suburb.
The framework agreement will enable each of the four boroughs to access call-off contracts with the chosen supplier.
And now, after, when drafting this procurement strategy, it's a place that is hot, was valued for money, and also other options were considered, but this was considered the best route.
Happy to take any questions.
Thank you.
Is there any questions from the exec members?
Any questions?
Thank you, Councillor Houn.
Just on this, you know, the papers talk quite positively about the future tech and, you know, how great they're going to be at recognition and everything.
One of the things that I was a little bit concerned about in the procurement papers was that there wasn't any mention of potential misuse of this technology and about whether or not we were talking to these providers about our confidence in data protection, in making sure that these tools, again, aren't misused.
I'd like some reassurance that that that will be factored into the procurement policy, even if it isn't written down in that paper.
I appreciate you've recently taken over this brief.
Thank you for the question, Councillor Houn.
I'm happy to pass to Dan, just to answer that.
Is that right?
Thank you.
Yes, it'll be part of the tender pack that goes out stipulating GDPR and governments around use of CCTV.
As there's no further questions, can we agree with recommendations 2.1 to 2.3 on pages 155 and 156 of the agenda pack, please?
Item 7 is the procurement strategy for major refurbishment works to the harvest estate, pages 185 to 236.
And can I hand that over to Councillor Wolfe, please?
Sure.
Thank you, Chair.
And thank you for the work that you've done previously in overseeing this.
As you can tell, this report represents a significant commitment to invest in our high-rise buildings on the harvest estate, in addition to the lift renewal programme that we already have underway.
As outlined in the paper, the retrofit project will prioritise fabric-first improvement, leading to a litany of retrofit upgrades, including changes to make more efficient and low-carbon air source heat pumps.
There will also be associated decoration of communal areas, which is very welcome.
And I do want to emphasise that resident engagement has taken place since 2022, informing the scope of works to be completed.
There will also be a resident steering group that will be set up to provide oversight throughout the works as they go through to completion.
So I'm very happy to bring this report.
Any questions?
Can I jump in?
It's not really a question.
I think it's just I'd want to put my thanks on record to the housing team, Matt West and Jed Young and all his team, because they have a very, very difficult job.
But I know from working with them on the sort of net zero carbon climate action, that that is an area they are really, really committed to.
And actually bringing forward things like fabric-first retrofit at the moment in the circumstances is very hard.
But I know it is something that is very important to them.
And I think, you know, this is a real example of the thought they put into it.
And Bevan Court as well, which is the other retrofit estate that we're doing at the moment.
Thank you.
Can we agree recommendations 2.2 and 2.3 on pages 186 of the agenda, Pat, please?
Thank you.
We'll come to item D8, strategic asset management plan.
I'm going to introduce this report, but just before I do, I also want to thank officers, especially Stephen Biggs, because this has been a long time coming, what we call the Samp.
And I'm really pleased we have this document.
Any questions about this?
Can we agree recommendations 1.1 to 1.4 on pages 237 of the agenda pack?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now to the last item for this evening, item D9, cost of living scrutiny response to recommendations of the scrutiny committee.
Pages 351 to 370.
Councillor Ward, could you please introduce the report?
Thank you, Una.
So much work went into this report, so I want to thank everybody on the committee who contributed.
It's such a detailed and useful piece of work.
In particular, I think, recommendation 13 about reviewing opportunities to simplify the application process for financial support schemes is incredibly useful.
We're very, very proud of all our financial support schemes, but we need to make sure that they can be accessed in the easiest way possible.
So, thank you very, very much to the committee for all the work on this.
Any questions?
Just a quick one.
So, there's a really lovely recommendation there about access to communal drying, and it talks about the services, the laundry services that we've rolled out in places like Andover.
It does miss half the recommendation, though, because it also talks about the value of communal drying lines, so a bit more low-tech than a dryer.
It would be good to understand whether there's a bit of an update about whether or not more estates aren't getting drying lines or finding spaces for that.
So, we have the Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme, and we've put lots of drying lines there.
So, if you know any and there's any more requests for them, I'm more than happy, because I think there's something lovely.
I don't have a garden.
For my shame, I do have a tumble dryer.
I'm not going to lie.
But there's something lovely about putting fresh washing out, so please let us know.
That is something we're very big on, but I was really pleased about the estates like the Andover, where we have put washing machines and dryers.
And it is something in the future that I would still look at, because pre-GLC, a lot of our estates had little drying rooms in them and washing lines.
They're a great community.
If I had my way to towel blocks, I'd probably put little laundrettes in all the blocks if I had the money.
I think it's great community activity.
Absolutely.
Councillor Hamdash, when I lived in private rented accommodation, the terms of my tenancy were I couldn't put washing on the line on my balcony,
and it was very, very annoying, because I could never get anything dry.
Now that I live in leaseholder accommodation, I have a line on my balcony.
And there's also, as you'll know, lines across my estate as well.
So, yeah, absolutely, it's a great idea.
What I'd say is, if you've got a number from that Thriving Neighbourhoods project, it'd be great to put it in the report.
It would have been great to shout about it.
It's just a bit of a missed opportunity there, because it answered half the recommendation,
and it's good to shout a bit about these things, as you want.
I will shout about it.
I'm glad you're pleased.
Can we agree recommendations 2.1 and 2.2 on pages 351 and 352 of the Agenda Pack, please?
Please agree.
Thank you.
Oh, thank you very much.
There are no other items to consider, and that concludes our meeting this evening.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.