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Agenda and draft minutes
March 5, 2025 View on council website Watch video of meeting Read transcript (Professional subscription required)Summary
The meeting approved the Council’s budget, including a council tax freeze for the third year in a row. The meeting also approved a package of reforms to the Council’s constitution, including new rules about which decisions are treated as “key decisions” and a new process for scrutinising Cabinet decisions.
Bradstow School
A petition was presented to the Council signed by 1,699 people regarding the Council’s proposal to close Bradstow School. The petition requested that the Council cease the consultation on closing the school and instead work with Kent County Council and other stakeholders to find a viable financial and operating model. The Headteacher of Bradstow School, Ms Sarah Adams, also spoke to the Council about the school. The Council voted to receive the petition for information, which effectively meant it ignored the petition’s requests.
it's depressing as it looks like Labour have a plan to deplete the reserves and borrow millions. As a resident and taxpayer, the Labour administration's management of our cash is economically illiterate. It's hard to believe that Wandsworth will potentially go from being one of the few councils with no debt to then borrowing millions due to Labour's spending plans.- Councillor Hedges.
Council Tax
The Council approved a freeze to its portion of the council tax. A 2% increase to the Adult Social Care precept was also approved. Councillor Grimston argued that the freeze to the Council’s portion of the council tax was not a real freeze because of the increase to the Adult Social Care precept. He stated:
“We are not freezing the Council tax. It's entirely and absolutely indefensible to say that the Council tax is being frozen. It's there on page 13 of the main report here, where it says in very clear annual Ban D bill for what Wandsworth charges is going up by £9.95 a month.”
The Council’s Finances
Councillor Richard Jones argued that the Council’s finances were not sustainable. He claimed that the Council was using reserves to fund day-to-day expenditure and stated that the total planned use of reserves was £150 million.
Councillor Hogg defended the Council’s finances. He argued that the Council was making “smart investments” that would repay themselves, such as by building new council homes.
Councillor Hedges argued that there was a pattern of Labour councils across the country going bankrupt, and expressed concerns that Wandsworth would soon follow suit.
Open Space Events
The Council approved a consultation on a proposed new Open Spaces Events Policy. Councillor Caddy raised concerns about the changes to the policy. She argued that the proposed changes would allow for more events in parks and open spaces, which could damage sports pitches and cause disruption to residents.
Councillor Gasser defended the proposed changes. She argued that the policy was being updated to allow the Council to run a wider variety of events, particularly as part of Wandsworth’s year as London Borough of Culture in 2025. She stated:
This is what the Borough of Culture and Beyond is all about, actually. We want to have lovely community family events, but we want them to be controlled by us and the events policy, and actually the licensing restrictions as well, can control how those events are. They mustn't be too noisy. They mustn't ruin our areas. They must be family friendly. We don't want late nights. We don't want booze ups. We certainly don't want anything like we've seen on [Clapham Common](https://www.google.com/maps/search/Clapham+Common+Wandsworth/), which is the scare story that's going around. Over My Dead Body will we have Clapham Common types events. It's not about that. It's about family community events for and by and with our communities.
Social Housing
Councillor Ghossain expressed concerns about the performance of the Council’s housing department. He referenced a recent report from the Regulator for Social Housing which he described as “catastrophic”. He claimed that:
80 percent of communal areas and 40 of homes had no electrical safety test 1800 overdue fast safety remedial actions all over a year late only six and a half percent of homes surveyed this isn't just mismanagement it's negligence.
Councillor Dikerdem, the Cabinet Member for Housing, responded by saying that the Council accepted the recommendations of the Regulator of Social Housing and that it was taking steps to improve the performance of its housing department. He explained that the Council had inherited a methodology from the previous administration which relied on a small sample of properties to assess housing standards, and stated that this methodology was no longer fit for purpose. He went on to state that:
we are moving for the first time you know this this never happened before we are the ones doing it as an administration to 100 rolling stock condition survey
The Voluntary and Community Sector
Councillor Worrall introduced a new strategy for strengthening the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in Wandsworth. She argued that the VCS was an important part of the Council’s social infrastructure and that the new strategy would help to improve the Council’s partnership working with the sector. Councillor Akinola, the Cabinet Member for Voluntary Sector, Business Engagement and Culture, responded by praising the work of the voluntary and community sector and by saying that the new strategy represented a “new era” for how Wandsworth Council worked with the sector. She stated that:
before 2022 the voluntary sector had no relationship with the council um and so we set about uh getting an organization [Rocket Science](https://www.rocketscience.co.uk/) to write a report about um our relationship with them so now in 2025 we are actively listening to them we're investing in them and we're working alongside them which i think we can all agree is a huge improvement.
Democracy Review
The Council approved a series of reforms to its constitution which were described as a “Democracy Review”. The changes included the introduction of a £1 million threshold for defining a decision as a “key decision” and the establishment of a new General Overview and Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise key decisions taken by the Cabinet.
Councillor Apps argued that the changes would modernise the Council and make it more efficient, and stated that:
our committees have been described by experts as unclear, of questionable value. Our Council [is] like a sixth form debating society.
Councillor Peter Graham argued that the reforms were undemocratic, because they reduced the ability of backbench councillors to scrutinise decisions taken by the Cabinet. He claimed that the Council had been ignoring requests from the opposition to properly scrutinise the reforms.
Councillor Osborne responded to these concerns by saying that the reforms were necessary to improve the Council’s decision-making, and stated that the changes were not being made for partisan reasons. He expressed regret that the Council had not been able to reach a consensus on the changes.
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