The Redbridge Council cabinet met on 11 September 2025, and among other things, agreed to apply to the Secretary of State for Transport to introduce a lane rental scheme, approved an extension to the agreement with Vision RCL for the delivery of leisure and culture services, and discussed the budgetary control report for Quarter 1 2025/26 which showed a forecast overspend of £42.033m. The cabinet also approved the Infrastructure Funding Statement 2024/25 and discussed recycling service changes.

Here's a summary of the key discussion points:

Redbridge Lane Rental Scheme

The cabinet agreed to apply to the Secretary of State for Transport to introduce a lane rental scheme on the busiest roads in the borough during peak times. The aim of the scheme is to incentivise utility companies, developers, third party contractors, and even council contractors to carry out street works at less disruptive times, or to complete them more quickly.

The council believes that a lane rental scheme will help it to meet its network management duty¹ by encouraging works promoters to:

• reduce the length of time taken to carry out the works
• improve planning, co-ordination and working methods
• identify and take forward opportunities for collaborative working with other works promoters
• carry out more works outside of peak times, making greater use of off peak working where the local environmental impact is acceptable
• complete work to the required standard first time reducing the need for the works promoter to return to the site to carry out remedial work.

The proposed Redbridge Lane Rental Scheme Document includes a list of streets and timings, and a map of the proposed scheme can be found in Appendix A.

The council consulted with stakeholders on the proposals, and the consultation response report is included in the reports pack.

The scheme would involve daily charges for works that occupy the road at the most critical times and locations. Roads will be categorised as high, medium, and low charge based upon their usage, with charges capped at £2,500 per day:

• High charge: £2,500 per day
• Medium charge: £1,500 per day
• Low charge: £1,000 per day

The council estimates that the scheme could generate around £3.967m per annum, although this figure is likely to be reduced as works promoters change their behaviour to avoid charges.

Recent changes in legislation allow the council to ringfence 50% of surplus funds for highway maintenance and pothole repairs. The other 50% of the surplus funds will be subject to a bidding process in which utility companies and the council can access the funding to be used for the purposes of highway works which reduce congestion, and to support innovative technologies and methods of practice to speed up street works.

The cabinet delegated authority to the Director of Neighbourhoods and Environmental Services to submit the application to the Secretary of State for Transport, and to the Cabinet Member for the Environment and Sustainability to approve the implementation of the scheme, subject to the Secretary of State's approval.

Delivery of Leisure and Culture Services Post March 2026

The cabinet approved modifications to the existing funding and management agreement with Vision RCL to extend the term of the agreement by 12 months until 31 March 2027, and to incorporate an option to extend the term of the agreement by a further 12 months until 31 March 2028.

Vision RCL is a registered charity that delivers leisure, cultural, and library services on behalf of Redbridge Council.

The council is currently undertaking a strategic review of the services currently outsourced to Vision RCL to ascertain the best delivery model for the services. The outcome of the review is expected to be presented to cabinet in early 2026, and the extension to the existing agreement with Vision RCL will provide sufficient time for the implementation of any changes to the service delivery model.

Budgetary Control Report for Quarter 1 2025/26

The cabinet considered the budgetary control report for Quarter 1 2025/26, which set out the financial performance of the authority as at 30 June 2025. The report forecast an overspend of £42.033m, which included £21.601m in Place, Communities & Enterprise, £22.457m in the People Directorate, £2.346m in Strategy and £0.129m for Resources. The forecast for Corporate Budgets was an underspend of £4.500m.

The report noted that the forecast level of overspend was of grave concern, principally caused by the costs and demands seen in social care and homelessness.

The cabinet noted the progress and delivery of the approved savings programme, and agreed general fund capital slippage from 2025/26 to 2026/27 of £47.344m.

The cabinet also noted the collection rates for council tax and business rates, and the outstanding debt position as at 30 June 2025.

Approval of the Infrastructure Funding Statement 2024/25

The cabinet approved the Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS) for publication on the council's website. The IFS reports on planning obligations received and spent through the Community Infrastructure Levy² (CIL) or Section 106³. The income received in 2024/25 for Section 106 contribution was £0.763m and the income received for CIL was £4.680m. The expenditure for the year of 2024/25 for Section 106 contributions was £0.533m and for CIL it was £0.500m.

Recycling Service Changes (Wheeled Bins for Dry Mixed Recycling)

The cabinet considered a report on recycling service changes, which proposed the introduction of wheeled bins for dry mixed recycling.

The report noted that the introduction of wheeled bins for recycling was approved in principle by Cabinet in 2020 to modernise and improve the waste collection service.

The cabinet delegated the commencement of a procurement process for the purchase of wheeled bins for recycling and their delivery to the Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability in consultation with the Executive Director of Place, Communities and Enterprise and the Executive Director of Resources.

The cabinet also authorised the Executive Director of Place, Communities and Enterprise to take all the required steps to complete a contract variation with Redbridge Civic Services (RCS) for any operational service change to the recycling collection service.