Fenella Merry

Executive

Agenda

The meeting saw decisions taken on a range of issues, including the approval of funding from the Cost of Living Grant fund and confirmation of a variation to the Battersea Park 2025 Event Traffic Management Plan.

General Purposes Committee Officer

Agenda and minutes

The General Purposes Committee of Wandsworth Council met on Monday 18 November 2024 to review polling districts and places and to discuss proposed changes to the council's procurement governance. The committee agreed to the proposed polling scheme for 2025-2029 and recommended to Full Council a series of significant changes to procurement procedures, including increased delegation limits for officers and updated thresholds for seeking quotes and tenders.

Council

Agenda

The meeting began with a recitation of the Quran by the Mayor's Faith Leader, Ali Jafri. The Council then approved an update to the council's capital spending plans, despite some abstentions from Conservative councillors. Two motions were then considered. The first, proposed by the Labour administration, was a general statement in support of children's safety and wellbeing and was passed despite opposition from the Conservative group. The second, proposed by the Conservatives, expressed concern at the loss of winter fuel payments for many pensioners and called on the Council to take steps to provide for those affected. This motion was defeated, with the Conservatives voting in favour and Labour against. The meeting concluded with the reception of reports from several committees.

Joint Pensions Committee

Agenda

The committee received a petition from Wandsworth Friends of Palestine requesting that the council divest from companies that invest in Israel. After hearing from the petitioners and officers, it was decided to ask officers to evaluate options for responding to the petition and report back to a future meeting. The committee also reviewed the Pension Fund Annual Report, quarterly investment performance report, and received an update on several general matters including the pooling of bond investments and the proposed merger of the Nuveen UKPF fund.

Executive

Agenda

The meeting saw the Executive agree to all of the recommendations made by the four committees that reported to it. These included approval for a new grounds maintenance contract, updates to the Housing Revenue Account business plan and highway maintenance programme, and plans for a new school and community facilities in Nine Elms.