Cabinet - Monday 1 December 2025, 4:00pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Cabinet
Monday, 1st December 2025 at 4:00pm 

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  1. Webcast Finished

Thank you.
Welcome everyone to our final cabinet meeting for this year.
Thanks all for being here.
Are there any declarations of interest?
Any apologies?
So I think we've got apologies from Councillor Echenola.
Otherwise we'll...
Sorry, declaration of interest.
Councillor De Kloet.
So, there is a paper coming up around the landlord licencing and I'm a member of the
London Renters Union.
There's no financial interest or anything like that, but it is worth noting because
they operate and advocate for policy changes around landlordism and advocate for licencing
as well.
That's noted.
Thanks very much.
If it's okay, we'll begin as usual with a leader's update where we explain where we've
got to over the past month on our key priorities.
We've enjoyed being out and about in the community,
as we usually do, done a drop -in event
at Gryphon Primary School.
We've got another one coming up this Saturday as well.
There was also the Balham brunch,
which we held as the first in the public meetings
as part of our Balham Forum events.
The Balham Forum is a six -month listening exercise.
We're getting out, trying to get under the skin
of that fantastic place, Balham.
what makes it a great place to live,
and how we could make it even better.
We had more than 100 residents turn up,
bring us their ideas on green spaces,
transport, crime, and so on.
And we're trialling a few new ways of listening to people.
They were voting in polls as I was speaking,
and you could see their results appearing
on the screen behind me.
So we're always looking for better ways
to reach out and listen to our residents.
If it's all right now, we'll move on to updates on our regular seven days, seven rings pledges.
So if you remember, if you call the council, we'll pick up within seven rings.
If you report a dangerous pothole or a broken street sign or some graffiti, we will fix it within seven days.
And because we believe in transparency and we believe accountability drives better performance,
we report against those priorities in each of our cabinet meetings.
So if we look first in terms of how often we're picking up the telephone, I think we can see for the weeks available in November,
we hit 85 % and 91 % for calls answered within seven rings.
That's very positive performance, but obviously we're going to keep going not just to maintain that, but to drive standards upwards.
A key part of our Cleaner Borough plan is free bulky waste collections.
Every household now gets two free bulky waste collections.
We can see almost 22 ,000 free bulky waste bookings this year.
It's more than 2 ,000 since we last met.
That policy continues to get more popular.
And also in the past month we've had our Civic Awards,
a fantastic chance to pay tribute to those unsung heroes in our community.
We had fantastic nominations this year,
I think a record number of nominations.
You can see on this first slide a picture of all the winners.
And I think also we got a short video from the night.
Sorry, sorry.
the Wandsworth Council Civic Awards 2020. It shows that Wandsworth is actually engaging
what people are doing and it's highlighting all of the positivity much across the borough.
And being able to talk to the young people and all the people here tonight and really
celebrate what they've accomplished for Wandsworth has been great. These awards shine a light
on individuals who give their time to help others and who make extraordinary
impact on their neighbourhood and the wider borough.
Totally amazing surprise to having won this fabulous award tonight.
I'll really accept it on behalf of everyone else as well.
To honestly get this award I'm so grateful that my involvement over the last five years has been seen.
I'm very pleased, very grateful, humbled.
Amazing, it was really great.
and thank you to everyone here for coming out
and celebrating our local heroes.
Thank you for all you do to make
Wandsworth community so special.
Thanks very much.
It was a brilliant night and I think we've,
even better than it has been in previous years.
So thanks very much to our events team
for their special effort with that.
And finally, just turning to Christmas,
The Christmas lights and the tree are just going up in the marble hall and I know there's
lots of Christmas light switch -ons happening this week.
Do please go to those.
We're really pleased to help promote Apple's Christmas card competition this year and you'll
see various local school children's designs promoted, projected onto the side of Bassy
Power Station including the Rudolph the Red -Nosed Reindeer that I've picked for my own leader's
Christmas card as well.
So it's fantastic to have that iconic landmark used
and local children seeing their work there.
And talking of Battersea Power Station,
we were there just a couple of weeks ago
for an exciting announcement.
And that's actually the subject of our first paper.
So, Councillor De Kedem, if you don't mind introducing it.
Great, yeah, so it's a bit of a landmark moment for us.
We are bringing forward a paper

2 Battersea Power Station Council Housing (Paper No.25-414)

that is going to help provide 203 council homes on the Battersea Power Station site.
It's been a long road and the council has made this a top priority as part of its broader
plans to ensure that development and growth benefits everyone in Wandsworth and that we
negotiate tough but fair asks from developers.
And this is an amazing deal for Wandsworth and a bit of background which is that you'll
I remember in 2017, the Batsby Power Station faced viability challenges, and the previous
Conservative Council allowed them to cut back their affordable housing agenda from 15 % down
to 9%.
And when this administration took over, it was an absolute priority for us to ensure
that that affordable housing was brought back, because we know it was a key issue for residents
in Wandsworth.
And importantly, what we've done here is fairly similar to the paper I brought through on
is a kind of counter cyclical move so when development is struggling or there's a downturn
in the market it's an opportunity for local government to step in and leverage in grant
from the GLA and put forward some of our own financial power to secure genuinely affordable
housing on sites that can deliver a kind of equivalent to section 106 but a more kind
robust council led version of it. So this paper goes through the funding
arrangement that has allowed us to make this deal to unlock this site. We have
our development team directly involved with the architects with Battersea Power
Station to make sure that the block is a block designed specifically with the
families that we know we work with every day. There will also be a kind of
commercial and communal space that we will be able to access.
We're hoping to have housing officers present in that space.
But I genuinely, you know, I'm trying to keep my excitement and enthusiasm as low as possible for a public meeting.
But this is like a historic win for us.
This is something that many of us have been campaigning on for a very, very long time.
It's why some of us got involved in politics in the first place.
And it is an amazing way to kind of showcase exactly what Wandsworth Council is all about,
which is making sure that everyone gets the benefit from the changes and the growth that
takes place in Albora.
Fantastic, thank you, Councillor Di Cidem. I don't know if there's any comments or questions
on this paper. Councillor Henderson, then Councillor Gasser.
First of all, Councillor Di Cidem, this is a tremendous achievement and no, you've worked
really hard over the past three and a half years to get this way of the line working with council
offices. I think it's a significant achievement. There is no question we would much prefer to work
in partnership with Battersea Power Station. It's great they've agreed to provide these
homes actually on the site. My only question, the figure 203 is rather unusual. How did you
How did we actually arrive at that?
So we wanted to make sure that there was a,
with any development site, there's obviously an evaluation
of how many homes can be fit on that site.
And I think originally the power station
had come forward with 225,
but we wanted to have larger family homes.
We also wanted to make sure the site really worked
because there's always a trade -off
between the number of units versus necessarily the number of bedrooms that would work to
make sure that our housing needs cues are best met.
So we worked with our development team who are by this point a decade into experts at
delivering social and council housing to figure out how this site might work because obviously
Batsby Power Station's main business is more in the sale residential units.
So our architects came in and looked at the site and said actually we think you know
It's important that the building works and that we can get the families and the some of those larger families
Built into the scheme so by habitable room
It's an incredible offer and sometimes it's important and we're very transparent about this and we when we come on to the autumn paper
We'll do the same
You know chasing unit numbers if it's only one beds is
but maybe less useful for us, particularly for a housing waiting queue than having a unit that's a bit larger and has more bedrooms.
So that's how the figure was kind of come to, because this really is a it's not this hasn't been made in a on a computer.
It's been made by people who know social housing very well and are very serious about delivering a really quality building.
So so that's why that particular number.
Yeah, thank you. I am going to get excited. It's a really exciting project.
And when you look at the plans and we saw a video, didn't we?
It's a really, really stunning development and well done.
It's really great.
But what I'm interested actually is the community space at the bottom.
So what do you think we might put in there?
And in my role, could we be putting children's youth activities in there,
maybe a social supermarket, leisure, sports activities?
Yeah, so the ground floor space at the moment is, I think one of the things
that's very important for us is to try and have some kind of housing management
function in there, because I know that that's really useful.
And that also returns us a little bit to the kind of service that we ideally would want with all our with all our council
Stock which is having an estate manager more on site
But in in certain ways there is still an open space about how
What community cities we might run out of there what we use that space for?
So I think at this stage it's making sure that it's
You know
We're particularly looking at the play space around the back and making sure that it works
and making sure that it's, you know, there's always a balance between like how accessible
it is for the general public and also how accessible it is for the families who live
in the building and how they feel safe having their kids play.
So those are the kind of, when it comes to making sure that there's areas for play and
it's, I think the real focus will be on the families and making sure that families have
that protected kind of play space around the back.
But the open frontage is an opportunity
for us to think creatively around what we might host there,
be it homework clubs, be it weekends, breakfast, mornings,
and certainly work across departments
to make sure that there's interesting uses from it.
Great, well look, thank you very much for those questions.
I'd like to add my thanks to the officers and the politicians and to the power station company themselves for putting together
Absolutely fantastic deal. It's a huge win for local people and is that paper agreed?

3 Alton Estate Renewal Next Steps (Paper No.25-415)

Thanks very much and remaining with housing if we could have a look at the Alton estate renewal next steps councillor deacon
yeah, so this is outlining the next steps following our kind of
comprehensive win on the autumn ballot that took place in September.
You know, 82 .4 % of residents voted yes in that ballot, one of the largest
state ballot in the history of Britain with incredibly high turnout for an
estate ballot on that scale. Um, so this is outlining the timelines, early
improvement plan and the financing, with the financing focusing on some of the cost inflation
that's taken place since the plans first began, but also some of the recovery money that is
now possible based on the ballot, because the ballot means we can leverage in GLA grant.
So the previous master plan was basically through deciding not to host the ballot, throwing
away tens of millions of pounds of GLA grant.
Now that we've done the ballot, we get access to that GLA grant, which will help us to deliver
without much needed additional net additional social housing on the scheme.
There are some pros and cons, it depends how you look at it, but there are some changing
dynamics from going with a joint venture master plan approach, which is that the general fund
will pick up some of the communal facilities, particularly around Block A in that early
improvement plan, but the scheme does have a good financial headway because of the earmarked
money that was set aside previously for the old master plan.
And we've been very honest, whenever there's demolition and you have to deliver net additionality,
there will be – on the Alton – it's slightly different from Winstanley, but on
the Alton, the nature of the density that we can create means that there were some homes
for sale.
And the homes for sale are not necessarily to cross up those schemes.
It's more because if we – we don't want to leave that space empty.
It's a good opportunity to build homes and a mixture of tenures.
So I think this is probably one of the best affordable housing percentages on a scale of regeneration that I've seen on a regeneration in London in my lifetime.
We're getting close to 60%.
And this paper outlines the long term and the short term goals.
Now, I have to emphasise, in the meetings that we've followed,
there's so much in that early improvement plan that will really transform the state.
We're going to move very fast to get a planning application in for Block A.
But this is a long programme, and I think because the Alton residents have heard about the regeneration
for so long, it's really important that they see some quick wins and some quick changes
on the ground, Alton Activity Centre, for instance.
Some of the actual kind of demolition and rebuilding work is many years away, and I
think it's important and incumbent on all of us to recognise that and to kind of be
mindful when we're talking about regeneration because people will be able to see the changes
happening immediately on the ground, but the pathway for someone who's maybe in a block
that might be demolished is a long time.
So one to be mindful of.
That's a great introduction.
Thanks.
Are there any comments or questions?
We'll go Councillor Yates and Councillor Gassner.
Thanks very much, Councillor Dickendem.
And to all your leadership on this and all the tremendous work the officers have done,
I know how hard they've been working.
And it was a fantastic result in the ballot.
I was out many evenings on the Otner State to let people know about the ballot.
And it really was a very significant turnout and a great result.
I just wondered, could you say a bit more about the early improvements we're making,
bearing in mind that inevitably with the scheme of this kind,
It does take quite a long time to build the new social and private homes and also the
new community facilities.
So what we can do in the meantime.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So one of the things that's in trend is the change to the Auto Activity Centre.
So developing a brand new high spec modern playground and taking down the fencing around
it.
But also maintaining some level of fencing so that community groups that operate out
of the alternative centre have private and protected space when they can run sessions.
There's the changes to the fields as well that will be taking place and also the new
pathways and walkways because we know that one of the, the organisation is both beautiful
because of its like changing levels but it's also difficult to navigate for those with
accessibility issues.
So those are just a handful of some of the things that we're bringing forward to try
and show real improvements.
Alongside that, we are mindful of the fact that many of the blocks here marked for demolition have faced, well, you know, frankly,
you know, the previous administration did not put much investment into those buildings because they thought they were going to come down.
And so I think there are some quick, important communal repairs that we can get done quite fast from our door knocking,
from speaking to residents during the ballot. We're aware of certain quite small things that would have a very large impact on people's lives.
So alongside the kind of pieces of work in this paper are those smaller housing management things that will go a long way in the interim period.
And then there's alongside the kind of more formal stuff that's in part of this plan is some of the parallel things we're doing to just improve the neighbourhood.
So you will have seen the new bins, new food recycling and waste recycling taking place.
We're taking a more activist role in managing the cleaning contract to try and improve some of those, you know fly tipping that's taking place. So
we hope residents will see that there's a
package and we're having to more finally get the love and
the tension that I think for a lot of time people thought they were waiting and therefore were the the kind of
Not getting the same amount of potential as the rest of the bar
Yeah, thank you, it's actually just following on from council aces question
Do you have any idea of the timings of that? You're you're not quick wins. I thought I'm quite right word
Is it that time when the ultimate activity centre and then the whole family?
Hub and civic centre and then Portiswood place
some of those are
Yeah, some of those are longer -term but the I'll take block a for instance because I think that's the one that most people are
aware of and so we want to have
Speed on that. I mean, I've been very clear that
But we want to see that building come down within this administration, and that's an absolute priority for us.
So we want planning application to be made and submitted this year.
And then hopefully a decision by early next year so that we can then move on to show residents.
But that building should have been demolished a long time ago to show residents that people were serious about a commitment to that estate.
So the plan is to try and do well I say the plan we are going to deliver that and we are going to start bringing
that building down by
by next year and
Then
Parallel to that at the same time as the work on block a is that is the master planning stage which will
Allow for the longer term moves of the family hub down to Portsmouth place from its current location as we start to phase in
the demolition works
And those are some of the more long -term changes that are outlined in the paper.
Thank you.
And I think we're going to come to Councillor White, then Councillor Henderson.
Yeah.
Again, another magnificent triumph to have changed the regeneration around to a renewal.
and the people who live in the houses that are going to be demolished and you know they're going to be new homes to move into.
I mean were they the only people who had a vote in this or was there a wider cohort?
I mean how did it go down in the whole area?
Yeah, so what made this ballot the largest ballot in British history is the fact that
the entire Alton, the kind of demolition area is in Alton, what we call Alton West, but
under the GLA rules, they wanted the entire estate that is known as the Alton estate,
which includes Alton East.
So anyone who was a leaseholder or named secure council tenant on the tenancy was eligible
for a vote.
So that meant well beyond the demolition area was eligible for a vote.
Now we always knew that beyond the demolition area in Alton West would be eligible for a vote, but the fact that Alton East was included
I think was a
Not a new piece of information, but we weren't quite sure until quite late in the day on that so that you know
I was you know, there's a part of me that was like great the more people involved the better because
I believe in mass democracy, but it did mean that there were some people who were quite
a considerable walk away from any of the areas that are going to be facing it and could have
turned around and said, well, what's in this for me?
Or they could have said, well, I don't really use the shopping parade or my house is quite
far away from it.
So when you actually spoke to people, everyone sort of thought,
well, Roehampton deserves some of that investment.
And most people actually do use the parade on Dainbury and the shopping parade and
see the housing and see the divergence in the quality of the house.
And I think it's really important that most people that we spoke to,
many of them had lived on the Alton for a very, very long time.
And they understood that there was a difference in quality between the different
So they'd be like, well, I like my flat.
I'm happy in my flat.
But I would understand why I'd be frustrated
if I was in one of the more low -rise blocks.
So the turnout and the yes vote for us
is indicative of an estate that was aware of the stakes,
aware of the plans, and came out in very, very high numbers
for the scale of the ballot.
I think there will be a piece of work
to kind of flag and highlight the time scales for some of those people on those outer rims
of the estate.
And I think that we're doing quite a good job of communicating.
We're going to be writing to all residents.
We're going to be using Block A as a timeline.
Like during the ballot, we had all the designs up.
We'll also then start to outline the timelines and the changes and the things that people
can expect.
And we want to be held accountable to those timelines because I think it's the main challenge
over the last three years has been showing that we can actually do this because people
have been marched up the hill before.
And so now for us being able to really show, look, this has changed, this has changed,
this is happening, this has been submitted to planning, those things need to be communicated
with residents across the whole estate because they all voted.
Thank you.
And again, absolutely excellent results.
I certainly endorse everything that everyone else has said.
And this is the beginning of, again,
almost a matter of fairness.
And obviously ourselves as well,
I have seen counsellors working in tandem with officers.
So that is excellent.
I just wanted to focus upon one or two things
which cropped up a meeting which took place last week,
which was, above the next steps, an extreme ech of attended eating with an enormous amount
of positivity. One aspect it hadn't actually touched upon is a level of engagement. And
the number of people I spoke to are really very positive about the level of engagement
that has existed throughout this entire process, in marked contrast to what the Conservatives
did in relation to their master plan, it's effectively sort of take it or leave it.
So I was actually asked for a commitment, we will continue with that level of engagement
and I gave that commitment, I'm sure you will actually endorse that.
But people are now saying that they're proud to actually live on the ordinary estate, whereas
perhaps in the past they've been reluctant to tell people they lived on the ordinary
estate, we've actually put the pride back into the old estate.
The one sort of negativity I did come across
is the fact that the Conservatives put out
two leaflets opposing the developments.
And they had genuine concerns amongst very many residents.
Conservatives should, if they ever get back in,
in Wandsworth would actually turn the whole project around.
And indeed, one of the Conservative spokespeople
of the last council meeting seemed to indicate that.
I just want to know what you actually had on that.
I mean, 84 .2 % vote in favour is an enormous overwhelming
majority for any council which is just simply ignore and overturn and we clearly are committed
to this project and the Conservatives have backed it but in my opinion for purely political
opportunities for instance decided to oppose it but how can we ensure that this project
will actually go ahead in the form that residents have actually approved.
The first question I can answer very easily, which is that, I mean, a huge credit to the
Alton team and the staff who have built deeply interpersonal relationships in that state
for very many years, to the point at which, like you say, I think we have genuinely transformed
the social fabric of that state through the role of the local authority.
And there's nothing you want more from your local authority than to be able to say that.
And so huge shout out to the staff who have really gone out there and listened and built
relationships with people.
And beyond just the housing offer and the infrastructure offer, genuinely try to connect
people up with different services and run what are frankly just very fun and creative
events that allow parents and families to come together and enjoy themselves.
So we will absolutely continue that work.
And in fact, there's so much lessons to be learned from the
autumn work to then move over to future regenerations,
particularly on the Winstanley estate.
On the second part of your question, the way you, I don't
want to get too political about it, but very clear choice in
the May elections.
If you want the Roehampton regeneration and renewal to go
ahead, you've got one political party that's shown
absolute iron willed commitment to it.
and through resource, through campaigning,
and through delivery, and you've got another group
who are campaigning against it, so I'll leave it to,
leave it to everyone to work out the best way
to protect the renewal.
Thanks all very much, as you say,
it's a really welcome paper, an excellent ballot result.
And are we okay to approve that paper?
Thank you, and if we could stay with housing
just for one more, which is around property licencing phase two expansion of selective
licencing.
Councillor Dieter.

4 Property Licensing - Phase 2 Expansion of Selective Licensing (Paper No.25-416)

Yeah, so this is to roll out the second part of our selective licence regime after, in
July 1st, the selective licence in the south of the borough in Tooting went live, as did
the additional HMO licence across the entire borough.
So this is rolling out in the wards that have the kind of next phase of evidence -based need
for a selective licencing scheme.
I cannot tell you how much kind of impact this is having on the ground already.
So the fact that ones have had some of the lowest regulation of landlords, given the
fact that 36 % of our entire borough make their home from private renters sector, poses a
real challenge when renters were struggling because it just didn't mean we didn't have
the frameworks or the legal routes to hold landlords to account, but also occasionally
to hold tenants to account if there's antisocial behaviour or if there's particularly problems
around waste management.
I know a lot of my colleagues where there's a high number of young renters often talking
about the challenges around bin collection and things like that.
So this framework is really designed to start to take seriously the state's involvement
and local government's involvement in that very large private renter sector in Wandsworth.
Two things to flag, which is that since licencing has gone live July 1st, landlords, regardless
of how good they are, apply for the licence and we go through the criteria of which they're
committing and saying that they've got all these things and we grant the licence.
And we can't inspect every single property as the licence is going out because as you'll
see in the paper, thousands of licences coming in, much higher.
We're getting through them much faster than we thought we would, which is very good, but
there isn't a single inspection.
So I've had a couple of people write to me like, you just granted a licence to this HMO
that I know is in poor quality.
What's the deal with that?
Well, it's very likely the landlord has said that they're doing things that they're not.
So when they apply for the licence, pay for the fee, that fee goes into the council so
the council can hire inspection officers and those inspection officers can then go out
and inspect those licences.
So and if a landlord hasn't met the criteria and has lied on their application, then we
can take enforcement action.
So this is right, we're at the start of our journey.
Many borrowers are kind of more kind of embedded in.
But again, one of the best things we've got about being at the start of our journey is
we can learn from all the other borrowers as well.
And the absolute priority that we've heard from feedback from, say, for renters from
in various different organisations is that inspection regime is really, really essential.
So don't worry, we have the capacity and the manpower.
They're going through all the licences and making sure that the volume of licences are
we signing off so that renters are protected and there's still a supply of that rental
accommodation.
But we can now go and start enforcing the moment we get those calls, the moment we get
those reports.
So yeah, I think this is a real game changer.
And when it's combined with the renters' rights bill, I think we are generally going to start
to see a huge rebalancing in the power and the quality and standard of rental accommodation
in the borough, which I think is really essential.
Thanks very much.
And Councillor Yates.
Yes, thanks very much, Councillor Dickard.
I think this is incredibly important, the additional HMO licencing and the selective
licencing.
I'm so glad this administration has done this.
I think Wandsworth was really behind many other London boroughs in not having this licencing
in place.
Please, could you tell us a bit more about what the additional HMO licencing does in
terms of how it changes the licencing requirements for HMOs, and also tell us how we're going
to ensure that we do licence NGOs and we do find unlicensed HMOs.
It's an issue that frequently comes up with residents expressing concern about unlicensed
HMOs on our council estates.
Thank you.
Yeah, so previously, our HMO coverage was only partial.
It didn't cover all the different unit numbers that could encompass into an HMO.
So this allows us to cover every single HMO in the bar rather than just a select few
In terms of
You know I can give an example so I recently dealt with a case where it was a unlicensed HMO
Had been operating in the bar
Unlicensed it fell into the category actually that should have had a licence prior
But the landlord hadn't done that it served an illegal eviction notice
So just kind of written warning to its residents and those residents contacted me saying we're about to face eviction.
Do you know of any affordable housing offers?
They weren't really looking to fight it.
So the first thing we could do is go, before we go down that route, let's just cheque if there's a licence.
Because there wasn't a licence, they could get, well they're now in the process of getting a 12 month repayment order.
Because it was an illegal HMO.
Landlords are now going to have to get these licences or face some kind of accountability,
whereas before it was kind of open season because we had a very small limited number
of staff who were covering this huge sector.
Where an HMO does get a licence and might be on paper have met the criteria, let's say
tenants are suffering from mould and damp in their property or
suffering from
That could be a some form of category one hazard or some kind of problem in the in the property
The licencing arrangement sets a set of criteria that we can now hold the landlord accountable to and
crucially the fees that the landlord pays
Staffs up the resource of the council that the rebalancing is really important because it's about the council having
a scheme that washes its own face in order to regulate this new sector.
I think the challenge before was really just like thousands and thousands and thousands
of renters and a very few number of officers.
So we can go and ensure that there's and we can chase up and we can make sure that repairs
are done timely and if they're not we can that we have financial leave because we can
then take away the licence and then take away their right to rent out that property and
have a real financial penalty.
Now, some people might say, well, you are a social landlord as a council.
You often have challenges in your own block.
So why should you be licencing us?
Well, we are regulated.
We are regulated by the Housing Ombudsman.
We're regulated by the Social Housing Regulator.
This is giving that same level of scrutiny and regulation to the private rented sector,
which has been lacking.
And there just hasn't been that level of resource and scrutiny.
So if you have tenants who you think are in now licenced properties, but there are challenges
This is really your opportunity to start sending out those inspectors and start negotiating with those animals
Counsellor way
Yeah, I represent one of the wards that
It's one of the worst
Offences around private rented accommodation, and so I'm really really pleased that it's been rolled out
But I'm still, as I do, have a lot of people in my ward that do have problems around the state of their accommodation.
And of course that's not across the board because there are some really, really good landlords and there are really, really good properties in my ward as well.
But how quick, do you think this is going to speed up the process and so that people will get, you know, redress as quickly as possible?
Or do you think that there are so many problems that this is going to take a while to work
for its system?
So just both your points.
I think, you know, like you say, 36 percent of our borrower rent privately.
And, you know, many of them have a very good relationship and a good property out of that.
It's their home.
And this, I always say, you know, a good landlord has nothing to fear from licencing.
The fee is, I think, very low because it covers a five -year period.
These are affordable fees, particularly given one's with rents.
I think we – I remember a previous paper I brought to this committee, we – comes
to about – even if it was passed on to the tenant, which evidence across London shows
on average it isn't, and not in any meaningful way given that rents continue to rise for
tenants, but it's about the price of a coffee a week.
So it's a very low -cost scheme for a landlord, particularly a good landlord.
And what it will do is it will drive up standards, and we have a whole series of incentives,
particularly for those early adopters and for a kind of good landlord charter, which
will help encourage those landlords, which are early adopters of the criteria of the
licence.
There will be a challenge in terms of we are rolling out something new in the borough.
We have staffed up and we have the capacity to do it, but I think
At the moment we are still there was a still an administration or burden of just like going through all the licence applications and signing
them up
and
There will always be a challenge with the speed at which
Changes can be made because while we can hold people to account on the new licences
There is an enforcement process that needs to be carried out
But you know that it's like with any change like it, you know
You don't get perfect on day one.
It's an adaptive process.
And this is the first time this buyer has done this.
And I think every week, me and Simon make sure that we've got a case study that is sent
to us about some enforcement action, some change, some improvement that's taken place.
And we will be measuring that because, like I say, you can look at this paper and see
it that this is, we're rolling this out on an evidence basis.
This is very much trying to make sure that the licence starts and ends with the places
that need most need.
So we will be gradually building out our capacity, but the lesson from other borrowers is the
skill is not getting everyone licenced.
The skill is in the inspection regime, and that's what we're measuring.
Thank you very much.
Is that agreed?
Great.
Well, if it's okay, we'll move on to item number five.

5 Cleaner Borough Plan – Pride in our Estates (Paper No.25-413)

I'm sort of looking at Councillor White or Councillor De Kedem or a combination of the two.
Over to you.
Yeah, so this is our Cleaner Buyer Plan, Pride in Our Estates, which is very much about trying to tackle and challenge some of the long -term problems around rubbish collection,
fly tipping and bin storage and capacity and waste collection on estates.
The division between general fund lands, which to normal person watching doesn't make any sense, I'll try that again.
To like non -housing estate land and just, you know, you're regular to street properties.
We've always thought and thought there was an underlying for kind of structural reasons,
because the general fund pays for things that are non -estate land and the housing revenue account pays for things on housing estate land.
that there is some discrepancies in the service because of some siloed working.
The new resident services directorate is an attempt to try and change some of that.
And this plan is a way of building up some of the capacity on our estate.
So particularly in some of our bins are just the end of their life.
We need to get new ones, buy new ones.
Just this morning, me and Paul Chadwick were out walking with John Thompson on the Donton Estate.
We were looking at some of the brand new amazing bins that have been placed there, but right next to them were some fly tips.
And so thinking through the dynamics that are taking place, how the amazing
two -free bulky waste policy, which is really popular, about how that might function where you've got very dense housing and making sure that
it really is two -free bulky waste and not just a fly tip and thinking through seriously some of the
complications that might arise from that.
And you know that you know with this morning we were noticing some missed collections on the Doddington and how quickly
because of again if you've got communal bin area compared to a street property how much a
Miskal action can just cause chaos instantly because of the number of
Bags that that just means is suddenly filling up a limited space
So this is a strategy because I think for too long and it has to be a raised that you know
Our estates are seen as fair game
You can watch people come in and drive industrial products and just leave them in our collective bin areas. It's unacceptable. So
you know
This is about listening as a council and this is about you know
trying to deliver some of that infrastructure to really clamp down and make sure that our estates are as clean and as
Well maintained as any other part of the bar
Cancer Island
I think you've done really well here, both of you.
I've noticed an improvement in the time it takes to pick up fly tipping on estates in
my ward, and it's very pleasing to see the increase in the amount of recycling.
And I was just wondering, are there any cost savings to the additional recycling that's
happening?
Thank you.
Yeah, I mean food waste is an overwhelming success and then the the reducing the level of contamination on our mainstream recycling is also really important.
Our experiments have been mixed on those. So the William Willis Estate experiment, the new recycling bins didn't really change much the contamination.
But that's useful. Like sometimes you have to do an experiment and it doesn't work because then you can go away and be like, okay, right.
we need to put flies through doors and remind people to wash out their yoghurt pot or whatever.
Or you know like just when we test something and we get a different response that we want,
that's good.
Then at least we're not wasting time doing something wrong.
I think it was very, you know from all the walk arounds that I've done, food waste, which
is the one that I think we were most worried about, is actually pretty popular, pretty
well used, particularly on the estates.
The challenge does remain to be that larger paper recycling,
because the amount of goods that people get ordered.
I mean, like I said, me and Paul were unpicking
bits of polystyrene from a giant, I don't know what it was,
but maybe flat screen TV package that
had been left by one of our recycling bins,
because the recycling bin was too full with packages.
But also, we could tell that that was immediately
going to be contaminated, because it
had polystyrene in it.
So I think we're having to adapt to new modern ways
of which people are just getting way more boxes
than they used to.
And I think some of that is like,
you can put a brand new nice recycling bin in,
but is it just gonna get too filled too quickly
and then the fly tips arise again?
So this plan is designed to just be more dynamic,
more realistic, more responsive.
Cause I think at the moment we're just a bit reactive.
We come and collect a fly tip
and then people think that's a good place to leave rubbish.
Grant, well if there's no further questions, is that paper agreed as well?

6 Procurement of Arboriculture Services (contract award) (Paper No.25-417)

Excellent, thanks very much and thanks for that excellent work on housing this month,
Councillor De Koon.
I think we are perhaps coming to Paul White now for procurement of arboricultural services.
Yeah, this is around the maintenance of our trees in the main.
We're determined that all our contracts reflect sound financial management and the best outcomes
for our residents.
With 1 ,700 acres of parks, open spaces, cemeteries, church yards and allotments, Wandsworth has
a well -deserved reputation for being one of London's greenest boroughs.
The council is committed to working with communities to make Wandsworth a more sustainable place by reducing carbon emissions,
protecting biodiversity, and increasing the number of trees.
We will look to plant the right tree in the right location and look to maintain the health and preservation of our trees.
These contracts reflect our priorities in the management of the 60 ,000 trees the council is responsible for.
Thanks very much. Just wondering if there's any comments or questions.
Councillor Yates and Councillor Gasser.
Thanks very much, Councillor White.
Obviously, as you said, our residents really value the green spaces
and people are often very attached to particular trees.
You know, they hate it when they're cut down.
Obviously, sometimes we do have to cut them down if they're diseased
or they're dangerous in some way, but do you think there's more we could do
to inform residents when we do need to cut down trees?
How could we improve our comms on that?
Yeah, thanks for that question, Councillor Yates.
It's very true, I think there's an education piece
that is really needed around this,
I think for a lot of people.
We don't cut down trees because we want to cut down trees.
We cut down trees because of the impact
that they might have on the local trees that are around them and also on the local population,
because we've had incidents.
There was an incident, unfortunately, in Scotland a few months ago where a tree fell and actually
killed a young girl.
So we've got to be very, very careful around that.
But I think what people need to understand and
the reason why we brought this new policy out is
to really to set this out exactly why we have to do things.
But to also, I think, to make sure that people understand that
There's no policy that we would actually implement
that would be to reduce the amount of trees unnecessarily.
And I think that the more educated the residents are around this,
I think the easier it is.
But having said all of that, we have friends on the commons,
We have tree wardens who do an absolutely fantastic job in alerting us to the problems that some trees might be having.
And to help maintain the health of the trees.
So we see this as very much as work, not just of the council, but of the general public.
And as I say, the better education around this for the general public, the better job that we can do as well.
Yeah, thank you. I'm particularly interested in the social value element of these contracts
because, you know, this administration is very, very committed to social value. It's
really important that from wealthy companies we can get something for our residents. I
just wondered if you can enlighten me on any of the social value aspects of the four contracts.
I have noticed actually in a lot of the contracts that a lot of the contractors understand how
important the social value is to us as an administration and all but one of the winners
of these contracts.
In fact, if the particular contractor who scored highest in that particular lot had
have won this contract, then we would have been able to see that all four lots that the
social value was the highest.
They scored the highest, the people who actually won the contracts.
So, yeah, the social value will ensure that we can deliver a lot more from the contract to local residents.
So I think that that's something that was very important in here and is very much shown in the results.
Thank you.
So is it okay if we approve that paper?
Thanks very much.

7 Wandsworth Supplementary Planning Documents (Biodiversity SPD / Planning Obligations SPD / Trees & Development SPD) (Paper No.25-418)

And next up we have the Wandsworth supplementary planning documents for biodiversity planning
obligations, trees and development.
I think Councillor De Klinken.
Yeah.
These are, I think, fairly reasonable rational changes to the local plan through SPDs and
speaking exactly to what Paul was just talking about in terms of our policy around trees
and our policy around the environment and biodiversity, I think they're progressive.
I think they're on the cutting edge of making sure that growth and delivery is sustainable
and speaks to our net zero targets.
So I fully recommend them.
Thank you any questions on that paper if not Oh cancer guess sorry yeah, no
I was really excited to see these actually I don't know if they're brand new or they've been updated from last time
But we're at the biodiversity one in particular fascinating all the priority species
So I mean I'm sure you worked with the climate team and the biodiversity team
And I wondered Paul is your team on biodiversity involved in all this as well could inform the biodiversity action plan as well
Yes, very much so, and I was very interested as well that – oh, sorry, interested that
we would actually ensure that a lot of new thinking and a lot of new policy was incorporated.
Having been on planning myself, I think it's really important that this is all set out
and people understand when they're bringing an application through that what they are
legally required to do, but also what we would like them to do as well in certain situations.
I think there was a debate in the House of Commons about Swift boxes, for instance.
I think a lot of people, the general public, felt that that would mean that we wouldn't deliver that.
But this paper really sets out quite clearly that we would be still committed to make sure that where we can,
we would deliver swift boxes and to maintain the biodiversity and the various different
creatures that inhabit our very lovely borough.
Thanks very much.
Is that paper approved?
Thank you.

8 Treasury Management Mid Year Review 2025/26 (Paper No.25-419)

And now we're going to move into a series of papers that relate to the financial performance
of the Council.
So, Councillor Ireland, do you mind taking us through the Treasury Management Mid -Year
Review?
Thank you.
This is the Treasury Management update.
It illustrates that we are guided by principles of sound financial management.
We operate within the SIPFAR treasury code and the prudential code.
And our strategy includes a mix of short -term liquidity funds and long -term investments to mitigate against interest rate drops.
Our long -term deposits were secured with banks and local authorities at advantageous rates before the recent bank rate reductions.
The key highlights are that as of today the council has no internal debt.
We have no borrowing as of 30th of September 2025 compared to 8 .6 million outstanding on the 30th of September 2024.
The last instalment of the council's previous public works loan board debt,
which was taken up by the HRA for the subsidy buyout in March 2012.
We fully repaid that as of March 2025.
Now, we're not against borrowing.
We believe in investing in the borough and in the future we will borrow.
There's no borrowing on the general fund and we don't expect to have any external borrowing this year
in either the general fund or the housing revenue account.
The housing revenue account has some internal borrowing.
It's borrowed from the cash reserves held by the general fund and at an advantageous rate to the general fund and to the HRA.
It's based on the council's own rate of return on our investments.
The aim is to delay external borrowing until interest rates have fallen to an appropriate
level.
And the last thing I need to tell you is the forecast income is 21 .7 million against a
budget of just over 20 million.
Thank you.
Well, no, thank you.
It's great to know sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do.
Councillor Henderson. Thank you chair. I was really struck by the fact we don't
have any external debt and certainly don't intend to raise any within this
particular financial year. I think you've explained our ongoing policy in relation
to possibly taking on some debt to build much needed houses. But I have to say,
that position which is the fact is in marked contrast with a number of leaflets
which the conservatives circulate across the borough claiming
that they are landing residents in billions of pounds of debt.
I just wondered if you had any comment on that.
Well, I think the leaflets might be referring to the plan borrowing on the HRA
which will result in over a thousand social homes.
Now, the main, one of the main advantages from my point of view is we are spending a
lot of money on temporary accommodation costs and building the thousand homes will reduce
that and we'll be left with decent homes for our residents.
We'll have something to show for it.
Of course, of course, and the rent generated from these properties will help to repay the
borrowing too.
It's sound financial management.
Thank you.
Yes, I entirely agree.
The point is we have not saddled residents with the billions of pounds of debt which seem to be claimed in these leaflets.
Would you agree?
That's true. Any borrowing we do will be very carefully managed.
Now, the plans we have are affordable. We can prove that.
But we will manage this very carefully.
If at any time that changes and it looks like it's not affordable, then we will adjust our
plans accordingly.
But at the moment, we are sure that the plans we've got are affordable.
And Councillor Di Ciano.
Yeah, I just wanted to raise a point because there's a point in the paper which highlights
that with any investment strategy, sometimes you have challenges with the market and it
looks like in the, I think it's the asset and property funds because of the slowdown
in property prices that there's been a fall in the principal.
But these are, these still generate income because they're capital yields funds, right?
So even when the market goes down, we still generate revenue for the council.
And these are long -term assets and funds that, you know, over the course of many economic
cycles will end up picking up again, right?
And we've actually put 8 million pound aside in a volatility reserve to take into account
any losses or volatility of the market.
Thanks very much.
If there's no further questions, is that paper agreed?
Excellent.
And next, are you okay to say a few words about the corporate plan, mid -year review

9 Corporate Plan 25/26 Mid-Year Performance Report (Paper No.25-420)

Cancer Island.
Well I'm very pleased with this corporate plan. Most councils would love
to report a plan this positive. We're particularly proud of the increase in
the household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting. We've improved
We've improved from 23 .8 percent last year to over 29 percent.
Now, when we took over the council three years ago, the recycling was 22 percent,
one of the worst in the country. I think we were 301 out of 304 in the country.
It's shameful. So we've improved that.
We've also improved the investment in domestic abuse in the bar,
positive outcomes there and invested in projects to tackle violence against women and girls.
Also there's other highlights are we have the lowest overall crime rating in London
and we have completed 100 % of the educational health and care plans in the 20 week statutory
time limit as we always do and that's due to the brilliant work of Anna Popovici and
team. Thank you.
Thanks. That's a really helpful introduction. Lots going on in this paper. Are there any
comments or questions at this stage? If not, is it agreed? Thank you. And if it's okay,
Cancer Island if you could take us through the quarter to finance update.

10 Q2 Finance Update (Paper No.25-421)

Absolutely, and thanks for your work in these challenging times, ensuring that financial
stability.
Are there any comments or questions on this paper?
If not, is it approved?
Thank you.

11 Write off of Irrecoverable Debts over £25,000 (Paper No.25-422)

And the final item on the agenda today, also with Cancer Island, is the write -off of irrecoverable
debts, over 25 ,000 pounds.
I'm sorry, I didn't have my microphone on earlier.
This report is an overview of the Council's debt position and also includes some recovery
and what we're asking for here is to seek approval for the write -off
of irrecoverable debts that exceed 25 ,000 pounds.
The executive director of finance has under delegated authority,
has authority to write off debts under that amount.
So what I want to say, there's a list of the debts here and again,
the context is COVID and the cost of living crisis.
I think that's significantly impacted on our collection rates, but the council is committed to fair recovery
We have a fair debt policy so we balance income collection with support for vulnerable residents
But all stages bearing in mind our commitment to South financial management
so what
One of the things we do it
We're very proud to be including one of the pilot local authorities of the debt management initiative.
This is a data shared initiative using the Digital Economy Act where we share data with HMRC,
which helps us to identify financially vulnerable residents and
offer them support so we can target support where it's most needed.
And the effect of that will be to help reduce and manage their debt.
And also, I'd like to thank the work of the financial inclusion officers, Gavin Downting
and his team, and the three money hubs that we've held this year, which we plan to expand
next year.
I think we had conversations with over 300 residents to give them a plan tailored to
their needs to help them manage their money, because the cost of living crisis is here
to stay really and the work they're doing which is moving away from crisis
support more to helping residents manage building resilience thank you
alright thank you cancer Dita yeah do you think you could outline a little bit
more about the work we're doing around bailiffs because I know there's some
quite progressive things happening in regards to moving away from very
expensive bailiff activity, particularly around council tax and having a much more holistic
approach whereby we have early intervention and, you know, actually it's not only kind
of kinder and, you know, there's more of a kind of wraparound support for people who
fall into council tax debt, but it's also saving the taxpayer money because these services
can be expensive.
Yes, that's right.
So we have a fair debt policy.
There was a consultation actually earlier this year with the government looking at the
way council tax debt is handled because it is quite strict if you get behind with the
debt the whole lot becomes payable within a matter of weeks.
We've always operated on the idea that we need to find out which of our residents is
struggling and why they're struggling.
So for instance, if they're behind with the council tax debt, the chances are they might
be in trouble with managing their money elsewhere.
So we're employing some financial inclusion officers that will go out and meet residents.
So if residents don't want them to go to their home, they'll meet them in the cafe.
They'll buy them a cup of coffee and say, look, what can we do to help you?
And I've actually seen that in action at the money hubs, and I'm very impressed.
They've had some great successes, and people are now no longer, if they know about the service,
they're not frightened to pick up the phone or speak to these officers because they know they'll get the help.
We it doesn't mean that we aren't managing the debts
We know we've got to collect them
But sometimes the best way to do this is to speak to residents and help them manage their money
And that's working well for us
Wonderful thanks very much if there's no other questions on that paper is that agreed?
That closes the meeting for today.
As I say, it's our final cabinet meeting of this year.
So thanks very, very much for your work throughout the year.
And that's a fantastic selection of papers there.
You can see delivery on affordable housing, on cleaner streets and same financial management.
So thanks all very much.
Good afternoon.
.