Council - Wednesday 4 March 2026, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Council
Wednesday, 4th March 2026 at 7:30pm

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Disclaimer: This transcript was automatically generated, so it may contain errors. Please view the webcast to confirm whether the content is accurate.

Good evening, everyone, councillors, officers, members of the public, and welcome to the

March Council meeting.

I'm going to introduce Verity Richardson, who's been an active member of the Humanist

UK for the last five years, and she describes herself as an atheist.

In the autumn, she took part in the Interfaith Direct event for 100 Wandsworth secondary

school children organised by Wandsworth Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education, SACRE.

The event enabled children to learn about ten different faiths and world views directly

from representatives.

Verity has been a speaker at local schools and she is a member of Kensington and Chelsea

Sacre.

Welcome Verity, as you join us from Stockholm on our video link and we look forward very

much to hearing what you have to say.

Thank you very much and hopefully you can hear me okay? Yes, I'm gonna take that as a yes. Thank

you very much for the invitation to offer some inspiration to the council chamber this evening.

As mentioned my name is Verity Richardson, I'm a member of Humanists UK and as part of that I'm a

school speaker and a SACRE member. This is a body where people of many faiths and none sit together

in the shared pursuit of understanding and it's in that spirit that has brought

me here this evening. Humanists believe that this is the one life we have. Not a

rehearsal, not a stepping stone to something else. This life, these people,

this community, this is it. And it's that belief, far from being a bleak one, and

that fills every human connexion with extraordinary weight and meaning. Because if

If this is the only life we have, then how we treat one another matters more, not less.

The neighbour who feels unseen, the family who doesn't feel they belong, the resident

who wonders whether this borough is truly theirs.

These are not abstract policy problems, they are people, living their one irreplaceable

life, shaped in no small part by the decisions made in rooms like this one.

Community belonging doesn't happen by accident, it is built.

through fairness, through being heard, through the quiet but powerful message

that you are welcome here, that you matter here. People of every faith, every

background and every worldview need to feel that this place is theirs too. And

in a world that can feel increasingly fractured, where difference is so often

weaponized, that last point matters deeply. We live alongside people whose

beliefs, values, and ways of seeing the world may be profoundly different from our own.

Humanism doesn't ask us to agree with one another, it asks us to recognise that every

person has the right to hold their own views and to live by their own values,

and to be treated with dignity for doing so. Respect is not the same as agreement,

and in truth, it's far more powerful. A community that can hold difference without hostility,

and can disagree without diminishing is one that is genuinely strong. And the

work of this council carries that same responsibility. You have the rare

privilege of turning values into reality, of making belonging something people can

actually feel regardless of who they are or what they believe. So as you go about

that work I would ask you to hold one thought. Every person who walks through

door, who sits across from you, who writes to you in either frustration or in hope.

They have one life and what you do here is part of it. Make it count. Thank you.

Thank you Verity and good luck for the rest of your trip. Thank you, good luck this evening.

So apologies have been received councillors from Councillor Govindia,

Sutter's, Foratharaj, Dobres.

Are there any other apologies?

I've missed.

Okay, thank you.

Councillor Annan.

Thank you.

Is that all the apologies?

Thank you very much.

Item one, the minutes of the meeting held

on the 10th of December, 2025,

and the 4th of February, 2026 have been circulated.

Are there any objections or abstentions

to me signing the minutes as a correct record?

Thank you, councillors.

Is that agreed?

Thank you.

In the absence of objections and abstentions,

I will take that as agreed.

Item 2 is Mayor's Announcement.

I have to report the sad news that former Councillor Andrew Grant died recently.

Andrew Grant served on the Council for 12 years, from 1982 to 1994, and he was Deputy

Mayor in 1986 to 1987.

I would invite members to, for a minute, silence in remembrance to stand.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillors.

I now invite Councillor Humphreys and Belton to pay tribute.

Councillor Humphreys.

Can you put your microphone on Guy?

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

Sad news that another former Councillor, Andrew Grant, has left us.

But another stunning example is somebody showed extraordinary service to this borough.

Twelve years of service as a Councillor is a pretty incredible record.

And I think from talking to colleagues that, the few that are still here that remember

him was somebody who truly lived up to that motto of we serve.

and I think across the chamber regardless of party allegiances, we can all think that

that's a pretty amazing tribute for someone who's served 12 years for the borough of their

time.

He also, after leaving Wandworth, went up to Northamptonshire and served another 30

years, three decades of service up there, covering all sorts of capacities in county

council up there.

And again, I think it's just a tribute to the type of person that we've seen over the

decades who will have a life and a family and go through their trials and

tribulations that we all go through in life and still managed to commit to that

kind of service and I think it's an admirable thing and I'd like to say to

his family of their listening we thank you for his service to both ourselves

here in Northcote and Wandsworth and also to the wider community up in

Northamptonshire. People like that will be greatly missed for the contributions

they make and we mourn his passing and say our best sympathies to his family.

Thank you.

Councillor Billson.

Gosh, Mr Mayor, I'm slightly thrown.

I'm not sure whether Guy actually was here

at the same time as Andrew Grant.

I suddenly realise I'm the only one.

I expected Councillor Govinda to be speaking.

So I was just gonna say, I will keep it fairly limited

because I will.

but I had expected it more from Councillor Covindia.

Andrew Grant was, funnily enough, or not funnily perhaps,

a fellow councillor with Martin Johnson,

who of course we honoured last month.

And they were a very solid team in Northcote

of traditional, can I say this, traditional old Tories

who believed in the best for their community.

and Andrew was very, very strongly committed

to the community, along with Martin Johnson,

and it's sad to note his passing,

particularly sad, sorry, it's not meant about me,

but I can remember being the youngest person here,

I think a bit like the chap sitting in front of me,

and then suddenly, overnight, that's changed,

and I'm trying to remember,

But Andrew was a solid member of the jewellery group,

respectable, not from my point of view,

one of the hardline people of the age,

not one of the hardline Thatcherites, dare I say it,

but wanted the best for his community

and should be respected for that purpose

and so I associate myself and the labour group

with the words that Councillor Humphrey said.

Thank you, councillors.

As this is the last evening of council meetings for the four years of the council before the

May elections, I want to say a few thank yous.

I have benefited from councillors Juliana Annan and Sarna Jaffrey as mayor before me.

and building on their distinguished mayoral legacies,

nurturing strong community support from individuals,

local groups, voluntary sector, businesses, schools,

and all our partner organisations,

Juliana and Sana benefited from strong support

from their deputy mayors, as I have.

Councillor Rosemary Burchell has been generous

with her time covering me when I couldn't be

in two places at once,

and when I have needed a break too.

She has represented me and the council

with much kindness and thoughtfulness

and exuberant enthusiasm too.

Thank you so much Rosemary for all you have done this year

as Deputy Mayor.

A number of councillors are not standing again

in the May elections, some after many years serving on the Council, and I would like to

thank you all for your dedication and committed service to our many communities in Wandsworth,

and wish you good luck for the future.

Also to Councillors who are re -standing in the May elections, thank you for your outstanding

contributions to the Council and the communities here.

and all good luck for the future, whatever it holds.

We are most fortunate in attracting and retaining

able and highly committed officers

right across all council departments,

from our frontline staff right up to our executive director

and chief executive.

Our staff are our most important resource,

and I would like to say to all staff

a huge thank you for what you do every day to serve our communities.

You truly embrace the motto of the Wandsworth crest which says, we serve.

Thank you very much.

Over the last year we've started to develop a new approach to overview and scrutiny

to make it more both productive and less adversarial as between the political groups.

Congratulations to the councillors across the chamber for making this happen.

It's a significant achievement.

Also, we have extended our reach, not merely sitting around committee tables,

but councillors have gone out into the community to take evidence from voluntary groups,

provider partners, and others including those with lived experience and young people.

Councillors have focused on the complex issues faced and the delivery of more effective service

and stronger partnerships in the community.

This has helped to make our OSC recommendations to Cabinet better focused on what is possible.

So please join me in congratulating the three Task and Finish groups

that have recently reported on important and significant issues.

They are violence against women and girls, drivers of EHCPs and the experience of young

people and professionals throughout the process, in short, special needs education, and a review

of social housing improvement.

Their recommendations give us a strong platform to improve our services over the next year

or two in relation to these important issues and service areas.

So well done to our OSCs and to the task and finish groups for improving our scrutiny.

Thank you.

I hope Councillors will support me in attending more fun mayoral charity events.

It's a good break from election campaigning.

The dates for your diaries are the 15th of March, a quiz night in the Civic Suite, and

the 4th of April boat race party at Putney Sea Cadets.

Please contact the mayor's office to book tickets.

As ever, I hope we have a thoughtful

and orderly meeting tonight

with just one person speaking at a time

and others listening quietly and attentively

without interruptions.

So please speak through the chair when I call you.

At the last council meeting,

there was a welter of points of order,

many of which were simply repeats

of the first point of order.

I think it was provoked by annoyance and frustration

at the change from the previous years

in the remit of the special council meeting we had.

I do not think arguing about procedure and process

is particularly edifying for councillors

and the whole council.

If you have a genuine point of order,

I will ask you to say which standing order

you believe has been breached, and then give a summary sentence explaining your point before

I decide whether you have a valid point of order.

As for points of personal explanation, this is limited to where a statement that you have

made appears to have been misunderstood in tonight's debate.

Just having your name mentioned is not sufficient cause to jump up to your feet and speak.

As we have two council meetings tonight, the ordinary meeting which we're in at the moment,

and then the special meeting, I'm planning to have a ten minute comfort break.

Not more than ten minutes, please, as I know that members and officers will want to get home in reasonable time between the two meetings.

It's been an honour to be a Wandsworth Mayor for the second time. I've enjoyed it

greatly but I can't say I've enjoyed all the challenges of the job. I hope at tonight's

meeting we can finish on a high note with respectful as well as robust debate.

Representing the Council and engaging with our vibrant community has been an absolute

pleasure, particularly in our London Borough of Culture year.

So on Monday, I was at Rock the Grand

with eight fabulous youth rock bands competing

to be named the best youth rock band in Wandsworth.

So well done to the Badgers who won.

Thank you, councillors, for giving me the opportunity

to serve as mayor this year.

On tonight's agenda, can members please

Please note that a number of supplementary items have been circulated and these are required

to be considered as a matter of urgency.

The reasons are set out in full at the top of those items.

Is that agreed, Members?

Thank you.

Please could all speakers keep to time and wind up your speeches when the red light comes.

When the red light comes on, you will have 30 seconds remaining to wind up.

This is to allow as many as possible councillors to participate.

Thank you.

We're now on to item three on the agenda.

Are there any members who have a declaration of disclosable pecuniary interest, other registrable

interest or any non -registrable interest relevant to any matter to be considered tonight at

the meeting. Any declarations? No, we don't seem to have any. Thank you. We'll right on

to item 4. Members, please raise your hands to indicate you have a petition to hand in.

Once I've called your name, please announce the subject and the title of the petition,

Not a long speech, please and who you are presenting it on behalf of

Please then come forward and hand your petition to mr. Kelly. Are there any petitions?

Yes

Jones thank you. Mr. Mayor. I've got a petition signed by

604 residents of North and Lavender Woods. It's addressed jointly to Lambeth Council and one but ones with Council

calling on the councils to work together to support the upgrade of the Clapham Common playground on Westside,

for Lambeth Council to fund these repairs and for Wandsworth Council to join us in that call and to facilitate as necessary.

Thank you, Councillor Richard -Jones.

Any more petitions?

Thank you for those petitions.

Each of the petitions will be dealt with in accordance with the Council's petition scheme.

Item five is leaders' questions.

Before we begin questions, may I remind all members that the overall period of members'

questions to the leader and the cabinet members is 45 minutes, with 20 minutes for leaders'

questions and 25 minutes for cabinet members questions. However, if the

leaders questions overrun this time is taken off for the cabinet members

questions. So question one, Labour 137 million budget black hole.

Councillor Richards -Jones.

Question one to the leader.

Leader please.

Thank you very much. I'm proud to confirm that Wandsworth Labour is freezing your council tax for the fourth year in a row and you will continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country.

Value for money is at the heart of everything we do. Wandsworth has one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London.

This allows us to freeze the main element of council tax and invest in what matters to you.

Cleaner streets, safer neighbourhoods and a greener Wandsworth.

We've seen a 25 % improvement in our recycling rate.

Every household now gets two free bulky waste collections a year, more free mega -skip days and guaranteed weekly waste and recycling collections.

New rapid response CCTV cars.

We've increased street lighting at night, doubled support for victims of domestic abuse,

and hired more community safety officers to keep Wandsworth the safest inner London borough.

And third, the best ever air quality.

We cherish our parks and green spaces with record investment and a thousand trees planted

each year so everyone can enjoy a healthier, greener place to live.

Our budget prioritised supporting local households and responding to those future funding challenges.

In September, we launched our whole Council transformation programme that will allow us

to maintain high quality services while accelerating our work to ensure Wandsworth is a modern

and resident -centred and financially resilient council.

This work will deliver significant efficiencies for residents.

We do not want the power to increase council tax beyond the 5 % referendum limit and we won't use it.

It is the right thing to do to keep council tax as low as we can for our hard working residents.

And as our record shows, we remain totally committed to protecting local residents from unnecessary tax increases.

Our ambitious plan and constant innovation will allow us to tackle future cost pressures effectively.

First supplementary, Councillor Richard Jones.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

The Leader's Budget in two years' time has a black hole of £92 million if he meets all

his savings targets and £137 million if he doesn't meet those savings targets.

That's the biggest Budget black hole in Wandsworth's history.

And to put it in context for those watching the meeting tonight, £137 million is bigger

than the Council's entire annual staffing budget.

So the leader could sack every single person working for Wandsworth Council and he still

wouldn't plug his budget gap.

He's ruled out increasing council tax in the next three years by more than 5%, but he has

no credible plan to deal with his unprecedented budget gap.

So can I ask him, can he confirm that he won't raise council tax by more than 5 % in 2027,

2028 and 2029 and if his answer is yes given the size of his budget black hole

how can anyone believe him

Councillor Hogg. I thank him for that question I suppose we should thank him

for insisting on two meetings tonight I don't know if this is to make up for the

one that you flounced out of last year but well we'll look for the one that you

didn't show up for a couple of months ago.

He raises the issue of budget gaps or black holes,

as he calls it.

This is not a new thing.

Let me share my experience of this.

When we took over the council in 2022,

we inherited a 53 million -pound black hole from you by 2025.

Not only did we fill that, balance the budget,

increase frontline resources, we also froze council tax.

And let me tell you as well, we paid down more than £50 million of debt that you left us as well.

So our position is strong. Looking at surrounding boroughs, our reserves are larger than those in Richmond, in Lambeth, in Kensington, in Chelsea.

In fact, they're larger than the reserves of all of those councils combined.

We face an uncertain future, but local people know that they can trust Wandsworth Labour to demonstrate sound financial management.

Which brings us to the real issue.

Who do you trust to run Wandsworth Council for the next four years?

It will either be a Labour Council or it will be a Conservative Council.

And people know our record of delivering better services for the same low council tax.

Because what we never hear from the Conservatives is a plan.

What is their commitment to Wandsworth residents?

We were actually discussing this earlier. We've managed to get through to full

council on council tax. We still don't actually know what the abstainer -in -chief's

position is. Point of order Mr. Mayor. This is leaders' question.

What happens to people? The leaders need to talk about us and not his own point.

Point of order. Can you tell me which standing order has been breached?

I believe it's standing order 16 on question for the leader.

Sorry, that is not a point of order. You need to say which other standing order has been

breached. Carry on, Leader.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. We almost made it through the first question before the bully boys weighed

in. The question is what happens to those people who are enjoying a better quality of

life through our access for all scheme? Does a Conservative Council mean the end of those

weekly bin collections and what does a Conservative Council mean for our record

investment in roads and pavements? Mr. Mayor is he asking me a direct question?

Because I'll answer. We'll protect weekly bin collections.

Just listen to Councillor Hogg's answer please.

I'm happy to answer questions if Councillor Hogg wants to answer them.

What happens to households when their council tax rises under a Conservative

Council. We've listened to these people for four years, offer no solutions, offer

no alternate budgets, offer no firm positions. We will give them the

opportunity this evening to confirm their position on these crucial issues.

Will he confirm his support for net zero? Can residents be sure

that we will be reconfirm our support for net zero next year? And if we don't hear that you're

the cost of living fund, that you're continuing the access for all scheme. I think local people

will draw their own conclusions from your record. Last time you were in power, selling

off half of all the affordable housing in the borough, cancelling black -hitched and

charging children £2 .50 to use a playground.

Please, members, you and the public will decide what you think about the answers, but let

Councillor Hogg gave his answer.

Second supplementary question.

Councillor Tiller.

Great.

Okay.

Yes, so I note the lack of any conservative commitments

on council tax.

Could it be, given the hysterical alarmism

of the original question and the supplementary,

not to mention all the not terribly helpful interjections, could it be they're planning

to clobber Wandsworth taxpayers and throw away what makes Wandsworth special?

While we wait for an answer, can we hear about the efficiencies we're making to deliver value

for money?

Councillor Hogg.

Thank you for the question.

I think we may have to wait some time for the riddle of their resolve to be answered.

But yeah, value for money, as I say, is at the heart of each and every decision this

administration makes.

We're making sure every pound that you give us is spent for the best return for residents.

Wandsworth, as I say, has that low debt, has those high financial reserves, and Wandsworth

Labour is proud to deliver the lowest council tax in the country.

We are focused on value for money.

We're constantly improving the design and the delivery of our services.

We're making sure developers pay their fair share and we're working in partnership to bring innovation to Wandsworth.

Let me give some examples. We've saved £14 million through better design contracts,

smarter staffing structures and organisational efficiencies.

We've saved £11 million through diverting more rubbish to recycling.

We've collected £230 million in developer taxes since 2022

and we've used this money, among other things, to deploy state -of -the -art CCTV technology,

increasing community safety across Wandsworth and to deliver record investment in our parks

and green spaces.

We're really proud of the partnerships with the private sector to expand opportunity and

access for residents, like our digital learning partnerships with Apple and Dolly Parton's

Imagination Library.

Mr Mayor, the supplementary was about efficiency savings. These aren't efficiency savings.

All of the excited faces of children getting their own books to read and to keep. We have

won external funding to improve our services whilst maintaining our financial position,

including £4 .5 million.

Members, members, as Verity Richens advised us, we don't have to agree with each other.

Let Councillor Hogg answer it in the way he wants to answer it.

Can you continue, Councillor Hogg?

No, I'm not bringing him to order.

He's going to give his answer.

We have won external funding to improve our services while maintaining our financial position,

including £4 .5 million in government funding to make our buildings greener, which has helped

Wandsworth Labour deliver three consecutive annual A grades from the Climate Disclosure

project for our climate action.

Our successful bid and our successful year to be London's borough of culture pulled in

£2 .3 million of external funding, which we used to invest in a series of memorable events

across Wandsworth.

I hope you'll all be able to join us at Battersea Power Station on 21 March for The Beat Goes

On, a fantastic finale for our year as borough of culture.

We've provided new services, invested in existing services through innovation and function,

and delivered on our pledges to residents, all while maintaining the lowest council tax in the country.

That's why together we face the future with confidence.

Members are challenging me and my response is if you look at Standing Order 11A x1,

one, the form of reply for the leader or the cabinet member answering the question is for

them.

Point of order, standing order 11A.

Question two, please.

Labour's failures.

I'm sorry, I have a standing order.

I have a point of order, standing order 11A.

Which part of 11A?

Yeah, is the substance what you've read out that the leader or any cabinet member can answer a question for half an hour

Yeah, I'm going to ask mr. Choudry to read out the standing order so that it's clear

Yeah, we've got the standing order in front of us. I want to know where it's unlimited answers

Mr. Choudry

Mr. Chavez.

The standing order 11A, Roman numeral 11, is the form of reply to a question.

Unless in the opinion of the mayor, a question is frivolous or derogatory to the dignity

of the council and he or she decides not to permit it to be asked at the meeting, shall

be within the discretion of the leader of the Council, the appropriate cabinet member,

or the chair of the appropriate regulatory committee or other committee.

So members, in effect, the form of the answer is for the person to whom the question has

been addressed.

Whilst the length of an answer may be one that elicits a response from the mayor to

intervene, that is also for the mayor to determine.

If the mayor determines not to intervene, that is for the mayor to determine rather

Can we go on to question two, please, rather than debating standing orders or my ruling?

No, thank you. Mr Mayor, that was a complete answer to my question. Thank you.

Question number two to the Leader.

Yes, Labour's failure to get a good deal for Wandsworth residents.

Councillor Richard Jones, yes, you put it. Thank you.

Question number two to the Leader.

Councillor Hogg.

Thank you. Labour is freezing council tax for the fourth year in a row because we are

committed to keeping it low for our residents, knowing that this dreadful, unfair tax puts

the greatest burden on people with the lowest incomes.

The government's fair funding review will allocate grant funding differently to different

areas of the country based on deprivation.

The government are putting more money into local government while addressing the huge

disparities that existed between levels of funding in different areas of the country.

The Tories promised a fair funding review but never delivered on it.

That's another broken promise.

The Government is fixing the foundations.

It also gave us a multi -year settlement, something we have been campaigning for for many years.

The Government listened, so councils are more able to plan ahead than they were under the Tories' hand -to -mouth approach to funding.

We're not happy with the outcome of the fair funding review, but we have been planning for it.

While there are changes to our grant funding in the future, Wandsworth is in the strongest possible position to respond.

We have high reserves, low debt, an absolute commitment to value for money and a plan to

transform into the council for the future.

Fair funding has happened. The question is

who do you trust to run the council's finances?

Residence trust, our sound financial management.

This is seen clearly in Wandsworth's recent top 10 empower ranking, one of the best councils

in the country for productivity and value for money.

And last year, our investments were found to strongly outperform other councils by MUFG

corporate markets.

You can see the report online praising our proactive approach, 5 .1 % returns.

Our budget proposals include ambitious transformation programmes started before this funding change

was announced. We will go further in reforming the Council because better never stops. We

are focused on the future, making Wandsworth into a modern, digitally accessible Council

and a fairer, more compassionate place.

First supplementary, Councillor Richard Jones.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. The leader just said with a straight face, better never stops.

Under his leadership, this council has had the worst settlement of any council in England

from the government. When Councillor Hogg's main job was to stand up for Wandsworth residents

and get a good deal from the government, he got the worst deal of any council leader in

the country. Other Labour councils in London and elsewhere have had a far better settlement

than he has. So he was right when he said this is fundamentally about who do you trust

to run Wandsworth. Can I ask him, what on earth did he do? What did he say to government

that resulted in this pitiful settlement?

Councillor Hogg.

Thanks for the question. And actually, sorry, just to go back to the question you asked

before, it isn't quite true to say that we didn't get improvements in the provisional

Fair funding settlement, we did lobby hard and we did secure important changes around

housing and children's services.

It made the government take into account housing costs and that actually saw significant extra

money coming into London and that was thanks to council leaders, MPs and London councils

lobbying on that.

I mean look, times are tough.

We need serious people.

Wandsworth Tories, as we can see tonight, are unserious people. What do you have to

show for the last four years? In -fighting, bullying and endless, endless abstaining.

When are you guys going to come off the fence? People start to notice that you have no positive

ideas. Your politics is narrow and pedantic and angry. We are ending the old

culture of Wandsworth Council. There is a new culture being born and you don't

like it but we are going to be an open and diverse and collaborative council

that puts listening to local people, the voices of local people, at the

heart of decision -making. Not people who just try and shout over people who are

speaking. Because for you this is politics, hectoring people in a sort of grand council

chamber. But that's not it. For us politics is a chat in the supermarket or a visit to

a local charity or helping out a family with a housing problem that they have. So we have

a choice. Do you trust our strong principal team who have experience running the council

Or do you trust the bully boys of the Wandsworth Tories, who don't have our level of experience,

but have a staggering level of entitlement?

And we know, of course, he didn't take the opportunity to commit to fund the Access for

All scheme, so I hope that the 10 ,000 people who benefit from that scheme, who get free

gym and swim every week, who get 50 % off their council services, now know there is only one

surefire way to keep this really valued programme for them and their children. Vote Labour on

May the 7th.

Second supplementary. Councillor Fraser.

You having a problem with the mic? Can someone help?

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor second supplementary. I was delighted to see that as well as for balance budgets

We are funding via developer contributions and no extra cost to residents a pilot of safer Street neighbourhood wardens in Balham

That's both a Balham resident and as a South Balham councillor

Could the leader say more about how he envisages the safe hood neighbourhood wardens working with the existing S &T

teams and a benefit to Balham residents

Thanks very much. I thank Councillor Fraser for the question and for her service on the council, particularly to people of Ballum.

And that's absolutely right. We are always looking for new ways, innovative ways to fund services.

We're collecting funds from different sources and we were elected on that mandate to make developers pay and make sure that everyone in Wandsworth benefits from growth.

Unlike the Tories, we didn't just lock those benefits away from Nine Elms, they're being spent in every street in the borough.

And we are making Wandsworth a safer place for everyone.

We are proud to already be the safest in a London borough and we're committed to ensuring residents always feel safe in their local area.

You know we've increased CCTV capacity, adding four live monitoring officers and introduced three new CCTV vans,

those wonderful blue vans that you see around the borough

to provide deterrence and reassurance in a visible way.

But I love this one, the Ballum Street Wardens.

This has been cooking for a while,

but our new neighbourhood wardens pilot provides a friendly

and reassuring presence on the streets of Ballum.

They will act as an easy contact point for local residents

who need help or advice,

or simply want to give feedback

on the areas that need more focus.

Hopefully they'll become very well known

to the local shopkeepers and local residents, please approach them.

The neighbourhood wardens will provide a range of support for residents, including tackling

antisocial behaviour, fly -tipping enforcement, engaging with local businesses, working with

partner agencies to address those hyper -local issues, and signposting vulnerable residents

to services.

The new pilot is a direct response to feedback from residents through our innovative Balham

Forum.

People told us they wanted that more visible, uniformed presence on the streets.

We listened and we will continue to act for those residents of Ballum and Trinity and South Ballum to understand the pilot's impact.

And if it's a success, obviously we'll look to roll it out across the borough.

It is being funded entirely from funds we take from property developers without adding a penny onto your council tax.

Residents, no Wandsworth Labour is delivering on our promise to make their streets safer.

The time for leaders questions is now finished.

The Whips have agreed that item 16, the motion on Wandsworth Council, the lowest council tax in the country, is taken next.

Can I ask Councillor Hogg to move and Councillor Ireland to second the motion in their names please.

Councillor Holland.

Moved.

Councillor Ireland.

Will you second?

Thank you.

An amendment to the motion has also been circulated.

May I ask Councillor Richards -Jones to move and Councillor P. Graham to second.

Moved.

Second.

Thank you.

This first speaker is Councillor Akinola.

Just keep pressing on it. It takes a bit of time, I'm told.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Over the past four years, I'm overjoyed to say that Wandsworth has moved

from being a council that virtue signalled to one that delivers real outcomes and added

value for our elders, our renters and our children and families. Good financial management

is not just about saving money, it's about knowing when to spend it. When COVID hit the

UK, I recall a previous leader being asked how we would support residents. And when questioned

about the enormous reserves in the bank account, he simply said they were being saved for a

rainy day. I don't recall any more rainier days than a global pandemic and the difficult

years that followed. Families were struggling, businesses were on the brink, young people

were losing opportunities and requiring additional mental health support, elders were isolated.

That was a rainy day and that's why I'm proud to be the deputy leader of an administration

that's used its strength to protect our people.

We've frozen council tax for four consecutive years.

Under Wandsworth Labour, residents still pay the lowest council tax in the country and

we've delivered better services and programmes while doing so.

And this is not an accident, this is because we put our residents at the heart of everything

we do. Unlike those opposite, we've managed the reserves and used them for the benefit

of our residents. We've invested in our cost of living fund to support households when

they needed it the most. Through our access for all, access able and the night time strategy,

we've made our public spaces more inclusive, more accessible and safe. Our borough sanctuary

programme offers those who come here seeking strategy, a dignity and practical support

needed to be welcome here and that's what inclusive and responsible leadership looks

like.

The difference in our approaches, one's with Labour and Conservatives, could not be clearer.

Whilst I don't need to throw any shade, because you do that for yourselves, we applied and

we won London Borough of Culture, something that was never even entered before.

I am grateful to Councillors on all sides for engaging in the programme and attending,

and the programme is ending in 17 days, and so I want to also say thank you to the amazing

arts team who still have that energy to keep things going.

Everyone is of course welcome to the finale 21st of March, 11 to 5, Battersea Power Station.

We've managed to partner with tech businesses to provide iPads and musical engineering to

our local school children equipping the next generation with digital skills for the future.

And that is delivery and that is our ambition and that's belief in our borough's future.

So with regards to business and economic opportunity, keeping council tax the lowest in the country

has protected household incomes and supported local businesses by maintaining spending power

on our high streets.

Our year as borough of culture has also increased footfall, supported hospitality, retail, and

creative enterprises across the country, the borough.

Art and culture is not just a luxury, it's an economic infrastructure and I really hope

that we have evidenced this over this past year.

We supercharged the local art scene.

Grassroots and world -class creative organisations are collaborating like never before.

cultural programming is increasing and improving well -being, strengthening

community cohesion and creating opportunities for young people and our

arts and culture programme links directly to our ambitions as of place -making,

place -making, economic growth, education and health outcomes. And to our

voluntary and community sector, the beating heart of Wandsworth, we've not

just clap for you, we've backed you with our new VCS hub in the town hall

providing free meeting space so that organisations can grow and collaborate

and the voluntary sector strategy has strengthened partnership working

ensuring community organisations have a real voice and access to training and

resources. Most recently we have expanded the grant programme to continue to invest

directly into grassroots projects that deliver for residents every single day.

So yes, we have achieved a great deal for our residents and we've achieved so much because this administration believes in something simple

Strong finances are not an end in themselves

They are a tool to improve lives and that is exactly what we will continue to do for the people of Wandsworth. Thank you

Councillor Hamilton

There's a few issues this evening.

I understand that we are now on the run -down of the election and it's obviously the job

of the administration to try and talk about their supposed achievements over the last

four years, just as it's our job as an opposition to try and highlight where they've failed

when it comes to the management of money and when it comes to the provision of services

in this borough.

But this motion this evening is about council tax.

It's about the way in which money has been spent in this borough

It's about the bills that members of the public are going to be receiving coming through their door

And one of the things that I think we have incumbent upon us as councillors is to be

Honest to members of the public about the way the finances stand and about the decisions that we take in this chamber

So every single year that I've been a councillor out on the doorstep each week speaking to people they've said why have we received?

council communications

saying that our bills have been frozen when the bill that's come through our door

has every single year shown more money being taken from them. It is a fact that

during the course of this Labour administration the portion of council

tax raised by this council, raised directly by those in this chamber, has

risen by more than 8%. Now we've heard quite a lot as well from the

administration about their proximity to a Labour government which has failed

them when it came to the Fair Fronting review. We've heard about a few selective examples

of money that's come from the Mayor of London. But the reality is when you look at people's

council tax bills, the portion of that bill that's decided by the Mayor of London has

risen by more than 29 % during the last four years. Taxes have risen under Labour and every

member of this council has a duty to be honest about that. Now when I was thinking about

the comments that I was going to make this evening. I was going to use the phrase that

this Council faces an uncertain future in terms of its financing. But it doesn't face

an uncertain future. We all understand, those of us who've read the papers, who've looked

at the predictions, who've looked at the loss of funding to this Council, that we're not

facing an uncertain future. We're facing a dire future. We're facing a huge loss of money

coming into this Council. And no amount of spin from the administration about Council

tax freezes as illusory as they are, can cover the fact that because of their spending decisions

and because of their government sitting in Whitehall and Westminster, taxes will rise

in future.

Now, we are custodians of the finances.

And if you look at the last four years of what Labour has done, they've not spent our

money appropriately.

If you look at borrowing, they borrowed more than a billion pounds and a life cycle repayment

of 2 .5 billion.

9 million wasted on a waste collection fleet that hasn't improved rubbish collection standards in this borough.

More than a million pounds spent on political advisors for the Leader's Office

and £175 ,000 on additional funding for councillors.

Now we hear vague promises about efficiencies, we hear about a transformation programme,

but the Council's own officers have admitted that programme is nebulous,

that we have no idea if it's actually going to save money.

So we face a very uncertain future as a council.

And the leader in his comments this evening said that they were planning for the future

as a Labour Party about how they're not going to hike taxes.

But I'm afraid we've seen no detail about how they're going to avoid doing that.

Now as I walked to the council this evening, it was a pretty bleak night.

It was dark, it was foreboding.

and I think that really foreshadows, I think, the many of the comments that me and my colleagues are going to make this evening.

Our comments will not be a laundry list of spending promises like the Labour Party is putting forward.

It will instead be a sober, clear -eyed, factual assessment of where this Council stands

and the very difficult decisions that any administration is going to need to take in the future.

Labour have left behind a mess, and in the early hours of the 8th of May,

when we're all together in this building,

I'm confident the people of Wandsworth

will choose the experience and shrewd judgement

of this Conservative team.

Thank you.

Councillor Belton, next, please.

Mr. Mayor, I actually feel quite sorry for these councillors sitting on my left peculiarly

tonight.

I was in their position for 26 years, would you believe.

And for 26 years I struggled with what do you do when the council tax is zero, which

happened once upon a time.

Do you put an amendment saying increase council tax, increase from zero to something that

would have been responsible and credible or whatever?

Do you say cut it?

Well that's obviously not possible.

but one thing I genuinely remember is that almost always we took a stance.

We actually decided to vote for something or other.

It may have been a bit of a losing gamble, but we took a stance.

Tonight as of this moment, I don't know whether the minority parties are arguing that

we should increase council tax or lower it.

They're talking about being responsible about trust,

but they haven't actually said what they're going to do.

Now if we're talking about trust,

and I guess just coming up to a council election,

that's something that many people would be concerned about,

then at least it might be useful

if we knew what their position was.

Now, I wonder whether the leader can remember.

I'm trying to remember when in the ... Essentially, they're arguing, I think, that we're being

irresponsible.

And I think what irresponsible means in this context is that we should have raised the

council tax in the last three years, and we should this year to be responsible.

You hardly did.

And that, if ... And that indeed might be an argument.

But have they ever moved it?

Have they ever actually moved that?

I don't think they have.

I think they've almost always abstained.

Certainly at the finance committee last week

we had a couple of serious debates about money.

One was about the council tax and the other one

was associated with capital spending.

For the public in general, they were both about money.

And on both occasions, they abstained.

So we have absolutely no idea.

So I turned to their leaflets instead.

And they're struggling with a position to take

quite reasonably.

So I, as a resident of Northcote,

I get a leaflet from the leader and his running colleague,

which is all about, and only about,

the playground in Clapham Common in Northcote Ward,

which happens to be run by Lambert Council.

It doesn't say anything else about anything.

It's simply about one issue.

And yes, I'm moving on to other literature.

I move on to other literature.

And so recently, I get another one from Northcote report

back from Allard and his colleague.

And it's all about roads and pavements.

It's all about roads and pavements.

There's barely a road in Northcote

which hasn't been resurfaced and is as clean.

There's something daft here about the fact

that we haven't fined anyone for dog poo.

You can't find dog poo in Northcote.

You could eat breakfast off the pavements.

It's so clean and pure.

And then this morning, and this is where

they really ought to listen,

then this morning I get this ludicrous, have you seen it?

This absolutely ludicrous, no one could possibly,

Mr. Mayor, am I gonna have another five minutes after?

Please listen to Councillor Belton.

This ludicrous, now they're proud of it,

it is absolutely, please can you let Councillor Belton?

It's absolutely ludicrous.

No one believes this at all.

No one believes it at all.

And there's nothing in it except innuendo.

And it is complete rubbish.

And they're still continuing with the rubbish.

So what I'm inclined to think of, Mr. Mayor,

in terms of their attitude is it reminds me

of a very near resident of Battersea Park ward,

actually lived in Chaney Walk,

but immediately opposite could see it,

who once wrote,

"'Allad told such desperate lies,

"'it made one gasp and stretch one's eyes.'

"'So every time he shouted fire,

"'they only answered, little liar.'"

I think here they are, Belloq had it right.

up. Thank you, Councillor Belton. Councillor Richard Jones.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. The fact that Councillor Belton says there's not an instance of dog

poo in Northcote, he can bet that's going to go on my fourth leaflet, which he'll be

receiving this month. But to take his challenge head on, Councillor Belton didn't know what

we were accusing him of. Were we accusing him of being irresponsible? I'll tell him

what we're accusing this administration of.

We're accusing you of lying.

We're accusing you of trying to cover up

the huge council tax rises that are coming

under your budget.

The reason we call the second meeting this evening

is so that we could put on the public record

the executive director of finances report

to the finance committee,

which shows that under the labour government's

own assumptions, council tax have to go up by 86 %

in three years time.

That's not our words.

Those are the Labour government's assumptions

and that is the council's independent

executive director of finance

that has propagated that figure.

So when Tony Belton holds up a leaflet

that says at least 80 % rises,

that is the figure we are referring to.

It is on the record and if he denies it,

the charge is simple, he's lying.

Now, speaking of lying.

Mr. Mayor, can I just say I do deny it and if anyone believes it, they must be mad and

tory.

This isn't a point of order, Mr. Mayor, this isn't a point of order.

But on the subject of lying, I mean the reputation of the council's communications, as Councillor

Hamilton said, is now in the gutter.

This was an administration that promised to cut council tax, it increased it, it promised

to build more homes, they've built fewer homes, it promised to support a thousand apprenticeships,

It's barely done a fifth of that.

I mean, it is an absolute shower of broken promises.

But if I had to think about what the legacy

of this administration really is,

it's actually a desperately sad one

because this administration will leave the borough poorer

than when it got into office.

It's going to leave us all poorer

because the leader of the council managed to negotiate

away 85 million pounds a year of grant funding

from Wandsworth.

that's going to send council tax bills through the roof

under their budget.

He's left council tenants poorer

because by pursuing an ideological housing programme

rather than a balanced housing programme,

not only has he increased council rents every year

by the statutory maximum to a cumulative total of 24%,

but he's loaded billions of pounds of debt

onto the housing revenue account.

That is unconscionable, and that leaves some of our residents on the lowest end of the

income scale especially poorer after these four years.

Mr. Mayor, when I think about these last four years, I think it's a storey of chances for

gone.

If we hadn't had a Labour administration in these past four years, the life chances of

the residents on the Winstanley and York Road estate and on the Alton estate would be improved

because they would see the regenerations that this administration abandoned callously.

The residents of Battersea would be able to enjoy a pedestrianised Northcote Road.

Residents of Putney wouldn't be constantly stuck in gridlock in the mornings and inhaling

those fumes.

And fundamentally we would have a borough where home ownership and getting a foot on

the housing ladder would be far wider than it is today.

It is a shocking legacy that this administration leaves. They have no answers to this

Fortunately, mr. Mayor on the 7th of May. We have a chance to change course. Thank you

Councillor Councillor hog

Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor ones worth labour is freezing your council tax for the fourth year in a row

You will continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country because value for money is at the heart of

of everything Wandsworth Labour does. We know this unfair tax puts the greatest burden on those with

the lowest incomes and that's why we're committed to keeping council tax low for the long run.

There is so much that sits behind this. This Labour council, the first in Wandsworth for 44

years, has put fairness, compassion and the voice of residents back at the heart of this town hall.

That's why we continue to invest in our streets and our neighbourhoods to make them cleaner,

safer, greener and fairer. We were ambitious in our 2022 manifesto and we've made huge

strides in delivering on our commitments. A thousand new council homes with 500 built,

occupied and the rest on the way. All council workers, whether on staff or on a contract,

now receiving a living wage. Our council on track to be carbon neutral by 2030 with three

consecutive A grades for our work. We've doubled the support for victims as we

tackle the scourge of domestic violence. This budget continues to deliver on

these pledges and more. We continue the decade of renewal to upgrade our

streets and pavements. This budget protects the 10 ,000 residents who rely

on Access for All, a programme we now know is not protected under any future

administration. And it will see more new playgrounds, upgraded parks and sports

pitches delivered. And this record of delivery lives up to our commitment to

provide better services for the same low council tax. From our Cost of Living

Commission under Councillor Akinola to London's biggest cost of living response

and access for all, we have made Wandsworth a fairer borough where

everyone has access to the amazing opportunities in our area. That's what

being ambitious rule looks like. We look out for each other and we make sure

there's a helping hand there when you need it. And we're not stopping there because there's

plenty more work to do. And I just pause to note, it's absolutely staggering that we're

reaching the end of the council tax debate, following scrutiny, following a lot of public

discussion and we still have absolutely no idea what the Conservative position on council

tax is, despite some pious lectures on honesty and trust and truth. One final chance, Councillor

tax this year he's refused to give an answer so I think since they are sorry

mr. mayor I did give it on so we're gonna fix his budget I can really show

you it is a great interest to residents in some ways it's the central question

in one's worth politics what are you going to do with our council tax this

year Councillor Richards -Jones. We'll need to fix your budget.

Councillor Hugg he's given his answer. He's unable to give an answer and they are constantly informing residents

that this council will have to increase council tax by a huge amount. We can only

assume we can only assume that he accepts that is the reality.

That's not our words, they're the words of your Labour Government.

Your Labour Government wants to increase council tax in Wandsburg by 86%.

Please, you know this.

Members, you've asked me several questions.

I'm very happy to answer them.

Councillor Ogg, Scott on the floor, would you sit down, members?

I'd like to pay tribute to everyone who's helping this administration deliver so much positive change in Wandsworth over the past four years.

Not just the Conservatives who gave us the opportunity.

To our cabinet members, to our deputy cabinet members, committee chairs and everyone in the Labour group,

I am so proud to lead this fantastic team.

Together, we are putting fairness back at the heart of this council.

It takes time to turn around 44 years of neglect, underinvestment and delivering for property

developers instead of residents.

But we've made a strong start and there is a lot more to do.

But there is a very clear choice ahead of us in just a very few weeks.

Wandsworth Labour, on the side of residents, fighting for change, making the borough better,

or the Wandsworth Tories, tired, ineffective, out of touch, with the wrong values and no

new ideas, and a revolving door to reform.

Because make no mistake, they oppose most of the progress we've made, and they would

reverse it if allowed anywhere near power again.

So let's vote for hope, not division.

Let's keep Wandsworth special.

For cleaner streets, safer neighbourhoods and a greener borough, vote Labour on 7 May.

Now members, we are going to put the amendment to the vote.

The matter now before the Council is the amendment moved by Councillor Richard Jones and seconded

by Councillor P Graham.

All those in favour of the amendment, please show.

All those against the amendment, please show.

Are there any abstentions?

One abstention.

So the amendment is lost, 24 for the amendment,

24 against and one abstention.

So now we're going to vote on the substantive motion.

All those in favour of the substantive motion?

All those against the substantive motion?

Are there any abstentions?

So that's passed by the same numbers, 24 for the substantive motion,

20 against and one abstention.

So we're now on to item seven on the agenda.

Questions to the cabinet members will now be taken.

Question 12, Labour's post -election council tax increase junction.

Councillor P Graham.

Question 12, Mr Cabinet Member.

Thank you.

Councillor Alland.

Thank you for your question.

Sound financial management is at the heart of everything this administration does.

Wandsworth has some of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London.

and we are proud to have set the lowest council tax in the country.

Our 26 -27 budget prioritises supporting local residents, including those struggling with

the cost of living, while responding to future funding changes.

The Transformation Programme will allow us to maintain high quality services while remaining

modern, resident centred and financially resilient.

This work will deliver significant efficiencies for the people of Wandsworth to make us fit

for the 21st century.

This budget incorporates changes arising from the fair funding review.

Changes to our funding will be phased over the next three years with 90 % of existing

funding retained for 26 -27.

Council tax is set by the Council, not by the Government.

And you have heard the leader give a clear explanation of our position on this

Shall I continue thank you

We did not ask for the power to increase council tax and we have no plans to do so

Council tax hits those on lower incomes hardest, so we believe it's the right thing to do to keep it low

First up romantry council Graham Thank You mr.

but we hear again the difference between the cabinet members' words, no plans,

and what her paper, which we know she didn't write, actually says, which is, will not be using.

The fact is that we now have a situation in which to persuade us that she did write that paper,

the Leader's Office has cut and pasted their previous response to the question given to Councillor Hogg.

Even within this meeting, the words are not her own.

So if she really wants to clear this up,

and if they really want to be honest with the public,

will she now categorically state that Labour,

if they win the election, the majority party

will not be using either next April

or the following April the power to increase council tax

by more than the referendum limit?

Councillor Ireland.

Thank you.

I don't think you really have any idea what goes on, do you?

I can say we believe that

Shall I continue? Can you let listen to council around please? Thank you

We believe that whenever there is a change in gov council funding the council should work first to adapt to that change

rather than

Please will you let council or Island answer. Thank you

Rather than taking money from our residents, which you seem so desperate to do

You seem to be the only ones who can't imagine any future other than with tax increases.

We don't believe in having a knee -jerk reaction when we...

I don't know what to do if I can't...

Can you please let Councillor Island speak without rude interruptions?

Thank you very much, Mayor.

We do not believe in a knee -jerk reaction.

We don't think that's right when discussing the future.

Now we've proved over the past four years that we can deal with increasing demand for our services, high inflation and still freeze council tax.

We have set ambitious targets through the transformation programme which we will continue to develop and we will turn after the summer with more detail.

Another 130 million? Where from?

This is where it's from.

Shall I continue?

Yes, continue, Councillor Ireland. Please, you're taking time out of questions just by interrupting.

Councillor Ireland, please. Thank you, thank you, Mayor. Our administration is working hard to find

solutions and face the future head on. The minority party is sniping from the sidelines

and shows no ambition at all for the borough beyond increasing tax. Thank you. Second

supplementary, Councillor Grimstone.

Oh there it is, yes, I apologise. Just something which I've never sorted out, maybe the cabinet

member can help me. Why is council tax, which affects everybody in the borough,

such a dreadfully regressive tax and therefore it can only be increased by 2 %

year on year, but council rents, which surely affect the most deprived

in our borough can be put up by 5 % every year.

Why is it that council tax is more regressive

in the point of view of the current administration

than council rents, despite the fact

that those who are most hit by these are different

and people like me can afford 2 % on that.

Many people in council rents I don't think can afford

5 % year on year increase in their rents.

Councillor Ireland.

Thank you.

Well, I do believe that council tax is regressive.

I meet several people at the community kitchen that I run that are struggling to pay their bills and they are very much grateful

For the freeze in council tax. It makes a huge difference to them

It means they don't have to worry about not being able to buy food and to pay for their energy costs now

It's very important that the council

supports the housing revenue account and that includes

making sure we have enough money to

to maintain our stock.

We've had 44 years of underinvestment in council stock.

I know, I live in a leasehold flat,

and I've told several people my experience

of having water leaking continuously,

nonstop through the roof for two years

because it hadn't been maintained,

while at the same time,

because there was no pump in the block,

I only got water out of the mains kitchen tap

for five minutes a day just before midnight.

Now that went on for years.

And we don't think people should have to suffer like that.

I meet several people who are coping with damper mould.

They are absolutely thrilled that we now have

two or three dedicated officers that will deal with that.

And we are investing in our housing stock.

We need to make sure that we support

the housing revenue account.

And the best way to do that is to charge the correct rent.

And I'm not sure of the figures on this,

but the vast majority of our council tenants do actually receive housing benefit and universal credit,

so they're not paying the full rent. Thank you.

Question number 13, children walking to school.

Councillor Critchard.

I'm going to put it to the cabinet member.

Councillor Yeats, you're responding.

It'll come if you just wait a moment.

I think it's on go slow tonight.

Thank you, Councillor Belton.

Thank you, Councillor Critchard. Thank you, Councillor Belton, with the mic.

We're really proud of the improvements we've made to make it easier for children to walk and travel safely to school.

it's so important that children do walk to primary schools

if they possibly can, because obviously children

are generally living near to the primary schools

that they attend.

So we're really proud that since we came into office

in May 22, we've added 13 new school streets,

and we've enhanced many of our existing school streets.

Our school travel coordinator also works really hard

with schools across the borough to help them put in place

school travel plans and support parents

to walk with their children to school.

And we've also prioritised pavement maintenance

with our huge programme of investment

in road and pavement renewals

with a big proportion going into pavement resurfacing

to make our pavement safer

and make it safer for everyone to use them.

And we've also put in 26 new zebra crossings

or pelican crossings and we've got more going in

at this time.

So yeah, that's 26 since May 22.

In the previous four years of the Tory administration,

they put in nine.

And as I say, we will have finished more

by the time this term ends on the 7th of May.

We've also supported TFL on rolling out

the 20 mile an hour programme on the red routes

because all the evidence shows it's so much safer

for pedestrians when cars are travelling,

not above that speed. So yeah, thank you, Councillor Critchard, we'll go on working

to make it safer for children to walk to school.

First supplementary, Councillor Critchard.

Hi, thank you, Councillor Yates. I was just going to say I was particularly pleased to see a zebra

crossing that's going in at Church Lane as a result of a

petition by one particular resident who is having difficulty getting her child

to school. But one thing I noticed the other day as I went past another school was that

there is still some reliance on barriers maintained by local people in order to deal with the

school streets. Can you explain how we're enhancing the way we operate school streets

perhaps to start to reduce some of the dependence that we have on very willing volunteers who

we should also probably thank from all of us

for those volunteers who are managing,

manning the barriers, staffing the barriers,

because it was a woman I saw there last time.

Councillor Yates.

Thank you, Councillor Critchard.

Yeah, we're making a number of improvements

to our school streets, as I mentioned.

One thing we're doing is putting in entry treatments

at some of the existing school streets.

They're things like coloured road markings,

nice pencil bollards you might have seen

and Boniface School, for example,

pavement build -outs to make the school street

very obvious, very conspicuous for all drivers

who are approaching the school.

We've also put in more ANPR.

Now that's Autonatic Number Plate Recognition

so that we can restrict the cars using the school street

during the hours of operation,

restrict it to resident access only and disabled access.

We put in ANPR at three more schools last year

and we've now got a total of 14 schools,

streets enforced with ANPR.

But it's important to note that not all schools

want to use ANPR.

Some of them do have very active teacher

or volunteer bodies that prefer to put barriers out

at the start and end of the school street hours.

So it does vary according to the schools

because of course the school streets are led

by the schools and they are only implemented

when the school fully supports them and the parent body and the school community wants to have a school street. Thank you.

Second documentary. Yes, Councillor Hamilton. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.

And thank you to the cabinet member for that answer.

The Conservative Party has obviously been a big supporter of school streets and can I pay tribute to

Councillor Locker in his final meeting this evening who was the real architect of that policy in this borough.

We will of course all be supportive of active travel. We all support the idea of safety.

So would you also take this opportunity given that we are talking about election promises to join the Conservative Party in our pledge

To bring back the summer pedestrian ization of North Cut Road, which is great for safety great for active travel

We will bring it back. Will you?

Councillor Yates

You know, it's so funny counter Hamilton, I think in the first council meeting that I attended

One of your party raised the pedestrianisation

of Northcote Road.

And I think we've debated it in at least a couple

of other council meetings, and the answer's the same.

No, because many local residents didn't want it.

The police had many concerns about it.

It would have been enormously expensive for the businesses,

many of which did not want it surrounding businesses.

What we have done is on the small road Abyssinia Close off Northcote Road.

There's a beautiful pedestrianised scheme there with lovely outdoor seating for the cafe for the pub

which is a really lovely area of

Northcote Road, and I'm very proud that we put that in. Thank you.

Question number 14 Wandsworth Council's reliance on the reserves to plug the gap. Councillor Hedges.

Question 14 to the cabinet member, please.

Councillor Ireland.

Thank you.

Thank you for your question.

We have some of the highest reserves in London and the lowest level of debt.

Our five neighbouring boroughs would need to pull their reserves together to have the

same financial resilience that we have.

In March 2022, we had general fund reserves of £199 million.

We now have 172 million. We have used a small amount of reserves to invest in our borough to support our residents and to deal with the hyperinflation caused by this trust.

Well that added 80 plus billion to our... oh well, if you don't want to hear the answer I don't know what to say.

We hear the same argument every year that reserves will be decimated and yet four years

on we still have ample reserves.

Now in my view these reserves, this money belongs to the people of Wandsworth not to

the minority party to decide what to do with it.

We are using these reserves to invest in our borough.

We will use them prudently in the transformation programme

to make the Council fit for the future,

while delivering on resident priorities like cleaner, safer streets

and looking after our most vulnerable families. Thank you.

First supplementary, Councillor Hedges.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The cabinet member has spoken at length about low council tax and

also how the reserves have been spent, but not actually addressed the question that was

asked. Can she now set out clearly year by year the level of usable reserves held by

the council since 2022, 2023, and how much of those reserves are genuinely unallocated

and confirm whether the council's own MTFS,

so that's the medium -term financial strategy,

those reserves are forecast to be exhausted by 2029,

and if so, what specific plan does the Labour Administration

have to balance future budgets once the reserves are gone,

without significant service cuts or council tax rises?

Thank you.

Councillor Ireland to respond please.

Well thank you for your question. Now I'm very proud of our financial

management that we've shown over the past four years. We have demonstrated our

ability to manage our finances while dealing with hyperinflation, increased

demand for our services, which you don't seem to be able to imagine. Now I've said

As I said before, I don't believe that any changes to our funding should come straight

out of our residents' pockets, which is what you all seem to be obsessed with.

Now, the MTFS that you published set a budget gap of 53 million pounds by the year 25 -26.

That didn't come to pass.

Now, we are able to make considerable investments in our communities, and we have set a balanced

budget and that's what we will continue to do while freezing council tax this

year and keeping it as low as possible in the future thank you

second supplementary council Jeffrey

no hey there I go done so regardless of what I think I know that the cabinet

member has done an excellent job of managing the reserves and freezing council tax. Can

you tell us how much this freeze means to residents?

Councillor Ireland. Yes, sorry, thank you for your question. Yes,

I spoke about this before in answer to Councillor Grimston's question. I help set up and run

a food bank in my ward. I see every week that the struggles people are having on managing

their budgets, managing their fuel bills and the cost of food that's rising. I've

recently set up a community kitchen which we are helping, just a small outfit, we

are helping 36 residents. We provide a cooked meal for them once a week. It's

transformed the lives of some of our residents. There's a family there that

for the first time in years are able to sit down together and enjoy a meal.

That's much more than pounds and pence.

That means so much more to people.

I want to continue doing that work,

but really, I've said this before, I'll say it again,

keeping council tax low is the single biggest thing,

single biggest help we can give to most of our residents.

It's very important to me,

and while I have anything to do with that,

we will continue.

Thank you.

Question 15, biodiversity action plan.

Councillor Colle.

Thank you for the question.

It's really good to see the badges winning the battle of the bands, biodiversity winning

everywhere in Wandsworth.

Our biodiversity action plan, while Wandsworth is drawn on experts, statutory bodies, community

groups, landowners as well as residents and will guide our approach to managing green

spaces and sits well with our environment and sustainability strategy and emerging climate

action plan.

This strategy seeks to promote biodiversity net gain and with wilding, resilience, recovery

and sustainability at its heart, it will help enhance a good balance between human activity

and the natural landscape.

Sustainable urban drainage systems are being installed on our highways and schools.

There are numerous planting schemes, green roofs and bird bat boxes secured on private and council developments.

We have our administration's first parklet emerging on Swarthill Road with many more to follow.

59 parks and green spaces were managed for pollinators with no MoMay and Let It Bloom June.

and sensitive grassland restoration with heavy horses in five parks and commons.

This follows £600 ,000 invested into habitat management and 1 ,200 trees planted as well.

This investment will continue working with residents and community groups

to give them the green spaces they deserve.

First supplementary, Councillor Colclean.

First supplementary.

As well as green spaces, the strategy also covers our blue ways and our wetlands.

Can the cabinet member highlight how important they are to our biodiversity and what we're doing to protect them?

Councillor White.

Yes, thank you.

Aquatic habitats are just as important as land -based ones.

And the London Environment Strategy identified 10 priority habitats,

two being London rivers and lakes, ponds and reed beds.

And many of our priority species need healthy blue ways for their survival.

Not least the human species, so expanding and supporting our wetlands as well as introducing

sustainable urban drainage systems are central to our resilience strategy as our winters

become wetter, protecting us against disaster by absorbing flood waters, acting as vital

carbon sinks to combat climate change, as well as supporting immense biodiversity by

providing habitats for Council's species.

We will look to maximise priority habitats and species.

That includes our aquatic wildlife with species -specific action plans where appropriate.

We will work with the Environment Agency and neighbouring boroughs to clean and link our

blue ways, creating blue corridors, planting trees beside waterways for shade and absorption,

reintroducing and supporting species and maintain a biodiverse balance.

This is the new modern 21st century Wandsworth which the Biobank Diversity Action Plan fully

supports, where the environment fights back against filthy fossil fuels, decades of degradation

and rapacious, laissez -faire carelessness.

It's where our residents work with us to improve our green and blue spaces and

therefore improve their well -being, reduce stress, breathe cleaner air and

enjoy the benefits of the just transition to the cleaner, healthier,

non -toxic, preserving and protecting future.

Second supplementary, Councillor Caddy.

I think that's okay.

I very much welcome a focus on biodiversity, but how does this square with the seeming

desire of the administration to over commercialise our commons and parks?

Councillor White.

This is the, sorry, is this March 2026?

Because I remember exactly the same question, my first question, so I'm here.

And the answer is still the same.

We didn't bring Formula E to Wandsworth, you did.

And our...

They're electric cars.

Our parks and commons and our events,

and our events, our events policy,

and our events policy has tightened up

the events policy we inherited from you,

which was so loose to allow anything

of that nature to happen.

So we've improved, we've moved forward, and our commons and parks are safe in our hands.

And we will work with all the MAC groups and all the friends to continue that process

and to ensure that a legacy of fantastic greenery is passed on to the next generation. Thank you.

Thank you, members. The time for cabinet members' questions is now over.

We're on to item eight, is the report for decision.

I move reception of that report,

and after we have heard from speakers,

I will ask the council whether they approve

the recommendations in.

We're first gonna deal with report number one,

budget and council tax, 2026 to 27, paper 26 -63.

dash 63

And there are a number of speakers on report one so councillor Ireland

Thank You mr. Mayor

This budget continues to deliver better services with the same low council tax by putting fairness and compassion at its heart

Delivering on our commitment to make one's worth of cleaner greener and safer place

Our commitment to making developers pay has enabled us to set the lowest council tax in the country and deliver excellent services for residents.

Our many achievements over the past four years include the Cleaner Borough Plan so that all residents can have pride in their streets,

improving air quality across the borough, preventing and providing support for victims of violence against women and girls,

Our work on financial inclusion, using data from the low -income family tracker to target

support where it is most needed, helping nearly 8 ,000 residents with campaigns to increase

take -up of government support to achieve lifetime additional income of over £21 million.

Pioneering and award -winning work to auto -enrol eligible residents onto social tariffs.

money advice road shows, there's another one next week in my ward, the decade of

renewal investing in roads and pavements and renewal of community infrastructure

giving all children the best start to life, 5 ,000 children benefit from magic

breakfasts every morning with expanded provision of free school mills,

protecting our private renters through landlord licencing, we are correcting

decades of underinvestment, Wandsworth runs excellent services with some of the highest

reserves and lowest debt of any London borough, ensuring our financial stability without burdening

our residents. Our transformation programme will improve our services while protecting

essential services and resident experience. Wandsworth has become one of Britain's most

modern digitally accessible councils by 2030, again delivering excellent services for our

residents, services that our residents want us to deliver. We are a compassionate council.

Our key priorities include supporting households with the continuing cost of living crisis

and keeping council tax low, as I've said before, is the biggest single thing we can

do to help our residents. We know that our hard working residents continue to struggle

with rising bills and we are committed to doing everything we can to help.

Therefore I am delighted to recommend the main element of the council tax share

of the council's share of council tax is frozen at current levels for the

fourth year in a row. Recognising the continuing and growing pressure on our

social care services and to protect these critical services as much as

possible, I recommend an adult social care precept increase of 2 % for 2026 -27.

Residents in Wandsworth will continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country under

Wandsworth Labour and we can do this because we put value for money at the heart of everything

we do.

I recommend this budget to the council.

Thank you.

Councillor Pee Graham.

Thank you, Mr Mayor.

I almost feel sorry for Councillor Arland, who's forced to be whirled out and read what's

handed to her.

I rather like those PR spokespeople in collapsing regimes.

Comical alley, but perhaps without the charisma, which is not a criticism.

Mr. Mayor, this is a fake freeze.

Council tax has risen since Labour took over by 8 .2%.

The main rate of council tax,

which they're key to all left now,

the main rate of council tax

has not been frozen for four years.

In fact, your own budget figure shows

that the main rate has increased by 6 .1%.

But the biggest way in which this is a fake freeze is the impression it gives to people,

to residents in this borough, that everything is fine and your tax will continue to remain

low.

Councillor Belson talks about things coming through his door.

This is what came through mine.

Council tax freeze when council tax is going up by 2%.

Well, you can clap.

But what does it say?

What does it say?

It says we have some of the lowest levels of debt

and highest financial reserves in London.

And what does your budget say?

What does your budget say about those things?

Your budget says that rather than having

some of the lowest levels of debt in London,

you plan to borrow 1 .1 billion pounds

at a cost of two and a half billion pounds.

But you don't want to tell people about that.

Your leaflet says that you have high reserves.

Your budget says that those reserves

will be nearly halved by next April

and have vanished altogether within two years.

But you don't want to tell people about that.

That's your plans, that's what you're voting to do tonight,

but it's not on the leaflet that you're forcing

taxpayers themselves to pay for.

And the report goes further tonight.

It talks about the high reserves and low debt

as ensuring our financial stability.

That's what your report says.

Ensuring our financial stability.

So if, I don't mind if he had any guts

to stand up and make an intervention,

but he hasn't done that, he's just heckling.

So what they've said is that high reserves

and low debt ensures financial stability.

So what does no reserves and a high debt ensure?

If the one ensures financial stability, what do your plans ensure?

You know that you're telling people that because you think it sounds good and yet you plan

and you are voting to do the opposite.

It is utterly dishonest.

But the biggest dishonesty is on tax.

Because Councillor Belton objected to this leaflet.

What does this leaflet say?

It states what the government is telling you to do.

increase council tax by over 80%.

Well, you say you're not going to do it,

and yet every time, every time you're asked to rule it out,

we get weasel words and no answer.

We've had it now four or five times this evening.

We have no answer when asked precisely that question.

So if you're guaranteeing it, the others won't.

All we get is no future decisions can be made at this stage

from the cabinet member who then then even stay

in the chamber like our leader.

The administration, Councillor of the office,

you're the one to do it.

We will make our pledges very clear to the electorate,

but the difference between us and you

is that we will stick to ours.

That's the difference.

This is a very clear and evidenced basis.

It's not just us.

It's the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies

saying the same thing.

It's the council's own document that you wouldn't publish and we forced to be published that says the same thing

You can look at the times you looking at the independent six councils and six only

Granted power to raise council tax without needing to consult residents

Why do you think the government has given Wandsworth that power in each of the next two years?

It's because it knows that by withdrawing 85 million in annual funding

It is extremely difficult short of making cuts that you ourselves are falling over yourselves to rule out

to balance the books.

And so we've got it on the transformation programme

of which only 40 million has been scoped,

31 million isn't even identified,

and there's no guarantee that any of it will come through.

That still leaves you with a gap

that would take 100, I haven't given away enough time.

The speaker invited intervention, may I intervene?

You may intervene if I'm given time.

Can I just ask simply, what are you proposing instead?

We propose to be honest with people in this borough about the scale of the cuts that the

Labour government is imposing. We are not going to commit to things we cannot deliver.

And I think that is the difference between you and us. If you have committed, but there

is no commitment because you all know that you intend to cut counter -tax and you just

hope that you lose.

Councillor Caddy. Please can we have one speaker? It's really hard to hear when

four people are speaking at the same time.

Councillor Caddy. Thank you very much Mr. Mayor. This will definitely be my last

speech in this chamber as a councillor. I've been a Southfields

councillor for the last 14 years and it's been an absolute honour and a

privilege to serve ones with residents. I will hugely miss working with fellow

councillors and officers at the Town Hall and I'd like to say thank you in

particular to officers, especially those who I've got to know over many years and who do such a fantastic job.

But I fear they have a very hard task ahead of them.

The Labour government have hung Wandsworth residents out to dry.

They have slashed our funding by nearly 40%.

They've explicitly said that they want Wandsworth residents to pay more tax,

describing our low tax rates as a subsidy,

rather than the result of 44 years of sound, conservative financial management

and sometimes difficult decisions on spending.

But they seem to console themselves with the idea that Wandsworth has plenty of support available

for those who can't afford to pay.

Well, that support won't go very far.

There will be thousands of families who are currently just about managing

who won't qualify for any support.

The Labour government wants to saddle them with hundreds of pounds of additional tax.

How is that bearing down on the cost of living for average people?

And I cannot believe that this Labour administration hasn't done a better job of defending our

residents against these savage cuts.

It's really important for local politicians to have their residents' backs.

We sent the Labour leadership from this council to lobby on our behalf to get a better and fairer deal under this funding review for Wandsworth.

And the next round of numbers was even worse.

Why don't Wandsworth Labour publicly denounce these cuts like they have in the past?

Why aren't they standing up for their residents?

They don't seem to have a problem standing up to Sir Sadiq Khan when he suggests a lower

rate of affordable housing might actually result in getting something built.

We know that they've got the guts to stand up to their own party if they want to, but

they haven't done it when there's an £85 million funding loss at stake for their residents,

for our residents.

What are they thinking?

Where's the outcry?

Where's the public campaign?

It's a disgrace.

That's the background to this Budget and Council tax report.

An enormous funding gap created by the Labour government.

So we now have to come to the way in which this Labour administration are going to deal

with it.

And I think their strategy can be fairly summarised as the ostrich approach.

They've completely buried their heads in the sand.

The cabinet member states in her report that the cuts do disadvantage Wandsworth, somewhat

of an understatement, and that they can be managed without an additional burden on ones

with residence. I presume she's referring to the use of reserves, and it may seem obvious

to say it, but obviously reserves can only be used once. The cuts are permanent. Our

reserves will barely cover a couple of years, and that's even before you factor in growing

demand for our services and other challenges like temporary accommodation costs.

The finance director notes that unless the projected structural budget gap is addressed

in other ways, the continuing use of reserve balances for this purpose will become unsustainable.

The projected structural budget gap is $137 million once you take into account budget

cuts.

Given the scale and the urgency of this financial problem our residents have been saddled with,

you would expect a comprehensive and detailed programme

focused on major budget savings to be launched.

Actually, that's not quite right.

You would have expected to be launched quite a while ago

because these cuts have been in the pipeline for some time.

It's just not sound financial management.

And it isn't like they haven't been warned.

I specifically asked for a savings plan

for the environment portfolio to be discussed at RISC

but was rebuffed.

What is in the detail of the transformation plan?

How much will it save by 2030?

And what will you do once the reserves are used up?

These are all questions rightly being answered,

not asked, not just by us, but by the Wandsworth public,

and they're not being answered.

So what should the next administration do?

Good question.

Well, there needs to be a complete bottom -up review

of all expenditure, and the Council needs to be

at the forefront of digital innovations

and harness the power of AI and data management to radically change the way

it operates. There is a nod to this in the report but no detail, no urgency and

no numbers to show how they're going to balance the books or how they're going

to achieve it. This budget is not a serious strategy to deal with the cuts

that the Labour government have inflicted on our residents and I would

urge you not to support it.

Thank you.

Councillor Jeffries.

Thank you.

As this will be the last time I speak in the chamber, I hope you will indulge me a little.

I wanted to find a quote that I could use this evening.

and I arrived at something once said by the Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, a fitting reference point

for this debate on municipal finances, and he said, gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a

mistake we must not interrupt him too soon. And over the last four years we have done our very

best to ignore that advice, constructively pointing out issues from the Miss Christmas Tree collections

fiasco to the traffic chaos unleashed in my own ward thanks to the Putney High

Street Junction changes. Indeed my favourite recollection aside from

single -handedly triggering the abolition of adjournment debates was the luck of

sheer gloom on the faces of Labour colleagues on the Environment Committee

where thanks to opposition questioning on the administration's proposed open

space's events policy, labour counsellors

realised they were about to hoist themselves

by their own petard.

And while some of that criticism has focused

on bad policies or incompetence, we

should recognise that some of it reflects the genuine differences

in priorities between us.

One area that warrants not recognition,

but contempt and disdain is the administration's

financial policy as set out in this paper.

After years of criticising past conservative

administrations for setting low council tax,

avoiding borrowing, building up the reserves,

it must have been galling for labour counsellors to realise

the only way to win was to pay lip service

to the very approach they had spent decades

arguing against so vociferously.

Their Damascene conversion has seen them

over the last four years with no hint of irony or embarrassment,

proclaim their deep belief in low -cancel tax,

laud the flexibility provided by the reserves,

and celebrate the spending enabled by developers.

And could I gently point out that Dolly Parton is not

an efficiency saving.

Much like new labour, their superficial approach

is about to come undone by a financial crisis,

Only this time, there won't be any Wall Street traders they can

try and blame.

They will have their own Labour colleagues in government to

thank for cutting funding by 85 million pounds a year by 2930.

And like the last Labour government,

they will have shot themselves in the foot in advance by

ramping up borrowing and running down the reserves.

Two and a half billion pounds in total borrowing costs and a

budget gap of 137 million pounds by 2029.

Cancel tax would need to rise by 178 % to cover it.

But when one cabinet member told us their approach

should gladden our hearts,

I think that labour counsellor made a Freudian slip

because they actually are grateful to the government

because they've always thought the middle classes

of this borough could and should pay more.

Because if they can just make it through the election,

they've got the cover they need to do

what they've always wanted to.

And what say the administration officially?

As little as possible, as quietly as possible.

I could say that this is about making the sums add up,

but really it's about duty.

Our duty to be honest with the voters of today,

and our duty to provide them and future generations

a council that is financially strong, a council that can make this borough a place they want

to call home.

To butcher another quote from the Admiral, Mr Mayor, Wandsworth expects that every councillor

will do their duty.

Reading this paper, it is glaringly apparent which councillors have and which haven't.

Thank you.

Councillor Burchill, please.

As this is my last meeting, unless I accidentally get elected as a paper candidate, I would

I'd just like to say what a rewarding experience it's been to be a Wandsworth Councillor.

And a big thank you to Jeremy for inviting me to be his deputy.

It's been an honour to work with him and good fun.

Also, thank you to the Mayoral team for all of their help and support.

To the Council officers, thank you for your dedication and hard work.

We all became councillors because we want to serve our community.

We might have different views, but it's been a pleasure working with you all.

I'm not going to mention any of you by name, just in case it gives you a chance to stand

up and interrupt me, but thank you.

It's been good to get to know you and to work with you for the benefit of Wandsworth

residents. In 1810, the Reverend Henry Duncan started the Trustees Savings Bank in a poor

area in Scotland to help his parishioners save and take care of their money. It is coming

from this good Scottish understanding of money that I want to talk to you tonight.

Everyone in this chamber this evening has been aware for some time that the Labour government

has been reviewing the local government funding, with a clear understanding that Wandsworth

was going to lose out. Yet this administration carries on regardless, spending money on the

with wild abandonment. They have frittered through £40 million worth of reserves, even

before this looming financial crisis hits. At this rate, there will be nothing left by

2029. Some of the figures in the document are frighteningly large, going into billions

of pounds of borrowing. So I'll just talk about the smaller numbers and how money is

been wasted. Look at the consultation being carried out in Balaam. 85 ,000 pounds on a

consultation. I know it's going to have to cost a little bit, but not that much. I know

you'll also tell me that it's sill money and that doesn't count, but money is money. Whether

Whether it comes from council tax, developers' levies or government grants.

Now how much did it cost to deliver that pink leaflet to every door telling them that the

council tax was frozen? This was a propaganda leaflet, but paid for by the council. It was

It also paid to be delivered to every door.

I don't know how many thousands of pounds

that will have cost.

It's totally, and it was totally unnecessary,

because within days, a letter will be sent

to the same residents informing them of this year's tax.

How much did it cost the taxpayers

to fund the leader's office with four extra staff

with political backgrounds?

I know the answer to that one.

It's a million pounds spent over the last four years.

That equates to approximately 3 % of this year's budget shortfall

being filled by the 38 million pounds from the reserves.

This Labour administration has shown us

that it's very good at spending money,

not their money, but the hard -earned money of Wandsworth residents.

Even with the out -of -control juggernaut in the form of local government financial settlement

hurtling towards us, cutting funding by £85 million by 2029 -30, they have failed to tell

residents that the Council tax will have to rise in the region of 80%, if not more, over

the next four years. They lack transparency and being economical with the truth.

Can you sum up, Councillor Burchill?

This Administration has stuck its head in the sand and frozen part of the Council tax,

making the financial situation for the Council worse than it needs to be.

Thank you. Anyone would think that this administration does not expect to be in power after the election in May.

Councillor Dickerton.

So you've been shouting all evening about straight answers, straight talk.

So are you happy to do a bit of question and answer? You happy to do some yes or no questions?

So, council tax freeze. I just want to hear from the on the council tax freeze, right?

We've been badgered all night. Oh, it's not a real freeze. It's not a proper freeze because

we're freezing the main part of the council tax, but rightly on social care, the adult social care

precept, we've done the 2%. And we've done that every single year. So we freeze the main part

and we raise the 2%. And you think we shouldn't call that a freeze? Is that, Councillor Caddy,

as you sat in the cabinet in the last administration, you think we shouldn't call that a freeze?

is that, so how come if I'm reading out from the Wandsworth Conservative website in 2021

that Wandsworth Conservative Council has frozen your council tax but is raising the social

care precepts, I every single year, every single year, I was in opposition, you did

exactly the same thing every single year.

I think, I mean, admittedly both sides are guilty of this but I think this perfect, whoa

No, no, let me finish.

But I think this perfectly exemplifies just the horror

of this whole set up to people at home.

There's an 85 million pound cut coming.

Please, please address the elephant in the room.

It doesn't matter what someone says in their leaflet

or someone else says.

No, who cares about that?

I haven't raised that,

but I have raised 85 million pound hole in our,

well, it's not, it's 137 million pounds.

Please address that.

Of course, of course. There's an entire second meeting.

I would be more than happy to, and there's going to be an entire second meeting

until midnight for us to talk about that, because you've tabled it.

But I just wanted to clarify, because you just dodged the question.

You just said, oh, yes, we did do that, but now I want to talk about this other thing.

I just want to get categorically on record that the way that Council Tax -Free's announcement

is totally on the same course that you did for the years I was in opposition.

And we didn't spend an entire meeting shouting that you were liars.

We understood that this was a council tax freeze on the main part and that the social

care precept was separate.

So I think it's really important for residents to make very clear that that is the position

of the council.

And I think it's really important – I will in a second – I think it's really important

on matters of transparency because we committed to keep council tax low.

And people care about the promises that politicians make and that's why Wandsworth Labour has

delivered on their promise.

And the reason why you are so angry about it, the reason why you are so angry about

this very specific pledge, is because it is all you ever have had to offer.

If we freeze council tax, and we have frozen council tax every year for those four years,

that is the one policy that you ran on over, that is the one attack.

In 2022, during that election, you said, don't vote Labour because they're going to whack

up your council tax.

And that is exactly the same tactic that you are doing in this election.

And why that frustrates me is two reasons.

For the four years that I've been on committees in this chamber, the only positive policy

offer that you have brought, the only idea, the only change, the only suggestion to the

entire of the four years that we've been here has been Alfresco dining on Northcote Road.

That is the only policy that I have ever heard brought forward.

When access for all is being discussed, you're against it.

When we're building council housing, you mobilise opposition to it.

When we...

Will you give away?

Yeah, I'll give away.

Right.

So I think Councillor Dickard is asking to see our manifesto, and you can only ask him

to show a bit of patience.

But I respect him for wanting to engage and for actually answering questions.

So perhaps he can do slightly better than his colleagues this evening and address the overwhelming point that remains unclear.

Will he rule out increasing council tax by more than the referendum threshold next April or the following April? Will he rule it out?

So you absolute sickos have got me having a second debate up till midnight for me to talk about the financial settlement, which I think is worth talking about.

If you think that I, on the eve of an election, are going to set council tax for the following year,

that is a crazy unreasonable position.

That is a totally unreasonable position, and you know it is.

And it's good politics. It's good politics.

You can clip farm from it, but it doesn't actually talk to our records, which is really frustrating you.

Which is four years of us freezing the main element of council tax.

Us freezing the four main elements of council tax has been the right thing to do,

because it's what we promised we would do,

and we've kept to our promises.

And in the second part of this meeting,

which is, you know, I'm willing to have that discussion,

I just, you know, I've got a short amount of time,

I've got to give two speeches tonight.

On the 80%, and on that figure,

the fact that you haven't brought forward a single idea,

in the past, people would bring an opposition budget.

They would bring a budget or an alternative budget.

And I'm -

Sorry, you literally never brought a budget

when you're in opposition.

That's just, that is absolutely not true.

how many ideas and how many policies did I bring to committees?

You never proposed alternative budget.

We always came up with ideas, we always came up with proposals.

Will you let Councillor Dickerson respond to the question?

I give them an inch and they try and take a mile.

Could I respond really quickly?

Because I did refer to it in my speech.

I specifically asked twice that the Environmental Committee could consider budget savings and

transformation programme at the OSC because I felt it was such an important

thing to talk about and they refused and we talked about playgrounds instead.

I'm totally aware that the things that you propose are don't build the housing,

cut the services, don't do that policy, make the savings, but there's very few

other ideas that have ever come forward.

No, I'm literally saying what just happened. A savings proposal is not a

It's not something that's going to bring forward to make the lives of residents easier.

This council has done that in droves.

It's one of the largest cost of living pots in the country.

The access for all scheme, I think, is absolutely foundational.

It's the idea that people who are low incomes in this borough get access to services and don't get excluded from things like weddings,

from things like accessing the Civic Suite, from theatre tickets, from free gym and swim.

Yes, yes, you just may have said it in a mocking voice, but free swim and gym for those who are seeking sanctuary in our borough

We're not afraid of that. That is ones with values. We're not gonna we're not gonna be scared of that

Councillor Dickerton, you're gonna have to wind up. Yeah, I'm happy to write it

So there's gonna be part two on this where I get to discuss the finance settlement with you

And I'm sure we'll have as for fright discussion on that

But you are a programme less opposition that has one single issue and you've been out and manoeuvred on it

And that's why you're so salty

Thank you members.

I now am going to move to other recommendations for report one agreed and the motion has to

be put to a recorded vote.

We've got to ring the bell and we've got to wait for a minute or two, haven't we?

Thank you.

Thank you for a little bit of quiet for a little while.

Not a bad idea.

I'm going to ask the Chief Executive now to take the recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Just to remind you members, we're voting on the recommendations in the Budget and Council

Tax Report for 2026 -27.

I'm going to read the names of all members present in alphabetical order.

When I call your name, if you could please say whether you are for or against the recommendations

or if you wish to abstain.

Councillor Akinola.

For.

She said.

Councillor Apps.

For.

Councillor Austin.

Abstain.

Councillor Ayres.

answers.

Councillorposed.

4. Councillor Burchill.

Abstain. Councillor Boswell.

4. Councillor Brooks.

Abstain. Councillor Caddy.

Abstain. Councillor Colleclay.

4. Councillor Cook.

Abstain. Councillor Corner.

Councillor?

Councillor Critchard?

Four.

Councillor Crivelli?

Councillor Davies?

Four.

Councillor de Lecedule?

Councillor Dickertym?

Four.

Councillor French?

Four.

Councillor Fraser?

Four.

Councillor Gasser?

Four.

Councillor Hussain, Councillor Mrs. Graham,

Councillor Graham, Councillor Grimston.

Councillor Hamilton, Councillor Hedges.

Councillor Henderson, Councillor Hogg,

Councillor Humphreys.

Councillor Ireland.

Councillor Jeffery.

Councillor Jeffreys.

Councillor Justin.

Councillor Lawless.

Councillor Lee.

Councillor Locker.

Councillor McEwan.

Marshall, 4, Councillor Mayorkas, 4, Councillor McLeod, 4, Councillor Osbourne, 4,

Councillor Owens, 4, Councillor Paul, 4, Councillor Pridham, 5, Councillor Richards -Jones,

Councillor Riggby.

Councillor Stock.

Councillor Sweet.

Councillor Tiller.

Councillor White.

And Councillor Yates.

Okay.

So the recommendations in report number one are passed,

28 votes for, one vote against, and 20 abstentions.

We go on to report number two,

proposed additions to the committee.

Is it in order, Mr. Mayor, to congratulate the Tories

on their so honourable stance?

Full of principle, true understanding

of political realities.

Yes, I know I do apologise on your last council meeting

But I had to bear in mind the total abstinence of moral fibre

We go on on to report number two proposed additions to the capital programme

paper

2664 other recommendations approved in report number two

agreed

No, not. So we need to vote.

All those for recommendations report number two?

Okay.

Okay. All those against?

Are there any abstentions?

No.

Okay.

So that is passed.

report number two, 28 votes for none against

and 21 abstentions.

We're on to report number three,

Treasury Management Strategy Policy, paper 2665.

Are the recommendations approved?

No, we need another vote then.

Yeah, all those for?

Report number three.

No, Councillor Belsn

up.

Okay.

All those abstentions.

So report number three is passed 27 for none against 21 abstentions.

Report number four, adoption of the Wandsworth Local Plan

partial review, paper 2661.

Are the recommendations approved?

No, okay, we need to take a vote.

Yep, all those for report four?

Adoption of local plan, et cetera.

It was a waste of money.

It's safe, I mean, I can't get it.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, can we...

Thank you.

We've got that.

And while we take a vote, can we just have a little bit of order?

All those against?

Okay.

Any abstentions?

Are there any abstentions?

We just wait for the numbers.

That's 429 and 20 against.

So we're at report number five, the annual pay policy statement 2627, paper number 2676.

Other recommendations approved?

Agreed.

Is that unanimous?

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

The agreement has been broken out.

We're on to item 9, a matter for local and topical interest.

We've received notice of two matters to consider this evening.

Councillor Owens, you have three minutes to speak on the matter being raised by the Conservative

group which is waste collection failures.

Councillor Owens.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Working, reliable bin collections are the hallmark of well -run local government.

For many residents, it is alongside road maintenance, street sweeping and the maintenance of the

public realm its primary function.

It's not a function that this administration has treated with that level of care, however,

and it's why the basics have slipped.

In the summer of 2024, the administration embarked on a reorganisation of the service.

That summer, missed collections rose by more than 500%.

That's a staggering amount.

Each one representing mess, frustration, and inconvenience for families.

A service that had been efficient, effective and largely taken for granted under the Conservatives

was suddenly unreliable.

Streets looked untidier, bags were left out for hours, and residents who had rarely needed

to think about waste collection found themselves chasing the council for answers and chasing

the bin men down the street.

The response, regrettably, was not openness but defensiveness, while the borough became

visibly messier under the Cleaner Borough Plan.

The underlying cause, we believe, was the decision to move to separate vehicles and

crews for rubbish and recycling.

It was always more likely that collections would be missed more often by separate teams.

This was a predictable outcome.

And crews, understandably seeking to reduce the time vehicles blocked narrow roads, began

putting bags out and stacking them well in advance of the vehicles' arrivals.

Bags were left stacked on pavements and in passing places for extended periods.

And they still are.

They will be on my road tomorrow morning.

Since then, significant sums have been spent attempting to correct these mistakes, in addition

to the costs and financial risks unwisely taken with the decision of the Council to

own these vehicles themselves and take on that liability, rather than continue the standard

practise of leaving that risk with the contractor.

Yet even despite the extra spending, as the latest Environment Committee papers confirm,

missed collections remain above target.

The Labour administration has put the borough in a regrettable position, and it will take

Conservative victory in the election on the 7th of May to put it right. Thank you.

Councillor White, you have up to three minutes to respond. Thank you. Our missed collections per

100 ,000 have been below target for the last four months.

Last month's figure was 49.

So as I told your lead member back in December, you're talking rubbish.

We delivered our very popular democratic mandate to recycle food waste which you resisted.

Married as you were to a 30 year contract to deliver all waste to Belvedere.

Now 6 ,000 tonnes of food waste is collected saving us Belvedere fees of £1 million a year.

Councillor Waite?

What?

Is that a point of order?

He was referring to an answer...

On page 13, power of 13, your papers said you're the only target.

Excuse me, Cameron Brooks.

I'm asking... No! Hang on!

Hang on.

I'm talking about the latest figures you published.

OK.

Are you raising a point of order? If so, which standing order has been breached?

But what

Yeah, is this a point of order or personal explanation in relation to yourself

No, that's not a point of order I'm afraid you have

Have you been misunderstood yes

Yes. Often.

Can you please explain why you've been misunderstood?

Of course I can.

Miss Quotey.

A minute ago, Councillor White said that...

In a nutshell.

Thank you, I will do my best.

Councillor White said that they're not saying in the papers that they're above target on

the missed collections.

On page 13, paragraph 30 of the last Environment Committee report...

Is this personal x? No.

They are.

Councillor Brooks, will you please sit down?

This is not a personal explanation.

Carry on, Councillor White.

I've been facing questions from this side of the chamber

that are really old, and again, we're at it again, aren't we?

Now 6 ,000 tonnes of waste is collected,

saving us £11 million,

and separated from general waste and recycling

into three different trucks,

which emit 90 % less emissions than your rusty, dirty one.

One. This means that our greater capacity single compartment trucks are on the roads longer, not having to unload waste and a few bits of recycling, which it did for the worst performing recycling borough in London pre -2022.

We now see the largest leap in London of over 25 % in recycling, with an extra 10 ,000 tonnes recycled.

When you mix food waste with general waste, I used to cycle to my food bank shift

and see food waste strewn all over the road.

Is this the additional mess attracting vermin that you refer to?

Now these roads are free of food debris, instead the food waste is converted

into clean biogas for the grid or used by trucks as clean fuel.

Your trucks were being sweated well below their natural life

as part of a contract extension.

But these trucks weren't sweating, they were steaming

at the side of the road, causing all sorts of traffic mayhem and delay.

Is this the traffic... because they broke down so frequently,

is this the traffic congestion on residential roads that you refer to?

I know by owning the new trucks, there'll be no sweating,

but flexibility in new contract negotiations.

On missed collections, we monitor crews

and when we get complaints and we improve,

or like one of the crews, we replace them.

I speak to many residents who tell me

of efficient collection and clean streets.

This is unprompted and seems to reflect

the 99 ,951 successful collections.

When waste is placed on the street by a contractor,

it must be collected within an hour.

and this practise allows for a speedy and efficient removal

and is no different from when your party led this council.

When I turn up for food bank -

Councillor White, can you sum up now?

Your time's up.

Last, you're always doing this.

Last, my last day of service.

You've had three minutes.

When I turn up for food bank shift now,

food is where it should be, being served to our guests

and your knackered trucks are where they should be,

not on our roads.

Thank you, Councillor White.

APPLAUSE

The second matter of local and topical interest.

Could I ask Councillor Davies to speak on the issue being raised by the Labour Group,

which is preventing violence against women and girls in Wandsworth.

Councillor Davies, you've got three minutes.

Today is five years and one day since Sarah Evered was murdered. It's personal to us all

and it happened right on the board of Wandsworth and we often talk about the perpetrators of

violence against women and girls but we don't talk enough about the women. Since Sarah was

She was a young woman, she lived in Brixton.

Her mother said she had a beauty to the world.

She was a loving friend, principled in her morals,

and she had just graduated from university,

was making plans for her future.

She was simply walking home.

Then someone she thought she could trust,

a police officer, asked her to get into her car.

He identified himself, handcuffed her, raped and murdered her.

But I also want to remember Gemma Devenish,

who was murdered a year ago.

Violence against women and girls doesn't just happen by accident, it's a gender

crime. 93 .8 % of domestic abuse is committed by men. At its core it's about

power and control. There is no perpetrator. Evidence rejects the lazy

narrative that violence against women and girls is caused by a specific community.

Sarah's killer was a serving police officer with a family. But violence like

this doesn't begin with murder, it begins much earlier.

It begins with the normalisation of misogyny,

the jokes, the comments, the banter,

the slowly pushes, the boundaries,

a joke about a girl's skirt, cat calling in the street,

a rape joke, dismissed as harmless.

But over time these behaviours escalate.

So we know that Sarah Everon's killer

had sent messages joking about sexual assault.

His colleagues had nicknamed him the rapist.

And there were these warning signs that they were ignored.

So violence against women and girls, it's an emergency.

And tackling it requires political will.

But I would like to think, I mean, as a council,

we've got the responsibility not only to respond

to violence, but to prevent it.

But I do want to just point out things I have noted

in this chamber.

Over the last four years, there have been people

in this chamber, not on this side,

who have, when women have been speaking,

been jabbing their fingers and interrupting.

Tonight we've had Angela interrupting multiple times,

Jenny interrupting multiple times, and Angela again.

We're role models, yeah, we need to set the tone.

Okay, so what we want to do is we want to create communities

where women and girls feel safe,

communities that challenge misogyny early

and support healthy relationships,

prevention is always better than cure.

We can't do it by creating opportunities for young people.

We can do it by creating opportunities for young people

to talk openly about consent, respect,

healthy relationships, supporting parents,

teachers and youth workers to have those conversations early

ensuring their self -welcoming community spaces.

Can you sum up, Councillor Davies, your times?

So we've had the task in Finish Group

and we're urging a leading cabinet member

to lead from the front, investing in programmes

that challenge misogyny in schools and youth clubs,

working with young people on campaigns,

training healthcare workers, and ensuring

that when women do need help,

our housing and support services are there.

Thank you, Councillor Davies.

Thank you.

I invite Councillor Gasser to respond.

You've got up to three minutes, Councillor Gasser.

Yes, thank you.

I'm actually responding on behalf of myself

and Councillor Henderson and actually the whole

administration because we all feel very, very strongly

about this.

I thank Councillor Davies for the very powerful speech

and you know, actually I was at the vigil for Sarah Everard

almost five years ago and I watched police like wrestle

young women to the ground when they were protesting.

So this carries on.

I hope the police have sorted themselves out by now

but misogyny and attacks on women and girls

have not ended and it's incumbent on all of us

to do everything we can.

I think every woman in this room will have a storey.

It's happened to all of us on one level or another.

A little bit of misogyny, a little bit of bullying,

or actually an attack or fear of an attack.

And so for you lovely men in the room,

that's your wife or your sister or your daughter

that that's happening to.

It happens to every single one of us.

So we have to sort this out and this administration

takes this responsibility very, very seriously.

And we have done a lot during this administration.

We have doubled the funding on support

for domestic violence survivors.

We have increased our community safety officers.

We've had a whole violence against women and girls strategy.

We're doing a lot.

There's still an awful lot more that we need to do.

We know that.

Councillor Dobre's led a very effective

task and finish group.

I thank her for that.

I thank everybody that participated,

the councillors, the officers who facilitated it,

and the people that came and talked to that task

and finished group, there were survivors,

there were professionals that worked in the field,

there were young people, you know,

we heard from three, three, 400 people,

it was a really effective group and really good example

of what this council can do at its best

when we work together, no party politics,

working across departments,

and that group came up with some recommendations,

and I'm absolutely committing that we will follow

with those recommendations as much as we possibly can.

So one thing I'm absolutely committed to,

every officer in this council that interacts

with women and girls needs to be trained up

in every contract counts.

Everybody, it's not just social workers,

it's housing officers, it's librarians,

it's sports officers, it's financial advisors,

anybody that might meet a woman and a girl

and might pick up that something's not quite right,

they need to know how to handle that,

how to refer that woman to the help that she needs.

We also heard that within housing,

it would be really beneficial to have

a specialist skilled support worker,

an independent advice worker,

and I will be working with Councillor Dickard to look at

how we can possibly provide that.

We heard from the young people about,

well, I mean, we all know prevention is vital to this.

We must nip this in the bud before it even starts,

and the young people we heard from said

they want to talk about it.

want to hold those conversations, we the adults are not giving them that space to talk.

Sum up, Councillor Yasser.

Oh, I've got so much more to say. But this is our commitment as an administration to

do as much as we possibly can of what is in those recommendations and what we will be

fighting to do all of that if we're re -elected. It's so important.

Councillor Apps.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. As the Council is now having sat for more than two and a half hours,

I move that the remaining business of the Council on the agenda is disposed of under

the procedure in Standing Order 32.

Do you have a seconder, Councillor Apps?

Yeah, Councillor Tiller.

As the Council has sat for more than two and a half hours, it's been moved and seconded

that the remaining items of business on tonight's agenda be disposed of in accordance

with the provision of standing order 32, which means that necessary motions to deal

with reports for decision should be formally moved and seconded

and immediately voted on without debate.

Is that motion to deal with the remaining business in this way agreed?

All those for?

All those against?

Are there any abstentions?

So the guillotine motion is passed by 26 votes to 21.

The Wits have agreed that Item 17 will be next taken,

so we'll go straight to a vote on Item 17, the motion,

fixing Labour's broken pledge

on funding more law enforcement offices.

All those for that motion?

Yep. All those against?

Are there any abstentions?

So that's lost by 26 votes against and 20 votes for.

So we're on to item 11, report for information from the cabinet.

Ask Councillor Hogg to move reception of the report and of that supplementary report.

Councillor Hogg?

It's moved.

So do we agree to the question?

Yeah. Do members agree?

Agree.

Court 11. Yeah.

That's agreed unanimously.

Or, sorry, are there any against?

Okay. No abstentions.

Agreed unanimously.

Item 12.

We now turn to the report for information from the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

I ask Councillor Lee to remove reception of the report.

Councillor Lee.

Is it Councillor Marshall?

Okay, thank you.

All those for?

Agreed.

Any against?

Any abstentions?

It's passed unanimously.

Item 13 is the report for information from the Planning Applications Committee.

I ask Councillor Belton to move reception of the report.

Moved, Mr. Mayor.

All those for?

Agreed.

Any against? Any abstentions? That's unanimous.

Item 14 is from the Health and Wellbeing Board.

I ask Councillor Henderson to move reception of the report.

Moved.

Good. Is that agreed, members?

Agreed.

Yeah. Is that unanimous?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

Item 15. Can I ask the council to appoint a chair for this item?

Councillor Apps.

Could I please nominate the one and only

Councillor Tony Belton?

Seconded Mr Mayor.

Thank you.

Councillor Belton you're in the chair.

Greatest honour of my life Mr Mayor, thank you.

Can I call for a mover to the motion about the mayorality?

I'm calling for it.

Seconded.

Thank you.

Is the motion agreed?

Agreed.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Back to you.

Item 18 is the motion on four years of delivery, Labour's manifesto.

Can I ask Councillor Dickerton to move and Councillor Gasser to second the motion in

their names?

Moved.

Good.

We'll go straight to those amendments.

Sorry, the amendment to the motion has been circulated.

May I ask Councillor P. Graham and Councillor Humphreys to move and second the amendment?

Formally moved.

And seconded.

Okay, so we'll take the vote on the amendment first.

All those for the amendment proposed by Councillor Graham and Humphreys.

Are there any abstentions?

Yeah, one.

There seems to be one.

So the amendment is lost with 19 for the amendment, 26 against and one abstention.

So we then vote on the substantive motion for years of delivery, Labour's manifesto.

All those for the motion?

All those against?

Are there any abstentions?

There's two abstentions this time.

Sorry, did two people have their hand up?

Should we do abstentions again?

Okay, sorry.

which is passed 26 for 19 against and one abstention.

Where are we going?

Thank you, councillors.

That concludes the business of the ordinary meeting for this evening.

We do have a special meeting of the council following on from this.

And as you know, I said at the beginning, we'd have a ten minute break, but not more,

please but there will be some refractions for you and for the comfort

break. We'll see you back in ten minutes. Thank you very much.

We welcome your comments

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Council - Wednesday 4 March 2026, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

CouncilWednesday, 4th March 2026 at 7:30pm

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Wednesday, 4th March 2026 at 7:30pm