Council - Wednesday 27 May 2026, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Council
Wednesday, 27th May 2026 at 7:30pm 

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An agenda has not been published for this meeting.

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Good evening, everyone.
Microphone, can you hear me in the back?
Okay, is that better?
Yes, okay.
Good evening, deputy lieutenants,
MPs, councillors, former councillors and guests.
Welcome to all of you and thank you for attending
this annual meeting of the council.
I hope you will join us for an informal gathering after the meeting.
To start with the leader of the council, Councillor Simon Hogg, will now say a few words, followed
by the leader of the opposition, Councillor Aled Richards -Jones.
Councillor Hogg.
Thank you very much.
I'm really pleased to be here this evening to say a few words about my friend Jeremy
I would like to welcome Jeremy Ambash,
former Councillor Ambash
and the role of mayor in our borough.
It's been an absolute pleasure
to serve with Jeremy.
He welcomes schoolchildren
into the town hall every week.
He's firm but fair
in the council chamber
and he's wonderful
to his chosen charities
which I know we will hear
more about later.
Mind Works,
Wandsworth Oasis
and Wandsworth
welcomes refugees.
I should begin by acknowledging
that,
depending on your allegiance,
tonight is bittersweet.
We do meet in the shadow
of an important victory
that despite
having finished second
the last three times in a
row,
they did finally manage to
win.
I know the majority of
people in Wandsworth did
not want this to happen
but we do have to face up
to the fact that Arsenal
did win the Premier League.
If that's not bad
enough,
Spurs stayed up.
There were some crazy
results across
London,
I'm not sure if you are from London.
But back to Jeremy.
In many years as Labour
Councillor,
Jeremy has served different wards
and he has always upheld
our labour values.
I know he is hugely proud of the
affordable homes we have provided,
our support for the most vulnerable
such as the access for all scheme
and ensuring public safety
by doubling support
for victims of domestic abuse and
bringing in those
street wardens.
We will of course,
after you have gone Jeremy,
to fight to protect and expand those achievements.
It's great to be with the mayor at Battersea Power Station
a couple of months ago when we marked the fantastic end
to our year as London's borough of culture
with a Dolly Parton impersonator,
so solid crew and basement jacks.
And we were reminded of the great partnership
with our friends at the power station
that will deliver 200 council homes for local people there.
And also reminded of our fantastic partnership
with Apple, the world's biggest tech company, which is preparing our young people to fulfil
their potential in the digital future.
And the Mayor of Wandsworth is a great conductor for the amazing soft power that Wandsworth
Council and Wandsworth as a borough is so fortunate to attract.
I'm pleased to say, hopefully you'll see later today, that we've put in place new, more collaborative
arrangements between the two parties now that we're in no overall control and we should
pay tribute to the intervention, the vision and the strength of the new leader of the
council, thank you Malcolm Grimston, that's appreciated.
Because today does mark a transfer of power and it is an important and key feature of
that this happens in an orderly way.
You gave both political parties similar support
and put us into this no overall control
and we need to change our mindsets and adapt to that
because at times, passions will run high.
We do take the responsibility
that you give us incredibly seriously
and mistakes will happen.
But that's okay because problems are inevitable
but they are always solvable
and I think the real shame is just not to try
in the first place, or even worse, to damage that ability that we can get together to fix
those problems.
So let's keep that space to debate and to disagree well as the Conservative Party takes
over the administration, and we'll be able to move forwards together.
So here's two, the orderly transfer of power.
Let's do it again soon.
The mayor
is absolutely central to this idea
of continuity
and fairness and civic duty.
I think it is worth saying with Jeremy
we are not just celebrating the past
year.
We are not just grateful for that.
It is a lifetime of service now.
It is six decades
as a local authority officer first
and then as a local counsellor.
When I think of
Jeremy,
I think of
service.
service and I think of love
and I think of second service
and I think of
new balls, please.
Anything to do with tennis.
He just absolutely loves
tennis.
It was a pleasure to play
with Councillor Henderson,
Councillor
Di Sajjou and others in the
mayor's charity tennis
tournament, which again,
raised a great deal of
money for his chosen
charities.
I will just finish with
one of my highlights for
the mayor will turn when Jeremy held just a really intimate but really special gathering
for friends and family of Manuel Button who was stepping down, retiring after decades
running Wandsworth Community Transport.
And it was a lovely occasion in the mayor's parlour.
Manuel's taken that from being a grassroots organisation with one bus to being a major
and thriving borough wide service, operating 25 minibusses,
employing 40 staff and coordinating more than 100 volunteers.
And he was just so humble and just so open about the time
that he'd spent enabling other people, you know,
transporting them, you know,
often having fantastic times in their life.
And he's just done so much good.
And that's how I think of Jeremy,
that he has over that lifetime of service,
just humbly enabled so many people to fulfil their potential and to see the best in each
other.
So you've done a great job for Wandsworth and you have earned a rest.
But first I'd just like to thank you for your year in office and present you with this scroll
on behalf of the Council and local people.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Can I join Councillor Hogg in everything he said about your qualities and your service?
You really were so good that they appointed you twice.
And it's fair to say that during both your mayoralties, you've delivered some striking
innovations to the office of mayor.
Frequently you turned down use of the mayor mobile in favour of your bike.
You invited a range of spiritual leaders from many faiths and none to address us at the
start of our council meetings and set a positive tone.
And of course in your final term, you restored the practise of having a cross -party mayoralty
where we had a Labour mayor and a Conservative deputy mayor.
That was an early and forward -thinking example
of the cross -party working that this election
has now ushered in.
You always did understand the power of the mayoralty
as the borough's first citizen
to convey the importance of the council as an institution
and how important it is,
our temporary stewardship of that institution.
When I last spoke at the Council AGM, I spoke about the power of local government and about
the roles of both Labour councillors and Conservative councillors in shaping the Wandsworth we know
today.
I've always believed in the power of local government and the importance of our proceedings
today and of communities fighting their corner.
If you'll indulge me, Mr. Mayor, for just a moment, I'd like to share some family history
on this front. I come from a farming family in Camardonshire. Our farm, Llandre, has been
in the family for generations. It sits in a village in Langendang, which is tucked in
the Grendryth Valley, green hills dotted with sheep and cows. It was a dairy farm until
I was one years old. Then I grew up with the love of a close, Welsh -speaking family, chapel
and community, a love of our animals, and a connexion with the land.
But that could have been so easily different.
On the 16th of March in 1960, when my granddad, my dad, Key, read the newspaper, he noticed
that there was a notice there from the Swansea Water Corporation to say they'd begun proceedings
to drown our village to create a reservoir for Swansea City.
My granddad had just gotten married.
He was expecting his first child.
And these plants would have drowned chapels, homes,
the church, the school, 800 acres of fertile farmland,
and disappeared an entire community.
Now at first, the community did everything it could
lawfully to resist this change.
There were three years of legal challenges,
of a public inquiry, but the Swansea Corporation prevailed.
And soon, the day approached when the bailiffs
and the diggers would approach the village.
But Dad Key wasn't taking this lying down.
He and the other villagers formed the Langendain Defence
Committee.
Their object was to frustrate the commissioner's work
by all nonviolent means possible.
And on the day the bailiffs and the diggers arrived,
Dad Key and his friends had blocked access
to all the key fields and entry points
with tractors, combine harvesters, fences, barbed wire,
and any bit of machinery they could transport
from the farm to those key points.
They formed a human shield around their land
and their community.
And Dadke and his friends even drew up a rota of who would go to prison first if their civil
disobedience required it.
He told the Welsh TV programme, which he participated in a few years before his death, I was a man
in the prime of my life, but there were also babes in arms and people so old they could
hardly make it up the hill to the farm.
If you were the only breadwinner in a family, then you weren't expected to get yourself
arrested, but anyone who could afford to said they'd do whatever it took to stop the diggers
getting in.
A standoff ensued.
The police were called, injunctions taken out, every threat imaginable against the villagers,
but still the defence committee was immovable.
And against the odds and mounting public anger, including in Swansea at the treatment of Fangendain,
the commissioners moved on.
They found an alternative site which only involved drowning a derelict farmhouse to
create an alternative reservoir.
And I think about this history quite a lot.
In the village hall, there's a stained glass window to commemorate this fight.
And it says in its inscription, Ama 'u Hid, here in spite of everything.
Had the corporation won, my ancestors' community would have been scattered to the winds.
Relationships and friendships would have grown apart.
New relationships and friendships wouldn't have formed.
Many of us, including me, wouldn't probably be here today.
In the centre of the village, there's a statue that commemorates this fight.
And its inscription is now the village motto,
Mein Indod mein Nert, in unity there's strength.
And there have been so many examples
of Wandsworth's own history,
where people from across the political spectrum,
from labour to the conservatives,
came together to stand up for Wandsworth,
and just like in Langendijn,
to preserve the fabric of our community.
In the 1960s and the 1970s, when the Greater London Council had this mad Ringways motor
box system that was going to build these huge motorways that would have torn through so
many parts of our community, including Clapham Junction where I live now, this council came
together and stood up against that.
Many times we will act together for Wandsworth and we will discover that there is strength
and unity, just like when we came together and we opposed Putin's war in Ukraine and
we welcomed Ukrainian refugees to Wandsworth.
At other times, the administration party elected to govern does have to take bold decisions
in Wandsworth and has to act in accordance with its convictions, again shaping the fabric
of our borough.
I think about the Labour administrations in the 60s and 70s, which built our landmark council estates in the borough,
through to recent Concert administrations, which transformed barren industrial land into thriving commercial and retail centres.
Our work here really does shape the fabric of the borough.
But we're now entering, as Councillor Hogg says, a new phase in Wandsworth's history.
The Council faces a serious financial challenge that's unprecedented in its history, and we'll
have to be bold and creative to address it.
Our community and economic model is also changing, and we'll need to be ready to seize those
opportunities, but also to mitigate the harms.
We'll be transparent about why we have to take the decisions we take, and we'll invite
scrutiny and challenge from everyone across the Council Chamber, from all parties and
And that's why for the first time we'll invite opposition councillors to chair scrutiny
committees, we will invite the Leader of the Opposition and cabinet members to attend cabinet,
to join the discussions, to challenge our decisions and hold us to account, and we'll
make it easier for all councillors, of all parties and none, to get the information they
need to stand up for their residents and to participate fully in our proceedings.
Yes, my administration will run the Council and will take the tough decisions, but in
an atmosphere of maximum challenge, scrutiny, and constructive working.
Political alliances can be surprising.
Family legend has it that the Clangendain Defence Committee, and in particular my dad
Key, was denounced in the House of Commons by Keith Joseph, who thought the whole thing
was a Welsh nationalist conspiracy orchestrated
to disrupt the UK government.
I did consult Hansard when preparing this speech,
and I couldn't find any records of these proceedings,
but that might be because Hansard struggled
with the Welsh spelling.
As it happens, Dad Key was applied Cymru counsellor
for many decades, and what he would have thought
about his grandchild, about to be the leader
of an English council as a conservative councillor
is only something we can speculate.
But he and the villagers knew that they needed
to keep their fight cross party to maximise their support.
And we've done that in Wandsworth in the past
when it comes to the big issues.
And I know that we'll discover that again.
I'd like to pay tribute to the outgoing administration.
Whilst we've ventilated some challenging and difficult issues in the Chamber over the
last four years, and there are fundamental differences between us, I've never doubted
the personal convictions of Labour councillors to our community, particularly to the most
disadvantaged.
The achievements of the last four years should be recognised, in particular the outstanding
rating of our off -stair children's services and also the improvements in temporary accommodation
facilities for vulnerable families.
My administration will build on those achievements
and will always draw on the advice of the counsellors who
are the architects of those achievements.
Finally, and speaking about party political affiliations,
it's said that in this tumultuous multi -party world
in which the English and Welsh and Scottish political maps now
looks multicoloured, Wandsworth remains unusual
in that it remains a Conservative Labour battleground.
And after the local elections, usual service of Conservative Labour challenge has been
restored.
That really is strictly true, because Mr Mayor, at the end of this evening, when you've completed
your final act and you've passed on your mayoral robes to the next mayor, the council will
bid a fond farewell to a wonderful mayor
and its last sitting Lib Dem Councillor.
Mr. Mayor, thank you for everything.
We are truly grateful and have a wonderful retirement.
Thank you, Councillor Hogg and Councillor Richard Jones for those kind words.
This is my last council meeting.
In my 12 years on the council, I have lost count of the number of overview and scrutiny
committees and subcommittees I have attended.
But in that time, I have attended 59 full council meetings and I only missed two.
I really am hanging up my chain and mayoral robes.
It's really time at 79 coming 80 for me to retire.
But though of course, do have a quiet word with me if you think you have an offer that
I can't refuse.
In this mayoral year, just as in my previous mayoral year in 22 -23, I've been amazed by
the amount of goodwill and good neighbourliness I've witnessed right across the borough, from
individuals and community groups doing active locally, looking after the environment and
helping others.
This is heartening to see in such an uncertain world.
So I want to say a few words, firstly about the highlights of my Mayoral Year, and secondly
I want to thank people who have helped me and encouraged me during this Mayoral Year.
So the highlights of the year, the Deputy Mayor and I have covered 253 community events
during the year, so it's impossible to give you a full account and allow you to get home
before midnight.
My most challenging job, Councillors as Mayor, was chairing the Council meetings.
I am grateful for the community leaders, both from faith groups and non -faith groups, who
helped me get the Council meetings off to a good start and set a positive tone for our
Council meetings.
It is not surprising, though, that the two Council Party groups, Labour and Conservative,
each try to get political advantage in important and often heated and passionate and challenging
debates.
My job chairing the Council meeting is to try to chair fairly and in line with the standing
orders of the Council.
I have tried my best to do this in a non -partisan way, but I have inevitably made chairs'
rulings that upset all sides of the chamber. This last year, running up to the local elections
was inevitably won with some highly contested debates. However, we did get through all the
business and even there were some important matters agreed with unanimous support from
all councillors. I would like to thank the two party Whips for the year, Councillor Sarah
Apps and Guy Humphreys for their help getting through the business.
And I am pleased that no political groups walked out during the year.
Say a bit about the London Borough of Culture.
For this year, Wandsworth has been the London Borough of Culture and it's been a huge success.
We have put on over 700 events over the year and reached 650 ,000 people.
and we particularly celebrated events for all ages,
including young people and the many religious
and diverse cultural groups living in Wandsworth.
I want to thank the officers and the volunteers
for London Borough of Culture champion,
and we had over 650 event volunteers
for making this year such a success.
The standout events for me were hearing local schools
and local choirs singing in our high streets and shopping precincts. The warm and surprised
reaction from shopkeepers and shoppers alike was heartening to see. I hope the legacy will
continue in many forms, music, art, drama, poetry, cultural food, and celebration of
our history and our heritage.
Working with the Youth Mayor and Deputy Youth Mayor has been an absolute pleasure this year.
Kwazi, Akram, Koranchi and Sophia Dyson. Do stand up.
Kwazi and Sophia and their Youth Council colleagues,
You've all done a superb job representing the voices of young people throughout the
community and in working in partnership with the Council.
You have both rallied young people of Wandsworth to have a say in big policy developments and
beyond.
I know, Kwasi and Sophia, you have listened to the views of over 400 young people and
represented them, as well as your presence at over 25 events across the year is nothing
short of extraordinary. Your participation in the Violence Against Women and Girls
VOG cross -party working group has been phenomenal. And when the fact that both
of you have done all this superbly, as well as your schoolwork, it's a huge
credit to both of you. Thank you very much.
It's been a privilege and a delight to work with the three mayoral charities
for this year Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees, Mindworks UK and Oasis.
Particularly for those of you who are here could you stand up when I'm saying
Barbara from Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees and Mary.
I hope that their work will continue to progress.
prosper and has become even further embedded in our supportive Wandsworth community.
Over the year we have had a lot of fun raising charity money and we raised over £500 ,000
thanks to all who contributed and supported in these charity events.
I want to say something about the Ofsted inspection that has just been mentioned.
I would also like to recognise the fantastic achievement of our children's services after
our Ofsted report which has recently rated Wandsworth as outstanding across every area
of inspection.
Inspectors praise the compassionate leadership and child -focused support that is helping
children and families across our borough shine.
This result is a tribute to the dedication of our staff and partners, something everyone
in Wandsworth can be proud of and an achievement that makes me incredibly honoured to have
served in Wandsworth. Congratulations to Councillor Kate Stock and Judy Gasser, who have been
the cabinet members leading our children's services up to the inspection, and to the
Deputy Chief Exec and Executive Director of Children's, Anna Popovici. Thanks, you three
have made an inspiring leadership team in achieving this. Thank you very much.
Now some thanks from me for those people who have helped me during the year.
The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Rosemary Burchell, has done a formidable job
covering events that I couldn't get to. Also our 100th husband Richard and her son Hugh who's here
and daughter Alicia and her friends,
Rosemary's friends have accompanied and supported her
showing interest and enthusiasm in events in the community.
Also well done Rosemary on leading the winning
formidable quiz team on the charity quiz night.
Who said the blues and the reds can't work together?
We'll show them Rosemary, we did.
Thanks to my daughter Lucy and several friends who acted as consort for me during the year.
Finner Ayers, Karen, Judith, Rosie and Trinity who is here for accompanying me on mayoral visits.
And thanks to Anne O 'Dell, my son -in -law's mother, for wearing the bling with me tonight.
Thanks, Anne.
Many thanks to the deputy lieutenant, Tricia Windsor,
and team who have led the majority of citizenship
ceremonies and helped with liaison with the cadets
forces, army cadets, Air Force, sea cadets, and police cadets,
in Wandsworth, along with Les McDonald, the council's armed
forces champion.
Tricia helped guide me in welcoming Queen Camilla
on her visit to the Battersea Dogs home.
And also she helped in making difficult decision
on awards, civic awards.
We had so many brilliant candidates to choose from.
Thank you for all your help, Tricia.
I would like to thank the Chief Exec, Andrew Travers,
and all staff who have helped me fulfil the role of Mayor.
This includes hundreds of staff
who have helped throughout the year.
I really appreciate all your help and advice.
Now the mayoral team, they need special mention.
Could you stand up?
Jack, Shaheed, Corinne, and Paul,
please take a bow if you're here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You've been great company,
and you have made the unexpected twists and turns of the Mayor all year fun and
uplifting. Thanks to all my family and friends who have encouraged me
throughout. In conclusion, thank you councillors for electing me for my
second year as Mayor. This has been an incredible honour. Most importantly,
thanks to all who live and work in the borough of Wandsworth for making us such
a brilliant, vibrant, diverse, friendly and strong community. Every good wish and
Good luck to the new mayor and deputy mayor.
And lastly to everyone here,
have a most enjoyable evening.
That brings us to item one on the agenda,
the election of mayor.
The first item of business on the agenda
is the election of mayor.
May I have nominations for officers of mayor for the ensuing year?
I propose Councillor Owens.
Is there a seconder for Councillor Owens?
Seconded.
Thank you.
Are there other nominations?
I propose Councillor Henderson.
Sorry, Councillor Henderson.
Is there a seconder?
Are there any other nominations?
We will need to take a vote on that.
You can either vote for Councillor Owens or Councillor Henderson or you can abstain.
So I'm going to take first those councillors in favour of Councillor
Owens, please raise their hands.
Have you got that, Chris?
Thanks.
Those councillors in favour of Councillor Henderson, please raise their hands.
Chris, have you got the numbers?
Are there any abstentions?
No, there are no abstentions.
Okay, there is one abstention.
Sorry, didn't see you, Councillor Grimson.
Okay, so the result of the vote is Councillor
Owens is elected with 29 votes.
Councillor Henderson, 26 votes and abstentions, 1.
Congratulations, Councillor Owens.
I hereby declare that Councillor Owens
is duly elected Mayor of the London Borough of Wandsworth
for the ensuing year.
The mover of the motion, which is Councillor Brooks
for Councillor Owens will say a few words.
Councillor Brooks, come back to the lectern.
Thank you, Councillor Brooks.
Thank you.
Is this on already?
Yeah, cool, brilliant.
It's a real honour to propose Councillor Emmeline Owens to be the next Mayor of Wandsworth.
Each year, in choosing a Mayor, the Council has a chance to say something about life in
the borough. We're not only choosing someone to chair our civic occasions, but someone
who reflects a particular part of Wandsworth's character for the year. In Emmeline, we have
someone who is wonderfully unmistakably Wandsworth.
She's a rugby mum, a long standing school governor,
someone with a distinguished career
both behind her and ahead of her
in public service and the commercial world,
and so on who's a council committee room.
But above all, Emmeline represents
a very important fact about this borough.
Life in Wandsworth is bigger than the council.
It is held together by parents, volunteers, governors, neighbours, charity workers, coaches, campaigners and friends.
Emmeline understands that world because she is that world. She's lived it, served it and helped hold it all together.
On a personal note though, I'm especially proud to propose her because she's a great friend.
She brings a different perspective, sometimes wry, sometimes irreverent, to proceedings in the town hall.
Proceedings that can, on occasion, become a little earnest or even grave.
But, she's also someone of real, unmistakable courage.
Emmeline has taught me that you cannot always wait politely for life to give you permission.
You sometimes have to stand up for yourself, for others, and for what you believe is right.
This has made her one of life's fighters and one of politics' survivors with a fiercely and famously stubborn sense of right and wrong.
The residents in the borough and every councillor should know that they have a mayor who will do what she knows is right,
even when comfort and ease would be better served by staying silent or going along with the crowd.
In a world where so many of us have been conditioned to defer to credentials, institutions, bureaucratic
process and power, that's a valuable corrective and something I will always admire in my friend.
Emmeline, Councillor Owens, you'll be absolutely brilliant and it gives me enormous pleasure
to propose you to be the next Mayor of Wandsworth.
Thank you.
I'd now like to invite Councillor Emmeline Owens to the lectern.
Councillor OWENS, you've been elected to the office of Mayor.
Do you accept the office?
I do.
Councillor OWENS, will you please read aloud and sign on?
I hope it's on the lectern.
Is it there?
It is, yes.
Great.
Would you like to read it?
Declaration of acceptance of office of mayor.
I, Councillor Emmeline Owens, having been elected to the office of mayor of the council
of the London borough of Wandsworth, declare that I take that office upon myself and will
duly and faithfully fulfil the duties of it according to the best of my judgement and ability.
Congratulations, Councillor Owens. I invite you as Mayor to retire with me for the purposes
of robing. Thank you.
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Councillors, ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the Worship of Mayor of the Greater
ladies and gentleman the
Please be seated, everyone.
Deputy Lieutenant, Councillors, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you all
for being here for our Maymaking ceremony.
It is a great honour to stand before you as Mayor of Wandsworth, and I am deeply grateful
to my fellow counsellors for placing their trust in me.
I would like to begin by thanking my family, who've had to live with my public service
rather more closely than anyone else.
My husband David has been my strongest and most endlessly patient supporter.
He has been endlessly patient, which is just as well, because patience is not always the
first quality people associate with me.
I should also like to thank my sons, who have also tolerated my public life with great patience
and only moderate embarrassment.
This is an office of great dignity and responsibility.
The mayor belongs to the whole borough.
To be asked to serve in this role, in the place where David and I have lived for more
than 20 years and raised our family, means a very great deal to me.
Wandsworth is not just the name of our council, it is our home, which means we love it, argue
about it, and worry about it.
It is where our boys go to school, where we have made friends, joined clubs, stood on
touch lines, sat through concerts, helped at events, and experienced the ordinary and
extraordinary life of this borough.
So this year, I would like to use the mayoralty to celebrate children and young people in
and the quiet army of parents, carers, teachers, volunteers and community organisations who
help them.
And finally I would like to thank my chaplain, Canon Martin Edwards, who is unfortunately
delayed on the Paris Eurostar returning from a pilgrimage, but he will be at future council
meetings to join us for prayers.
Thank you.
Item 2, appointment of the Deputy Mayor. I have appointed Councillor Kirsten Botting
to be Deputy Mayor of the borough and Gervais Botting will be the Deputy Mayor's consort.
Item 3, the minutes.
The minutes of the two meetings held on the 4th of March,
2026 have been circulated.
Is it agreed that I sign them both as a correct record?
Item 4 is the mayor's announcements.
Apologies for absence have been received from Councillors
Akinola and Belton.
Are there any further apologies for absence?
As this is my first set of Mayor's announcements, I would like to say a little more about the
themes I hope to champion during the year ahead.
I would like first to pay tribute to the former Mayor Jeremy Ambash and Deputy Mayor Councillor
Burchell for their service over the past year.
Former Councillors Ambash and Burchell have carried out their roles with great dignity
and have worn a heavy chain lightly, particularly during full Council.
I hope now that they will not be too uncomfortable with the unfamiliar sensation of free time,
now that the weight is quite literally off their shoulders.
The Mayor is demanding public and full of responsibilities that are not always visible
from the outside.
Thank you both for the time, energy and commitment you have given to Wandsworth.
I would also like to thank our outgoing Youth Mayor, Kwazi Akun -Karanci, and Deputy Youth
Mayor Sophia Dyson for representing young people in the borough and for helping ensure
that young voices are part of our civic life.
I am particularly pleased to congratulate our new Youth Mayor Abigail Akindeiko and
Deputy Youth Mayor Afifa Haroon. I look forward to working with you both this year and to
hearing directly from young people across Wandsworth. It is very important that young
voices are heard in our civic life. They may also have the advantage of knowing how some
the technology works.
One of the things I'm proudest of is that the children of
Wandsworth have the chance to be educated in our excellent
state schools.
And I say that as someone who has spent enough time in
school halls to know that great public service often
comes with very small chairs.
Through our schools, we see not only the dedication of
teachers and school staff, but the wider network of people
who make opportunities possible for children.
Parents giving up evenings and weekends, sometimes
voluntarily, sometimes because they forgot to step back quickly enough when volunteers
were requested, coaches turning up in the rain, music teachers, tutors, fundraisers,
governors, club organisers, and all the people who quietly make things happen.
Before I became a counsellor, I had the privilege of chairing a Wandsworth outstanding school
for more than a decade.
That experience taught me a great deal about responsibility, accountability, and public
service.
It also taught me that there is no such thing as a small issue when it affects a small person.
Children flourish when the adults around them take their duties seriously.
Family life and community life demand your whole self and there is nothing more rewarding.
That is why this year I want to use the mayoralty to celebrate children and young people in
Wandsworth and the quiet army of parents and carers who help them thrive.
I want us to recognise not only achievement but encouragement, not only talent but effort,
not only the children who shine publicly but the people behind them who give them confidence,
guidance, friendship and opportunity.
Not every child has the same start, the same support or the same opportunities.
That is why the work of schools, youth organisations, charities, sports clubs, arts groups and community
organisations matter so much.
They may help children discover who they are, what they can do,
and what they might become.
One of the privileges of the mayoralty
is the chance to shine light on people and organisations
whose work is sometimes better known to those they
help than to the wider borough.
That is especially true of those who
serve children and young people.
Some of that service is very visible, but much of it
is quiet.
It is done by people who do not ask for thanks, who do not expect recognition, and who often
do their most important work when no one was watching.
That quiet service was one of the things that holds Wandsworth together.
I want my mayoral year to honour it.
In my professional life, I've worked in strategy and international roles in business and finance,
as well as independent research projects on the UK as a place to do business.
My family also owns a business, so I know something of the hard work, risk and resilience behind enterprise.
That experience has also made me care deeply about opportunity.
We want young people in Wandsworth to grow up with confidence, skills, ambition and a sense that the future is open to them.
That requires good schools, strong families, safe communities, thriving local organisations, successful businesses and a civic culture that takes young people seriously.
So my mayoral charities this year will be Wandsworth Homestart, Sound Minds and Battersea
Crime Prevention Panel.
I have chosen them because they reflect the themes I want to champion this year, children
and young people, opportunity, care, resilience and service.
I am delighted that the representatives of those charities are with us this evening.
I also want to thank council staff across Wandsworth.
Whatever our political debates in this chamber, all of us rely on professionalism, commitment
and hard work of officers and staff who serve residents every day.
I would be grateful if the Chief Executive would convey my thanks to staff across the
Council.
I would also like to thank the Mayor's Office who do so much behind the scenes to support
the civic life of the borough and to make occasions like this possible.
I hope this merry year will be a celebration of the best of Wandsworth, our children, our
our young people, our families, our schools, our volunteers, our businesses, our charities,
our neighbourhoods, and the many people who serve without fuss.
If we can use this year to recognise more of them, thank more of them, and encourage
more people to join them, then I will consider it a year very well spent.
Thank you again for the honour of serving as Mayor of Wandsworth.
Now let us return to the formal business of the meeting.
After that, I hope we will all have the chance to enjoy the hospitality. Thank you.
There are items on the agenda this evening that should be considered as a matter of urgency
by reason of special circumstances. The special circumstances are set out in full at the top
of each report. Is that agreed? Item 5 is the report on the results of the Council elections
held on 7 May 2026. As set out in paper number 26, 118, is this report received as information?
Item 6 is paper number 26, 119, on the constitution of political groups on the Council. Is this
report received as information.
Item seven is the election of the leader of the council.
May I have nominations for the office of leader to serve
until the next whole council elections in May, 2030.
And seconding the nomination, Councillor Graham.
Are there any other nominations?
I submit the name of Councillor Richard Jones to the meeting.
Those Councillors in favour, please raise their hands.
And those against, please raise their hands.
Okay.
Another any abstentions?
It is 4 .30 against 26 and zero abstentions. I hereby declare that Councillor Richard Jones
is duly elected leader of the Council to serve until the next whole Council elections in
May 2013.
Item 8, Executive Members and Executive Powers.
The next item of business relates to the appointment of executive members and the deputy leader
of the council and the delegation of executive powers is set out in paper number 26120. Is
this report received as information? Item 9, leader of the opposition. Item 9 deals
with the notification received of the leader and deputy leader of the opposition as set
out in paper number 26, 121.
Is this report received as information?
Item 10, appointment of committees.
The report and appointments to committees
is set out in paper number 26, 122.
And details of the proposed memberships
for the next cycle of meetings
are set out in the appendices to that paper.
Councillor Rigby has indicated she would like to speak.
I would like to invite Councillor Rigby
to the lectern to briefly address the council.
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Allad, I loved what you said before
about constructive working.
So it's a shame it's starting like this,
but our Labour group cannot vote for this committee paper.
For one, it arrived late this afternoon.
None of them saw it till they walked into this room
and sat down.
And it involves changes to the constitution
that we need to run legal advice through and we can't be rushed into signing it like a
Tenerife timeshare. We're in no overall control. We've not been consulted on these changes.
They were hurriedly given to officers for us to make a decision on while we were getting
ready to come here. We have provided names for the OFCs and we're ready to serve on them.
However, these proposals suspend these committees and we don't know how things
are going to be scrutinised for people. But we're ready to work with the
opposition including Councillor Grimston to discuss and design the best
constitution for our residents so we're not accepting this.
Councillor Graham.
Thank you, Madam Mayor. It's a pleasure to call you Madam Mayor.
It's a slightly unexpected sensation to be standing in front of you as we weren't aware that this was about to happen.
I just want to say a few things. The first is that this Council is in no overall control,
although we now have a Conservative leader appointed by a majority of this Council, and we do 30 members of this Council.
And we have come into a situation in which there were changes made to the Constitution in the last term,
some of which we found to be rather undemocratic in their nature.
What we have proposed is simply a temporary change to the constitution
while we review the constitution and then bring full proposals to the next meeting in July.
Those changes are actually subject to a sunset clause, so there is no
danger whatsoever of any of these changes being more than temporary.
Indeed, we are pleased that we are able to,
within the recommendations of the report,
include two Labour OSC chairs
and a Labour chair of the Audit Committee.
Now, the nature of which we have got to this point
over the last weekend was somewhat more convoluted
than any of us would have wished
and more chaotic than any of us wish.
Although it has often been the case
that these papers are produced very late
on a day like today,
I accept that this process has been far from ideal, far from ideal for us and far from
ideal for the opposition.
And I accept the Labour Wits point that this could, certainly with the benefit of hindsight,
have been handled better.
However, there is nothing untoward in this.
We are now in a position where we have stability, where we have an administration, where we
have an opposition, and we are committed to working with you on that constitutional review
in a way in which you did not work with us.
I have to say, in order to try and get the best results for everyone in this borough
in the benefit of our residents.
Is this report approved?
All those in favour?
All those against.
Any abstentions?
Those for number 29, those against are 26 and one abstention.
So the report is agreed.
Item 11, Council representation on outside bodies. The report and proposed appointments
to certain outside bodies are set out in paper number 26 -123 and its appendix. Is this report
approved? Now to the end of the Council meeting. That concludes the formal business for this
evening. I now invite members and guests to follow me to the adjacent hall for some refreshments.
I hope that it will be possible during the evening for me to meet every one of you.
Thank you.
Thank you.