Council - Wednesday 22 July 2026, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Council
Wednesday, 22nd July 2026 at 7:30pm

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Do we have any items which need to be approved for urgency reasons?

As a reminder, please could all speakers keep to time and wind up your speeches when the

red light comes on.

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

This is to allow as many as possible of all Councillors to participate.

Thank you.

Item one is the minutes of the annual Council meeting held on the 27th of May.

Are the minutes agreed?

On item 2, are there any members who have any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests?

Are there registrable interests or any non -registrable interests relevant to any matters to be considered at the meeting?

Councillor Cooper.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor, and it's good to see you at your first meeting.

I just would like to place it on the record that I am the London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth just in case

issues relating to the Greater London Authority or any of its constituent parts such as Transport for London etc. comes up on the agenda.

It's not a pecuniary interest, but just for transparency. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Cooper.

Item 3. Announcements by the Mayor.

Welcome Councillors to this extraordinary meeting of the Council.

I am delighted to welcome Canon Martin Edwards of the Roman Catholic Church, the Oratory of Saint Mary Magdalene,

five minutes walk from us here at the top of East Hill, where I attend the Sunday song, Latin Mass.

Thank you Canon Edwards for agreeing to address our full council meetings this year with words and thoughts that I hope will inspire the councillors and get the meetings off to a good start.

Thank you Canon Edwards.

Thank you Madam Mayor. I'm not sure about inspirational but it's quite short.

Christians today keep the...should I stand or sit? I can't remember now.

Christians today keep the Feast of Mary Magdalene.

After Mary, the Mother of the Lord, she is the most prominent woman in the New Testament storey.

She was a disciple of the Lord. She was a witness to his crucifixion.

She was the first recorded witness of the resurrection

and then a prominent member of the infant church.

She is also, as the mayor has said,

the patroness of the church,

where I have the honour to be rector

and where the mayor worships.

For 120 years, Christians have worshipped

at Saint Mary Magdalene's Wandsworth.

And as the mayor said, it's situated the top of East Hill.

I shall be going back there myself

in a few minutes time to do a few hours of watering before the hosepipe ban hits us at 12,

because of course I will not be breaking that. We're sandwiched between the Avery care home

and the Huguenot Cemetery, and I'm very grateful to the Council for the wonderful work that was

done on that cemetery. We never owned it, so it's not the Catholic's fault that it fell into

disrepair, but the council took over ownership and transformed it. It's a beautiful, tranquil space.

And that parish has produced many councillors over the years, and in the last few years,

two mayors. And I look forward, if there's a civic service, to welcoming you up at Mary Magdalene's.

The witness of our patroness, Mary Magdalene,

speaks beyond the Christian community.

And very quickly, three important things about her.

The first thing is that she was a woman.

And in the foundations of the great religions of this world,

women often don't play a very noticeable part.

She is called by the Catholic Church,

the apostola apostolorum, the apostle to the apostles,

because she was the one who took the core message

of the Christian faith to the 12 apostles.

And it's a very auspicious feast day for our new mayor

to be presiding over her first council meeting,

the Feast of Mary Magdalene.

Secondly, unlike our mayor, she was a woman with a past.

St. Luke says rather diplomatically,

Seven devils were cast out from her.

She was in the euphemisms used nowadays, a sex worker.

But she was redeemed from that lucrative

but difficult profession to become one of the foundation

stones of the Christian community to this day.

Someone who'd been exploited was uplifted and healed.

And lastly, she resonates with the modern world

because she was an immigrant, someone fleeing persecution.

When the first great persecution of the church

started in Jerusalem, she went to the south of France

and there the storey is long and beautiful

and she is venerated in some of the loveliest

parts of the world in Provence,

but she came there as a refugee and on a small boat.

There is a lot about her storey.

that speaks to the modern world.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, whose Son restored Mary Magdalene

to health of mind and body,

and called her to be a witness of his resurrection,

forgive our sins and heal us by your grace,

that we may serve you in the power of his risen life,

who is alive and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, forever and ever, amen.

Thank you, Canon Edwards.

Before we move on to the business of the meeting, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge

the passing of former Councillor Matthew Maxwell Scott, who served the borough as an elected

member for Earlsfield Ward between 2010 and 2014.

On behalf of the Council, I wish to express our condolences to his family, friends and

all those who knew and worked with him.

Members may wish to place on record their memories and appreciation of Matthew Maxwell -Scott's contribution to public life and service to the community.

I was privileged to work with Matthew in my 20s in a different capacity, and many of our former colleagues have been in touch with me to express their sadness.

I would now like to invite any councillors who wish to do so to pay tribute.

Councillor Moritz.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Matthew was a former colleague, obviously, and a particular dear

friend. As you've rightly said, he served only one term on this body, although when

he had finished here, he stood twice for parliament, and he was also spent almost a decade on Lancashire

for county council.

It would be fair to say,

and I'm sure all members on both sides would agree with this,

that his contribution was not necessary

to be judged by the length of his service here

or his contribution to his committees,

but very much in the warmth and sense of humour

he brought to everything he did.

And it is rather tragic to see him pass away

just the age of 49. He was an old Etonian. He was a massive cricket enthusiast. He was

a true cricket badger, really. And that warmth, a natural flair that he brought to everything.

I'll just use a couple of examples that colleagues may remember who knew him well. When he was

we had the Green Diary and we had long lists

of people's professional achievements.

Such was his flair and wit that depending on your degree

or qualification, he could quickly give you a soundbite.

Thus, his ward colleague, Councillor Graham,

quickly became a silver medal, for example,

in respect of her nursing qualification.

And he always did this and everything he did with a great sense of humour.

That sense of humour took him forward in his professional career.

As you've touched on, Madame Mayor, he served at the CBI.

He had a very promising career as a speech writer.

And then he actually formed and became the executive director of the Association of Consumer

support organisations, and then latterly chief exec of the Consumer Legal Association, where

he championed consumer rights and access to justice, something I think we can all agree

on. He was also particularly proud of his notable ancestor, Sir Walter Scott, and only

a few weeks ago hosted the Walter Scott Prize with his trademark charm and warmth. He was

He will be sadly missed.

Councillor Govindia and I are attending his funeral

on Friday.

Those of us who will remember him, I think,

are having a genuine curiosity about others,

an enthusiasm for life that drew people to him.

These are qualities that will be deeply missed and fondly

remembered.

And our condolences, I'm sure, go

to Mel, his sons, and wider family,

and his many friends across the political spectrum,

and everyone whose life he brightened.

Thank you, Councillor Moritz.

Councillor Cooper?

I'm gonna defer to Councillor Boulton.

I was gonna go to Council.

Oh, after Councillor Covindia, okay.

Councillor Covindia, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I think as Councillor Moritz said,

Matthew was on this council for four years,

but actually left a much deeper and longer impression

on many of us who knew him.

Councillor Morrit and I were reminiscing the other day

that there are 10 members of this current council

who knew Matthew, was served with Matthew on the council,

and actually four on this side and five on that side,

and Malcolm, of course, Councillor Grimson, of course.

So it's not a lot of people who knew him,

but I think those of us who knew him were deeply affected

when we heard the news.

I was told by Councillor Hamilton

because he picked up the news for somebody else

and I was probably shocked that this was the case.

This is because Matthew was here on election day

to help us knock on doors

and then subsequently came to the count.

And as was Mark Matthews' want,

between knocking doors and coming to the count,

there was a session of beers.

And it was always the case with Matthew

that there was a session of beers

which was both convivial, is full of humour.

There was a lot to talk about.

Let me just remind myself and others

of two anecdotes about Matthew.

When he last spoke in this council,

he very frankly said that this Wandsworth

had become far too expensive for his growing family,

and that's why he was going off to Sutton.

After the meeting, somebody chided him for saying,

well, you know, you really shouldn't have said that,

because one that is still affordable and all of that.

And Matthew said, I live value for money in public life

as well as in private life,

and Sutton gets me more for my buck.

I mean, it's a classic Matthew,

straight in with the line and deflating anyone.

When I rang him to condone him on the loss of his seat

in the Lancashire elections, he said, oh well,

for a change, I was too left -wing for people of Lancaster.

because of course Lancashire became reformed.

So there was another, this kind of Matthew Strake riposte.

And finally, in 2011, a number of us were on a trip

to across the channel in Ypres.

And there was a very long late night one evening,

several of us were in the bar,

so I got those three, four in the morning.

And his wife Melanie was supposed to join us but didn't.

and he complained that she couldn't because she had a stomach bug.

It was only in the morning that Councillor Mrs Tracy said,

Matthew, do you not know that she's carrying your child?

So there was Matthew, obviously aware but not wishing to.

But always, always happy to be companion, always happy to make jokes,

and always happy, ready with a right and apt statement, phrase, whatever.

sorely missed and our thoughts do go to Charles and Rufus's two sons and Melanie of course.

Thank you, Councillor Govindja. Councillor Belton, if you'd like to speak. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. One of the delights of going to university I went to, well, delights,

one of the strange things, was meeting people of such a different type and style from where

I was brought up and Matthew always reminded me of that.

This old Etonian with his very suave confident manner

and his ready wit, his dreadful politics,

I mean absolutely dreadful politics,

which some people I think on this side

would find extremely unpleasant,

but his built in with the charm,

the charm that was irrepressible.

And Counsellor Guindy mentions a particular night,

funnily enough, both he and Counsellor Morritt and I

were all drinking with Matthew

till very late indeed, as I recall.

And it was an evening of charm and amusement,

full of all the things that have already been mentioned.

and probably the awful politics as well, by the way.

But that you have to put up with that.

At the age of 49, it's a tragedy for his wife and children.

I'm sure the council sends all its condolences

and I'm sure the minority party joins in with that,

sharing those condolences and wishing them well

in what will be a difficult future.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Belton.

I'll move on. I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to Andrew Travers for the

outstanding leadership, dedication and service provided during Andrew's time as Chief Executive.

Through both opportunities and challenges, Andrew has made a significant contribution

to the organisation and to the communities we serve. I wish Andrew every success and

for the future. The Deputy Mayor and I have attended almost 50 mayoral

engagements since we all last together on the 27th of May. We have visited

dozens of schools and community groups and have spoken at business and charity

events. We have congratulated those in the community of all ages whose work

often goes unrecognised. We have met families and children, attended dog shows,

front garden celebrations, summer street fairs,

handed out awards at different business,

charity schools and youth clubs,

spoken at health care and pride events,

the Battersea Peace Pagoda and Armed Forces Day.

One engagement that stands out in my mind

was an event I spoke at for several hundred

many Ugandan nurses and care workers

here in the Civic Suite,

or next door in the Civic Suite rather.

I spoke about the importance of unity

and the contribution that Ugandan nurses

have made to health and social care over the decades. I very much hope the Ugandan High

Commission visits us again. Another remarkable event the Deputy and I attended was Armed Forces

Day. It was wonderful to see so many local children involved as cadets and to witness

the skills they are learning as well as meeting those who took part in that day's London 13

Bridges Challenge. My first event was at the Eschbertson Estate to give out awards at a

fantastic photography exhibition for local people.

Another memorable engagement was unplugged,

the Wandsworth Town Music Festival.

My more recent engagements have included

the Northcott Road Summer Fair.

This is one of two annual mayoral events on Northcott Road

that I've been part of for more than 20 years.

And they've always meant a lot to me and my family.

My children have sung at the Christmas event

for almost as long.

So thank you to all the councillors

who have attended engagements with the Deputy and I in recent weeks.

This year I have chosen to support charities helping young people, families and people

with mental health issues. I am raising money for Ones with Homestar, which provides support

for parents, for Sound Minds, a charity that offers art, music and creative activities

to support people with mental health issues, and for the Battersea Crime Prevention Panel,

which works with young people to stop them getting involved in crime.

Yesterday, representatives of all three charities got together with the team to discuss ideas

and plans for fundraising, so any ideas from fellow councillors would be most welcome too.

Finally, I would like to remind councillors that entries for this year's Civic Awards

will be closing on Monday 27 July, so there is still time to nominate borough residents

who step up to support others, strengthen communities and create positive change.

And now for the formal business of the meeting. Item 4 is leaders' questions.

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

to the leader is 20 minutes.

Question number 1. Cleanest Streets.

Councillor Hogg to the Leader of the Council.

Question 1 to the Leader.

I thank Councillor Hogg for the question and welcome him back to his seat as Leader of

the Opposition after the election. We are committed to cleaner streets and the cabinet

member for environment is currently developing detailed proposals as to how we can bring

that forward. But I can tell him that following the feedback we received from residents in

the election, we'll certainly be looking at ways in which we can apply greater street

cleaning to high footfall problematic areas. And also it won't surprise him that because

Conservative Council has campaigned for same -day street sweeping, we are

committed to ruling that out on a borough -wide basis.

A supplementary question.

First supplementary to Councillor Hall.

Thank you Madam Mayor. I just want to welcome you to your role. I hope you have a

fantastic year ahead of you and also want to welcome Councillor Richard Jones

to his role as leader of the council. Cleaner streets are crucial. It is

unfortunate that the leader will not commit to enact labour ideas.

We had a rather fuller manifesto than you on this,

such as doubling street sweeping.

I think it's quite cheeky that you're recycling our same day

sweep idea as your own.

It's unclear how you could have come up with that in the last

four years.

But will he tonight confirm to the more than 20 ,000 residents

who have enjoyed using their two free bulky waste

collections each year that he will keep,

that he will not cut that much valued service

in the years ahead?

I thank Councillor Hogg for his supplementary.

Labour's manifesto was indeed generous in its offer.

It never said I would pay for any of that.

My administration inherits 137 million budget black hole

from Councillor Hogg's administration.

That's the largest in the council's history.

And to put that into perspective,

The entire street cleaning budget is about 5 .8 million.

So that underlines the scale of the challenge.

We want cleaner streets, we'll bring about cleaner streets,

but we have to forensically examine every policy available

to see if it provides value for money

and if it is financially sustainable given our inheritance.

Second supplementary, Councillor Belton.

Leader talks about cleaner streets.

Does he include automatically by that cleaner estates?

I say that because as he knows,

they're collected in a different regime

and he is aware, I am sure,

of the very serious problems in my ward

around the base of Weybridge Point

and also near Latchmere Baths

at the end of one of the Burns Estate roads.

Thank you, Councillor Belton, for that supplementary.

I entirely agree.

I think it is absolutely important

that even though our estate residents

receive their services through a different mechanism

to residential streets,

they are absolutely entitled

to the same standard of service

that we would expect that anyone should receive

in the borough.

It was a shameful legacy of the previous administration

that the housing regulator gave it a C3 rating,

the second worst possible rating, and this administration is committed to reversing that.

Thank you, Councillor Richards -Jones. Question number two, supporting families.

Councillor Hogg to the Leader of the Council. Question two to the Leader.

I thank Councillor Hogg for the question. We're committed to supporting families,

promoting fairness and ensuring there are support for children and young people in our borough.

That said, we have to deal with the financial crisis we've inherited.

And what that means is that we have to make sure that every programme the Council finances delivers maximum impact

because without sustainable finances the Council can't do anything to help those who rely on our services.

Councillor Hogg, supplementary.

Supplementary.

Oh, sorry.

I'd like to thank Councillor Richard Jones for his service as leader of the council.

He's given his time and his skills and not enough talented people go into public life,

so it is appreciated.

But again, it's distressing that he can't guarantee the future of really valued programmes

like Access for All, like our Baby Boxes, support for refugees, our fantastic food banks

around the borough and papers to cabinet are even more distressing. It seems that

funding has been withdrawn for children's study spaces, for the big

play out, for the Roehampton minibus and most troubling of all is the winding

up of the cost of living fund, a large portion of which he'll know goes towards

paying the living wage to all our staff. It looks like that will end. Can he

guarantee tonight that this council will remain a living wage employer for the

whole of this council term?

I thank Councillor Hogg for that supplementary.

And if I can deal with some of those points in turn,

firstly, we can give that reassurance

that his council will remain a living wage employer.

As he knows, it was something I was personally supportive of.

I supported his administration's moves towards that.

And that is something I can guarantee.

On the other matters that he raises,

I won't be tempted into preempting some of the matters

that the deputy leader outlines later today

in the spending review.

But it is the reality that tough choices are ahead.

it is important that the most disadvantaged in our borough

are shielded from the worst of this financial crisis.

But I will let the deputy leader expand on that in a moment.

Can I also thank him for his kind words a moment ago.

I think now this is our 12th exchange across this chamber

as leaders questions.

His first time as leader of the opposition.

For me, it's my first and last night of the show as leader.

But I've always admired counsel Hogg's sense

of public duty, I've never denied his motivations

or his good faith, and I will miss his exchanges.

Second supplementary.

Second supplementary, Councillor Covington.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Will the leader agree with me that whenever

a council introduces commendable improvements

and services to people who most deserve it,

it is important for the council to make sure

that they remain both affordable and sustainable,

and that is the only guarantee of good continuing to go on.

I entirely agree with that sentiment.

It's only through sound finances and sustainable finances

that we can make the choices we make

to prioritise what we do and to protect the most vulnerable.

Thank you, Councillor Richard Jones. I now move on to question number three, future delivery

of the administration. Councillor Moritz to the Leader of the Council. Thank you, Councillor

Moritz.

Question three to Councillor Richard Jones.

Thank you. I'm happy to join Councillor Moritz in thanking the officers for their hard work

during the change of administration but also in implementing the beginning of the spending

review. The spending review is a core part of our manifesto. It is the first step to getting the

council's finances back on track. It has identified immediate savings, it has brought about a

comprehensive review of overspend in each Directorate, it has also brought about a

free than all non -essential expenditure and also on non -essential hiring.

In light of the new administration's commitment to delivering its priorities and restoring

the Council's finances to a more sustainable footing, could the Leader comment on the appointment

of the new Chief Exec and how will this support the Council's leadership and delivery for

residents?

Absolutely. Before I do that, I should say as one interim leader stepping down this evening,

I want to extend my thanks to another interim leader who's stepping down this week. And my

thanks to you, Mr. Travers, for your service to Wandsworth. And I wish you a happy life beyond

in Monsworth after this week.

But yes, I'd like to join Councillor Moritz

in commending the work that officers have done

on the spending review.

That has proceeded at pace.

And this meeting tonight sees both the appointment

of a new chief executive and new leader of the council,

which can provide that stable, firm leadership

to take us forwards into the next phase.

It has been a busy three months since the election,

as well as appointing a new chief executive.

We have made progress at pace

with our manifesto commitments.

We've begun the spending review.

The first results of that will be announced this evening.

We have commenced at pace the constitutional review

to make our procedures more effective,

open and transparent.

And the first tranche of those reforms

will be considered tonight at the meeting.

We have cancelled unpopular overdevelopment

on the Ashburton and Alenis X -States.

We have reintroduced the popular Northcote Road summer weekend pedestrian scheme

We held this week the first meeting of the housing improvement board to tackle the regulators

Damning indictment of the service of the last four years and we're only just getting started

Second sup second supplementary cancer Osborne. Thank you

First and only incidentally can I just on behalf of the this side of the chamber

endorse the comments about the imminent accession

of Anna Popovici as our new chief executive.

But can I ask in thanking officers

in the context of the new administration,

does the leader accept that there has indeed

been great stress, extra hours, and late nights

for the members of the officer team

as a direct result of the chaos and the constant shifting in personnel of his administration.

No, I don't accept that and he offers no evidence for that.

Thank you, Councillor Richards -Jones.

Question number four, Operation of the Cabinet,

Councillor Rigby to the Leader of the Council.

Councillor Rigby, thank you.

Question number four to Councillor Allyn Jones.

I thank Councillor Rigby for her question

and she'll understand that because I'm standing down

as leader this evening,

I won't elaborate further on my diary.

I do so with a very heavy heart this evening.

My professional and personal circumstances

as she's aware has changed.

So I'll be stepping down as leader,

but I'm proud to carry on as Councillor for Northcote Ward,

a position I've cherished since 2018. On her wider point about the previous administration's

full -time cabinet, I would gently suggest that hours spent in the role doesn't always result in

maximum results for our residents. If it is true that the previous cabinet was full -time,

they left us with a financial crisis. It might have been they should have spent less time

in this town hall and more time speaking to residents.

Thank you, Councillor Richards -Jones. Councillor Wrigley, supplementary.

Yes, it was but a fleeting shift as a leader, quite surprising, and then further surprises

last week. So as he's passing advice to a future leader of Wandsworth Council, do you

think it's better to be a full -time or a part -time leader?

My core advice to the next leader is get the finances under control, get services back in order

and be honest with residents. The last four years was spent in a blizzard of spin and increasing

spend on comms that attracted unprecedented criticism from outside bodies including the UK

Statistics Authority about the honesty of the Council's communications. We need to

restore delivery, trust and integrity in the Council. I know the leadership will do that.

Second supplementary, Madam Mayor.

Second supplementary, yep.

Me.

Councillor Hampton. Oh, Councillor Mrs Hampton, thank you.

Yes, me. Yes, all that time commitment. A lot of time commitment. But I'd like to ask the leader

what good all this time commitment did,

and what outcomes we got.

Oh, apart from the insatiable desire

to spend taxpayers' money.

Well, I mean, to coin a phrase,

Councillor Hamilton is on the money.

We could see from the outside

what the previous cabinet was engaged in doing,

racking up the biggest budget gap in the council's history

since its creation in 1965 with overspends in nearly every single directorate, halving

the reserves that it inherited from the last Conservative administration, passing a budget

that would have bankrupted the council in a year and a half's time had we not implemented

the immediate measures that we had, earning an appalling C3 rating from the regulator

of social housing, and halving the rate of home building in our young borough.

Thank you, Councillor Richards -Jones. We now move on to question number five,

the current financial position to Councillor Wiles. Thank you.

Question five, the Leader of the Council. I thank Councillor Wiles for her question.

Can I congratulate her on her victory in St Mary's and her place here this evening?

Thank you.

I hope she finds her time here,

and I say this to all new colleagues,

as fulfilling and enriching as I have.

Her question relates to the leader's office.

The former leader spent one million pounds

of taxpayers' money on a new leader's office,

which was said to provide support to him

and his cabinet members,

but he never explained the rationale for this,

nor why it offered value for taxpayers' money.

In opposition, we were on the record for years

asking questions in committees, in council,

as to what the purpose of these structures were.

We never got an answer.

When we delved into it,

we found these were inappropriate appointments,

and also that they corrupted and scrambled

the lines of accountability in our directorates.

So one of the immediate actions that I took

was that I asked for these structures to be dismantled,

saving a million pounds a year

by the discontinuation of the leader's office,

and almost, well, £825 ,000 by the dismantling of the delivery unit,

which was set up inexplicably in an election year

during an 11th hour attempt to try and deliver some manifesto promises

that were outstanding from the previous administration.

This seems like a particularly egregious example of the use of money.

What was the change in the overall staffing numbers

of the last few years of administration and what did this achieve for residents?

Thank you, Councillor Wiles for her supplementary. Overall, over the past four years, headcount at

the Council had increased by some 13%, at a cost increase of 20%. To give some insight into where

the growth was, for example, the number of staff in the communications team had quadrupled in the

master of the administration. I think that speaks to the priorities of the previous administration.

Second supplementary. No. Okay. Thank you. Oh. Okay. Councillor Rigby. Thank you.

Yeah. Because I wanted to ask this before. How much did the big boards cost outside?

Just a rough guess. Because you were talking about propaganda and spend. So I just wondered

how much that would cost. Yeah.

My understanding is that incurred no external cost at all. But the deputy leader reminds

me that the cost of educating labour councillors is priceless.

Thank you, Councillor Richards -James. We're now moving on to question number six, which

is the cost of past by -elections. Councillor Grimston, thank you.

Thank you, yes, Councillor Sixx of the leader. I thank Councillor Grimston for his question.

I'm delighted to see him return to the chamber at the May elections as well. There have been

seven local council ward by -elections held

a result of councillor resignations since 2016,

including the forthcoming Trinity Ward by -election,

costing in total the council approximately 150 ,000 pounds.

In each case, the councillor has been elected as a Labour Party

councillor.

Supplementary Councillor Grimston, thank you.

Thank you, supplementary madam mayor.

I'd say I didn't ask this question as a specific party

political point, and certainly not

to make any criticism of any individuals involved.

But would the leader agree that following his own departure

there have been some, I think,

uncharacteristically unpleasant comments,

particularly from some of the local members of parliament

in which the suggestion has been

that the circumstances he's found himself in

are evidence of a lack of seriousness.

And I wonder whether he agree with me

that once the parties start throwing those sorts of things

at each other, it's quite easy to find information

going in the other direction.

And maybe we will be better, all of us, taking the assumption that we're all acting in good

faith and recognising that sometimes circumstances act against us.

Thank you.

Can I thank Councillor Grimston for those very kind words.

It was a difficult decision to step down as leader.

But as he says, life happens.

I'm very fortunate that we have a very talented group of Councillors of the Conservative group.

And the transition over the last two weeks has been seamless.

Services have continued for our residents.

And life will carry on.

When a councillor stands down and resigns only 44 or 45 days

after an election, there is a cost incurred to the taxpayer

of 25 ,000 pounds.

No cost is incurred through a change

in leadership in this group.

And can I just offer him two reflections on leadership?

Because leadership isn't just about, well,

it's not about egos.

And sometimes it involves not enjoying the spoils

of a recent election victory, but actually it's

about doing the hard yards in opposition.

And I will always be proud that as a team,

we return the ones of council to conservative control

at the first time of asking, after our first period

in opposition after 44 years.

Secondly, I want to say that leadership is not

about a single person, but it is about teamwork.

And my litmus test for teamwork and leadership

was always, did you build the right team around you? And did you create the conditions where

you mentored and you supported those coming up that would one day succeed you? It happened

before I would have liked it to, but I can say with total optimism and total confidence

that we have a fabulous cohort of counsellors on this side of the chamber, and I have nothing

but optimism for the next four years. Second supplementary.

Second self -adventure, Councillor Austin. Thank you very much madam mayor. I just wanted to

ask the leader of the council what excellent things are already starting in

the Trinity Ward for our local residents.

I thank Councillor Austin for his question. I know that Councillor Botting

has made an industrious and impressive start in only 76 days. Already she's got

to grips with longstanding traffic management

issues that were neglected under the previous administration.

She's gotten serious about enforcing weight restrictions

of vehicles on residential roads.

I know she takes community safety matters

extremely seriously.

She is a diligent attendee at Safer Neighbourhood panels.

And I know that she has informed our group's thinking

about community safety.

And also, she has responded in particular

to concerns about longstanding and problematic antisocial HMOs.

Thank you, Councillor Richards -Jones. The time for leaders' questions has now finished.

So on item 5, members, please raise your hand to indicate if you have a petition to hand

in. Once I have called your name, please announce the subject title of the petition and who

you are presenting it on behalf of. Please then come forward and hand your petition to Mrs Ritchie.

Are there any petitions? I will start with Councillor Akinola.

Thank you Madam Mayor and welcome to your first full council. I have a community

petition here signed by 179 community group leaders, many of which are here,

so I just want to say thank you so much for all the work that you do.

The petition is to request a revision to the cabinet

to include a cabinet member who is responsible to and accountable to the voluntary sector

and we request that the leader of the majority party looks into this immediately.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Acanola.

Councillor Austin. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. I've got

a petition here from 1 ,633 residents of West Putney and the Putney area protesting and

asking that the 33 -metre pool stays where it is and does not get reduced to 25 metres.

Councillor Yeats. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a petition

here from the Putney Vale Residents' Association in Roehampton requesting zebra crossings on

the large roundabout of the A3 by the Big Asda, which are really important as a safety

measures. Thank you.

Councillor Gasser. Yes, thank you. I have a petition signed by

734 residents calling on this council to urgently confirm that it will use the Labour Government's

crisis and resilience fund in place of the holiday school food vouchers. Cutting these

vouchers and not putting anything else in place leaves some of the borough's most vulnerable

children at risk of going hungry and it is vital that you do something urgently, urgently.

We have children and families going to the food banks right now hungry. You need to put

something in place now and for the future.

Councillor White, your petition, thank you.

I have an electronic petition from 523 sports people in Tooting who are pointing out that

the extremely limited provision of practise cricket nets facilities in Tooting are proposing

a new public cricket net facility in Tooting to address this clear gap in provision and

support grassroots sport in this borough.

Councillor Davis, Councillor Harris -Davis, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'm submitting a petition calling for Wandsworth Council political leadership to affirm the

commitment lined up and ready to go by the Labour administration to make significant

improvements urgently to the flats, heating system and communal areas at Elliott and Wentworth

courts in Mont Worth town.

Councillor Glynne.

Thank you, I'd like to submit a petition signed by 593 people to put on the record the strength

of feeling in the community that the park tavern pub in my ward should remain under

its current management.

Thank you Councillors. Item 6 is the report from the General Purposes Committee. I ask

We now move to speeches. Councillor Richard -Jones.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. The paper tonight from the General Purposes Committee contains

the first tranche of reforms to our council procedures from the first phase of the constitutional

review. When this administration took office, one of its first announcements was the constitutional

review. Its purpose is to make our proceedings in this town hall more open, transparent,

and effective. I want to say something about the background

that gave rise to this review. I think it's been long recognised that our procedures,

which have grown up over time through a combination

of stilted rules, ad hoc amendments,

precedents and practises that haven't been

intelligently designed are no longer fit for purpose.

Some of them are poorly understood,

some of them are cumbersome,

and it's widely regarded that they don't give rise

to free, spontaneous, and lively,

and real democratic exchange in this chamber.

I know that the Council of Belton, for example, has long asked that some radical rethink of

our procedures in this chamber take place.

Secondly, during the last four years, particular piecemeal changes were made to our procedures

which had the effect of curtailing the rights of individual councillors to raise matters,

and in particular the rights of minority councillors to raise matters on behalf of their residents.

Thirdly, when this administration took office,

it concluded with the independent member

a confidence and supply agreement.

And that agreement committed us to bring into effect

certain immediate remedies to the Constitution

to open up our procedures and make them more effective.

So tonight, we have a series of reforms

that were examined in detail

at the meeting of general purposes on Monday.

and these are for counsel's full consideration and approval.

They're the first stage, they examine our procedures

in this chamber this evening.

Subsequent phases of the constitutional review

will look at how our committees work

and look at how other aspects of our constitution work.

But broadly, what you have in front of you tonight

achieves several things.

First of all, they set out our procedures

in a logical order, in plain English,

and whether illegal or statutory provisions

that influence how we have to conduct our proceedings,

they are referenced in our rules

in one place for transparency.

Secondly, these changes enhance the role of all counsellors.

Rather than now having the whips as gateways

for who can speak, who can answer questions,

these rules permit any counsellor to enter the shuffle,

to put in questions or to participate on debates of substantive items at the Council.

Thirdly, they modernise our procedures.

They recognise the reality of everyday life for Councillors

and that includes introducing a facility for pairing

so that sometimes when personal circumstances mean that we can't attend the Chamber,

there's a facility for the groups to agree a pairing arrangement.

Fourthly, these changes provide for the first time,

This is a clear commitment I gave at the annual general meeting.

A right of attendance for the leader of the opposition to attend cabinet,

as well as the relevant opposition speaker,

where they can raise concerns with anything proposed by the administration.

If those concerns aren't met to their satisfaction in cabinet,

they can refer things to full council for debate.

Fifthly, they recognise the status of the task and finish groups.

There will now be a right of a chairman of a task and finish group

to present the findings of a report to full council

and to receive an answer from the cabinet member.

Sixthly, they abolish the guillotine in these meetings

so that individual members' contributions are not cut off.

Seventh, they remove the redundant role

of deputy cabinet members at a saving

to the taxpayer of 48 ,000 pounds a year.

Eighth, they restore meaningful pre -decision scrutiny

to the overview and scrutiny committees,

whilst at the same time retaining the work programmes

that were introduced under the previous administration.

Ninthly, they introduced proper cabinet member scrutiny,

not just at full council, but also at committee itself,

where the real detail of proposals can be investigated.

And finally, they introduced on a rolling basis,

written questions and answers to the cabinet members.

So cabinet members are accountable all year round,

not just during our meetings of full council.

Can I conclude, Madam Mayor,

by saying that the Constitution belongs to all of us.

It shouldn't be the preserve of the majority

or the minority party,

and it's right that the role of general purposes

to oversee and scrutinise constitutional changes

has been restored by this administration.

Purposefully, general purposes does not have

a conservative majority on it.

It's a cross -party endeavour.

It's right that these changes come to GP

before this chamber and I would commend that approach

to this chamber and that we can build

this new constitution together.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you, Councillor Richards -Jones.

I'd like now to call Councillor Osborne.

Thank you, Councillor Osborne.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Okay, let me acknowledge to begin with

that there has been a degree of cross -party cooperation

and consensus in this process,

both before and after May the 7th and the local elections.

There has been disagreement,

but there has been a degree of consensus,

in particular on the fact that the current arrangements

in this council are not 100 % fit for purpose,

but there are major disagreements on what we do about that.

And to refer specifically to the measures

that we've been faced with tonight.

There's been considerable discussion, that is true,

not as much as we would have liked to have got it

to this stage in the full council meeting.

But I think our main objection to what we're looking at is

that what we're faced with is actually a lot of minor elements

of tinkering with the process rather than dealing

with the fundamentals of what it is we have to do.

We seem to have been faced now with,

we're given a series of solutions,

in many cases to problems that nobody was ever aware of.

For example, we've got a long list of those,

but let me draw attention to one in particular,

which restricts councillors ability

to speak in debates at this council.

And it proposes that you can only speak in a debate,

Essentially, the first element of it is that you can only speak in a debate if you have

not previously spoken for two meetings beforehand.

So if you've spoken a couple of meetings down the line, now you can't speak.

So the mayor will have to keep track of who's spoken, who hasn't.

She may be advised by officers and has got to pick speakers from the floor of this chamber

dependent on whether they've spoken before.

Ah, but it gets more complicated.

There are exceptions to that.

The exceptions are, if it's the mover of the motion,

stroke the cabinet member in charge of that subject area.

That has now, I'm pleased to say, been amended

as a result of pressure from the opposition

to include opposition speakers.

So now the mayor and her advisors in the chair

have got to think, what is the role of this person

that I've got to either restrict or allow to speak.

Did they speak two months down the line

or two meetings down the line?

And so it goes on.

And what's this all for?

What is the problem that it's trying to resolve?

I asked in the General Purposes Committee meeting,

what are we trying to do here?

What are we trying to achieve?

And we were told that we were trying to move away

from a situation where two or three individuals

in this council dominate the procedures.

I was aghast.

the idea that a room full of 58 relatively articulate intellects,

relatively outgoing extrovert individuals are somehow dominated

by two or three of our number.

It is a ridiculous assertion.

Eventually, I worked out that what the problem actually is that some people

on the Conservatives benches, they like to jump in

and interject and interrupt when meetings are going on

because they are deluded and believe

they are one of the two or three that are allowed

to interject and dominate proceedings.

They know that and they probably realise

they're guilty of it and so they can't have

any kind of self -restraint.

So they've made a constitutional amendment

in order to get themselves under control.

The point is this.

Yes, there we are, Councillor Graham interjecting.

He's probably interjecting, Madam Mayor,

to say that he never interjects.

Madam Mayor, before I say I rest my case, what we are faced with with the items in this

paper are a series of measures that are a.

Unnecessary b.

Undemocratic and c.

Utterly unworkable.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Councillor Osborne. I'd like to now call Councillor Austin.

Thank you, Councillor Austin.

Sorry Madam Mayor, I think Councillor Mitten and I have swapped round.

Councillor Mitten, can I just remind everyone that this is Councillor Mitten's maiden speech,

So there'll be no interventions for this, Councillor.

Councillor Mission, congratulations on your maiden speech.

It's probably quite telling of the importance of the agenda this evening,

that I'm speaking for the first time whilst also doing my maiden speech.

So certainly a baptism of fire.

So, Madam Mayor, I hope you don't mind me indulging in it very briefly.

So firstly, I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my predecessor,

former Councillor Rosemary Burchell, who was a superb ward Councillor over eight

years and thanks to the previous Mayor, thanks to the previous Mayor to his

credit, she had the pleasure of being Deputy Mayor in her final year. I would

have found myself here much sooner if it were not for 94 residents cumulative

votes across a six -month period. If those had gone the other way, I could

potentially be standing here now as a three times elected

councillor with almost five years behind me.

Not that it still bothers me.

However, it is a real privilege to have

been elected to Wandsworth Council

as a councillor for the borough where

I've spent most of my London life and where I now call home.

Now, onto the matter in hand, the constitutional review

and the governance of this council.

I'd like to say I might know a little bit about governance considering it's

what I've dedicated my professional career to. Observing, advising and helping

firsthand all over the world and from all walks of life. Some of the best

public institutions and some of the most innovative and successful organisations.

One thing I have learned is there are a lot of similarities across governance.

scrutiny, challenge, debate, and the ability and want to take accountability.

All of this supports good governance.

Where have I seen things go wrong?

You can bet that those weren't in place.

So you can imagine my dismay as I observe from outside of this chamber over the last four years,

the Constitution and its mechanisms to keeping us all in cheque were ripped up.

To name just a few, scrapping all discussions without notice at council,

so councils could always pre -script their answers and never be called on to give their honest, off -the -cuff responses.

Scrapped the ability for the opposition to call committee meetings on urgent or important matters

and denying the opposition the statutory right to add items to the committee agenda and have them debated,

thus preventing opposition councillors raising important issues on behalf of residents.

Cutting the second supplementary, which the leader of the opposition could ask the council

leader, just to minimise exposure to difficult questions. Why do this? Was it generally thinking

it would be for the best, or was it just trying to hide from scrutiny and challenge in an

effort to centralise decision -making to a select few? Well, we made it very clear in

our time in opposition and in the lead -up to the election that we would immediately

look to bring back good levels of scrutiny, challenge and debate. We aren't afraid to

hide from accountability and answer questions about how we are running the Council. We welcome

debate and we welcome challenge. Just look at some of what we have proposed. Allowing

Councillors to individually enter questions and speaking slots, meaning this is no longer

in the hands of the Group Whips. Leader of the Opposition and Opposition Spokespersons

can attend cabinet for the first time in this council's history

and nominate issues to go to full council.

Oversight and scrutiny committees now get to debate decisions to be taken by this council.

And cabinet members will be properly scrutinised by oversight and scrutiny committees.

We could have left it as it was and given the opposition limited ability to challenge us,

that would have been easy.

But it also would have been wrong.

I did have to laugh at the hypocrisy of those saying that the ones with Tories were shutting

down scrutiny, particularly after the decisions taken by those in administration in the last

four years.

But we rise above it like we are rising to the challenges we have inherited at this Council,

and we will do it with the core principles of good governance back in place.

So if you welcome good governance and its many facets, you're back this motion this

evening.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Mitchell, and congratulations once again on your maiden speech. I now have

Councillor Rigby. Yes, thank you, Anna. Well done on your maiden speech, Tom. Okay, so

I do hope everyone has read every single bit of this. Standing Orders 29D and 30G, straight

out a squealer from Animal Farms' playbook. Sisters in Blue, we know that you've got to

vote for these two, and in solidarity we don't love it for you. You can blink if you hate

it too. We stand against this attempt to reduce opportunity for minorities to use their elected

platform and power. This is a white male solution to an imaginary issue, taken without listening

or valuing the opinions of women who know what being silent sounds like. Ultimately,

because you don't get it, you do not get what we were trying to say with it because you

listen. Ultimately, it will impact us all as we lose whatever diversity of voice we

have all worked hard to achieve. Thank you, Councillor Rigby. I think back

to Councillor Austin. Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. I do apologise

for the speech. I was actually given notice of this. I was speaking tonight at 4 .30 this

afternoon, but I very much hope that colleagues will at least admire its length, if nothing

else. When I was first elected as a counsellor, I have to admit that I thought the Constitution

was a very thick book that nobody ever read, apart from the monitoring officer who, as

counsellors, we give a headache about once every six weeks or so. And then I couldn't

be more wrong, I soon realised it was actually

one of the most important documents this council has.

It decides how we hold people to account

and how we represent our residents

and how this place works.

I found out during the campaign against the overdevelopment

of the Ashburton estate, one of the things

I learned in this chamber was that the best advice often

comes from colleagues who know the rules inside out.

During the Ashburton campaign, someone

pointed to me towards a constitutional provision

I would have never found on my own.

It enabled me to bring the issue to full counsel

and gave the residents another chance to be heard.

As far as I'm aware, the only other counsellor

in this chamber to have done this particular power

is Counsellor Belton.

And I think that was a fantastic safeguard that we have.

Sadly, it also seems that it reminded everybody else

that it existed because before long, by the next meeting,

it had disappeared from the Constitution altogether.

Now, I'm not saying this to open old arguments.

I'm saying it because it taught me something really important.

The Constitution isn't just a dusty rule book.

I'm saying it has real consequences.

It affects whether the residents get another chance to be heard.

It affects whether the counsellors can challenge

decisions.

And it affects whether this chamber has the tools

it needs to do the job. And that's why these changes matter. The report recognises that

Wandsworth is now a very different place politically. We have no overall control and our constitution

needs to reflect that by encouraging more openness, more scrutiny and a greater participation

from councillors across the chamber. I also think it is worth saying that these proposals

have actually been improved through debate. The general purposes committee didn't simply

nod everything through.

It made changes.

It kept cabinet members' questions,

brought back petitions to the start of the meetings,

strengthened scrutiny, and removed proposals

that members didn't think worked.

That's exactly how constitutional reform

should happen.

And I know there's one member of the chamber who's

going to be delighted by all those results,

and that's Councillor Dickerton.

More debate, more scrutiny, more opportunities to make speeches.

I imagine he read this report thinking all his Christmases

had come at once. I just hope that when Channel 4 inevitably gives him his own political documentary

...

Do you have personal information?

Go for it.

Yeah, so because I've been named, I thought it would be worth coming in because you guys

believe in scrutiny so much. The Ashburn is a really good example because we obviously

had, I think it was four or five personal questions on that. We had the meeting, we

had multiple consultations, we had the scrutiny committees which you guys have cancelled for

the last 76 days. So I'm just wondering if you care about scrutiny so much, why for 76

days have you been hiding in a dark room making decisions behind closed doors away from residents?

I'm not sure I personally have been hiding in a dark room.

So how was the decision on the Ashburton made if it wasn't made at a scrutiny committee?

It was made behind closed doors.

So, are we talking about...

It's not a Q &A.

I'm slightly confused by the Council.

Are we talking about the General Purpose Report

that this is on, or are we going back to the Ashburton debate?

Because I'm talking about this, not the Ashburton.

Tonight.

I'm using it as an example.

I thought I'd ask for that.

Councillor Oskar, can you continue the speech, please?

Thank you.

I'll move on from that.

Madam Mayor, constitutions should never

exist to protect administrations.

They should exist to protect democracy

and the residents that were elected.

And so I'm happy to support these proposals.

Thank you, Councillor Austin.

Can I call on Councillor Grimston?

Thank you, Councillor Grimston.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

It's actually rather inspiring.

It's 50 years in October since I matriculated to my college.

And to hear St Mary Magdalene referred to

as the patron saint of my college in that way

is actually a rather surprisingly touching way

of starting a new council year.

And I'd also like to welcome all new councillors,

but indeed all returning councillors.

We really do have a job of work in front of us.

I've been just coming up to 12 years now in opposition.

I've been in opposition longer than anybody in this chamber.

I'm by some way the least successful councillor

in this chamber at this moment.

But nonetheless, right the way through that time,

and indeed beforehand, I've been worried

at watching Wandsworth once a real flagship council

slipped increasingly into being backward looking and inward looking,

rather than outward looking and forward looking.

And I think the Constitution didn't help in that issue.

And the previous administration made some very good starts in terms of task and finish,

in terms of being more cross -cutting to try and escape the silo that approached us.

And there were so many moves there, but as Councillor Austin has said,

what we're debating tonight is not about how we discuss things in this chamber.

It's about why as a council our children's services failed and we were surprised at that.

Why our housing failed and we were surprised at that.

Two major services failing under each administration and we didn't see them coming at all and everybody

was surprised.

And that's where a failure to be out there seeing what's going on and having a constitution

that values what all of us as ward members discover in our everyday life is so important,

something which in my mind has been missing in this council for many years.

But something I think it's fair to say had gone wrong.

The level of poor dysfunctional relations between the two groups leading up to the last

election I think was extremely disappointing.

It was reflected in walkouts.

It was reflected in gradually chipping away at the right of councillors like myself to

contribute to debates.

It was the misuse of standing orders, the misuse of points of order.

And it doesn't matter what your constitution is, seems to me.

If relations between the groups are such that they don't want it to work, then it won't work.

I don't think it reached that stage, and I've seen far worse out there,

but I think we were heading in that direction.

I don't think it was any fun for officers.

I don't think it was any fun for any members of the public who'd have been watching it.

And actually it wasn't even any fun for us.

I think we were, from talking to counsellors from all sides,

increasingly there was a sense

that this was just an institutional thing.

We ended up behaving in ways that we didn't want to behave,

and the people who ultimately suffer

are the residents of this borough there.

And so I found myself in a peculiar,

for the first time in ages actually,

people had to listen to me for a short period of time,

and I tried to use that in a way of trying to move forward

on some of these issues to come up with a constitution

which balance this extraordinary tension

between on the one hand recognising

that we are in no overall control

and the dynamics are different

from what they've ever been in Wandsworth,

but also recognising that the administration

needs to have the confidence

and people need to have confidence in the administration

that they're going to be able to take decisions

without those decisions being reversed.

And the way through the Confidence and Supply motion

we move for the first time,

we do have chairs of committees being chaired

by members of the opposition.

And this is something which I'd like to see us carry forward.

We have the balanced general purposes committee

as the leader was saying,

which I think has been moved very much

in the right direction.

I actually thought the meeting on which we're discussing

was actually very encouraging.

There was a lot of debate.

My favourite vote in it was the one where the leader

of the council and the two labour councillors voted one way

and Councillor Graham and I voted the other.

Now that seems to me like a reasonable amount of evidence

that people were not going in there with rigid party views

and trying to do that.

And that was encouraging.

And many of the tributes, for example,

from the opposition to Councillor Richard tonight,

Richard Jones tonight, I think are extremely encouraging.

Someone in a far more exalted situation

once said that they had a dream to slightly alter that.

I've got a dream that one day members of this chamber

will be judged on the content of our speeches,

not the colour of our rosettes. We as a group of 58 people, the 58 people who were elected

just a few weeks ago, we have all served a political apprenticeship, we all got selected

for our, to fight our seats, easier in my case than in your case, but we all had to

do that. We all went out there, persuaded people to vote for us. As a group of people,

we as 58 people, we have more in common than any other 58 people in Wandsworth. And I hope

that will remain top of our views, top of our minds, right the way through the next

four years. Debate policy vigorously, that's what we're here for. But if we can do it without

some of the personal angle which crept in towards the last election, getting in the

way of that and actually ultimately blunting the positive effect we can have for our residents,

then I think in four years' time it's far more likely that each of us will go, whether

we're standing again or not, will go feeling that that was four years of our life well

spent.

Thank You councillor Grinsden

councillor Richards James to reply

Thank You madam. I'd like to reply briefly to just

One or two of the points that have been raised in the in the debate tonight

And first of all, I'd like to once again put my thanks on the record for those who participated in the GP meeting on Monday

It was I thought a really valuable debate and in particular to Councillors apps and councillor Osborne

And we ventilated a lot of issues

across a lot of the rules.

In many instances, we moved amendments

which were acceptable to the opposition.

And we came out at a better place, actually.

And the result of that is that tonight, only one

area of disagreement has actually

been voiced by the opposition, which relates to 29D and 30G.

And I'll get onto that in a moment.

And there is a real misunderstanding here.

But just taking a step back, we want

to expand the sum of voices involved in this process.

That's why we restored the ability

of the General Purposes Committee

to debate constitutional matters.

Cast your mind back, two or three years ago,

under the Labour Administration,

constitutional amendments never went to any committee.

They emanated straight from the Leader's Office to council

without any debate, any line -by -line scrutiny at all.

We've reversed that position, and in doing so,

we've brought in other views and voices to that process.

and I think that's a very good thing.

On the specific proposal to restrict

counsellor participations to one in every three meetings

to items for decision, I think this has been misunderstood

because the whole purpose of it is to increase

the diversity of views and contributions on those items.

First of all, it doesn't apply to group motions.

So groups are still free to put up the same old voices

that they want to time after time if that's their decision.

But what they can't do is do the same thing

on debates on items for decision, which also previously under the old regime weren't even

debated in these chambers. It also means that under the new regime in these rules, where

the whips aren't the gatekeepers in terms of who asks questions, in terms of who makes

contributions on discussions about decisions, that takes place in the shuffle. This rule

is also an important safeguard in the shuffle because what we don't want to happen is that

Either somebody freakishly comes top of the shuffle

three or four meetings in a row, that wouldn't be fair,

nor that there are unallocated places after the shuffle,

and then those go to the same person

time and time and time again.

This is a necessary safeguard in the wider scheme

of the rules to promote diversity of opinion,

to promote contributions across the chamber,

and I really do commend it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Richard Jones. Are the recommendations of the General Purposes Committee

approved. All agreed? No. All those in favour? All those against?

Next.

26.

Okay.

Any abstentions?

Thank you.

The results are votes in favour.

Okay, thank you.

Votes in favour?

28.

Votes against?

26.

Zero abstentions.

The motion is therefore carried.

Thank you.

Is it 29?

I was right the first time and I don't think...

Sorry, I repeat.

that the result is 29 votes in favour, 26 against,

with zero abstentions.

The motion is therefore carried.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillors.

Item seven is the appointment of the Chief Executive.

The Councillors invited to appoint Ms. Anna Popovici

as Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service of the London

of Wandsworth as a joint appointment

with the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

The London Borough of Richmond

confirmed Miss Popovici's appointment

at their meeting on the 14th of July recently.

Miss Popovici's appointment takes effect

from the 25th of July, 2026.

Subject to that, Miss Anna Popovici is also recommended

to be appointed as returning officer

and electoral registration officer

for the London Borough of Wandsworth.

Is that agreed?

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Anna Popovici as our new Chief Executive.

Anna brings a wealth of experience, fresh perspectives and a strong commitment to public

service.

I look forward to working together as we all continue to deliver for our residents and

pursue our ambitions for the future

with confidence and purpose, thank you.

Item eight is election of the leader of the council.

Following the resignation of leadership

of Councillor Richard Jones,

who was elected at the annual council meeting in May,

the council is asked to elect a new leader.

Do I have a mover for election of a leader?

Moved.

Who are you moving? Sorry, Madam Mayor, I'm moving Councillor Robert Morritt.

Do I have a seconder? I'm seconding Councillor Robert Morritt.

Thank you. Are there any other nominations?

I'm nominating Councillor Simon Hogg. Seconded?

Seconded. I'm seconding Councillor Hogg.

Seconding Councillor Hogg. Thank you.

Members, we have two nominations for leader of the Council.

We will therefore take Councillor Hogg's nomination as an amendment to the motion to the nomination

to elect Councillor Moritz.

All those in favour of Councillor Hogg?

26.

All those against?

29.

Any abstentions?

Madam Mayor, can I request a division please?

I call on the Chief Executive to take a recorded vote.

Thank you.

I call on the Chief Executive to call a recorded vote.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So this is a vote on the amendment to the election of leader.

So this is a vote for Councillor Hogg to be leader of the council.

I'm going to call the name of each member present in turn.

Please say whether you are for or against that motion or whether you abstain.

Councillor Armant.

Councillor Akinola.

For.

Councillor Aps.

For.

4. Councillor Austin. Against.

Councillor Barron. Against.

Councillor Belton. For.

Councillor Boswell. For.

Councillor Botting. Against.

Councillor Brooks. Yes.

Councillor Cook. For.

Councillor Cooper. For.

4. Councillor Corner.

Councillor Craig.

Councillor Critchard.

Councillor Crivelli.

Councillor C Davies.

Councillor S Davies.

Councillor de la Sejour.

against

Councillor Dickerton

for

Councillor Dubé

against

Councillor Fisher

against

Councillor Gasser

for

Councillor Gussain

against

Councillor Glynn

for

Councillor Govindia

for

Councillor A Graham

against

Councillor P Graham

against

Against.

Councillor Grimston.

Against.

Councillor Hamilton.

Yes.

Councillor Hampton.

Yes.

Councillor Hedges.

Against.

Councillor Henderson.

For.

Councillor Hogg.

For.

Councillor Hopkins.

For.

Councillor Humphreys.

Councillor Illyf.

Another way.

Councillor Ireland.

4. Councillor Lawless

4. Councillor Lewis

4. Councillor Morritt

Against. Councillor Mertass

Against. Councillor Mitten

Councillor Osborne 4.

Councillor Owens Against.

Councillor Paul 4.

Councillor Pridham. Against.

Councillor Richard Jones. Against.

Councillor Rigby. For.

Councillor Simos. For.

Councillor Stock. Councillor Sweet. Against.

Councillor Tiller. For.

Councillor White. For.

14.

Declaring the result, 30 against, 26 for the amendment and zero abstained.

so therefore the amendment therefore falls.

We will now take a vote on the nomination

to elect Councillor Moritz as leader of the council.

All those in favour?

Yeah, can we do a recorded vote for this one as well?

Okay. Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, don't worry, they're here.

Chill.

Okay, I will ask the chief executive

to conduct the recorded vote.

Okay, so we're now going to do a recorded vote in respect of the proposal to elect Councillor

Morritt as leader.

Councillor Ahmad.

Yes, I vote.

Councillor?

Thank you.

Councillor Aquinola.

Against.

Councillor Apps.

Against.

Councillor Steven Austin.

For.

Councillor Barron.

For.

Councillor Belton.

Against.

Councillor Boswell.

Against.

Councillor B Including.

For.

Councillor Brooks.

For.

Councillor Cook.

Against.

Councillor Cooper.

Councillor Kourner

Councillor Craig

Councillor Critchard

Councillor Crivelli

for Councillor C Davis Councillor S Davis

sorry can Councillor Cook turn the microphone Councillor de la Sejour

for Councillor Dickerton

Councillor Dubé for Councillor Fisher for

Councillor Gasser.

Against.

Councillor Gussain.

Councillor Glynn.

Against.

Councillor Govindia.

For.

Councillor A Graham.

For.

Councillor P Graham.

For.

Councillor Grimston.

For.

Councillor Hamilton.

For.

Councillor Hampton.

For.

Councillor Hedges.

Councillor Henderson.

Against.

Councillor Hogg.

Against.

Councillor Hopkins.

Against.

Councillor Humphreys.

For.

Councillor Illyf.

For.

Councillor Ireland.

Against.

Councillor Lawless.

Against.

Councillor Lewis.

Against.

Councillor Morritt.

For.

Councillor Murtaz.

For.

4. Councillor Mitten.

Councillor Osborne.

Against.

Councillor Owens.

For.

Councillor Paul.

Against.

Councillor Pridham.

Councillor Richards -Jones.

For.

Councillor Rigby.

Against.

Councillor Simoes.

Against.

against

Councillor Stock

Councillor Sweet

Councillor Tiller

against

Councillor White

against

Councillor Wiles

for

Councillor Worrall

against

Councillor Yates

against

Thank you.

The result of the vote, we have 430 against 26, zero abstentions.

So it's carried.

Councillor Moritz is duly elected as leader of the London Borough of

Wandsworth.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillors. Item 9 is the statement on the spending review in accordance with

the procedure rules on statements which have been agreed. Before we begin this item, I

will briefly explain the procedure. The cabinet member will first make the statement. There

There is no time limit for that statement.

The leader of the opposition will then have an opportunity

to respond and may speak for the same length of time.

Following that, the original speaker may exercise

a right of reply of up to five minutes.

The meeting will then move to questions from councillors.

Questions and answers should each be brief

and should not exceed one minute.

Councillors wishing to ask a question should stand

if they are able to indicate this.

Those who cannot stand should raise their hands.

I will call speakers at my discretion.

Each councillor may ask one question only,

and once a question has been asked,

they will not be called again during this item.

I will seek to alternate between members of the administration

and other councillors when calling questions.

I will also indicate when I am taking the final question.

Once I am satisfied, there are no further questions

a procedural motion may be moved, if appropriate, to commend the statement to the Council. The

motion needs not to be seconded. Any such motion will be put directly to the vote without

debate. I now invite the cabinet member for Finance

to speak. Thank you, Madam Mayor. This administration

inherited the largest government cuts, the largest projected overspending, and the largest

predicted project gap in Wandsworth's history.

We announced a spending review to take the difficult choices

that are necessary to fix this financial crisis.

It was my intention this evening to not only set up

the scale of a challenge, but to underline exactly

how that challenge would be met.

Unfortunately, I cannot do that because the deputy leader

of the opposition chose to resign as a counsellor.

As a direct result of her resignation,

From midnight tonight. This council will be under perder restrictions and legally will be unable to communicate any intended

decisions to residents

Residents need to understand how they might be affected by some of the difficult choices under consideration

It would be wrong to outline potential decisions on those matters when we are legally prevented from communicating them

Therefore I am presenting the initial outcomes of the spending review tonight

We will return with the final outcomes in September

ahead of the MTFS process and the first committee cycle.

We will also take the opportunity of this additional time

to further evaluate some of the options available

over the next month.

Madame Mayor, since the change of administration in 1978,

Wandsworth has been famous for low tax

and from its introduction, low council tax.

The current government, however, regards that as a problem,

not as a positive.

Our tax apparently equates to a subsidy, not the reward

for earlier decades of good management.

As a result, our funding has been slashed by 40%.

With just five other councils, we have been granted the power

to increase council tax by an unlimited amount in each

of the next two years.

On the plans that we inherited, if we did nothing else

to balance the books, the Council's share

of Council tax would have to increase by more than 230%.

We will not do nothing.

Instead, we will find savings, identify efficiencies,

cut waste, and do everything possible

to limit the impact on residents' bills.

At the same time, we will protect the services

that matter most to residents and meet our manifesto promises.

And that manifesto had four central pledges.

The first was fixing the town hall financial crisis.

The second was prioritising the basics, the core services

that people rely on, like weekly bin collections.

The third was funding more police officers.

And the fourth was a fairer deal on housing.

When the spending review process concludes,

we will achieve all four.

The document we have produced tonight,

which members have circulated and is on the table,

sets out the financial context and the situation

that we inherited from the opposition.

I hope all members will read it.

It explains that the 84 million pound reduction

in government funding has been compounded by overspending

and an underlying and widening gap of the opposition's own making.

Last year, the budget was only balanced on £15 million from reserves.

That figure has risen substantially this year, and indeed, on taking office, we discovered

a further £2 million overspend again out of reserves, funded from reserves.

So if we do nothing, our reserves will run out inside two years.

I would also note that it's not just the revenue situation that we have an issue with.

We've inherited a capital programme that would involve the council incurring a total debt

over the next years of £1 .14 billion.

The risk associated with that debt in a situation where we now have rising interest rates is

set out in the document and shows that a 1 % increase on a debt of that scale would come

at a £255 million cost on general revenue budgets.

Madam Mayor, since 2022, General Fund expenditure has grown by £188 million.

The demand pressures continue to grow as set out in this document.

We have talked, and indeed we have been criticised for talking about a budget gap of £137 million,

but that gap is not a fixed gap.

It is continued to rise each year.

and because the opposition's budget figures

from which that 137 million pound figure is derived

assume tax rises of 5 % each year,

the actual situation that we face is more severe.

In that context, one would normally assume

that any administration would go all out

to avoid a cut of 40 % from the government

and be honest with the borough's residents

about the situation they faced.

The last administration refused to make any public campaign

for a better deal for Wandsworth,

either before or after the settlement was announced

in December 2025.

They refused to admit that any financial crisis had resulted.

However, we have since learned

that instead of lobbying the government themselves,

the leader's office employed an actor,

which was described by the Times

as the first Starmarite lobbying firm

on a retainer worth 10 ,000 pounds a month plus VAT.

Over seven months, an actor appears

to have produced no material at all

other than a generic and nonspecific proposal document.

They arranged one meeting with the government minister

who was almost immediately sacked

in Starmar's reshuffle last autumn,

so that can't be achieved very much.

And worse, the situation was only discovered

after an FOI request that an actor was employed

without due process and no contract existed.

At that point, an actor had been getting council taxpayers' money

for three months after the funding settlement had

been announced.

No contract, no work plan, no discernible output,

and an FOI request that wasn't answered

for another seven months, long after the legal deadline.

Madam Mayor, the opposition spent 84 ,000 pounds

of local taxpayers' money getting other labour people

to lobby the labour government,

and the only output was the worst cash settlement

for any council in the country.

It is a joke, but it is one that is sadly

at local taxpayers' expense.

Nor is that the only example of waste

that we have discovered.

It was known that the leader had created a leader's office.

At the time he set it up, it was to have four task staff.

By the time he finished, it had six full -time staff,

and he had also set up a delivery unit alongside it.

That delivery unit, in addition to his leader's office,

cost another 825 ,000 pounds.

By removing those costs, we are saving taxpayers

well over a million pounds a year.

There was another concern that was raised with us,

that when we in opposition talked

about that leader's office, that it would be mistaken

for fixtures and fittings.

Well, it was a surprise to discover, again, in May,

that the leader has not one physical office, but two,

having refurbished the fifth floor extension and to fit

out costs for the second leader's office

within the town hall extension cost taxpayers 25 ,000 pounds.

We believe that we need to go further and better on savings

and we believe that the situation we have inherited

will allow us to do so.

We did discover and had a transformation programme, which

which, again, the opposition has claimed would save £45 million.

Those are targets.

The savings delivered before May were identified with £7 million only.

And £1 .5 million are spent on consultants to get even to that point.

Now, some of the diagnostic work surrounding that programme has been valuable,

but the targets are just that, targets.

the hard work has yet to be done to achieve efficiencies.

So we cannot rely upon that 45 million pound figure

at this stage.

Therefore, we have set out in the document

the new baseline figures to which the council

needs to close the gap.

In 2027 -28, that is a budget gap of 96 million pounds.

In 28 -29, 145 million pounds.

in 2029 -30, £168 million,

and in 2030 -31,

the year for which the last budget set in this term will cover,

that that gap rises to £184 million.

That is the scale of a challenge that was left behind.

I now turn to some initial outcomes of the spending review,

noting that these are intentions and not decisions.

Decisions will follow in normal governance procedures

and indeed, as we have set out tonight,

enhanced procedures which allow for the opposition

to participate and scrutinise effectively.

Madame Mayor, the first decision that I will relate

is not a particularly large one, but it is a symbolic one.

We have heard repeatedly from the opposition

that there was no cost to their new council logo.

I can explain to the council tonight

that that was not the case.

The new external signage around the town hall

cost 11 ,324 pounds.

The refurbishment at the reception,

including new uniforms, cost an additional 10 ,569 pounds.

Every welcome to Wandsworth sign,

and the existing welcome to Wandsworth signs

were perfectly serviceable, cost 921 pounds.

There are 30 across the borough.

Each new sign on estates cost 1 ,535 each.

The new external signage at libraries

was an average of 900 pounds per sign.

Ledger Centre signage was considerably less.

I don't know what they did to lose out.

Just 150 pounds per sign.

And before any of that was spent,

the council also paid for two focus groups

on their new W design.

This is what the focus group report found.

On the colours that they were shown,

green and purple received the most positive feedback.

So naturally, the opposition went with pink.

The report says there was general confusion

about the logo shape and what it represents.

So the focus groups were given three options for the shape,

two of which got some support.

Naturally, the opposition picked the option that no one liked.

Comments from their focus groups included,

It's a weird shape W and it's not that appealing to look at about the kindness

Anyone got the same the concept had a punky vibe, which I personally wouldn't regard as a compliment

madam mayor

Unlike the opposition we will listen to residents

Rather than spending money on a new logo or restoring the power station logo

Which they had their own reasons for disliking the council will simply revert to the boroughs coat of arms with its history and its motto

we serve. Unlike the opposition, we are not going to replace perfectly good signs,

whether those are signs with the W or with the power station. Natural wastage

will take its own course on that signage. Nor, Madam Mayor, are we going to move

out of the Town Hall. It was a beyond the surprise to discover on taking office

that there were plans first to move to the Council's offices and

and offices within the town hall to the Winstanley Estate.

And then, when those were abandoned,

to move to rented offices in nine -ounce.

The council owns the town hall.

It pays no rent for using it.

The option pursued was to pay rent

while leaving the town hall a listed building

as a white elephant.

The last administration employed an office headhunter

in order to attempt to secure this office block.

And we have now discovered

that the contractual arrangements they entered into

mean that not moving to the offices in 9 Elms

will cost taxpayers 240 ,000 pounds

on aborting that office headhunters contract.

This administration will refurbish the town hall

in order to boost Wandsworth town centre.

We will restore civic pride, have a proper town centre strategy

and get staff back to high quality accommodation on this estate

for the majority of the week.

Madam Mayor, we have heard also about the voluntary sector.

I want to reiterate that we value the voluntary sector.

The voluntary sector can, must and will continue to be valued part of this.

We are reviewing the situations we have inherited

and have made no decisions at this stage, and an update

on the Wandsworth Grant Fund, which has been paused,

will be made and come forward in September.

The government has changed the arrangements

by which we receive money, particularly money

that was supporting the previous administration's cost

of living proposals.

The Household Support Fund will end, is ending,

and the Labour government has created a new crisis

and resilience fund.

We will bring spending on those areas

within the government's funding and within its rules.

And I would note, given the petition handed in tonight,

that it is the Labour government that has created a rule

that you cannot use the crisis and resilience fund

to fund free school mill vouchers during holidays

in the way that the previous government allowed

the Household Support Fund to be used.

So I suggest that the opposition spend some time

lobbying its own government,

or possibly even its members of parliament,

rather than sending petitions to us.

The cost of living programme, as I said,

will mostly be brought within the crisis

and resilience envelope,

and a cabinet paper is setting out those changes.

And for the first time, as we noted,

the leader of the opposition

and the opposition speaker for finance

will be able to attend the cabinet

and ask questions and raise concerns.

To Councillor Hogg's point earlier,

London living wage supplements are not being ended,

they are being put into regular based budgets

and indeed across the reserve funds that they establish,

we are returning the balances to reserves

and bringing all data spending directly

into normal revenue budgets.

I wish to talk about two areas simply

because the opposition has been raising them.

And those are Access for All and Borough of Sanctuary.

Regarding Access for All,

we are designing a new concession scheme.

That is, work is not yet complete

and that scheme will be brought forward in September.

However, we will note that there are some significant issues

with the way in which Access4All has been operating.

Not only do you see some of the examples

which have been aired of 40 pound tickets

to events on commons being subsidised

at a rate of 38 pounds out of the 40 pounds,

but there are also further issues

about the discriminatory effect, in some cases,

of the Access4All arrangements.

I've heard for many years those on that side of the chamber

complain about poor doors in housing developments.

It is somewhat ironic that they introduced poor lanes

in this borough's swimming pools.

We believe that there is a better way

to achieve a concessionary scheme in the way

that this borough has always had a concessionary scheme,

and we will bring that forward.

Regarding the borough's sanctuary,

this borough has a proud history of welcoming refugees.

We heard earlier about the Huguenots many years ago,

many centuries ago, but that tradition continues

right up to recent arrivals from Ukraine.

We will continue to have a generous and supportive policy,

but we think there is a better way forward

than the politicised scheme

to which the previous administration had signed up.

So we will end that particular programme and accreditation

and bring forward further information

on how we will support refugees in September.

Another area which has been raised repeatedly

by the opposition is the Thousand Homes Programme.

So, we made a very clear manifesto policy

to end the schemes on the Ashburton Estate and the Tower

on the Lennox Estate because they were unpopular and opposed

by the existing tenants and residents of those estates.

That is an intention that we will deliver.

those two schemes will be ended.

However, there are another three schemes that will be removed,

not for political reasons, but because officers have advised

that they are unviable for technical reasons.

Those include Tyneham Close, those three are Tyneham Close,

Lavender Hill, and the Fitzhugh Estate,

where the issue is utilities and a gas main,

which means that the 800 ,000 pounds

that the last administration spent on consultants

developing plans for a tower block cannot proceed.

Other schemes will proceed but are subject to further review

and we will confirm the position on those in September.

Dropping those five schemes will avoid 77 million

of future HRA borrowing saving 5 million pounds a year

in the revenue cost of serving servicing that debt.

Madam Mayor, we will also bring forward,

are bringing forward plans to reduce the extreme increase in cost of temporary accommodation

on the General Fund. And we will do so by following the example of other councils in London

and indeed Labour councils in London. And I would note that for many years there was

an annual outcry from the opposition at Christmas about the number of families in temporary

accommodation in this borough, a situation which

they described as a disgrace and pledged to end.

However, they inherited households

in temporary accommodation of 3 ,375.

They have left us over 5 ,000.

We have no doubt that we can both bring that bill down

and put people into more suitable accommodation that

is better fitted to their needs and long term

rather than temporary.

and we are targeting reductions of 20 million

on the general fund from that work.

Madam Mayor, I'll also briefly talk

about estate regenerations, as that is another area

which has come up for comment.

We make no comments or announcements at this stage

on the Winstanley and York Road development.

We are reviewing a situation we inherited.

We inherited a situation in which a joint venture

was cancelled, money running into tens of millions

was paid out as a result of that,

and the situation there has now stalled.

We will attempt to get that going again

for the benefit of those residents on the Winstanley

who deserve better housing.

The Orton Estate likewise deserves better housing,

and there was a plan in place to give them better housing,

which again, the opposition cancelled,

And again, that has led to delays in those residents

receiving better accommodation.

We are reviewing the overall scheme in the autumn,

noting the results of the ballot that took place there.

But we have already begun the work

to demolish the existing site of Block A,

and we can confirm that we will bring forward

a new proposal for Block A to give residents on that

the state, the staff of the regeneration

that they need and deserve.

Another item that has been raised

and which I will tick off the list for Councillor Hogg

is the youth bus.

That is a bus that costs some 90 ,000 pounds a year

to drive around offering the same service as youth centres.

We will save that money,

transfer the equipment on that bus into a youth centre

and proceed accordingly.

Madam Mayor, there are other areas,

wider areas which as a result of the pervert kicks

in tonight we cannot discuss.

But I will set out why we believe that significant reductions

in spending can be made which will reduce the balance

that would have to be made

up by council tax increases otherwise.

One of those relates to staffing.

The council's functions

and what is delivering have not significantly increased

over the past four years,

but the council's payroll has grown in 13 %

in terms of head count and 20 % in terms of cost.

A communications office that had four people in it in 2022

now has 16 staff.

We value the council's offices and the work they do.

I am not here to propose a mass redundancy programme

or anything of that kind, but over this council term,

we can transition to a more efficient model

within the town hall and within the services we deliver.

There is another reason to think savings can be found.

Within that communications area, the cost of mail shots

and mail drops, additional to the usual level of spend,

and so beyond Brightside, Council Tax Books and so on,

over the period running up to the election

was 219 ,000 pounds a year.

I personally, as someone owning a flat,

received a letter from the Council

setting out my rights under the Renters' Rights Act.

Entirely unnecessary, erroneously delivered,

and wasteful spending that was designed primarily

to promote the last administration and not to communicate effectively with residents.

These are good reasons why we think further savings can be found.

And I would like to just provide some particular examples.

The tote bags that the opposition produced cost £6 ,925.

25 pounds they spent seven thousand seven hundred and ninety pounds on water bottles branded water bottles

1760 pounds on baseball caps

1575 pounds on umbrellas an astonishing eight thousand three hundred and thirty nine pounds on t -shirts

some of which I understand is still in boxes and in storage and

and presumably they only spent another 890 pounds on mugs

because we'd all been made one already.

Madam Mayor, there are only a few items left

and I don't wish to detain us for long

given that we cannot deliver the spending review

in full as we planned.

However, some of us will remember

the secret asset strategy that emerged

under the last council,

and in particular remember the disgraceful way

in which Bradstow School in Kent was targeted and closed

in a manipulated fashion after it had been

in that asset strategy and when the opposition denied

that that was their intention.

Unfortunately, that site is now sitting empty

and the maintenance of that site is costing

this council money every month.

For that reason, and with regret,

we will dispose of the Bradstow School site.

I turn finally to two areas which were within our manifesto promises and on which we intend

to deliver.

The first is street cleaning, and we will set out proposals in September for improved

pressure washing, graffiti removal, and additional spending in those areas because we believe

that the streets of this borough deserve to be better maintained and the residents of

this borough deserve a cleaner environment.

The second is police officers.

It was curious under the last administration

that they were very keen on spending money

on community support officers and paid no attention

to what some of their labour neighbours were doing,

in particular Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster.

In Westminster, the council has directly employed

nine additional police officers and boosted its community support scene.

Those officers are under the direct control of that community safety team.

They are under a council direction and are additional to the base level of support

that the Metropolitan Police provides to Westminster.

We intend to follow that model and we intend to negotiate with the Metropolitan Police

a similar arrangement.

On arriving in office, we've thought that that would take

some time potentially to achieve.

There is, in fact, a model which is effectively off the shelf,

which we can pursue, and therefore,

this can be done more quickly.

We therefore intend to bring forward those plans

and hope to start employing police officers

within this financial year,

which we'll be able to fund from adjustments

to the NSL capital programme.

And I can confirm that the number of police officers

that we are targeting in this borough is 24.

24 additional police officers.

our streets and residents safe.

Madam Mayor, this initial report sets out the challenge.

It is a challenge to which we will rise,

turning from a policy of denial to a policy of honesty,

from inaction to action, from deficits and implied bankruptcy

to financial stability, from waste to value for money,

and remembering above all that we serve.

Thank you Councillor Peter Graham. I now invite the Leader of the Opposition to reply. You

have, looking at the clock, 28 minutes. Thank you Councillor Hough.

Thank you Madam Mayor. I won't take that long but I have to say that is one of the most

disappointing statements that I've heard delivered in this chamber and not just

because it was very very long it's because it makes plainly misleading

statements about the council's finances makes clear how unprepared you were to

run the council you've made no progress at all about this challenge because the

plans were sprung on us with no notice or consultation this this document

appeared about 10 minutes before the meeting but most of all because it

cruelly makes clear that the most vulnerable will pay for the ones worth

Tory chaos. It was just a relentlessly negative vision and I'll say more about

each of those points and then address the specific proposals. I have been

told that I can speak for as long as Councillor Graham but I don't think

anyone should have that ambition in their life.

We do face a financial challenge,

and it needs a serious response that the public

and all our councillors can get behind.

Wandsworth begins in a strong position to face the future,

however difficult weather is approaching.

And you can't get away from those two facts,

that's the starting point, and I don't think we need

to argue too far either way on those.

The government is reducing funding to some London boroughs including Wandsworth and these changes have been phased in over the next three years

And they will have a major impact on the council's finances

Wandsworth Labour set balanced budgets and kept council tax low when we ran the council and we had solid plans to do so again in line

With our values we would have covered the loss of government income to greater efficiency more growth smart partnerships and

prudent use of reserves.

The Conservatives are wrong to try to take

this austerity approach, cutting frontline services,

cancelling investment, firing staff,

and putting up council tax.

Although I noticed among many other dropped proposals,

there was a deafening silence on the announcement

that we'd been promised about council tax plans.

I think someone was slightly mugged

on the way to the chamber and maybe that by -election

has a little bit more to do with it than Councillor Graham was letting on.

There are sensible proposals in Councillor Graham's document and in his speech.

We will of course work together on these. It's very sensible to look at value for money.

We have to look at demand management and of course we have to try and protect

those absolutely crucial frontline services.

Any administration would look at those and indeed what he spent a lot of time describing

is eerily similar, including many of the charts and the data, to the work that was going on in

the Town Hall. But first we must tackle some of the misleading statements here, outside,

and in the new issue of bright side, or doom side, as many residents have started calling it.

It's midnight in the brighter borough, is the new headline. The ones where Tories are trying to scare

residents with a narrative that this council is in bad financial shape with vast debts. This is

Nonsense and they know it they want to create an austerity mindset so they can cut social programmes and sell off council housing

like always

This won't work

Because residents know smart financial management was at the heart of everything Wandsworth labour did our record speaks for itself

Our focus on value for money allowed us to deliver the lowest council tax in the country while correcting

decades of Tory

underinvestment and creating a fairer Wandsworth.

So we listened in silence to the contribution

from the deputy leader.

I don't think it's appropriate to try and shout down

the opposition as they respond

at about a quarter of the length.

Labour's focus on growth, transformation, and efficiency

would have continued to deliver those balanced budgets.

Sound financial management let us freeze the main element

of your council tax and invest in what matters. Three quick things. Number one, 25 % improvement

in your recycling rate. Every household, thanks to Labour, now gets two free bulky waste collections

a year, more free mega skip days and guaranteed weekly bin collections. Two, we've got new rapid

response CCTV cars, increased street lighting, doubled support for victims of domestic abuse,

and more community safety officers, keeping Wandsworth the safest in a London borough.

And three, our best ever air quality, record investment in parks and green spaces,

and a thousand trees planted every year.

And all of that progress is now at risk from the negativity opposite.

So how did we do it? Well we did it with a full -time cabinet that met every week,

and with close working with our excellent officers.

We made every pound work harder.

14 million pounds saved through efficiencies,

service redesign and improved contracts.

10 million pounds saved every year

through the Better Services Partnership.

30 million saved through smarter,

long -term service contracts.

11 million pounds saved through that improved recycling.

We stood up to powerful interests.

We collected fully 230 million pounds

from property developers and crucially unlocked that money.

So it wasn't just going to the few up by the riverside,

but it was spent in every neighbourhood on parks,

pavements, leisure facilities, bridges, and more CCTV.

For everyone, not just the wealthy few in nine hours.

So let's move on to some of these misleading claims

that we've seen thrown around.

Because I think the first rule of politics

is people aren't stupid.

Like you seem to think if you just say stuff enough to people they'll somehow start going. Yeah. Yeah budget gap

That must be true

Everyone knows one source is one of the most solvent councils in the country that it's a great place to live

That it has very low council tax. So for the people at home, let's work through these one at a time the

137 million pound budget gap a year claim is misleading

So misleading the deputy leaders video saying it had to be removed and don't worry

those posters are coming down soon as well.

It appears the Tories have added the potential fair funding losses in three years' time

to the potential budget gap in three years' time.

This is not the current situation and there is no possibility the budget gap will ever

reach that size.

And budget gaps aren't new.

When we took over in 2022, the Tories left us with a £53 million budget gap.

We closed it, we increased investment to frontline services, and we kept council tax low.

And I'll tell you what, we also paid down 50 million pounds of debt that we inherited

from the Conservative Party.

Tonight's proposals across the board are about turning back the clock.

Even the sort of weird rummaging through our emails to find out about logos and stuff.

Like really, really embarrassing stuff.

but local people remember the Tories' record last time they ran the council,

selling off half of our affordable housing,

cancelling Black History Month,

and trying to charge children £2 .50 to use a playground.

On debt, the claim of billions of pounds of debt is likewise nonsense.

The council has no external debt.

When the Greens in Lambeth finally get round to doing their version of this process,

they will find more than 1 ,000 million pounds of external deaths in that council.

So people at home need to understand Wandsworth Council is not even in the same league.

The Tories are confusing day -to -day spending with long -term borrowing for housing,

which is funded by the rents that people pay when they live there. In their first month in power,

shamefully, the Tories scrapped council homes for 400 local people.

And that's not just a statistic, those are people we know, some are homeless, many are

overcrowded, some now will have to wait years more for council housing just to try and keep

some money off a spreadsheet.

It's ridiculous.

It's true.

On reserves, our position is strong.

Wandsworth reserves are larger than those of Richmond, Lambeth and Kensington and Chelsea.

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

Under Labour, our four years in power, they were on average higher than under the four

years of the previous Tory administration.

And it's worth remembering we are stewards of those reserves.

They belong to the people of Wandsworth.

We should use that financial muscle and we should make every efficiency before we even

think of going back to people and asking them to pay more council tax, which is a dreadful,

regressive tax which hits lowest income people the harder, the hardest. These

graphs of doom are not new either. That is just what happens with inflation. That

is just what happens with reserves. We sat in this chamber four years ago and

we looked up at those screens as finance officers told us sincerely and soberly

every penny of our reserves would be exhausted by 2026. And of course it

happen. We still had more than 150 million pounds at the end of that term.

Because of course you're going to run into chaos if you take no management

actions at all, if you don't reduce spending, if you don't get more

government money. Councils are not going to be allowed to go bust and I promise

this one would be last in the queue if it did. So don't buy these excuses to

allow these boys, and they're always boys, to vindictively reverse the social

progress we've seen over the last four years in this borough, which residents

watching this, no has changed the borough for the better. So we start from a strong position

and it's worth noting the process has been dreadful and that by having this sort of vanity

project here tonight, councillors have been stopped from raising issues to do with their

residents, not allowed to ask questions to cabinet members, not allowed to bring motions

and in fact the new councillors who joined the council will actually have to wait till September

or October from when you voted for them in May

to question a cabinet member or a senior officer

to attend the committee meeting,

any form of scrutiny or input

has been suspended during this process.

Which brings us on to competence and preparation.

As we've seen local people commenting online,

these are part -time politicians clearly not ready

for the demands of running a council.

And their lack of preparation and now their lack of unity

is causing chaos and local people are paying the price. No one thinks this

administration will last four years. The previous Tory administration lasted 44

years, this leader lasted 44 days. Their new leader... sorry? Look, I know running a

council is tough, it really is. It's tough running a council with a majority of 12.

You're running the council with a majority of minus one and a group split

15 -14. It's tough, it really is. And that's the real crisis in the room tonight by

the way. That's the dynamic people at home need to know about. But let's look

at consultation. There has been no consultation on this, there's been no

transparency, there's been no scrutiny. I don't think most of the Conservative

councillors knew what Councillor Graham was going to stand up and say before he

I hadn't seen any documentation. I don't think you had either. This is a bizarre way to do business and remember

That has stopped you from being able to have your democratic say in other ways

So as I say we are ready to work together on the more sensible proposals in this document as has been noted

We'd already started the full council transformation programme last year to maintain those high quality services while making the council modern

resident -centred and financially resilient.

There are already developed proposals on the leader's desk,

which I've seen, which can clearly close the gap

we face next year and the year after.

We've just heard today,

well, the gap's less than 20 million next year.

We've just heard today that you're gonna save

more than that in TA costs.

So as I said to the previous leader, I say to this one,

we are happy to work together

on this transformation programme,

but only if we start with the right values.

That support for the most vulnerable

has to be the very last thing to go,

not the very first thing to go.

And we have not turned over all those stones yet.

And the proposed closure at next week's cabinet meeting,

bizarrely held on the last day of term,

to close the council's cost of living fund is outrageous.

And we've talked earlier about the things

that are funded by that, and for far too many families,

that cost of living crisis is still with us.

So let's stop looking to the past.

Let's stop trying to reverse everything.

Let's stop trying to change the rules

and the logo and everything else.

We want, let's build together

the digital council of the future,

not just salami -sliced cuts that take us back to the 1980s.

And this bizarre idea in a party full of public affairs guys

that lobbyists can't be effective,

that branding doesn't matter,

that great logos and a great workplace

aren't really important things.

If you've been into that town hall extension, where both Conservative leaders I'm sure will enjoy the new office arrangements,

it's probably the worst office building in Wandsworth.

Why do you think you will attract and retain the best staff to do the best job for you if they're in the worst office

building in Wandsworth, which is about this hot most of the time? It is a very

sensible extravagance to invest in your workplace and your workforce, and I don't think trying to turn this listed building

into a modern, environmentally compliant workplace is going to prove any cheaper

than listening to the staff and doing what they want. So that's our central

objection, that this approach targets the most vulnerable and there's been a

complete lack of consultation and I would encourage Conservative councillors

to think that. Are you ready to go and tell your residents that their free

gym and swim sessions, hundreds of residents in each of your wards are now at consideration

of being cut. You know, all while, they might ask you this, all while the council still

has £150 million in reserves and no external debt. Why are you cutting that? Why are you

paying Councillor Davies and Murtagh £9 ,000 each for extra made up OSCs when you're going

to cut access for all.

These are not the priorities local people will understand,

because they're not going to buy your smoke and mirrors.

Just on council tax, Wandsworth Labour

was clear that we did not want the power to raise council

tax beyond the referendum limit, and we wouldn't have used it,

and we won't when we get back into power.

We remained committed to keeping council tax as low as possible

for hardworking residents.

As I say, there was no word from the administration

tonight, despite their promise. So I guess I'm saying this is a financial challenge,

not a financial crisis. It does no good for anyone to try and panic. No other organisation,

no charity, no business would put out the sort of negative nonsense that the council has been

recently. It's not going to build confidence or give us a way forward. Wandsworth Council believes

in sound financial management.

But it also believes that we should be a borough of sanctuary for refugees,

and that there is a climate emergency.

Residents want to see access for all healing divisions in our community.

They want the poorest children to have the dignity of a new school uniform.

They believe in decent council homes, and they know street wardens make us safer.

They applauded when we doubled support for victims of domestic abuse,

and when we welcomed more than a thousand Ukrainian refugees into the borough.

Now all of that progress is at risk,

thanks to politicians who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

But there is another way. We get another go at this.

May even have new cabinet members when we come back after the summer.

But less suspicion, more openness, less make -believe,

more shared understanding of the reality, less showing off, more hard work.

Because tonight could have been very different, but I'm afraid it's typical of your first few weeks that it was

careless, it was divisive, it was shrouded in secrecy.

So I suggest the party opposite uses the summer to think about their mission and their vision.

How are you going to spend the next four years selling cuts and redundancies and pain to residents? Is it going to be monochrome, bright side?

Or is there a different vision for the brighter borough and the dodgy graphs, the endless dodgy graphs?

I've got to tell you, have a look at the focus groups.

So I know you've been looking through our waste paper basket and our dirty washing and stuff.

Focus groups said people don't think about the finances in Wandsworth, but when they do they think it's got very high reserves.

They think it's a very, you know, well capitalised place.

And when you actually ask them about the reserves they say that's our money.

that's a rainy day fund, you should be spending that in the cost of living crisis.

They're actually appalled when they find out the vast sums of money that are in there.

So why not engage with the public and with all councillors? I haven't seen any evidence of

public engagement on this because we have here in Wandsworth the resources to solve any challenge

that the borough faces. So let's find genuinely innovative ways to maintain both sound financial

management and improve life for everyone in our borough.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Hough.

I now invite the cabinet member for finance to exercise their right of reply.

You have five minutes, Councillor Graham.

Thank you.

So there we have it.

The man who destroyed this council's financial position has the audacity to criticise the

people cleaning up his mess.

No apology, no shame, no reflection

on month after month of denial.

No regret for his decision to premise

Labour's entire election campaign on a lie,

just the same self -serving, self -righteous blather.

He left behind no plans whatsoever.

There is no basis in reality for his claims.

We know his policy.

his policy was to take his head and bury it in the sand.

He said, just in that speech,

that the gap next year was 20 million.

I literally read out that the budget gap next year

is 96 million.

He doesn't even pay attention.

Today was his opportunity for some honest reflection.

Instead, we have a man who denies everything

and has learnt nothing.

It is quite extraordinary.

In fact, I was searching for some historical comparison,

Adam Mayer, for someone with the same stubborn delusion

and petty charmlessness, and it did take some time.

But eventually, I hit upon it.

Councillor Hogg is Wamsworth's answer

to the last Antipope of annual.

An obscure comparison, admittedly,

but consider the parallels.

Outwardly pious, yet with a reputation.

forced to decamp to Catalonia but refusing to step down,

failing to get quite the same satisfaction

from excommunicating his rivals.

A stronger version to a woman as leader,

pleading with his group that they're not to worry

or think about a change, his time as pope will come again,

bitterly regretting that he can no longer pay people off

by making them an envoy to the Bishop of Valencia,

and now locked away, wasting his time on furious decrees

about some low -ranking staff in the Vatican.

He even left behind some papal regalia.

And here is a set of his personal greeting cards.

No keys of St. Peter, just a mock humble affectation

of a Simon at Wandsworth email address.

This set of cards cost the taxpayer over 600 pounds

and an unknown amount in postage.

But for Benedict the 13th of Falconbrook, it didn't stop there.

Here, appropriately in the shape of a triregnum, is the metal sign that was made for his office

at a cost to a taxpayer of £700.

If he'd like to make out a cheque to the general fund, he can have it back as a souvenir.

As I noted before, Madame Mayor, amusing as some of this might be, the joke was very much

on the residents of this borough.

Starmorite lobbyists, consultants by the bucket load,

t -shirts, mad plans to move offices,

a whole refitted second office complex

for him on the fifth floor of a town hall extension.

For Labour, these weren't just four wasted years,

they were four years of waste.

He left behind debt going up inexorably,

reserves running out, and a budget gap

that is real and rising fast.

the leader of the opposition can stay in denial if he wishes.

We will keep cleaning up his mess.

Thank you, Councillor Graham.

I now invite members to ask questions.

Please indicate your wish to speak by standing

or if you're unable, raising your hand and I will call you.

Councillor Critchard is first.

Councillor Critchard, thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'm also hoping you are having a interesting time

in sharing your first council meeting.

Normally, I know we don't get to hear

such very, very, very long speeches.

So now I've got a question

for the cabinet member for finance.

I was interested to note that residents heard of changes for plans for the Asker Burton estate

via a leaflet from Conservative councillors. It's a bit unusual, maybe that's an indication

of difficulties within the party. The cabinet member for finance has confirmed this would

happen in their speech, but this would have provided homes for 400 people currently waiting

for a safe, secure home. Oh, excuse me. Apparently, this will save 5 million in potential, in

repayment on debt. We all have mortgages. We all understand how that works. But what

will it cost in ongoing costs in terms of temporary accommodation?

Sorry, Councillor Crici, can you ask the question? I think you have one minute.

Sorry, I do apologise, but I just felt we might all have had a bit more time because

we've had a long time there. Getting there.

Can you get there, please? Yeah. What are the costs both to the people

and to our budget of this cancelation, including the costs on temporary accommodation, and

And how does the cabinet member balance this saving against continued costs and also the

potential loss of assets that we would be building that are ours for the council and

for future residents? Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Critchard. Councillor Graham.

The people of the Ashburton and Lennox estates don't want the plans that the last administration

was trying to produce.

And it should come as no surprise to anyone opposite

that conservative leaflets repeat

what was in the conservative manifesto

promising to scrap those schemes.

They literally lost a by -election in West Putney

and another election this time round

on their support for schemes that residents didn't want.

I'm sorry they haven't learned,

but the fact is that we are simply doing

what residents on those estates want.

The widest costs within the HRA will all be presented in due course.

Madam Mayor, Madam Mayor, it's how much does it cost?

Thank you, I'd like the question answered.

The widest addition within the HRA will be brought forward.

The savings, as she well noted, are £5 million a year.

But I asked about other costs and I haven't heard the answer.

Is that because he doesn't know?

Sorry, Councillor Quichard, you've had a response from Councillor Graham.

Councillor Givinya.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Will the cabinet member finance help us understand

the previous administration's transformation programme?

Was it adequate to meet the size of the financial challenge

they had created?

And if it wasn't, what is the consequence

of that abortive thinking process?

And secondly, would he assure us that in his scheme

that he outlined today and others that might come,

that there will be adequate financial and other support

for this council to achieve the C1 rating for our housing stock

that they so awfully got us a C3 rating.

Thank you, Councillor Covington.

Councillor Graham.

I thank Councillor Covington for that question.

On the latter point, absolutely, it is a priority

for this administration to improve the condition

of our housing estates and to get that rating back up again,

and there will certainly be the budget.

and the resource and the effort there to achieve that.

On the budget gap and the nature of the transformation programme,

that gap rises, as I noted, in the last budget for which we,

this council term will set, to over 180 million pounds.

You can do the math yourself,

even if that 45 million pounds was achieved.

It would still leave the budget gap larger

than the entire payroll for the council.

It is simply not enough to meet the challenge

to achieve those savings, and they are targets.

They are not identified savings.

The amount in identified savings

that the transformation programme left behind

was seven million pounds only.

We will be taking up the work that was done.

We will be using the diagnostic work that was done

to pursue efficiencies, but the work has yet to be completed

and it was not completed by the opposition.

Thank you, Councillor Graham.

I'd like to now like to call Councillor Gasser.

Councillor Gasser.

Yes, thank you.

On the 11th of June, our most vulnerable families got an email telling them there would be no

more holiday food vouchers.

That's the first they've heard of it.

You threw them off a cliff.

This was not necessary.

You could have put more different support in place.

You could have even continued the vouchers outfit.

If you look at the guidance, paragraph 44 says the support may or may not be through

the blanket provision of vouchers.

You could have done that.

If you didn't choose to do that, you could have done something else.

There should have been crisis and resilience activities.

We had some ideas in mind.

We would have put them in place.

You should have made crisis payments very, very easy for people that needed them.

Again, it says that in the guidance.

And the food banks are telling us it's impossible for people to get these payments at the moment.

So you have left our families in dire straits.

We've got people coming to the food banks.

You leave them with no dignity.

Imagine not being able to feed your children.

So my question to you is can you promise me and the residents of Wandsworth that no child is going to go hungry on your watch?

Thank you Councillor Gasser within a minute. Councillor Graham.

Madam Mayor

Councillor Gasser just asked for

vouchers to be funded as part of the crisis and resilience work. It is her own government, the Labour government, that has prevented

councils from using the crisis and resilience fund to fund those vouchers

and she needs to have a word with her own members of Parliament and her own

government rather than us now we have set out a package of measures to help

support children we recognise the issues that are created and we are trying to

mitigate them but we are trying to mitigate the impact of her government

you haven't you've not communicated anything at all to families families

have not heard from you. There is nothing extra in place.

Sorry, Councillor Gasser, I think you've had a response to that. I now call on Councillor

Iliff. Councillor Tiller.

Sorry, Councillor Iliff. Thank you, Councillor Iliff. It's alternating between the administration

and the opposition. Thank you, Councillor Iliff.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. To Councillor Peter Graham, how can we deliver sustainable measures

as a council in regards to health, something I'm deeply passionate about within this borough,

without a health budget that is also sustainable,

economically speaking, and going forward.

Thank you.

Absolutely, and I think one of the things we have seen

repeatedly is overspending in the area

of the health and adults budget

without actually outcomes improving.

And I think what has to happen is a better grasp

on delivery, on actually implementing,

and I think this is accepted universally,

some of these measures that have been taken

in children's services, where those services went from a poor rating to outstanding,

where the use of agency staff came down from nearly 50 % to one individual staff member,

those lessons can be applied again within the health areas so we can deliver better outcomes,

more appropriate outcomes for residents.

Thank you, Councillor Graham. I now call on Councillor Tiller.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. We could debate percentages of votes at the local election,

but nobody here obtained anything like 82%.

What was supported by 82 % of voters

is the Alton Regenerate Alton Renewal Plan.

The Alton Renewal Plan and the win on that ballot

generates tens of millions in funding

from the mayor of London.

Will the Conservatives commit to implementing the plan

that the people of the Alton Estate voted for,

or will they tinker and gentrify

and lose the investment that is available from the Mayor of London.

Thank you, Councillor Tiller. Councillor Graham.

Well, it was the previous administration that tore up a plan

that had been backed by the Mayor of London.

That has led to the delays that we have seen on the Alton.

Now, as I set out earlier, but perhaps he wasn't paying attention at that point,

As I set out earlier, we plan to continue the regeneration of the Orton State.

We are bringing forward, will bring forward proposals for Block A, which we hope to not

just put across, but actually deliver a new Block A within this four -year term.

The remainder of that regeneration, we are looking at it to make sure that we can achieve

what it needs, but there is no question that we are putting in danger the regeneration

or the funding that has been allocated to that state,

either from us or from the mayor of London.

Thank you, Councillor Graham.

Now call on Councillor Corner.

Brilliant.

Wanna guillotine me?

Thank you, Councillor Graham,

for your forensic work and excellent speech

setting out how you're going to tackle

the previous administration's mess.

if only they had had the same approach to street cleaning as you have to cleaning up finances.

Look, temporary accommodation spend in this borough by the council is totally out of control.

£37 million a year being spent on temporary accommodation, that's a 700 % increase since the

of the decade. And that's from general fund expenditure, so it contributes to the £137 million

black hole that's set out on the graphs outside for members opposite to read. What is this

administration's approach to tackling this temporary accommodation overspend? What are

the levers that we can pull? And will you just set out for the council how serious this issue is?

Thank you. That was a minute. Councillor Graham, thank you.

Councillor Cornyn for that question. So the situation was that just a few years ago, the

cost to the General Fund of temporary accommodation was around 5 million a year. That has now

gone up inexorably and is sailing past 30 million pounds a year. That is an unsustainable

position. The way in which we will deal with the temporary

accommodation problem is instead of keeping people

in insecure accommodation to put them

into private rental sector secure tenancies

so that they actually have the security that they need

and that the council discharges its duty

and does not continue to pay for them

out of the general fund.

Thank you, Councillor Graham.

Now to Councillor Acanola, thank you.

Thank you, I don't love this standing up

down, I've got a bad knee. But nevertheless, in the spending review, I note that, well, you have

noted, Councillor Graham, that there are pressures, increasing pressures on community services. So,

can you give the voluntary sector confidence in an increase and not a reduction in spending or

funding for community services and maintenance of the Wandsworth Grant Fund at existing levels?

Thank you, Councillor Acno. Councillor Graham.

Well, I know she didn't declare her interest. I've set out in the statement that we are

reviewing those areas and that we will come forward with our proposals in September. That

is the position and it remains the position. Thank you, Councillor Graham.

Councillor Pridham. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I know that a lot

of very laborious work went into this spending review process,

going through many items of spending.

I wonder if the cabinet member for finance could highlight some

of the most alarming things

that the previous administration was planning to spend money on.

Thank you, Councillor Britten.

Councillor Graham.

There were many things that we have found,

some we will set out further.

I have to say the most alarming

for my mind would be moving this council staff to nine -elms.

and with all respect to the Great Ward of Nine Elms,

it is in one far -flung corner of the borough.

If you base staff in Nine Elms,

they're basically not involved in the borough as a whole at all,

unlike the central location here.

I think the intention to move staff there,

without any discussion...

I mean, how's the hog talked about transparency?

Did his own side know about that?

Did his own side know that he signed up to a deal

that was going to cost taxpayers £240 ,000 an S they moved

to an office block somewhere in Niners.

It's an absolutely absurd situation.

So I think that would be my example.

Thank you, Councillor Graham.

Councillor Worrall.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to talk about policing.

You mentioned 24 police heads.

Can you confirm whether these are actually police officers

or PCSOs and what would the actual cost be?

In addition, would you be able to confirm

that they'll be spread evenly across the wards

and which two lucky wards get the extra two officers.

Also, would you be able to confirm to us

that the very popular Ballyham neighbourhood wardens

will continue or are you gonna actually cut them

as part of your restructuring?

And now that you've found all this extra money for policing,

would you be able to also invest

in safe neighbourhood panels and strengthen them as well?

Thank you, Councillor Warren, Councillor Graham.

There's a perfectly reasonable question.

So first of all, the idea is not to have a team

Where is there have a sort of a central team rather than allocations to individual wards?

So they will be at the disposal of the council on some occasions. They may be a dedicated to all activities on other occasions

They may be dedicated to different things

So is not the intention just to add a police officer or two onto existing neighbourhood teams

This is a separate team that we under the control of the council. I can confirm that they will all be police officers

This is our target

we have to go into those negotiations

with the Metropolitan Police,

so we're not able to give the precise cost at this stage,

although we will attempt to outline that in September.

But the intention is to go for two police sergeants

and 22 PCs, will be full PCs.

As for community safety officers and Ballin wardens

and so on, the model that was pursued in Westminster

by a labour council was to have a strong community

safety team operating alongside those police officers

to get the best from.

Therefore, we are reviewing community safety officers and wardens and so on,

but we do not intend to reduce those numbers because we will need them to get the most out of police officers that we employ.

Thank you, Councillor Greencrafter, Sir Richard Jones.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This administration inherited a $137 million budget gap.

Even assuming that the previous administration's transformation programme of $45 million could have been realised in its entirety,

and we've heard it wasn't a developed programme, it was targets, that would still have left

a budget gap of 92 million. So I was flabbergasted to hear the leader of the opposition a moment

ago say that there were existing plans, allegedly waiting on my desk on day one, to close that

budget gap of either 137 million or 92 million. Can I ask the deputy leader, has he seen these

plans? I never saw these plans. Did he sneak into my office, conceal the plans? Did he

give officers amnesia because they never produced these plans. Were there any such plans?

Thank you, thank you, Councillor. I'm very grateful for that question and I can confirm

that I have found no plans whatsoever nor any evidence of plans or even a trace of a plan.

I'm afraid there is about as much signs of plan as there was a document from the Starmarite

Lobbying Company. Thank you, Councillor Graham. I've now got three more questions

and then I'll be bringing it to an end.

Councillor White.

What issue were you trying to solve with your manifesto pledge,

which makes no financial sense,

to return to twin -backed vehicles for waste collection,

as the number of missed collections had declined significantly?

The change will cost our residents extra money

and frustrate our improving crews,

who will have to return to Smuggler's Way depot,

adding time to their rounds

and clogging the roads around the depot?

And will you be handing these new trucks to the contractor?

And what will happen to the current vehicles

which replaced your broken down knackered trucks

and will have six active years left

and as we own them can be flexibly deployed

in any new arrangement, we decide in 2028.

Thank you, Councillor Wyatt.

Councillor Graham.

Well, let's be clear.

The last administration inherited an extended waste contract

It was extended repeatedly and rather than retendering it

They extended it again

But completely changed the terms and also bought the contractor all the vehicles when they previously purchased them themselves

That is a position we inherited. I did not make any comment about waste

He is correct to say it was in the conservative manifesto. Councillor Brooks is working on those proposals

We will come forward what we plan in due course

Thank You Councillor Graham Councillor Winston

Thank you. Just reading from the confidence and supply agreement,

which says the administration agrees to be honest at all times with residents about the council's funding position.

In particular, the council tax rate required in April 27 will be outlined in July 2026.

The existing, the issue of Brightside that's going around is making a stir, and I'm getting comments about it.

And one of the big questions is, how do we plan for the next four years?

So with the spirit of both that specific question can ask either now or if it has to be delayed September

Will he produce what he regards as being a best realistic case for council tax in 2030 and also where the key?

Sensitivities are towards that the main things which if they went wrong would make a big hole in that in that expectation

Thank You cancer Winston

Absolutely, it was it was our intention to announce that this evening

It is only the fact that we've had this by -election

and we cannot communicate with residents

from midnight tonight, which I'm afraid,

I'm afraid is on the opposition and not on us.

But in September, we will clarify.

In September, we will clarify those matters.

It is not fair, given that we are looking at a situation

where without significant action, there will be a large,

indeed under the do nothing scenario,

is a 230 % increase in council tax.

that's the do nothing scenario.

It would not be fair to start to outline our intentions

without being able to communicate those properly

to residents.

So we will outline that when we are in a position

to communicate it.

But in terms of the other points he made,

I think that the other aspect is that council tax reduction

and support on council tax,

should there be a significant rise,

will also need to be increased to make sure

that the most vulnerable residents

aren't facing a significant increase

to their bills in one go.

So that is something that we are looking at.

We've already been reviewing.

We are not at this stage, because we paused work

on the evaluation to get to the final point

when we knew the bar election would occur,

because we knew we couldn't continue with that.

It does give us some extra time to further evaluate

additional savings to drive down that gap.

But we will bring forward also proposals

that help those who are the most vulnerable

and may struggle to pay any increase.

Thank you, Councillor Graham.

I did say I would only take three last questions,

and the last would be from Councillor Dickardom.

Thank you, Councillor Dickardom.

Yeah, firstly, I'd like to congratulate Councillor Graham

on you are living your political fantasy.

You have your little plinth, and you are getting the leader,

your cabinet members to bob up and down and ask questions of you,

and it's the Peter Graham show, and I am totally absurd.

I'm so humiliated for you all that you allowed this to happen. This is

I'm so embarrassed but Peter it must be the greatest evening of your life

So, I mean what a bizarre night you have been incredible Councillor Owens excellent chairing. I look forward to working with you

My question my question to you and your plinth is

In every single piece of council comms and in the little book that we were given tonight

There is a deliberate merging of the borrowing on the HRA with day -to -day spends and that is a political decision in my opinion

You're doing it because borrowing to deliver an asset that delivers long -term rental income

It comes with interest payments, but you know, the state should think long -term, you know

The reason why Britain is in the state it's in is because we think short -term. I mean, can you think of?

Would other countries strong social Democrats countries worry about long -term borrowing payments on an asset that will deliver them rent

for generations to come in housing.

Councillor Dickard, can you ask your question?

Thank you.

So my question is, can I get a commitment from you

that you will stop misleading residents

and be clear when you're separating

borrowing to build council housing in the HRA,

a legally separate pot from the day -to -day spend of council?

Because I think residents support

the building of council housing

and the state borrowing to do so,

because they know it's paid off by rents.

Thank you, Councillor Dickard, and Councillor Graham.

Final answer, thank you.

As ever with Councillor Dickard,

it's basically bring on the debt.

I don't think he's ever seen money he didn't want

to apprehend from somebody else in order to pay

for one of his own schemes.

Look, he's right to say that the HRA

and the General Fund are two different things,

but they're not completely isolated,

and the fact is that that is debt,

which does have implications for the council as a whole.

And there was significant General Fund borrowing

taking place, including to fill potholes

under his administration.

The level of borrowing that would be incurred

on the HRA is not financially sustainable,

and regardless of whether that might have an impact

on the general fund, it would certainly have an impact

on council tenants who would suffer if the HRA

was brought to the point of financial instability.

As for vanity, I'm not sure I can think of anything

more vain than producing personalised gift cards

at the expense of a taxpayer.

So we will take no lectures from them on that either.

Members, thank you. This is the end of time for questioning. Thank you. That's the end

of item 10. Item 9, sorry. Item 10 is the deputy leader of the opposition. The chief

executive has been notified by the Labour group on the appointment of Councillor Akinola,

a statutory deputy leader of the opposition.

That is noted by counsel.

Thank you.

Item 11 is revisions to committee membership

and outside bodies appointments.

Let's see.

An error has been made on the appointments.

This is Appendix B, the revisions to committees.

The appendix states Counsellor Gossain

is to replace Counsellor Crivelli

on the health and wellbeing board.

The correction is that Counsellor Crivelli

remains on the health and wellbeing board,

Councillor Kussain is appointed to replace Councillor Hedges.

Thank you.

Are the recommendations in the report

and the addendum approved?

No.

Better vote.

Okay.

I'll vote.

All those in favour.

Thank you.

All those against?

Any abstentions?

No.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

We are going to take questions.

All those against?

Any abstentions?

No.

Okay.

Thank you. Your votes for 28, vote against 26, zero abstentions, so the recommendations

are approved. Thank you, councillors. That concludes the

business of the special meeting for this evening. Thank you.

Thank you.

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