Executive - Monday 3 March 2025, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Executive
Monday, 3rd March 2025 at 7:30pm 

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Good evening and welcome everyone to this meeting of the cabinet.
As usual before we start, are there any declarations of interest or apologies?
It's lovely to see everyone here this evening.
Welcome everyone in person and to those watching online.

1 Declarations

tonight. We got on the agenda some really big issues. We're talking about council
tax, talking about investments in our roads and pavements and also in our
leisure centres and many other items. Just before we get on to the decision
making, if it's okay I'd just like to take a couple of minutes to update on a
few things we've done recently. Obviously the decision that most residents have
been commenting on that we've taken recently is freezing your council tax.
We are now freezing this for the third year in a row and you pay the lowest council tax
in the country.
Congratulations to Cancer Ireland for all their hard work on this because sound financial
management is at the heart of everything we do, maintaining very low debt as a council,
maintaining some of the highest reserves in London which enables us to do all those fantastic
things that we do.
Another thing we have done recently
is launching our seven rings seven days guarantee.
This is about a listening council
that is in your service.
Call us and we will pick up in seven rings.
Tell us about a broken street sign,
a dangerous pothole or some graffiti
and we will fix it in seven days.
How is that pledge going?
We are still at 100 % for the potholes
and the graffiti
and the street signs.
We are on 66 % currently for answering the telephone
We have learned a lot.
We are making improvements and we will
bring forward a plan to push that figure up.
You may have noticed on these leaflets
which have been going out to residents
our lovely new branding.
Building on our visual identity from our
borough of culture which we will hear about
later.
This is trying to capture that creativity
and energy
and we have had lovely feedback from residents
on that.
The final thing I will mention,
a huge thank you to the staff
Thank you and congratulations to
Councillor Akinola on the launch of
Tuesday of our
borough of culture programme.
Just one of
the best events we have put on as a
council.
Hundreds of friends and partners in
Battersea Arts Centre.
Some lovely
displays of creativity and a real
flavour of what is to come in our year
as borough of culture.
So if it's
OK, we will move on to our decisions
tonight.
We have got decisions about

2 Matters for decision (Paper No.25-103)

transport, children's health, the
environment and finance.
So if it's okay, Councillor Yates,
do you mind introducing the papers that relate to transport?
Yes, thank you very much, Councillor Hogg.
So we had a good meeting of the Transport Committee
on the 6th of February.
There are four papers that need approval
of the recommendations in them this evening
that have been through that committee.
So first of all, there was the paper on the draft
reuse, recycle, and waste management
supplementary planning document.
So this provides helpful advice and guidance
to developers on recycling, on waste management,
and storage requirements for waste within new developments.
And it updates the previous council guidance
to developers to reflect changes in national
and local policy.
So I'm pleased that the transport committee members
unanimously supported the recommendation
that this paper be approved by the cabinet.
The next paper for decision this evening
is an update on the walking and cycling strategy.
So we published the walking and cycling strategy
in November 2022 and this excellent paper provides a good summary of all the
work we've been doing since then to enable walking and cycling in Wandsworth
and encourage people to feel able to use active travel options. So I'll just give
a few highlights from it. So we've had five more school streets recently. So we've now
got up to our target of 31 of the borough's primary schools having school streets, which
is 50 % of primary schools. That's our target. So we're very pleased we've achieved that.
But of course, we want to go further.
And recently, officers have done a good initiative
to write to the ward counselors in each ward
and set out for them where the ward is up to in terms
of the primary schools in their ward having school streets
and asking for them to support the school streets.
And in a number of instances, that
has led to counselors getting in touch with primary schools
to see if we can encourage more primary schools to move to having school streets.
We've done really, really well on implementing bike hangars, which are in very high demand from
residents. So when the walking and cycling strategy got adopted in 2022, there were just
65 bike hangars on Bonsworth Street. Now we've got 229. We've started installing another 120,
and then we'll immediately move on to
another phase of consultation to install about 100 120 more next year
And we understand that this is the largest
Program of bike hangar installation of any local authority area at the moment
We've also been putting in a large number of bays for
parking e -bikes
given the very high usage of
e -bikes in Wandsworth which are very useful to residents but we don't want
them to obstruct the pavements and then we are progressing well with our
important cycle schemes and schemes to make it easier to to walk on Burntwood
Lane and then on Queenstown Road. We're putting in many more zebra crossings. We
put in 18 since the strategy was adopted and we're going to be putting in a large number
of more zebra crossings. They are in high demand from residents to make our streets
safer. So those are a few of the highlights and I'm very pleased that the transport committee
unanimously supported the future direction of implementation of the strategy.
We then went on to the highway maintenance program, which is a very important program
that goes to the transport committee every year, or that's what's been done for many
years in Wandsworth.
So this sets out Wandsworth's approach to basically resurfacing our roads and pavements.
Now a couple of years ago I was very concerned to find out that each year the 95 % of the
roads and pavements that the Wandsworth Council is responsible for, the rest of the responsibility
of TFL, were getting worse each year.
So we have put a huge amount of new investment into our roads and
pavements so that we can reverse and stop that decline.
And obviously, good quality roads and pavements are so important for
people walking, people cycling, and indeed for vehicles.
So in the next financial year, we're going to be investing a record amount, for
and that will be by far the biggest investment
in any one year that Wandsworth has made
in its road network.
We believe it will be the highest spend
of any London borough.
So I'm pleased again that the transport committee
unanimously supported the recommendations in that paper.
And then finally, for your consideration
and approval this evening.
There was a paper that went to the transport committee
on fees and charges.
Again, this is an annual paper.
Most of the fees and charges related to transport
will be going up by 2 .2%, as in other areas,
which is roughly the rate of inflation.
So we need that increase to continue to cover our costs.
In some areas, the charges will be going up more,
for example, in building control.
and that is due to the high costs that we incur
providing that service.
But I should note that for parking,
for residential parking permits that our residents buy
where we have control parking zones
and for the on -street parking that most people buy
through the Ringo app, we are freezing those charges
this year because we did put them up last year
and we are conscious of the ongoing difficulties
with the cost of living crisis for particularly for some of our residents.
And of course the parking service is a vital service that the council provides.
So we have orderly parking in Wandsworth and people don't park where they shouldn't.
So on that paper the transport committee, the opposition members abstained and obviously
the labor members supported that paper.
So that completes my report on those papers and recommendations.
And of course, I'm very happy to take any questions.
That's great.
Thanks so much, Councillor Yates.
Any comments or questions?
Councillor Henderson.
Thank you, Chair.
In Rowhampton, residents have commented to me very favorably
about the road repairs which are being carried out
in Dainby Avenue, Asfield Drive, Wombourg Drive,
and other places.
But I just wonder what type of reaction you've had
throughout the rest of the borough.
Yes, thank you, Councillor Henderson.
Well, it's been absolutely delightful over the last year
because we did start dramatically increasing
the spend in this last year.
It went up to £8 million, which is nearly double
what it was before.
And we have had a lot of very positive feedback from residents.
And what's really nice is that a number of residents have fed back,
not only that they're really pleased that their pavement has been renewed, but
also they've been complimentary about the ones with council staff who have done the repairs.
And for example, in my own ward,
a resident specifically wrote to say
how kind and helpful the staff had been to a resident
who took a very strong interest
in the pavement being repaired.
But yeah, so it is really nice to receive that feedback.
Here's a couple of quotes.
Thank you so much, you have made our day.
And that's when they heard their pavement was being renewed
and then another resident said,
It's made such a difference. Of course, it's so much safer
but it also looks really smart and gives the whole street a real uplift so
Yes, it's great when we can deliver these kinds of improvements which we're fortunate to be able to do in Wandsworth
Thank you
And I've got a question if it's okay council Yates
So a few people have written into the hello at Wandsworth email address where residents can send in queries
about Lime Bikes and this also came up
at the leaders drop -in we had at Southfields last weekend
and I'm afraid someone contacted me by email today
about Lime Bikes being inconsiderately parked
at Clapham Junction.
Just wondering if you can update us about the situation,
how we're working with the e -bike suppliers
to try and make sure they're parked considerately.
Thank you, Councillor Hogg.
Yes, this is a topic that does take up
quite a bit of my time.
Obviously, e -bikes are still quite a new thing
in our borough.
But they have become a very important part
of our transport network, with over a million journeys made
on them now within Wandsworth each year, which I'm sure
you'll agree is a huge number.
And many of those journeys are being
made by people who use them regularly every month.
But of course, while that's great
And there is some evidence that people are using those bikes rather than making short car journeys
Which is obviously good in terms of reducing congestion on our roads. Of course, some of these bikes are parked
inconsiderately and you know, we are very concerned about that because we don't want them to obstruct
You know anybody and of course that's very inconsiderate when people need to use the pavements with buggies or maybe they're in wheelchairs
So we are in close dialogue with both Lime and Forest,
the e -bike operators in our boroughs.
We've introduced a scheme whereby within our busy town
centers, there's an area that was what's called geofenced.
So this means that when you try and end your ride when you're
using a bike, the tech on the app
tells you that you need to park it within a designated bay.
In the rest of the borough, free floating parking is permitted, but of course people
shouldn't be parking them in the middle of the pavement.
That's an obstruction which shouldn't be happening.
So we are putting in a large number of bays for the e -bikes.
We've already put in 110, we're putting in another 65, and then we'll need to move to
another phase of bays.
but we do continually talk to the operators
about how they need to better manage their bikes.
So Lime have put a lot more resource into that
in Wandsworth, but they need to do more
and I will be meeting with them again soon.
But like I say, it's important to be conscious
of the benefits of the bike.
There is good evidence, for example,
that women use them to get home close to their homes
at night and it makes them feel much safer.
But we will absolutely go on working with the operators
to ensure that they do manage the bikes better.
Thank you.
No, that's really helpful, thanks very much.
If there's no other questions, if it's all right,
we'll go to a vote on those papers.
The draft reuse, recycle, and waste management, SPD,
is that agreed?
the walking and cycling strategy update, the highways maintenance program and transport fees and charges.
Brilliant, thanks very much, Councillor Yates.
And if it's okay if we can go to Councillor Stock and Children's.
Thank you, Chair.
There were three papers that went to Children's Committee for decision,
as well as a couple of papers that are referred to in our papers this evening
that went to for information that I think it's right that I update the cabinet on as well.
So in terms of the papers first of all for decision we had a paper,
an annual paper on our school finance budget allocation for 25 -26.
So this was to approve school funding for the year ahead on the basis of the funding formula
as agreed by the schools forum which is a collection of head teachers and leaders from
across the borough. So just in terms first of all of the funding settlement that we got from
national government so the main block of school funding that increased by 0 .5 percent.
The high needs block so as cabinet will be aware that funds children with special
educational need that increased by 6 .67 % and then also a large increase of
between 3 .8 and 4 % for early years. That's really about a significant
increase to provide the free education for two -year -old three -year -olds as part
of the rollout of the government scheme which I know is being welcomed by
families across the borough. So I think there were some political choices it
to be made by national government around really driving increases in funding for children
with special educational needs and we really support that because that's definitely where
we're seeing the most pressure in terms of the dedicated schools grant that we have at
the council. But really what drives funding for schools in the borough is pupil numbers
and as cabinet is aware that is a challenge as it is across London. So both at primary
and secondary school we're seeing about a 2 % drop in in pupil numbers, higher
rates of drop amongst our secondary schools which is concerning to see but I
think what we're really proud of in Wandsworth is the support that we're
providing to schools to maintain their financial sustainability so whilst we've
got the settlement you know we're really providing high quality and
and wavering support to schools to manage their finances.
We've got a dedicated role in our finance business manager,
education, stability, and performance.
So they're going out to schools and really providing
that bespoke support to help schools
to manage their budget, because largely, as you're aware,
school funding is funded on a per -pupil basis.
So that paper is recommending, I think, a minimum funding
guarantee of 0 .5 % as recommended by the schools forum. Moving on then to the
second paper which is additions to the General Fund capital program for our
schools again for the year ahead 25 -26. So we've haven't yet had the
confirmation from national government as to exactly what the fund will be but
last year is in the region of two million pounds so what we tend to do is
tend to make a decision at this point on what programs we intend to fund so that we can
get on with design and scoping those projects so that they can hit the ground running in
the summer holidays, which is the best time to do capital programs. So applications have
been received from schools and those have been scored against our scoring matrix. And
this paper recommended four schools to move forward on the program and then a considerable
list of reserve schools and it is fair to say that as cabinet again will be
aware you know construction costs have really increased and government funding
hasn't always kept up with some of that construction cost so it is concerning to
see a smaller number of schools receiving some of that capital funding
then perhaps there were five or more more years ago but I'd ask cabinet to
to approve the scheme as it is at the moment and then should more funding come through
from national government then we've got the reserve list that we will continue to work
through.
And then finally the paper for decision was our annual monitoring, quarter monitoring
reports say quarter three we reported to committee that we were 315 ,000 pounds overspent as again
cabinet will be aware. Those are largely being driven by issues that local authorities face
nationally, such as the cost of agency home care support, cost of residential placements
for children that we look after, semi -independent placements and also home to school transport
for looked after children. I'm aware that those are all things that cabinet are aware
about and we'll continue to look at to try and continue to balance our budget in the
year ahead.
In terms then of the papers that are also being reported in this pack, at committee
we had a paper that was provided for information, so as cabinet members will be aware we've
received a petition that's actually still ongoing that's been signed by 187 Wandsworth
residents, 761 Kent residents and 750 other residents from boroughs across
England in relation to our consultation which we approved to move forward in the
autumn of last year around closing Bradstow special school, a school that
we run although it's in broad stairs in Kent and that decision was really driven
by the financial challenges that the school are facing.
You know, the school is quite some distance away,
over 70 miles away.
We're one of 10 local authorities who use the school.
The majority of children,
or the biggest placing authority is Kent County Council,
as you might expect, because the school is located in Kent.
13 out of the 32 children enroll are Kent children.
Four of the children enroll are Wandsworth children.
and one is due to finish the school at the end of the year.
We have been in conversation, as cabinet is aware,
with Kent for over three years since 2021
to transfer the school to them,
but it was disappointing in October of last year
that they decided not to move forward with that transfer.
I know that leader at you and myself
have subsequently written to the leader
in Kent County Council to try and reopen
those discussions again,
but it was quite clear from that correspondence
that they don't wish to take that conversation any further and they were
working on transitions for their pupils in readiness for the new academic year.
Alongside that there are challenges around the school managing to recover
fees from authorities who place children there, specifically Kent County Council
who owe 2 .7 million pounds of which 1 .9 million they categorically
refused to pay and we have commenced legal action to pursue that dent.
That means that the school has currently a £1 .2 million financial deficit and that is growing.
And there's a concern that clearly matters that have to be taken to manage that budget
can have an impact on the quality of education and care that's provided to pupils.
And these are some of the most vulnerable people who we need to make sure that we're providing
quality education and care for.
So cabinet approved to move forward with the first stage of the consultation and that started
in January and as a result of the petition being commenced we reported to committee progress
on the consultation and what we're aware of so far in terms of our decision making through
that consultation.
So we had a deputation as well from the head teacher and senior leaders at the school.
They were talking about the financial viability of the school, the potential impact of a closure,
and also I think significantly that the governors are exploring a customization of the school.
That is something that's for the governing board and a potential academy partner to really
move forward with.
And it does seem that they have taken considerable steps to move forward with that.
and we've definitely been supporting with that process.
And I was able to confirm at committee
that in terms of our next steps, we currently
have finished the informal stage of the consultation,
but there is a further stage of the consultation.
If it was that we decide to move forward
to consider a potential closure, it was agreed.
I was able to tell the committee that we
wouldn't make the decision to move forward with that next stage until the 16th of March,
until after the 16th of March, to enable the school to continue with discussions with the
academy partner around potential academisation. So we've given time there recognising that
academisation can take some time. And then just finally, we had another positive paper
for information on our pupil referral units in the borough.
So we were really committed, we were really pleased
to have the opportunity to be able to profile their work for, again,
some of our most vulnerable pupils who are at risk of not being able
to access education within mainstream schools.
So, again, we heard directly from the head teachers
of our secondary pupil referral unit, Frances Barber,
and also at home and hospital tuition service.
And they discussed some of the challenges
that they're facing, some of their good news stories.
But also I think it was a really good opportunity
for us to spotlight and recognize the best practice
amongst some of our pupil referral units,
which is not only we recognize,
but has been recognized nationally
and in Green Papers as well.
Excellent, thanks very much, Councillor Stock.
I don't know if there's any comments and questions.
Councillor Gasser.
Thank you very much for all of that. Can I just ask if there has been any sort of progress
on the move towards the academisation of Bradstoke? It has been a few weeks since the committee
now. Is there any news you can update us on?
Thank you, Councillor Gasser. Yes, I think as I just updated, the decision to academise
is ultimately a matter for the Governing Board and the chosen trust and we have been fully
committed as soon as the school indicated that they wanted to consider
a categorization in supporting transparent discussions, providing
documentation, information so that the due diligence can be undertaken and also
to consider potential terms of a transfer if that was considered to be a
viable option. So officers have been supporting that conversation. There were
initially two academy trusts that the school indicated were interested in
transfer. One has subsequently said that they don't wish to move forward with
that but another Academy Trust, Cygnus, who run a family of schools in Kent and
Essex, those conversations are continuing and have been fruitful and I think the
governors have been able to move forward with a conversation. What we've
also been doing to kind of support that application which will also ultimately go to the DfE for
an academy order I think is threefold.
In relation to that deficit which to a certain extent is being driven by non -payment of fees
and uplifts by local authority moving forward with the legal action to reduce that deficit
and also the governing board during the consultation process have come forward with a staffing
restructure to think about financial viability and we've supported them with
with moving being able to move forward with that again to reduce the deficit
because it may be that if an Academy order were to be granted by the DFE it
might be that that could be deferred whilst the debt is managed down to a
reasonable reasonable level. So as I said before we recognize that a
categorization process can can take some time so we want to give that the best
Chance of success so we have said that in terms of the next stage
We won't make any decision in relation to that until after the the 16th of March
Thanks very much if it's okay if there's no other questions, we'll move to a vote on those
proposals so
The school's finance budget allocations for 25 26 is that agreed?
And the proposed additions to the general fund capital program
and the 2425 Q3 quarterly monitoring.
Excellent, thanks very much, Councillor Stock.
If it's okay, Councillor Henderson,
can you say a few words about the proposals
you have this evening?
Thank you, Councillor Hogg.
The first item for decision concerns
the CCTE strategy for Wandsworth,
which quite unbelievable,
is the very first strategy of its kind in Wandsworth.
We reputedly have one of the largest,
if not the largest number of CCTV cameras in London,
currently just under 1300,
but we've never actually had any clear strategy
as to how they should be used.
They are located in housing estates
and also obviously in public areas, high streets, et cetera.
So the real purpose of this strategy
is a number of different issues.
The first is ensuring the effectiveness of Council CCTV.
I'm very pleased to say that since we took over
as an administration in 2022,
that has actually improved quite considerably.
One of the first representations I had from the police
was that Wandsworth was pretty hopeless
of providing the police with adequacy CTV coverage.
That has completely changed.
One of the reasons why Wandsworth historically
has been so poor, partly old equipment
although that had been replaced,
But it was the failure of the previous administration
to adequately staff the Joint Control Center.
So we have now implemented a pilot study
which has been incredibly successful,
effective in short, for the Joint Control Center
and the monitoring of the CCTV covers pretty much 24 -7.
Obviously,
some of the hours are less
well -staffed than others.
That really has made
an enormous
transformation.
The senior police officers
are extremely
pleased
with the results they are
getting,
as indeed are
police people on the
ground.
I saw one particular
example.
It doesn't happen
to have occurred
in my own ward,
Roehampton.
There was a case
of
lady Anna Buslop being harassed by an man
quite late at night.
And this was picked up in the Joint Control Centre.
A phone call was made, a contact was made with the police.
The police turned up within minutes
by which time of the harasser had she started
to threaten the woman and as a consequence,
the perpetrator was arrested.
I could cite a number of other examples.
There certainly have been occasions
where we almost certainly have preventive suicide
as a consequence of the operation of CCTV.
So it is extremely wide ranging.
Part of that is the growth and sustainability
of the network.
And that clearly is to do with the quality
of the CCTP availability.
One particular area which I'm very proud of
and pleased to announce is the considerable increase,
the tripling, more than tripling of the use
of deployable cameras.
As cabinet members are aware,
we had a shared resource with Richmond.
When we took over, there were 12 deployable cameras
in total for Wandsworth and Richmond, 12.
We have now increased that to 38
and we're looking to increase more.
And the whole purpose of deployable cameras
is to pick up areas of intermittent antisocial behavior,
fly tipping, things of that nature.
And certainly it is extremely successful
when it is deployed.
So a key part of the strategy is in terms of determining
when and where deployable cameras should be used.
The third key elements of the CCTV strategy
is to ensure that our positioning allocation
and functioning of CCTV is lawful and justifiable.
There is a considerable body of law
which actually covers CCTV to ensure that
it fulfills its purpose, that it isn't intrusive,
and it certainly doesn't stray into surveillance.
So the strategy quite clearly sets out a lawful procedure
whereby CCTV can actually be allocated.
So this has, as I said, been an incredible success.
It's very much still a work in progress.
We do continue to have a considerable demand for CCTV
and we're obviously looking how best to respond to that.
But as I said, the strategy actually sets out the procedure
and in particular has established a steering group
of mainly officials, although I am an observer on that
I will keep a close eye on what the steering
group does,
what it approves, etc.
And certainly the law does require
the appointment
of someone
who is a single point of control
in other words,
this is someone
that councillors
can contact
and even
members of the public.
The opposition
at one point
did indicate
that the
I intended to move an amendment to the paper.
One issue concerned the publication of annual report
and the fact that it should be brought to committee.
I was extremely happy to agree to that
because the report itself mentioned that we are,
we will be preparing annual report.
So to bring it to committee is actually,
was our intention anyway.
So I agreed.
And the second, they did ask some questions
about democratic accountability.
And I explained that the democratic accountability
is pretty much as it is in respect of other matters,
such that if residents have concerns,
they raise those with counselors.
Counselors can then raise them.
And then if they are asking for a camera to be deployed,
then the process will be set in train.
So I think with my role as observer on the EHAS steering
group and also the explanation of the procedure
as to how we can exercise democratic accountability
for the allocation of CCTV, the opposition did actually
withdraw their amendments.
And as a consequence, the paper was passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Moving on to the second paper, which is,
one to a sexual and reproductive health strategy
of 2025 to 2030.
And I think the important thing about this particular
strategy, it isn't just simply dealing with sexual services,
it's also a reproductive health strategy.
and sadly there continues to be unacceptable amounts
of ill health and incidents associated
with pregnancy, et cetera, which we're obviously
very keen to eliminate.
The purpose of the strategy is extremely ambitious
and comprehensive, it's intended to improve sexual
and reproductive health outcomes for all,
particularly those who face the greatest barrier.
So it is very much intended to tackle health inequalities.
This we will achieve by focusing equity,
comprehensive education, and accessible services.
The strategy aims to create a much more healthier
and informed community.
This is very much a life course approach
and I think it's a very solid foundation
for what we intend to achieve in this particular area.
And I'm pleased to say that was approved unanimously.
The third paper concerns a report to the committee
on in a sense the adult social care
and public health budget.
This was something I was very keen
that the scrutiny committee should actually see.
Under the previous administration,
scrutiny committees wouldn't see stuff like this
apart from obviously a finance paper
where the report be embedded in some massive other report.
The headline thickness here is,
given the very considerable pressures
which we have faced in relations at our social care,
in particular in terms of increased demand
post COVID
that we did overspend last year
by £2 .7 million on the budget
of over 100 million
and 102 .6 million
.
That is clearly something
we want to avoid
.
Very considerable procedures
called
the transformation of adult social care
which is looking at how we can reduce
them
in a way which is empathetic
and meet the needs of residents.
I mean, in essence, it's far better to keep people at home
than it is to introduce them to more formal settings
of social care.
As I said, social care is under considerable pressure.
All forms of social care are.
Nationally, there are 131 ,000
that consist in social care.
The only way we are going to tackle that is by increasing salaries which of course we have done in Wandsworth through accepting the living wage but there is much more to be done.
So the other aspect of our report was a 2 .2 % increase in fees and as Councillor Yates explained that is essentially to cover inflationary costs and I am pleased to say that the committee unanimously approved that as well.
If I could just make one further comment on the paper, which isn't for the decision, but
did come to the Committee for Information.
And that is the paper on the Adult Social Care Operating Framework, known as ASCOF.
This is something the government actually measures, Council Performance.
We have measured against all the other boroughs in London.
and I'm pleased to say that we have continued
to improve our performance five out of seven
of the key indicators showed an increase.
And I think quite significantly from 2018
when Wandsworth was in the lower quartile
in respect of satisfaction is now in the upper quartile.
So that I think is quite demonstrably
a significant improvement in what we have actually achieved over the past two and a half years.
Thank you.
No, that's absolutely agreed, not just the excellent progress in adult social care,
but the fantastic work on the CCTV
network also.
Are there any comments or questions for
Councillor Henderson?
If the President was experiencing an ASPE, can you tell us more about how we can get new
of the public cameras to them, what's the kind of process?
Yeah, as I indicated, the public cameras
are extremely useful in tackling antisocial behavior,
things like flight, tipping, et cetera.
Intimately, one does have crime hotspots,
but by and large, I mean, I think its value
is very much in its flexibility,
that it can be moved from one part of the borough
to another.
In Sanyam, we have actually reduced the
levels of anti -social behavior and we do have success across other parts of the borough as well.
As I indicated, our CCT is one of the biggest and most comprehensive
in the whole of London and
certainly
As I indicated, our staffing of the Joint Control Center
has really proved to be worth the money
we have actually spent on that.
So whilst one can never be complacent,
nonetheless I think there are considerable causes
for optimism.
And again, I would emphasize that if counselors,
or indeed residents who approach counselors want a particular camera to be considered,
then we do actually have a single point of contact that we can approach.
Thank you.
Great.
Thanks so much.
So, again, if we can look at the specific proposals here, we've got the CCTV strategy
for Wandsworth 24 to 29.
The Wandsworth sexual and reproductive health strategy 25 to 30.
And the quarter three budget monitoring and 25, 26 budget.
Brilliant, thanks very much for that, Councilor Henderson.
If it's all right, we'll keep going.
And Councilor Gasser, do you mind introducing the environment measures?
Yeah, thank you.
So at our environment committee, we actually considered the first three papers
you in front of you, we considered them all together at the committee meeting because
they're very much related and we have an overarching One's Worth Climate Action Plan and then we
have a retrofit strategy and an adaptation and resilience strategy which are two major
sort of elements of that plan but it makes sense to consider them all together, officers
presented them all together and then we had a really good discussion afterwards which
went on a good hour if not longer actually with committee members asking questions, making
suggestions. So just to reiterate, you know, we have a climate crisis, we absolutely know
that we have, and in Wandsworth we're doing everything we can to mitigate that against
climate changes. So we have a team, Mr. Hagger leads a climate team, and then liaises across
the council, so every single team within the council is focused on this and thinking within
their area of work, what should they be doing, could they be doing to mitigate against climate
change and the impacts that might have on residents.
So then we talk about adaptation resilience.
Isn't it what could we do?
Should we be planting more trees?
Should we be giving access to shade, to warm spaces,
to cool spaces?
Every single person is thinking about this.
And then in terms of the retrofit strategy,
man, that's kind of jargon for all of us, isn't it?
For an ordinary resident, it's just
how do we help residents adapt their homes, actually,
so that they save on energy and they keep them cool in the summer
and warm in the winter and thereby save money as well.
And it's just some examples of how everybody in the council
is thinking about this.
Council Dickerman's landlord licensing scheme
specifies that landlords have to provide properties
with a decent energy performance certificate, a C rating.
So that will help our residents save energy, save money,
and reduce emissions.
So win, win, win.
The transport team are buying new electric vehicles.
You know, my grounds maintenance team in my department
are using vehicles powered by hydrogenated vegetable oil.
Every aspect of moving forward, we're thinking about how can we save on emissions.
I mean, children's services working very closely.
There's a whole sort of climate network, isn't there?
They provide a lot of information to the schools.
And we know that young people and children are passionate about this, so we are supporting them.
Our air quality team goes in and assesses the air quality and makes suggestions of how that can be improved.
And we work, our offices work with partners across the borough.
You know the big businesses, the big institutions, the small businesses, the residents, the community groups.
So it's a responsibility for all of us across the borough really.
We've all got to do what we can and we are supporting people across the borough to do whatever they can be doing.
So these three papers specify the way ahead for the next few years.
We had done some really good discussion.
There were some challenges, which is a good thing from committee members, some in particular.
Challenges on targets and measuring impact, but I think that's valid.
So officers took that away.
Challenges on communication.
I mean, how do you talk to people, listen to people in the language that they, and then in the places where they are, and the language that they understand.
Just talk about retrofit, what does that mean?
But how do we help you save money in your home?
That makes a lot more difference.
So there's a whole list of things in the paper, things we have done, things we will do.
And we're ambitious for the future.
So that's my take and think about the three papers together.
And then the fourth paper that we're considering this evening is a review of our events policy.
And we took to committee a draft of a paper which would then be going out to residence for consultation.
So it was by no means a finished document.
It was the first pass, if you like, about how do we work on an events policy together
for our parks and open spaces, not including Battersea Park because that's a big beast
and it has its own policy, but all the other green spaces.
And the draft document had minor amendments to the established 2014 policy.
And our aim was to ensure that all the events we run are sustainable, they're carefully
managed, they deliver benefits to the residents of Wandsworth, but they don't work to the
detriment of the green spaces, the grass, the biodiversity.
We don't want the noise affecting nearby residents.
It was supposed to be tightening up, and the aim is to tighten up the regulations to protect both the green spaces and the residents.
What we hadn't anticipated was how much the draft wording would worry people.
And we have heard a lot of worries.
And in the meeting, the opposition group laid down a very complicated
amendment, which they sprung on us at the last minute, unfortunately, because there
were some sensible things in there, but we hadn't even seen it, and we couldn't, well,
it's not when the committee decided not to accept it, because they hadn't even seen it.
There was the thought that had they, as the opposition sent this in 24 hours earlier,
we could have looked at it, just discussed that of sensible discussion, and we might
have taken some of their suggestions on board, but the committee didn't decide to do that.
And I hope in the future, when we're doing this sort of horizon scanning, future planning
way of working, we can talk together a lot more sensibly and collaboratively and
actually evolve policy together rather than being confrontational.
But the labor group on the committee also proposed one amendment,
which was about making sure that we consult residents on this policy rather than the wording that the officers had used.
So that amendment was accepted.
We are definitely going to consult our residents on this draft policy.
But then since that meeting, also I've met with the friends groups in Wandsworth and
they've had the opportunity to express their worries to me and to officers.
As a result of which, something new to this group of people is I'm actually asking you to adopt something that wasn't quite adopted at committee.
There's some amendments you'll see with track changes in the appendix.
And the appendix compares the current existing 2014 policy with proposals for a new policy.
But then we have amended, having listened to what the friends of ones with common and
teaching common have said to us, what they're really concerned about, residents are concerned about.
We have put in some quite significant changes in there.
And then if you accept that, then that still is just a consultation document.
And we now move to consulting with residents to see what they think.
Because the aim of this is that we put on some lovely events in Wandsworth because we've got London Borough of Culture coming,
which is on an ongoing basis, it's lovely to have events to entertain our residents.
But there must not be the detriment of nearby residents or nature or biodiversity or the green spaces or the sports pitches.
So it's a careful balance and we need to work together, listening with residents to achieve that.
So I'm asking you to accept the revised document with the track changes, the appendix.
The leisure infrastructure plan.
So we have obviously we have our leisure centres, we have our parks, we have all of our wonderful
spaces where residents go, they have not been maintained for a good few years now and some
of them really need some work doing.
So first of all, we need to protect our existing places and spaces and we've requested a budget
which went to the capital financial finance committee, we requested a budget of 20 million
to just protect so that our places and spaces are fit for purpose, provide a really good
standard of facility for our residents.
Um, and then on top of that, we actually want to really enhance some of those spaces.
Um, we're out to tender for us, for the leisure centers at the moment.
So that's the gyms, the swim courses, squash courses, all different facilities.
We want them to be state of the art.
We want them to be excellent for our residents.
Um, so we are proposing some investment.
We would like some investment.
We saw it seeking, uh, 10 million in the first instance, but that's, that's an estimate, you know,
And there will be a business case written for every single center or piece of work that we want doing.
And it's under what we call Invest to Save.
So actually, you put in an investment, you do up this ledger center, and
we then expect it to generate income to pay back that investment.
So over time, it's not such a cost to the council, it's an investment, and we get income from it.
So that's the ledger infrastructure session which was agreed at committee and finance committee agreed the funding, I believe.
So, yes, obviously we have got an awful lot of trees in Wandsworth and I would like to
have an awful lot more.
So this is all about, so we need people to plant them and we need people to maintain
them.
So this is about going out to tender for those contracts.
And we did talk about the need to actually keep our residents better informed about what's
happening because people get terribly upset when trees are cut down and they weren't expecting
it.
And actually they're only ever cut down for a good reason, be it like they're diseased or they're likely to fall over and hurt somebody.
But as part of the whole sort of considering about how we look after trees in our borough and
we are bringing the tree teams back in house from enables, so we'll have much closer eyes on that.
So we'll be communicating much better with residents as well.
That's great.
Thank you very, very much.
It's a huge amount of work there.
And if there's no comments or questions, we'll take that in order.
So the Wandsworth climate action plan 2025.
The Wandsworth retrofit strategy 25 to 30.
The Wandsworth climate adaptation
and resilience strategy 25 to 30.
The consultation on draft open spaces events policy
but with those amendments as Councilor Gasser has outlined.
That's agreed.
The leisure infrastructure plan.
And the procurement of our Bora cultural services.
Great so if it's okay and thanks again Councillor Gasser for the huge amount of work there.
If we could move on to finance and I think this would be Councillor Ireland and Councillor
Dr. Brackenola, if you could say a few words
about the proposals there.
Sorry, thanks.
Okay, so it's actually a paper, the third paper
in our PACS Connect to Work paper 25287.
This is a paper just agreeing how we're gonna move forward
with the Connect to Work DWP program,
which is getting people long term unemployed
because of disability and sickness back into work.
We're going to be delivering it through our Work Match
program that already exists because they're very capable,
they had really good results in the past.
We believe that we can meet the expectations
without it being held by the central organization
London Forward.
We aim to have around 200 people back into work or doing work training through this scheme,
taking advantage of our London Borough of Culture, creating opportunities that are happening
and developing new and existing and strengthening relationships that we have with businesses
in the area.
Paper 1.
Paper 2.
Paper 2 or paper 4, paper number 25 to 88, which is about the Council's new voluntary
sector strategy.
I'm really pleased that this, like Councillor Henderson, is the first one that we've ever
had in the Council, which is quite surprising, or not surprising.
Really pleased that this is going to be presented to the voluntary sector next Tuesday.
It really sets out our relationship with the voluntary sector, what they can expect from
us, what we expect from them, how we're going to move forward as a collective partnership.
Brilliant.
Is it okay if we pause there and just see if there's any comments or questions for Councillor
Ekonola.
Councillor Stockton.
Thank you, Councillor Ekonola, and thank you for updating the work done on the voluntary
sector strategy.
I think as cabinet known it's a really important part of you know with their family hubs across the borough
Launching our third one in in teaching this month
in fact
you know working with a voluntary sector is a really important part of how we want to and
Strengthen our support for children and families across the borough
So it was a real pleasure to be able to go and visit the VCS hub
On the ground floor in this building a few weeks ago with some of our voluntary sector providers
So, just wanted to know a bit more about the benefits that you expect that the hub can
provide to voluntary sector organization when it launches, I think, in next week.
You have had a sneak preview.
Yeah, really, really pleased that that's opening.
and we're launching it just after the big voluntary sector in -person meeting on March
the 11th.
So that's a really good opportunity, really, where I think we should have over 80 different
organizations coming together.
We'll present the strategy to them, and it's an opportunity for them also just to feed
back to us on how we move forward, because it's not just a strategy that's stagnant and
then is going to sit there, but it's actually going to – we're going to work together
to develop co -produce KPIs, which is the way that the whole strategy has been produced
over two years, two and a half years now, how we're going to hold ourselves accountable
to the strategy, how they're going to hold themselves accountable as well, because it's
a continuing and ongoing conversation.
So part of that is about having them near to officers, because once they have that good
communication with officers, then we can actually lead and move forward with the strategy together.
Wonderful. Is it okay, Cancer Ireland, if you take us through the other finance elements?
Thank you. There are four other papers. The first paper we discussed was additions to the General Fund Capital Program.
and we've added over 164 million pounds worth of projects to the capital program in 25, 26 and in future years.
You've heard about some of these from my colleagues.
These include net zero decarbonization strategy, which is reducing the impact on the environment
and providing improved value for money through savings in utility and energy costs.
The new leisure infrastructure plan and that's to protect the leisure centers and
to enhance them, to provide good services for our residents.
And over 8 million pounds invested in repairs and maintenance for schools.
It's an ambitious program and we see it as correcting
years of historic underinvestment from the previous administration.
We want people to be proud of the streets they're living and be proud of their environment.
We want to make one's worth a more attractive place and we want to secure the libraries and the leisure facilities for many years to come.
Now, more than half of the cost of more than half these schemes is funded from either developer contributions, grants,
or as Councillor Gasser has said, schemes which will pay for themselves in reduced savings and expenditure.
Now the total investment in the borough is going to be nearly £500 million in the next six years.
This paper lists each project with target costs and when we expect to complete the work.
I'm afraid it wasn't supported by the minority party at committee who abstained on some of the votes.
But we're very proud of our program.
The next paper we discussed was the Treasury policy for 25 -26.
So this paper reviewed the work we've done so far, activities so far, and also our plans
for 25 -26.
We will be borrowing to fund our investment in 1000 homes and in our capital program,
But this paper demonstrated not only is it affordable, but
it will provide good value for money for our residents.
We've done well on investments this year.
We've managed to secure much more in income than we budgeted.
Again, I'm afraid that the minority party did not support this paper and voted against it.
The next paper was discussing council tax.
Again, you've heard from Lida, we are very proud to be freezing the main element of council tax for the third year in a row.
And this will mean that our residents will be paying the lowest council tax in the country.
The average bandy bill will be less than a thousand pounds.
One of our neighbors, Kingston, just over the border, the average bandy bill will be two and a half thousand pounds.
Now, we recognize the continuing and growing pressure on social care services.
You've heard about that from my colleague, Councillor Henderson.
So in order to protect these critical services as much as we can,
we are going to follow the government's recommendation to take the adult social care precept of 2%.
And this will provide us with the funds to protect these critical services and support the NHS.
The last paper we discussed was the setting of charges for environmental services.
We this just brings in an additional fifteen thousand pounds a year.
We are increasing charges by CPI in September 2 .2 percent but freezing concessionary charges
to help our most financially vulnerable residents ensure that they can enjoy the facilities.
Again, I'm sorry to say that the minority party did not support this and abstained from
this paper.
I should have said that the council tax paper was supported by six votes in favor.
Members of the minority party on the committee left the meeting before we took the vote on
that, which is a shame.
Thank you.
Any questions?
Yeah, sorry, well, look, thank you.
Fantastic work again for that sound financial management and the benefits you're delivering
to local people.
But yeah, any comments or questions?
Councillor Yeats.
Thank you very much, Councillor Ireland.
Regarding the council tax paper, I know we have a very important scheme to reduce council
tax for our residents in lower value and on lower incomes.
Please could you tell us more about that scheme and how it works and how many of our residents
will benefit from that.
Thank you.
I mean, most people think that Wandsworth is a very affluent borough.
We do have high levels of employment, but there's more than nearly 36 ,000 people experiencing
in income deprivation across the borough, and almost 23 ,000 households are on universal credit.
So keeping council tax low is the single largest thing that we can do to help most of our residents.
And I think that while a lot of the councils across London
are decreasing the council tax reduction scheme just to save money,
We are really proud to have the most generous council tax reduction scheme in London
It's removes the needs for residents to make a minimum contribution
Which was the case with the previous administration and instead we base support solely on income levels and household types
so over 10 ,000 of our residents pay zero council tax and
Over 15 ,000 are eligible and receive council tax reduction now we see this as
just one part of our response to the cost of living crisis.
So as well as having the largest cost of living fund in London,
possibly the UK of 15 million pounds, we have the access rule scheme,
which means that residents that are financially stretched
can enjoy concessionary rates on leisure facilities
and other services that the council provide.
And also our financial inclusion team are doing some very innovative work
to support residents with the cost of living crisis and help maximize their household income.
So we have ultra enrollment of free school meals and I think we're the first borough to
negotiate all train enrollment for social tariffs for ten's water bills.
We've also run three campaigns to increase take up of pension credit and
attendance allowance and we will be increasing the number of money hubs.
I mean, I would encourage you all to signpost your residence to the Entitle To app.
It's very simple to use.
You can use it anonymously, put some information in it, and it will tell you that you might
be eligible for something.
And I'd also like to mention the Fair Debt Charter, because it's really important that
people who are struggling, I know it's really hard, they need to get in touch with the council.
They will get sympathetic hearing and we'll do our best to help them and help them claim
benefits that they might be entitled to.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
So if I can bring you back to the papers for your consideration.
Proposed additions to the General Fund Capital Program.
The Treasury Management Policy 2526.
Connect to work.
The council's new voluntary sector strategy.
Council tax, 2526.
And setting of charges, environmental services.
Great.
Thank you all very much.
I know it's been a busy time, but that's really appreciated your work as cabinet members.

3 Democracy Review (Paper No.25-104)

And we have one other item for consideration this evening, which is the Democracy Review
Paper, also in the PAC 25104.
As a report by the Director of Law and Governance, but hopefully you recall this comes out of
the year -long piece of work.
The LGA peers came into the Council and observed there were, you know, some quite outdated
elements of our democracy.
It was too closed.
We weren't bringing the public in as much as we could.
So thanks to our colleagues from the Center for Governance
and Scrutiny and also counselors and officers
who've been working on it over the past months.
We now have a series of proposals here
to make the council easier to understand,
to make it more open to the people it serves,
and specifically to open up time
for those scrutiny committees to challenge
and improve decisions as we've heard this evening.
I don't think they do enough for that.
at the moment and importantly making those suggestions
upstream before the decisions are properly made.
I think in the way of things, this report is also going
to full council on Wednesday, but are there any comments
or questions on the paper this evening?
If not, is that agreed?
Wonderful, well look, as I say, thank you all very,
very much for your work, for explaining it.
It's great that residents can just watch this one meeting
and understand what you've been up to.
And I look forward to seeing you at the next Cabinet meeting.
Thanks very much.