Cabinet - Monday 14 April 2025, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Cabinet
Monday, 14th April 2025 at 7:30pm 

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An agenda has not been published for this meeting.

Good evening and welcome to this meeting of the Cabinet.
My name is Councillor Simon Hogg, Leader of the Council.
As usual, before we start, are there any declarations of interest or apologies?
So I think we've got apologies from Councillors Stock and Gasser.
So welcome to April's Cabinet meeting.
I'll begin with the leaders update.
Thanks everyone for coming this Monday evening and thanks to everyone who's watching online.
Since we last met at the start of March, we've had a successful few weeks.
Council tax freeze has been officially adopted and bills have been sent out and as expected
this has proved hugely popular with residents who continue to pay the lowest council tax
in the country.
Alongside that council tax freeze, we continue to deliver brilliant services, investing in
our residents and improving their experience of the council.
We are now officially London's borough of culture.
Congratulations, Councillor Akinola.
This is set to be a very exciting year.
The first event, Strictly Wandsworth,
is taking place on the 26th of April in Battersea Park.
And I think all 3 ,000 tickets were sold out
in less than 20 minutes, so congratulations.
This is gonna be a very popular event.
At the end of March, the mayor of London,
Sadiq Khan opened our new family hub in Tooting.
I was there on the day, it was a really positive event.
Sadiq was a bundle of energy,
and it was wonderful to have Tooting MP,
Dr. Rosenna Allen -Khan there as well,
talking about all the good we're doing
in her community too.
On that day, I was proud to announce the extension
of our pioneering Baby Box scheme,
which will now apply to all access
for all eligible residents.
Wandsworth should be the best place to start a family
and we're providing families with the tools they need
to connect with and to look after their child
during those crucial first few months.
Clothes, blankets, books, and toys.
A few weeks ago we had a community drop -in
at Swaffield School.
These events are a great way for me,
for council officers, cabinet members
to get out and listen to the public,
give them a chance to speak to us in person.
They were keen to talk to us about the improvements
to Burnwood Lane and the progress on our seven rings,
seven days pledges.
So let's turn to that.
As part of being an open, transparent,
and listening council, we've committed to reporting
the figures regularly on our pledges.
So I'm now gonna go through the last month of our figures
to update you on how these are going.
And just to remind you, the seven days,
seven rings guarantee.
So seven rings, if you call us, a member of staff
will pick up in seven rings and seven days.
If you report graffiti or a broken street sign
or a dangerous pothole, we will fix it within seven days.
So if we take a look at the slide on the screen,
we have consistently achieved 100 %
on graffiti removed every single week.
And I think it's really notable if you
travel through other boroughs, Wandsworth just
has less graffiti.
And let's keep it that way.
On dangerous potholes, we've once again
and reached 100 % in all applicable weeks.
Those without a figure are where we've had
no dangerous potholes reported.
And broken street signs have also seen 100 % most weeks.
And the dip in week four is being looked into
to make sure that the service
always has appropriate capacity.
I'm told where it wasn't completed in seven days,
it was completed in nine days.
And although it isn't far off the target,
we set that target for a reason.
So we have asked the relevant director
to take a look at what resources need to be put in place
to keep this at consistently 100%.
So moving to the next slide,
we have the progress of our pledge to pick up
all phone calls to our central number within seven rings.
So we've seen some great progress,
but there is still some way to go
until we get where we want to be.
I think we're now steady on 87 % of calls.
Recognizing this isn't enough,
the customer services team has already been reorganized
to improve their capacity, and that has led to an increase
in the number of calls being answered within that time.
And it's worth saying that just one year ago,
the number of calls being answered within seven rings
was below 50%, so we're already driving frontline progress.
And while this is positive, we are of course still looking
at what needs to be done to get us closer to 100%.
And on our pledge to give two free bulky waste collections
a year to all households.
I'm pleased to say more than 5 ,000 collections
have been booked in the couple of months
since we launched that scheme.
As you can see from the graph,
this is increasing in popularity.
And it's also popular with residents.
We sent out a survey to thousands of residents
and the average rating was 4 .8 out of five.
so you can actually see it's getting good feedback as well.
And the take -up I was talking about,
you can see before the service is made free,
40 or 50 people a day were using it,
but then once it becomes free,
we quickly see it coming up to around
130 bulky waste collections a day.
So, fantastically helpful if you've got a mattress
or a bookcase in your house,
and it's helping us to drive down fly tipping.
And hopefully these pledges show
that we're listening to the priorities of our residents
and being transparent and accountable about our performance.
So that's my overview.
We'll now move on to the second item,
which is cabinet updates.
Just a reminder, there are no formal papers
on the agenda for tonight, so this evening
we're gonna run through key updates
from each cabinet member, what's been taking place
in your portfolios and how you're continuing
to deliver on residents' priorities.
Tonight is the first meeting in the cabinet,
following at the initial phase of our democracy review which will improve and modernize the way the council's run
The next council meeting will take place on Monday the 12th of May
The agendas and reports will be published the week before and residents as always on the live stream will be able to see us take those
decisions on their behalf
So council Yates, I wonder could you start by updating the cabinet on what's been happening in transport since our last meeting?
Yes, good evening, everyone.
Thank you, Councillor Hogg.
So as usual, with transport, we're very busy with our ambitious programme on road and pavement
renewals and town centre improvements and lots of work on active travel.
I'm very pleased that we've now started and got shovels in the ground on Queenstown Road.
Now, this is the section of Queenstown Road between Queen's Circus and Chelsea Bridge,
which is an incredibly important cycling route in the borough.
Cyclists converge from east, west and south at the big Queen's Circus roundabout, and
then they go on north over the bridge commuting into London.
It's a big commuting cyclist route, and then they make that journey back in the evening.
So it has a very high volume of cyclists.
And there are cycle lanes, but they are substandard.
So most cyclists cycle.
They don't cycle on the cycle lane on the park side.
They cycle in the road.
And of course, it's a heavily trafficked road.
So we really need to make this road safer, particularly
for cyclists, but obviously for all road users.
Now this scheme, as with all transport schemes,
takes some time to develop.
The designs have to be done, the consultations with residents, carried out, detailed design
work done.
Often you need to move utilities, the pipes and the wires underneath the surface.
It's part of the strategic road network, so we have to reach agreement with Transport
for London on the changes to the road.
But I'm really pleased.
It has now got started, so it includes wider and extended cycle lanes along the whole length
the road in both directions with clear segregation from vehicles and pedestrians.
We've got protected right turns for cyclists into and
out of Battersea Park at Carriage Drive North with controlled traffic lights.
That's really important cuz that is where collisions tend to happen,
is at junctions and turnings.
We've got the removal of traffic lights at the junction with Sopwith Way,
replacing that with a push button crossing.
We're resurfacing all the footways and the carriageway for
smoother road, better quality road and we're putting in additional street trees
to enhance the look and feel of the street and boost biodiversity. That in
particular is being done in response to the resident consultation when residents
said they really wanted more street trees and greenery. We're going to have
more cycle parking to encourage more people to cycle and give them somewhere
to store their bikes safely.
So that's Queenstown Road update.
Really pleased about that.
Many residents will be aware of the changes
that we made to improve the junction by Putney Bridge
at the bottom of Putney High Street
to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists,
but obviously a very busy congested area there,
particularly with the ongoing closure of Hammersmith Bridge.
So it's really important that the traffic lights it's a very complicated junction with basically two sets of lights
that they do
work as well as possible which is called and in the transport jargon and
Optimizing the lights. So the most possible cars and buses and other vehicles flow through the lights
as quickly as possible and the sensors are now all
under the road and the algorithms are gathering data and TFL we're in very
close touch with Transport for London on this and we would expect the lights to
be optimized later this month in early May. We continue to do everything we can
to reduce congestion on Putney High Street. We are working very closely on
that with Transport for London with the utility companies so that their works
are, if they're not essential works, that they are not done during the working
week. Obviously sometimes essential works have to be done. So working very closely
with the utility companies and Transport for London on that particular stretch of
road because we know that residents get frustrated about how busy and congested
Will be and of course, you know, that's one of our key with the crossings in the borough. Thank you
Thanks very much councilor Yates that excellent update. Are there any comments or questions?
Go ahead
Thank you, thank you councillor Yates, I am just wondering if you could tell us how you can get a
Bike hangout on your road quite a few of my residents would like one. They don't know how
Yes, thank you, Councillor Aconola. So currently we're putting in an additional 120 bike hangars,
part of our ambitious bike hanger programme, which is currently the most ambitious programme
in London. To get a space in a hanger or get a hanger put on the street, residents just
need to go on our website or of course they can phone and their call will be answered
in certain rings. So and then you know their request for a bike hanger on their street
will be registered and we keep the lists and we review the lists. In some parts of the
borough where you know particularly where there's lots of houses in multiple occupation
where you've got lots of flats, then we do have waiting lists.
And that's why we are working, in particular in those areas
where residents have requested additional hangars,
to put in more bike hangers.
If there's already a bike hanger on your street
and you think there could be a space in it, but you're not sure,
you just need to Google Wandsworth Council bike hanger,
and you'll be able to check that.
But yes, we basically need to put in more bike hangers as we are doing and of course when we we go through each
Phase of bike hangers like the 120 we're currently putting in
We do need to do a careful exercise first to look at where on the street is the best location and we consult residents
Because sometimes they have you know, really valid reasons why it shouldn't go
to accommodate resident views.
We generally try and put them towards the end of the street
where often it's not right in front of someone's door.
But we do obviously endeavor to put them in
because residents need and want to use them.
It's also worth saying that we do also put in what are called
the Sheffield bike stands, the hoop that you
see all around the borough just at the edge of the roads
in response to resident requests.
and we're having a push on that at the moment.
We've been putting out quite a lot of social media,
encouraging residents to again go on our website or phone us
if there's a street where they would like one of those Sheffield Hoop bike
stands where they would find it convenient.
Again, of course, we'll have to look, you know, is that the appropriate place
or do we need to put it somewhere nearby for a particular reason?
But like I say, we're keen to put more of those in in response to resident demand
as well.
How often are the spaces reviewed?
Like if the space isn't being used?
So the bike hangers on the streets
are managed by cycle hoops.
And they review that all the time.
Because obviously, they want to make sure
that the bike hangers are being used.
On our housing estates, they're managed by the housing estate
managers.
So, and we're putting in more bike hangers on our housing estates in addition to that
120 in this current phase.
Then we'll be moving on to another phase in a few months time of about another 100 hangers,
which is all part of our walking and sighting strategy.
Thanks very much, Councillor Yates.
If it's all right, moving on to you, Councillor Henderson, can you please give us an update
on health?
Thank you, Councillor Ogg.
Starting with adult social care, the main activity of offices and, indeed, central focus
for myself is the Care Quality Commission assessment, which we are currently in the
middle of.
For members of the public who aren't aware, it could be most forgiven for not being aware
the Care Quality Commission is appointed to review
all social care systems, adult social care systems,
across England and Wales.
So this is a routine assessment.
It's the first one that's actually been done
in England since 2008.
The Conservative government stopped the process
in 2012 to save money for austerity purposes.
So these assessments have resumed
and they have been taking place across the whole country
and certainly in London.
The process actually started into December,
I think probably two, two and a half weeks or so
before Christmas when the CQC announced that they wanted to assess Wandsworth.
This did involve a very considerable amount of work on the part of officers over the Christmas
and New Year period.
A considerable amount of documentation had to be sent.
The CQC sent a list, to be fair, they sent it to all local authorities.
is they send the list of various information
that they want, including lists of stakeholders
requesting to see 50 case studies.
They also wanted to receive certain documents
associated with how the council actually works.
So this actually involved a very considerable amount
of work over the Christmas and New Year period.
The second stage of the assessment,
following our submission of the documents
at the end of the first week in January,
the CQC asked us to give Emma a presentation last week,
which we duly did on Tuesday.
And that covered our structure,
and covered information at the borough.
It covered not only the functions of adult social care,
but also how we promote health and health and well -being
and social care across the entire council.
I gave a presentation specifically on those areas.
Officers obviously commented upon very specific aspects
of the very extensive work on social care actually covers.
Needless to say, we didn't get too much feedback.
It certainly appeared that the presentation was well received.
The third stage of the assessment
is when the CQC assessors come back to Wandsworth in person
to interview a number of people, senior people.
They have already started speaking to a whole range of stakeholders.
But the main purpose of the visit over three days,
immediately after the bank holiday in May,
is to speak primarily to senior officers, et cetera.
And apparently I've been selected as the first person they want to speak to on Tuesday,
the 7th of May at 10 o 'clock.
So, I mean, we are actually looking forward to this.
Although this has involved an enormous amount of work,
it has, I think, enabled us to have another look,
another focus of what we do and how we do it.
And whilst I'm very confident about the outcome,
clearly there is always room for improvement.
and no one is at all perfect.
We know there are areas where we have improved
considerably over the past three years,
such as co -production and co -determination,
which was virtually nonexistent
before we took control three years ago.
So there are a number of areas
where things are working in progress.
But nonetheless, we look forward to welcoming
the CQC assessment team when they come to us
in May. In the area of community safety, I was very pleased on Friday to attend the launch
of the Rowhampton Police Touchdown Space opening. And this is yet another example of excellent
cooperation between the Metro Pods and police locally,
ourselves as the council, and also the Fleur Anderson MP.
The purpose of the touched -air space is to enable
local board officers to go somewhere to make phone calls,
to pick up urgent emails, to make telephone calls, et cetera.
In other words, to enable them to spend
and they spend considerably more time
in the locality, in the neighborhood
than they would otherwise.
Currently, dedicated ward officers in wards
have to travel to and from their bases,
which given the traffic problems can sometimes mean
journeys of 45 to one hour, 45 minutes to an hour
in either direction.
That obviously significantly reduces the amount of time
that dedicated ward offices can actually spend in the area.
So this is a significant step forward.
It is something that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner,
Mark Rowley, is very keen to develop.
The reality is that councils have a considerable number
of premises where these things can actually be set up.
We have really set up a very successful touch -down space in Tooting and we are certainly looking to expand that.
It is, I think I should say, another example of our continued investment in the alternate state and in Roehampton.
We are aware that antisocial behaviour in particular and crime are concerns of residents
in Southampton and the principal concerns of residents are also our principal concerns.
So we have been taking, as I have mentioned in previous executive meetings, a whole range
of activities around community safety, which have significantly improved not only statistics
but the reality of what's happening on the ground.
For example, in the last 12 months knife crime was reduced by 16%, which is very much against
the trend if one analyses other local authorities in London.
So it was great to meet our senior police officers.
Fleur Anderson attended the EFN and we look forward to that being a model which we can
hopefully roll out in other parts of the borough.
There's a lot of other things going on besides, last meeting I mentioned our new CCTE strategy.
The first of its kind in Wandsworth,
which may be surprising given the fact
that we have almost 1 ,300 cameras,
but we will actually be sending out guidance to counselors
in order for them to respond to residents requests for CCTV.
I have to say there are strict legal requirements
in terms of the use of CCTV.
and it's vitally important that any deployment
of any CCTV camera actually meets those requirements.
But providing they do, and it's certainly our intention
to respond positively to requests for CCTV cameras,
particularly deployable cameras, which can be used,
for example, in any way for eye tipping
or other antisocial behavior.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Henderson. That's an excellent update. Are there any comments or
questions on that? Councillor De Vincenzo.
Yeah, you'll be aware of the case that we've kind of liaised on a little bit on the Doddington
estate where residents have been dealing with some quite serious antisocial behaviour. And
can I get a bit of an update on the Council's actions and how we can try and use this as
case study for how we communicate between housing and the community safety
team because I think residents are happy with some of the progress but it's a
really good case study for how we can you know try and marry up some of those
departmental departmental overlaps. Thank you councilor Dickett -Erman. Can I
actually thank you for your contribution to this because as someone who is a
connections with a number of the residents there. And clearly in the face of
such serious problems associated with antisocial behaviour, drug taking and
criminality, it is vitally important first of all to get the community on
your side and I'm pleased to say that we were given considerable intelligence
which enabled us as a council and that is the Housing Department of Community
safety to work closely with the Metropolitan Police
in tackling this issue.
And it is yet another example of the excellent partnership
and working between ourselves and the Metropolitan Police.
Most of the complaints related to one particular block.
And I'm very pleased to say that last week at Wimbledon
and under the race called, we did obtain a block
or a closure order.
This means that only residents with a legitimate reason
to be in that particular block will be permitted
or the police will move them on.
And clearly if that continues,
there can also be other penalties applied to them.
But I should say that this very much a fault.
This is almost a culmination, a whole range of actions
which have been taking place on the Doddington,
including successful police raids on premises
associated with crime, antisocial behavior
leading in the arrest of a number of people.
Police patrols have been stepped up and have been regular.
It's also very important, as I said,
it's important to keep residents on site
and for them to know what we are actually trying to achieve
and what we are doing to protect them.
And so there has been regular communication with residents
to keep them updated on the action taken.
There are also a range of different agencies
which are involved in this process.
And so there have been multi -agency engagement events
with residents.
And we've also tried to improve the environment in the blocks by improving the cleaning of
them.
Because our experience is that if people actually respect the area that they live in, they're
much more likely to respond positively in terms of how they behave.
So this is just one part of the problem.
We know that, again, as with most things in life,
there are challenges elsewhere.
But this, I think, is a very good example
of how we, working with the housing department,
closely with the housing department,
who have control over tenancies,
and therefore can exercise control and influence
upon people engaged in antisocial behavior.
So it's vitally important that housing
and community safety work in tandem. I believe they have and I think they are also working
incredibly closely and effectively with local police as well. Thank you.
Thank you Councillor Henderson and if it's okay next we'll come to you Councillor De Kedem and
Housing. Great so I'm going to cover a brief update on the Homes for Wandsworth and then talk
a bit about the response of the regulator result in the special committee that we had.
So on the homes for Wandsworth, we have some of our larger schemes coming forward to open
to residents in early summer, and that's the Patmore site and Randall Close, which will
be some of the larger units that are coming forward.
And we're hoping that offers will be made through our local lettings plan to families
on those estates who are overcrowded or in need in the coming weeks.
We also are nearing planning on Tynum Close, which is also in Batsy and notices have been
served.
And our engagement teams are active and on the ground on sites where planning application
has been passed, particularly in Putney and the Ashburton.
And I recently attended a really wonderful forum that had been set up by our new engagement
officers who are working to make sure that estates have improvements done alongside any
building work that's taking place, which I think is a really important part of the process
because it gives people buy -in.
On the social housing regulator, I think we had a really good special committee, which
I think the way that these cabinet meetings are changing in relationship to the Democracy
Review, it was a good test case of what committee might now become rather than like a set of
preordained papers that are spoken on, but having a specific area to debate on that then
can be fed to these meetings and can be added up.
So I think it was very useful and it was an adult discussion.
And anyone, any resident who's concerned
about the social housing regulator response,
I think it's definitely worth watching
because there's a lot of detail, there's officer responses,
and there was a good kind of atmosphere of adult scrutiny
from both opposition and from our side and our benches.
On an update on the areas that were flagged
by the regulator, so on EICs,
which is electrical safety certificates,
You'll be aware that we were in the kind of 60 % area in
Tenanted flats but quite low on communal areas. So
That that now is as of last week. We're up to 95 % in communal areas
So we have managed to close the gap on that area that was flagged by the by the regulator
And we have of the 1800 fire safety measures, which I want to clarify again
I think it's really worth watching watching the committee that took place on the 8th of April, but those fire safety measures were
What we would say is that they're labeled
kind of non -serious ones, but they were outstanding.
And so we've got through about 700 of those
and are working through, and these are things like
no smoking signs in corridors,
making sure that signage is appropriate.
And that is in the context of 38 ,000 serious
fire safety measures that we had completed
prior to the regulator.
So one of the good things to come out of that committee
was a kind of collective agreement that our homes are safe, but that we need to make sure
that we're managing contracts better, so particularly on the EICs.
And a further update was discussion around how we're going to try and, I guess, shift
some of our resident engagement strategies.
So while we are committed to empowering and building residents' associations, we're aware
that some estates just don't have resident associations
and struggle with setting them up.
And the regulator rightly pointed out
that it's important that estates that don't have
residence associations also have access.
So in tandem with what is happening in the Home Swarms
program, where we have an engagement team that is running
repairs, surgeries, and a hub model,
we're thinking about rolling that out whereby officers
and estate managers might be in a certain area
for a period of time.
So a whole day.
So an estate might get noticed that all day you
know that your estate managers are going to be there and you can drop in and discuss your
issue and your counselors can come for a certain part and it moves away from that two -hour
evening meeting which we know some residents can't access.
So yeah, I think what has been useful coming out of the inspection is that it gives us
an opportunity to really reshape some of those participation structures and I think that
is something that there's appetite for,
and I'm kind of looking forward to moving forward with that.
Lovely, thanks so much.
I don't know if there's any questions on that update.
Sorry, I've got a question about private renting.
I know this is a key priority for you personally.
I met a private renter at the weekend,
and they told me they'd been having trouble
with their landlord.
We know how important it is that we crack down
on rogue landlords.
Please could you give me an update on the progress
with your licensing scheme?
Yeah, so it's kind of exciting times.
So landlord licensing is about to be rolled out
in the first patch of Wandsworth.
So that's the selective license, and that
will be in the kind of tooting corner of the borough, which
is where we found the evidence base for the category one
hazards.
We had to only start with 20 % because previously you had to go to the Secretary of State to
ask if you wanted to go above that, but actually the new Labour government has changed the
rules so we might be able to roll out in other areas of the borough as well.
But in that tooting area, July 1st is when the scheme will become live and that will
be the first time in Wandsworth that we have a selective licensing scheme which will protect
private renters, allow us to have a closer inspection regime.
We are also rolling out an additional HMO license across the whole borough.
So for those residents who I know struggle with HMOs where the landlord is absent and
there's lots of people maybe crammed into a flat and it's hard for them to get in touch
with their landlords, that additional license will also help us to make sure that those
kind of landlords are regulated properly.
We know historically that because ones have had a very low regulatory framework that it
ages and ages in the court. And there was a case in your ward where the resident really
was trying, and it was really frustrating because we didn't have the schemes in place
to help that resident, and we had to go through this long process to get there. And so this
has really been a sign to say that, you know, previously Wandsworth had kind of had a laissez -faire
attitude, and now we're moving into a much more modern regime, which is akin to what
most London borrowers have and also I would say in step with the renters' rights bill
which encourages this kind of licensing regime.
Thank you and I just want to say thank you and well done on pursuing that because I know
how tough it was when you had some success in court a couple of weeks ago.
So well done to you and Craig.
Thank you.
Lovely, thanks so much.
And next, Councillor Echenola, would you like to give us an update on the voluntary sector
business and culture?
And I think we may have a video.
It's a very good experience for all of the musicians to come together in different type
We see all the people in the audience. It's such a great experience and very exciting.
It's something I've been waiting for and preparing for for a very long time. It helps tie one of us together.
It's so big and amazing. I've made a lot of friends water -placing in the afternoon.
It's such a big theatre and it's so nice to be able to perform in front of so many people. It's an amazing opportunity.
Really exciting when you first get onto the stage.
We tomorrow are at the London Borough of Culture.
We're really excited that one's worth a new London Borough culture.
Five, four, three, two, one.
National Guard!
Yeah, that was really good fun.
And I just think we should all be really, really proud of all of our children and young people,
the musicianship was outstanding.
They were brilliant.
Those kids were there playing Destiny's Child
on the steel pans, but that wasn't the half of it.
Operas, they did a, what do you call it?
West Side Story as well.
That was like whole, first half of it was West Side Story.
Never been prouder of our young people
at the Royal Albert Hall.
What an opportunity and also what talent we have
in our bar.
we should just all be really proud. And of course, confetti cannons. What's there not to love about
confetti cannons? So that was on the day, the official, it was the official opening of our
borough of culture, which was on the first of April. There was a little pre -taster in Southfield
with the art festival that they did there just at the end of March. And then moving forward,
there is just so much going on. Homegrown Festival starts at Battersea Arts Centre
next week in April. Personally I'm looking forward to the Battersea Poltergeist
show which is going to be shown there. It's called Museum of Horror so check it out.
The London Borough of Culture champions also awarded their first
grants to the South Asian Heritage Month awardees through participatory grant
giving so in line with what you were saying actually Councillor Diggan it is
part of us showing people that we are doing things differently and putting the
money in the hands of our residents because they do know best where it's
where it's meant to go where it could go and how it can benefit our residents and
they'll be awarding Black History Month 365 grants shortly I hope to have an
update for you all on the accessibility guide from Access Able, which will also provide
information to all of our disabled or less abled, D -deaf, neurodivergent people about
the venues that they can access and how they can access them and where the quiet spaces
are.
I know that on the 26th of April, we're all in Battersea Park dancing, doing the dance
event which Councillor Hoge already said has sold out. Sign up, you never know what might happen.
There will be a quiet space in there for anyone who is, who maybe feels a bit overwhelmed by
all the noise and that's being designed by a disabled artist as well. So that will be in
Well in Putney and all the flags from Urban Flow which were designed in Putney Arts Center and also in
Pakistan where they're welcoming people to come to fly some with our wonderful MP Fleur
Anderson, but they look beautiful as well. I know they're gonna be part of the Urban Flow Festival in
Roehampton later on in the year. There's a lot going on. So I'm just gonna update you
Each one of these meetings as we go along
So in the past month we've also launched, well supported, GLL to launch the literary
fund with a lot of the writer alumni coming from my ward of Tooting, so very proud about
that.
Met with businesses at the Chamber of Commerce and really spoke to them about how they can
be involved in London Borough of Culture, if not officially part of it, but ways that
they can, their businesses can benefit from us having such a high profile event in the
And hopefully some of the evidence we'll get from increased footfall at the boat race will encourage them to really put a lot of effort in to benefit from our borough culture.
In other things in business, we're gearing up to connect to work, which is supporting people long term unemployed, disabled, and care leavers into supported work.
and also work trials to see if they're able to do it
or for them to try new things.
It has been a while since we met,
so we actually launched the VCS hub and strategy,
the five year plan in this time.
We met with the migration board
to discuss their forward plan for the year,
and I was told today we have found three experts
with experience, these are people with lived experience
of migration to join the board today.
So I'll update you on that later on.
And in my own ward, and I think this is something that we could probably bring into the family
hub, which I attended with Councillor Hogg and others.
I met with some Asian women who were talking about menopause and how that's not really
spoken about.
That's a policy that we brought into the council here, but they've also said outside of the
council, outside of formal situations, it would be great to have things like menopause
cafes where people, women, can just come around and just talk about their experiences and
to support them. Any questions?
Wonderful. If there's no questions, Angela, do you mind finishing off the updates for today with finance?
Thank you, Councillor Hogg. We've just sent out the council tax bills.
Monzoth has the lowest council tax in the country.
Keeping council tax low is the single biggest action we can take to help most of our residents financially.
It's very important for us.
And while other councils are cutting support to residents,
we continue to offer one of the most generous council tax reduction schemes in London.
And over 10 ,000 of our lowest income households are paying zero council tax.
We're very proud of that.
We also have a continuing programme of investment in public infrastructure,
correcting years of under -investment in the borough,
and that's worth £264 million.
Over half of the funding for this programme is being met by developers
through SIL and Section 106 receipts.
That was one of our pledges at the election, making developers pay,
and it's happening.
We have one of the lowest levels of debt
and some of the highest levels of reserves in London.
During the past financial year, the Council repaid the debt inherited from the previous administration,
and as of the 31st of March 2025, we have zero external debt.
That's it. Thank you.
Thanks so much, Councilor Ireland. Any comments or questions?
Um
Council, thank you. Yes
Council
Ireland and I was chatting
Recently to a resident from the ones of older people's forum
Who wondered if there was any continued financial assistance?
We can't provide for
older residents
Thank you. Oh yes, definitely. We've just finished the results of a very successful attendance allowance campaign.
Now attendance allowance is additional income that offers over £5 ,500 a year for eligible pensioners,
people in receipt of state pension who need regular support with personal care.
Now we've used the low income family tracker. We targeted and contacted residents who we knew are eligible
but who are not claiming this government benefit.
And since then, these households have claimed payments worth more than 230 ,000 pounds a year,
and that's expected to be worth over one and a half million pounds over their lifetimes.
Now, helping residents to maximize their household income, again, is a key priority of this administration,
just to help residents cope with the cost of living crisis,
moving from the crisis support to building resilience.
And I would encourage residents and members to use the online tools available on the Council's
website, and in particular the Entitled To app.
It's the cost of living support calculator which will help people find out what help
they may be entitled to and how to claim it.
And it's free to use and you can put in anonymous details and it will tell you, it will sample
you to where you can get more help.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Brilliant.
Thanks so much, Councillor Ireland, and thanks everyone.
It's really useful for us to come together to meet up like this and keep the public informed
about what the Council's doing on their behalf.
So we will continue to deliver on the public's priorities and be as ambitious about it as
possible.
So thank you for your work and for coming this evening.