Cabinet - Monday 16 June 2025, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Cabinet
Monday, 16th June 2025 at 7:30pm 

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  1. Webcast Finished

Good evening everyone and welcome to this meeting of the Cabinet.
Thanks for coming out this evening.
Welcome everyone.
I've got apologies from Councillor Gasser and Councillor Akinola.
Are there any other apologies?
I can see perhaps Councillor De Kloet for lateness but we'll keep going.
And are there any declarations of interest?
No, grand, well if it's all right,
we'll move into the meeting.
You'll see we've got a full agenda this evening,
and as usual I'll just say a few words
at the start to update residents
where we are on our key priorities.
We should note we have a new mayor of Wandsworth,
so we'll start by thanking Sarna Jaffrey
for the fantastic year that she had enrolled in the post.
I know she recently attended a lot
of those wonderful VE Day street parties and was dancing along at Strictly Wandsworth,
our first major borough of culture event which welcomed more than 3 ,000 people from across
the borough.
The Mayor also proudly supported the opening of the new Tooting Family Hub and welcomed
His Majesty the King during his visit to Battersea Power Station.
We're delighted to have Councillor Jeremy Ambash as the new Mayor of Wandsworth.
He's chosen three charities.
Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees, Wandsworth Oasis, and Mine Works UK.
And once again a reminder that the council match funds donations to his charities up
to a limit of £50 ,000 for the year.
So please dig deep and give generously.
And of course he becomes mayor in a year that we've already relaunched the council brand,
announced our seven ring, seven days pledges, frozen council tax, plus of course launched
access for all, doubled investment in roads and pavements, and we've got that London borough
of culture year well and truly underway.
So I'll begin with an update, as usual, to those seven rings, seven days guarantees that
we gave to residents at the start of the year.
This is to show that we are about delivery, not just promises.
We are accountable, we are transparent, we show these figures.
So, in the month of May, we removed 100 % of graffiti that was reported within seven days,
and we fixed 100 % of dangerous potholes within seven days.
We replaced 56 % of broken street signs reported in seven days, and our staff at the town hall
answered 82 % of calls within seven rings.
And I think you can see on the screen that it has hovered around that figure for a while.
That stability is a real achievement from council staff
and it's very welcome,
but plainly we would like to push this further.
I'm really pleased to say we're approaching
10 ,000 free bulky waste collections
that have been booked over the past four months
since the hugely popular policy has launched,
and thanks to everyone who's delivering that successfully.
So over the course of a matter of months,
the council has completely transformed
the way it relates to local people.
It's now a listening council.
I was really pleased to hear we ran a consultation on where we should put more litter bins in
the borough.
Well over 500 people took part in that consultation and said where they should go.
So you'll see dozens of new litter bins being put out this month and next month across the
borough.
I'd just like to say a few quick words about Access for All.
So this is our concessionary scheme for lower income residents.
We've seen almost 2 ,000 sign -ups since the launch on the 29th of April.
Fantastic to see people benefiting. You get 50 to 100 % off council services.
There's a huge range. I think the weather looks particularly good at the moment.
So families can benefit from 250 free tickets a day at Tooting Beck Lido.
There's a thousand tickets available for just £3 each for the country on the Common Festival
for access to all eligible residents and while you know most of the events for
borough of culture and Wandsworth Arts Fringe are completely free those that
aren't there's three pound tickets available for access for all residents
as well so please get involved if you are eligible this is Britain's most
generous concession scheme and just before we go to the business on the
I'll just highlight some of the KPIs we call them key performance indicators
These are the goals that we try and hit the standards that we try and set
So there's some positive things relating to the papers we got today. We'll be looking at the leisure contract later
As you can see we had significant problems. We've heard from sports team around the borough
There are just too many matches canceled that are being held on one's worth pitches outside
So we invested 1 .4 million pounds in our pitches,
and you can see that canceled fixtures are down
from 20 % last season to under 3 % this season.
So we saw an issue and we took action
and we've seen results.
We've seen a steady increase in the number of people,
not just using our libraries,
but using our swimming pools from about leisure centers,
from about 13 ,500 up to over 14 ,500.
And again, this is in part due to our investment
in access for all paying off as well.
We're seeing a wider range of people using those facilities.
We'll hear from Councillor Henderson later
about our investment fighting crime,
and I think it's notable and it's worth appreciating
that the crime rate was down from 83 per thousand residents
to 77 per thousand residents.
And we're always keen to continue building
a closer relationship with the police
and investing in our CCTV network.
And the point about lower crime is really important because that's a top priority for us,
and more importantly it's a top priority for local people.
So we're out every weekend listening to local people.
I was at West Hill on Saturday in St. Paul's Church with Cancer Island and Grimston and Fleur Anderson MP,
and we've heard from more than a thousand people in our own surveys as well.
And we know that people want safer streets, they want cleaner streets,
They want the council to be responsive and easy to contact and they want better faster housing repairs
So you've told us what to focus on and you can expect us to
Deliver on these priorities and to report back clearly to you and to be held to account. So these are your priorities
So they're our priorities
So that's my update for today
So if it's okay, we'll go into the agenda for the cabinet meeting which is available on the council website
I am looking first at the item on the Alton housing renewal proposals.
Councillor De Kedem, do you want to say a few words?
This is bringing forward a fleshed out program and plan leading up to hopefully a ballot
at the end of the summer.
We are looking for September in order to bring forward the Alton renewal.
This is moving forward with some of the papers that we have seen come to the executive before

1 Alton Housing Renewal Proposals (Paper No.25-174)

and go through the scrutiny committees. The bulk of the infrastructure that we
know about, particularly the housing offer, remains the same. This is going to
be one of the most ambitious renewal programs in London with net additional
social housing. But this is really to frame out some of the things that have
moved forward already. So this year we've already opened the Roehampton Family Hub,
We've got the police touchdown space live
and we're also making sure that lots of the
What we were calling the kind of early delivery parts of the scheme have gone through
so we've got the playground coming through the alternative to Center that's gone through planning and
Some of the things that will happen faster than other parts of the renewal, but this is
really probably one of the main priorities of the council largely because of
You know to be frank
Hampton has got large social deprivation.
It's an area where the council needs to invest in order to make sure that life chances in
one's worth are fair.
And so it's really, really important that as long as the, alongside the housing offer,
we also have a really good community offer.
And that's why we've made commitments around what has been called Block A, which sometimes
call other things, but the old car building that was closed up, making sure that we are
committing to a serious community offer there with a space that will have numerous different
facilities in it including a new library, community hall and so on.
So this has been one of the priorities of this administration and now it's really nice
to start to see some of the kind of realities in a document all coming together that kind
of have a whole span of all our different cabinet briefs together.
It is.
It's incredibly welcome work.
Are there any comments or questions on this?
So we'll come to Councillor White and then Councillor Henderson.
Thank you for that, Councillor Deetham. Given that there was a master plan for the regeneration
of the Alton Estate, that after many years bore no fruit, how is the renewal different
and does it reflect a desire to set out new principles and goals for the Alton Estate?
Yes, so the old master plan, there were a number of things that, you know, in opposition
we were very clear on that we found frustrating with it.
One was that it seemed to be prioritizing a kind of real estate venture.
It was a joint venture with a private partner that pulled out because the viability didn't
stack up.
But the overall emphasis was on delivering homes for sale.
And there are iterations that saw net negative social housing coming through,
whereas it's really important to us that this scheme in totality is 60 % affordable,
with a large chunk of that being net additional homes, as well as replacing council homes with new council homes.
So that was a key political disagreement we had with the old master plan.
But on top of that is democracy in the process.
So we committed and we've always committed to balloting residents so that the scheme represents what they want
We will only pass a scheme that is something that the community is willing to vote for
Now there's an incentive for us to do that
We get GLA grant
The fact that preview ministration didn't want to ballot on that and would give up millions and millions of pounds of public grant
Which could deliver social housing show to me that there wasn't that level of commitment
So for us there's kind of three elements that make it different. It's that net additional social housing not just replacing
existing social housing.
There's the element of democracy whereby the community
get a final say, so the offer has to match the needs
of the community.
And then I think on top of that, in the process through
which we've gone and rebuilt and redesigned,
we have been able to have more serious engagement
and found out what the priorities are.
The conversations around the shops have been really central
to that being able to pause, have conversations,
and work out what it is the real priorities are.
So beyond just the housing offer.
Thanks, and Councillor Henderson.
Thank you, Councillor Hogg and Councillor Di Cepeda and my father at Tharborough Report.
Having visited Rowhampton on Saturday and knocked on doors to certainly check that people
were aware of ordinary renewal, I was certainly extremely pleased that there was a sort of
recognition of old renewal, some skepticism as to whether it's actually ever going to happen,
and I reassure them on that. But one issue that did come up was in terms of local residents
having a priority on the new housing which is due to be built. I just wondered if you could
say something about the local lettings policy, please.
Yeah, I think that's really important.
And I'll also start with the skepticism, because I feel like particularly in relationship to
the regeneration and now this renewal, there is a very understandable skepticism because
of the almost 10 years of being promised something's going to happen and nothing really happening.
And so that is part of the building of the trust processes to say things are going to
happen and that is why in the paper we outline the different timelines.
So we can be realistic about when some of the things can come through, which are down
the line you know in five six years but there are some things we can move fast
on like blockade like the delivery of some new cancer housing part of the
thousand home site but on the local ends plan this is really important it's a
position of kind of equity within any development that happens in your
neighborhood so if you have to put up with the building work the noise the
disruption you know then you should get first dibs on those new properties so
the way the local ex plan works and this will be for the additional the net
additional social housing.
So there'll be a tendency offer for those who are in houses
that will be knocked down and then replaced.
So they'll have their own unique specific offer.
They'll be very important to them
because it's their house.
But for those net additional social homes,
those new social homes that aren't replacement social
homes, then anyone who lives on the estate that has priority
will get first dibs.
So it's not the idea that we build these new homes and then
other people from other parts of Wandsworth are going to
come in and live there.
If you are overcrowded, if you need to downsize, these homes are for you.
They are for your kids, they're for your families.
So that people have a stake in what's going on.
They don't think, well, it's kind of unfair because I've been living here for years and I'm overcrowded.
I've been on the waiting list, but I know there's a long waiting list and I'm going to be.
No, we've got to make sure that the people who are experiencing what will be some disruption in their lives in order to get a better neighborhood get to benefit from that.
So it's a kind of equity part of the program.
Thank you very much for those answers. Thanks for your excellent work on the program and is that agreed?

2 Confirming occupancy of temporary accommodation (Paper No.25-175)

Thanks very much, and if it's okay, we'll stay with housing for the next paper about confirming occupancy of temporary accommodation
Yeah, so this I think is really important that this is this has come to cabinet and gets
gets public airing because it's it
In some ways this is a plan to try and ease the kind of very serious financial burden
that temporary accommodation is placing on the local authority.
And this is not unique to Wandsworth, this is happening all across London.
And thankfully in Wandsworth we're in a position where it's not an existential threat like
it is for some boroughs.
For some boroughs the temporary accommodation costs are making it impossible for cabinet
members to make decisions and other things like adult social care, children's services.
Because temporary accommodation is being paid for out of the general funds, not just the
housing revenue account.
So I think often in public arena, those things get merged, but that's why temporary accommodation
is such a serious issue.
And what temporary accommodation is, is when a family becomes homeless, they're evicted
or for whatever circumstance in their life, their rent goes up and they can no longer
afford it.
we have a statutory duty to find them housing,
and the number of people with that statutory duty
who really should be in social housing
has gone up massively,
but there hasn't been the social housing to place them in.
So local authorities have ended up in this industry
of placing people in expensive private temporary
accommodation, and that comes at a very large cost.
And Wandsworth is one of the highest boroughs of placements.
So we are always in the kind of top five in London
of the number of people in temporary accommodation.
And that is largely because of a, you know, for decades, an under supply of council housing.
It's why in the autumn we, net additionality was so important to us because if you under
supply council housing, you think that you're, you know, you might be saving money in the
short run, but in the long run, it really is just leading to this huge drain on public
resources through temporary accommodation.
But that means we have to be really careful about how we spend the money on temporary
accommodation.
and we are, because there are so many people now in temporary accommodation and there is
so much money moving around the system, you know, it's four million pounds a day in London,
that London councils are spending on temporary accommodation, there are going to be things
whereby public money is not being spent in the best way that it should be. And that can
be for, you know, very obvious criminal reasons, or it can be because of the circumstances
and the system has created certain incentives that we need to just have an open and frank conversation around.
So, because of the number of people in temporary accommodation, we have started to go and do inspections.
We've found that there is not a massive, but there is a vacancy rate.
Other councils have done the same. They've found between a 4 and 5 % vacancy rate.
In our immediate first wave, we found roughly a 7 % vacancy rate.
And sometimes that is, you know, the flat is just empty, the person isn't there, sometimes
someone else is there.
So because we need to try and stop public money going into the hands of a landlord for
an empty unit, you know, no one thinks that's a good idea, that's not, you know, that's
not a good use of public money, we've come up with a tool to try and confirm when people
are in their temporary accommodation.
And the way that works, it's a kind of app system.
So someone will take a they'll get a little text and they'll have
Between six to eight hours to take a photo of themselves in their temporary accommodation send it back
We can check in that they're there and then it all deletes and the data is
Secured and it's a way of checking to see if someone is in their temporary accommodation
Now that when I first heard about this, I you know, I paused I was like this sounds
You know invasive and the most important thing for me is that our tenants our residents particularly our
our present temporary accommodation, you know, have it live with a sense of dignity.
But at the same time, I want to make sure that private landlords are not profiting at huge
expense from public money on an empty vacant unit. And that unit might be vacant for very
understandable reasons that we all know, which is like, you know, we often sometimes can't place
someone in the borough because again, it's very difficult to find these places in the borough.
So we might be placing someone in Croydon or in Hounslow. And if they've gone to that temporary
accommodation, they've tried living there, but the commute to the kids school was too long. And
we know that they're on their parents' couch, we need to have that frank and honest conversation.
And we want to be able to do that, because we don't want to penalize them for that very understandable decision.
But we just can't be spending thousands of pounds on rent for empty units.
So this process is hopefully going to help us get to a place whereby we can start to have conversations with families that aren't taking up their temporary accommodation.
Very clear in the paper that no one is going to lose their temporary accommodation because of this.
That is not the purpose of this at all.
This is not being designed to punish the service users.
It's being designed to stop money being pumped into empty units.
Because we can use that money to support tenants.
We can support them with white goods.
We can reinvest in the service.
But we do have to get very serious about the gross annual cost of the council.
It's circa 31 million pounds.
When you add up all the grant and stuff we get from government, we're talking much more than that.
So this is something that is very serious if we want to be able to spend money on socially progressive things.
No one wants a system where we're just pumping money into the pockets of the private sector for very little social gain.
But I understand that this is a trial, it's a test, we will learn from the test, there will be things that go right, there will be things that go wrong.
The commitment from me is that this is not a draconian attack on the recipients of temporary accommodation.
That is not what I think.
And the vacancy rates, and I think the fraud in the system is very low.
What I don't want coming from this is an idea that this is a kind of systemic problem in
temporary accommodation.
The problem with temporary accommodation is the lack of social housing.
It's the fact that people were in it in the first place.
That is the real problem here.
But we don't want to fuel that system.
We don't want to incentivize this kind of terrible trap that people are in by landlords
knowing that they can just rent out an empty property and get thousands of pounds from
the council for it.
So happy to take questions on this one.
Thank you.
Any questions?
I see Councillor Henderson.
Thank you, Councillor Dickard, and given the fact that temporary accommodation costs £60
million every year to the Council, it's important that you do take action.
But could you just outline some of the safeguards procedures that you intend to implement in
relation to this policy. Thank you.
Yeah. So the most important thing is the automatic deletion of the file. This isn't being stored.
It's almost, it's like a digital version of what happens in lots of temporary accommodation
already where people do a kind of sign -in system. So sometimes we'll be used to that
process in any case. But what this does is because of the number of units we have in
temporary accommodation, we can't, without massively increasing our staff, go and do
regular visits.
So we are starting to do more visits and inspections, often around the quality standard, but we
just wouldn't be able to pick up the level of vacancy that we think is existing in the
system.
But there are a couple of safeguards, and so there's data safeguards on one end, which
is a robust data security that is the same that we have with any of our services that
deal with identification or vulnerabilities.
and like I say, it kind of automatically deletes itself.
There's kind of safeguarding in relation to what happens
if someone doesn't have a smartphone or things like that,
or they're working night shifts, all of that can be,
like if you don't have a smartphone,
you don't have to use the system, simple as.
And knowing someone works night shifts
or isn't in the property at a certain time
is useful information for us.
That means that we can cater visits from repairs
if we're trying to go and do a gas boiler
or something like that and the person's never in
And then it's useful to know this information so like I say we're going to trial it
And there will be things that don't work that be things that do work
The overall aim is not to punish residents who may not be in their accommodation that I just got to make sure that's clear from
The start it so we can start to have a conversation about why you might not be there and what schemes are offered so we do
Have something called the new generation scheme where if someone?
For whatever reason has found themselves homeless
and
they can stay with their parent for a year rather than go into temporary accommodation,
we offer a new generation scheme that gives them additional points if they go through
that system.
So we could direct someone to that.
If they're already staying with their parents because the temporary accommodation with offer
doesn't fit them, you know, it's just too far away, we can direct it that way.
So there are various elements of vulnerability that we are going to, we're going to have
to factor in for, and we will, because like I say, it's not to do with punitive.
I know there's some nervousness about holding this kind of data and how at risk we are to
the kind of hackers and things like that.
We're no at risk than any other of the data that we hold as a council on our residence.
So it's not a kind of new risk as such.
With all data controllers, we have to follow very serious, strict procedures, and this
will be no different.
Thanks.
That's really helpful.
So is that agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you.
And if it's all right if we stay with housing again for the inspection report and regulatory
judgment from the regulator of social housing.
Yeah.

3 Inspection report and regulatory judgement - Regulator of Social Housing (Paper No.25-176)

So anyone in the public gallery, I would really recommend going and watching the special committee
that the housing committee had on this paper specifically, because it's almost two hours
of thorough debate on the regulator for social housing judgment.
It's back at Cabinet because we're bringing up the paper as we committed to prior to the special meeting going through to the committee on Wednesday.
And it highlights the actions we're taking following our judgement.
So our regulatory judgement from the regulator was that we got a C3 and that was based on serious failings in the quality and standards categories.
particularly on electrical safety certificates in communal areas.
By the date of publication, we had got to a very good place on that.
This was a badly managed contract and now that we've kind of got to grips with it,
we're at 90 plus percent in communal areas and we're around 70 percent in homes and getting more access.
The more kind of systemic, the thing that led to the C3 in my opinion,
Is it more systemic on the quality standards is the issue of?
Stock condition survey so historically we had always followed the Rick's sample guidance
That is out of that. We can't do that anymore
We need to know the quality and the condition of our stock because
While we are obviously going in and out to properties all the time. There is definitely a case
We you know we know it from our caseworker people that just don't report things
So that's the bit we really have to focus on I think if we are to get
you know, regraded.
And so we're starting at 20 % a year so that in five years we can get to 100 % stock condition
survey.
It's expensive, but it's the right thing to do.
It's coming from the housing revenue account.
Every month we meet with the regulator and we go through some of the details about various
different things.
Obviously in that process, things that aren't necessarily in the report are coming out,
so we're looking a little bit at things like our complaints handling, overdue repairs,
other parts of the service that we want to improve.
We had a very good bio -residence forum on this topic
and for us we want to make sure that it's a springboard
to continue to focus on some of the priorities.
So in the report, mold and damp wasn't mentioned,
repairs weren't mentioned,
but we know from your own roadshow meetings,
from casework, that those are things that we really,
those are things that really make tenants furious.
Cleaning contracts, managing cleaning contracts,
rubbish and litter on estates, fly tipping.
So in some ways we use this as an opportunity
to reform and improve the whole service, not necessarily just the quality and safety standards
around electricity and things like that.
Great.
Thanks so much.
So if there are no questions, is that agreed?
Thank you.

4 Leisure Management Contract Award (Paper No.25-177)

And now, Councillor White, do you mind introducing Item 4, Leisure Management Contract Award?
Yes.
I'd like to thank firstly the officers for their extensive work they have undertaken
on this comprehensive leisure management procurement process to identify a preferred bidder.
The procurement of a specialist leisure operator is aligned with our sport and physical activity
strategy.
Wandsworth moves together and is an excellent example of how we can work with the leisure
sector to bring investment and expertise into Wandsworth.
The scope of the contract being procured covers the management of Tooting Leisure Centre, Tooting Beck Lido, Putney Leisure Centre,
Roehampton Sport and Fitness Centre, Ballum Leisure Centre, Latchmere Leisure Centre,
Wandle Recreation Centre and Battersea Sports Centre.
I'm also excited about the enhanced provision of delivery of an active communities program, including in the contract.
This outreach program will see estate -based activities provided near to where people live that are affordable and accessible to all.
And this reflects the Council's wider commitment to improving health, well -being, and inclusion through quality, modern leisure facilities.
The re -procurement of the services offered an opportunity to review how our leisure centers provision is delivered,
with the services specification designed to deliver the Wandsworth moves together leisure, sport and physical activity strategy,
which plans to make sport and leisure more accessible and affordable.
Interest in new facilities and action to break down barriers to physical activity is a key part of the Council's ambitious Access for All scheme
to make sure everyone has fair access to all Council services and supports the delivery
of the Wandsworth Leisure infrastructure plan that was approved in March securing £30 million
of capital investment.
The new contract arrangements would see significant capital investment in the centres and these
are set out in Table 2, Paragraph 16.
If approved, the new arrangement would include a program of upgrades such as improved changing rooms, gym improvements, new soft play, improvements to pool provision, accessibility enhancements and health and fitness suite improvements.
I'm delighted to see this work delivering significant benefits for the residents of Wandsworth and support the recommendations in the report.
In conclusion, the award of a contract to BIDB will bring significant investment in
the development and enhancement of leisure facilities and services across the borough.
The improved facilities will increase use and participation, support the delivery of
Wandsworth Move's strategy, making sports and physical activity more accessible and
affordable to break down barriers and grow participation.
Councillors are recommended to agree the recommendations set out in paragraph one to four of this report.
Thanks very much. Councillor Yates.
Thank you very much, Councillor White. I'm very pleased to learn about the proposed new investment.
I think that's really, really important. And the outreach programme clearly very important, as you've also highlighted.
At the beginning of this meeting, Councillor Hogg mentioned our Access for All scheme,
and I wondered if you could tell us how the Access for All scheme is working at our leisure centres,
and how it's been received by residents there.
Thank you, Councillor Leates.
Yeah, Access for All is very important to this administration with the cost of living crisis,
and the inequalities that exist in the country that are evident in this borough.
Access for All allows many residents who might otherwise struggle to experience council and the borough's facilities, resources and activities.
Access for All is a big part of what we want to include within this Leisure Contract and is key to its social value.
And we would really want to ensure that everyone is able to fully appreciate the many great facilities that will now be upgraded and improved, which has been long overdue.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, thanks very much for what looks like a serious piece of work.
So is it agreed?
Thank you.

5 Tree supply, planting and aftercare services procurement - Procurement Strategy (Paper No.25-178)

And, Councillor White, is it okay if you say a few words about the tree supply, planting,
and aftercare services procurement?
Sorry.
So, with 1 ,700 acres of parks, open spaces, cemeteries, churchyards and allotments, Wandsworth
has a well -deserved reputation for being one of London's greenest boroughs.
Wandsworth Council has significant ambitions for the borough to be a sustainable place.
Planting new trees and replacing new trees that are dead or diseased play a significant
role in this.
Current contracts for the supply of planting and aftercare, including watering and
staking of trees expires on the 31st of March, 2026.
This is a procedural report that seeks approval to progress with the tendering of new contracts,
starting on the 1st of April, 2026, for an initial term of four years,
with an optional extension period of up to four years.
In developing the specification, officers will be taking into account the latest evidence in terms of species resilience in a changing climate and how trees contribute to nature recovery.
The procurement will be carried out over the summer and into the autumn, with the new contracts starting in April 2026 in preparation for the 2026 -27 tree planting season.
I recommend that cabinet improves this report. Officers can start the procurement process.
Excellent. And do we approve the report? Thanks so much. And now if we can move on

6 CCTV Monitoring Pilot (Paper No.25-179)

to item six which is our CCTV monitoring pilot and I wonder Councillor Henderson
if you could introduce this for us. Thank you, Councillor Hogg. This paper
concerns the CCTV monitoring pilot which I think I should say at the outset has been a
tremendous success.
The actual paper actually covers the outcome of this monitoring pilot.
That in itself doesn't explain what it's about.
In essence, when we took over control of the council, Councilman Hogg and I visited the
Joint Control Center, and we were pretty appalled to find out that there was only one person
actually monitoring ones was 1200 to 1300 CCTV cameras,
Monday to Friday between the hours of nine and five o 'clock,
which meant in effect that anyone committing
antisocial behavior or crime outside those hours
had absolutely no chance of being picked up
certainly immediately by CCTV cameras.
So, we instituted this pilot.
We wanted to see what would happen if we put in additional resource, covering pretty much
24 -7, obviously staffing areas across the day.
And that has proven to be incredibly successful.
The police are extremely pleased with the results.
We have actually gone as a council from being one of the worst providers of CCTV to one of the very best in London.
And that is because we have people in the Joint Control Centre continually monitoring the CCTV cameras,
which we have in housing estates and across the entire community, picking up incidents as they happen.
And this has produced real untangible success.
It has enabled the police to arrest people, to actually stop incidents in their tracks,
including one in my own ward, Roquempsin, where the control center picked up the fact
that a woman was being harassed, contacted the police, they turned up in ten minutes
and put an end to that and actually arrested the person who was actually on the point of
and committing an assault.
Numerous other examples which we can certainly cite,
including the prevention of certain suicide attempts.
We certainly believe that four or five,
possibly even half a dozen or so potential suicide attempts
have been picked up as a result of the control center
observing people doing, shall we say, unusual things,
particularly around the River Thames, so that has also been incredibly successful.
But we don't want to stop there. The pilot has been a success. We want to actually
implement this on a longer -term basis and in fact in response to cases made by
shops etc and shopping centres, we're actually extending the number of hours
particularly as a weekend to monitor potential shoplifting and street crime.
So that is something which we have added to the entire process.
As I said, the police have been hugely supportive of this.
They do have an officer in the Joint Control Centre
working hand in hand with our particular team.
We also have plans to introduce CCTV mobile cars.
The Metropolitan Police do have these, but none actually operate in Wandsworth.
So we're actually investing in three CCTV cars so that we can actually be on site quickly,
monitor the situation, and pass on relevant information to the police.
We've also trebled, in the process of trebling, redeployable cameras.
These are temporary cameras monitoring in particular
antisocial behavior, flight tipping and such events.
When we took over the administration,
there were 12 deployable cameras
for the whole of Wonsworth and Richmond, 12.
It doubled that and we have in the process of treading it
and certainly, again, success is indicated.
These are very effective at setting catching
and deterring antisocial behavior, flight tipping, and some type of offenses.
So there is some cost associated with this in this year. The cost is likely to
be in the order of £67 ,000, but we actually believe that the
safety of our residents justifies that. And I think the tremendous successes which
this has actually produced justify an expenditure, so I would certainly ask
they can't get to approve this extension.
For this is the formalization
of the CCT monitoring arrangements.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Henderson.
I don't know if there's any comments or questions.
Councillor Yates.
Yeah, thank you very much, Councillor Henderson.
Fully support this paper.
I think it's incredibly important work that's been done
and is ongoing strengthening the use of CCTs be further.
Really pleased to hear about the additional deployable CCTV cameras that are being purchased
by the council and about the CCTV cars.
Please could you tell us how can residents request CCTV for their area if they think
it's necessary?
As you'll know and as we've experienced on many estate walkabouts in O 'Meara Hampton,
and residents often ask for CCTV to stop antisocial behaviour
or to deal with fly tipping.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Yeatson.
Yes, that is a very important question
which we have actually sought to address.
Again, we inherited a situation where
the 12 deployed on campus, and of course, not all
were actually deployed in Wandsworth,
were only really deployed at the behest of the police.
and the criteria which was actually set out
basically said that a deployable camera may be issued
if it's requested by the police.
We want to fundamentally change that.
We have changed those rules
so that counselors can also make a valid request.
There is quite complex law around the deployment
of CCTV cameras, as I'm sure you appreciate,
because clearly it is important to maintain
people's privacy.
There are off the top, I had probably six or seven
different pieces of legislation
which actually cover this area.
So it is quite important that the criteria
fully understood and the deployment of any CCTV camera
fully meets those legal requirements.
What we're actually suggesting is that
It was the public who think there may be a good case
for a CCTV camera in their neighborhood
should contact their local counselors.
Now we have actually sent out guidance
to all the local counselors explaining the procedure
and explaining what is actually required.
And so we are expecting counselors
to exercise some initial triage of any application
and they come to them from members of the public.
The counselors then would contact
the single point of control,
the head of the joint control center
will make an initial decision.
But there are opportunities to review that
one way or the other.
So that is what I would actually suggest to residents,
is that if they do feel that the CCT camera,
deployable CCTV camera is appropriate to contact the local councillors, explain the reasons
why and ask them to forward the request. Thank you.
Excellent. Well, thanks all. If it's okay, we'll leave that one there for now. Is that
approved? I just want to thank Councillor Henderson personally for his leadership on
that issue because it really has transformed people's lives and made them safer. And if
If you could, Councillor Henderson, say a few words about item 7, responsible procurement strategy.
Thank you, Councillor Hogg.

7 Responsible Procurement Strategy (Paper No.25-181)

And again, I think this is also a significant initiative.
The existing procurement strategy, which dates from 2016, was very much inward looking,
very much focusing upon cost and contracts.
This procurement strategy is very much outward facing.
It is very much trying to use the resources of the Council through to procurement to support
wider economic and social needs.
So for example, already 230 contracts have been renewed since 2022 based upon the London
living wage prior to this administration taking over the living age or the real
living age was not necessarily paid to all contractors. We changed that and
therefore we have made a very significant change in essentially the lives of our
contractors which is absolutely correct because they are so essential to what we
actually do. The procurement strategy also focuses very heavily in working with small
and medium -sized enterprises, with local businesses generally, and also the
monitoring community sector, and also has a very high commitment to
environmental issues and sustainability. So a key part of this initiative is to
develop a social value toolkit and again this is something we've really stepped up on, trying
to ensure that our spending power actually goes not only where it is needed but also
to benefit society as a whole.
So for example, one of the things we're introducing is a contractor's charter so the contractors
know where they stand with us, certain things we would expect of them, and equally certain
things the contractors can actually expect of us.
And an essential part of that is generally pushing the good work standard, which is absolutely
vital to ensure that employees of those companies are actually treated fairly, because that
is something which is at the very heart of this administration.
So all in all this is a fundamental change of the previous strategy.
It is consistent, entirely consistent, is further in some respects than the new procurement regulations.
They are based very firmly upon the concept of social equity and that is the fundamental difference.
Accordingly, I would ask the cabinet to approve this.
Thank you very much.
I can't see any questions, so is that agreed?
Thank you.

8 Funding Agreement for UK Shared Prosperity Fund (Paper No.25-182)

And looking at the next item, Councillor Akinola couldn't be with us this evening, so if it's
all right, I know we've all had a chance to look at the paper about the funding agreement
for the UK SPF, the Shared Prosperity Fund.
Is that also agreed?
Excellent.

9 Budget Variation (Paper No.25-200)

And then if we could move on to the budget variation paper.
Councillor Ireland.
Thank you, Chair.
This paper's really to approve the budget variations relating to the CCTV paper that you just heard about.
And the temporary accommodation paper that Councillor Dickerton spoke about earlier.
Now, we see these as examples of investments in our residents' priorities.
Tackling crime, making sure the borough is safe.
and also making the best use of our limited resources,
making sure the money is spent where it needs to be spent.
So we're asking you to approve the budget variations.
It's on page 156.
Agree?
Thank you.
I agree.
Excellent, there's no further comments.
So that has been agreed.
And if I could just draw your attention to one final paper,

11 Response to 'Towards a New London Plan' Consultation

which I know came a bit later on the supplementary agenda.
So, Councillor De Kataan, perhaps you could unpack for us a bit the response to,
towards a new London Plan consultation.
Yeah, so this is our formal response as a council to the consultation which has been brought forward.
And there are quite tight timelines around it, so that we can make sure that the voice of residence is represented in the London Plan.
And the London plan is a really important document because it sets out the kind of strategic planning rules
That cover you know metropolitan open lands to housing
now the kind of
Focus of our response is to support the mayor and support
City Hall in trying to deliver much -needed new housing
and you know really adding our comments around the importance of
well, the importance of social housing, but also the importance of quality and local democracy
in the process as well.
So it's basically getting that balance right between making sure that we're building the
infrastructure and building the housing that we need, but also making sure that this is
to a high standard, high quality, and is also the type and tenure of housing that we think
meets the needs of everyday Londoners who, you know, let's be frank, are being priced
out of the city, finding it very difficult to afford to live in the city.
We have some kind of quite specific responses on various elements.
So for instance, we understandably fighting strongly to keep opportunity areas in both
the Nine Elms area and Clapham Junction, because we think that those are major areas where
there's opportunities for growth and we want that to be recognized in the London Plan.
And we also outline the case for our own changes to our local plan, because the local plan
and has to relate to the London plan,
particularly around affordable housing.
And here in Wandsworth,
we have a really, really ambitious program
to deliver much more affordable housing on our lands
than currently the London plan sets out.
And we have the evidence base to do that.
And so we're kind of,
part of our response is to highlight
that we want to be part of the project
that is building the affordable homes
that City Hall and the Mayor want,
and to allow us to have that ambition
and that long -term look.
The kind of risk with any form of big strategic planning document, a snapshot in time, is
that you have to think of it as a long -term document.
Obviously, at the moment, the economic circumstances mean that viability and the cost of construction
has gone up, and particularly around interest rates as well.
The market conditions probably couldn't – they're not the most ideal market conditions for us
to try and be negotiating more.
But we highlight that similarly after the 2008 financial crash,
there were similar concerns.
But any planning, particularly around the National Policy
Planning Framework, it was important to understand not
just that snapshot, but the long -term opportunities that
might emerge when things get better.
So to make sure that we don't box ourselves in too much.
But broadly speaking, I mean, we are incredibly supportive of the ambitious targets that Sadiq
has set, the ambitious targets that the government has set, and our fight will be to make sure
that those are tenures that people in want of can get access to.
Fantastic.
Thanks very much.
If there are any questions, Councillor Yates.
Yeah, thank you very much, Councillor Ticketham.
I just wondered if you could tell us a bit more about what's meant by non -conventional
housing in the local plan? Thank you.
Yeah, so you're talking about student housing and those kinds of products, yeah. So in,
there are a number of what you could call broadly as investment products that return
a high yield of return beyond and above, say, a build to rent or a just market sale flat,
And those, you might have heard of some of them.
It's things like co -living.
It's things like student accommodation
and certain kind of high -end senior living products.
These are ones that large investment firms,
but also developers see as a good financial bet.
We have problems with some of these investment products
because, for instance, co -living, co -living is,
The kind of idea around it is that you shrink down what would be a normal size unit that
would go through the planning process and have shared facilities, which kind of on the
outset sounds like a good idea, particularly when space is constrained, when we're trying
to deliver communal living.
We're not against communal living, but what some of these units do is they basically create
churn communities often and they also don't
allow for
the kind of family homes larger homes for those who need the direct affordable housing through section 106 to get access to
So you kind of often might have to negotiate those separately
And and fundamentally they're kind of trapped as a tenure type and they're often not as affordable as they claim to be
So we are much more interested in developers that are coming to Wanda to deliver homes for people to be able to rent or to buy
than more speculative products like student accommodation,
like co -living and like some of these senior products.
Now, that's not to say that there isn't space or room
or site -specific needs, but it's just broadly speaking,
we know that what shareholders want at the moment
are these products, but we know that the need on the ground
is not these products, and in some ways,
our job is to wrestle that line
in terms of what the needs of the buyer are
and what the financial incentives for developers and landowners are.
So that's why the London Plan is so important.
It's why local plans are so important, because we are almost like the negotiators
for the interests of the residents of Wandsworth.
And the whole of international capital is looking to make returns on investment.
So that's why we are quite clear that some of those tenure types
are not the tenure types we're looking for in Wandsworth.
We'd much prefer build -to -rent schemes or homes for sale for local people,
alongside that much needed social housing that comes with it.
Thanks very much. If there's no more questions, is that submission agreed?
Wonderful. Well, thanks all for your time this evening, but also the work that you and council officers have put into these really strong set of proposals
as we continue to make this a fairer, more compassionate, more sustainable borough. Thank you all very much.
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