Cabinet - Wednesday 15 October 2025, 5:30pm - Tower Hamlets Council webcasts

Cabinet
Wednesday, 15th October 2025 at 5:30pm 

Agenda

Slides

Transcript

Map

Resources

Forums

Speakers

Votes

 

Welcome to our Webcast Player.

The webcast should start automatically for you. 

Webcast cameras are not operated by camerapersons; they are automated and linked to speaker microphone units. The aim is to provide viewers with a reasonable visual and audio record of proceedings of meetings held in public.

Note: If your webcast link appears not to be working, please return to the Webcast Home Page and try again, or use the help email address to contact us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this agenda point
  1. Webcast Finished

Let's formally just open the meeting.
I just need a couple of minutes just to pause, please.
So we are officially open as a cabinet meeting.
Thank you to the members of the public for coming.
We're grateful to you.
Just bear with me for a couple of minutes before I...
Just a general question.
Yeah, just want to cheque on the two things
with the chief executive before I start here.
Is that okay?
Thank you.
Webcast Finished - 0:00:55
Yeah.
He's not picking up a phone.
Yeah, publish a press release.
I don't know what to say.
Where is Charlie?
Is he?
Can I try and call Charlie?
Okay, welcome ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for coming to our cabinet meeting.
The usual drill as to fire alarms are filming applies.
Okay, I don't believe there's any public questions.
I believe so.
Yeah.
I believe so.
I believe so.
Please go to the public question.
Please go to the questions from members.
Thank you.
Okay, any apologies?
I have apologies from Giorgia Cimbani, the corporate director of adult health and wellbeing
and Simon Baxter, Ashraf is here in place of Simon.
Okay, great. All members are here.
Yep? Okay. Any declarations of interest, members? Anyone? None? Okay, great.
Can we agree the minutes of the 17th of September? Any benefit burning?
Are you OK with it?
OK, great.
Announcements.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Just a few to keep the cabinet up to speed.
The first one is to alert you to concerns that I've been discussing with the Mayor
around proposed marches in the borough, in Whitechapel, on the 18th and 25th of this month.
We are in close contact with the police to ensure that we have appropriate arrangements in place
and there is a partnership response to that.
But so that you know, I have asked for the town hall
to be closed from 1 p .m. this Saturday
so that it won't be accessible to the public or staff
and for it to be closed all day on the 25th of this month
for the same reasons.
There's been quite a lot of media coverage
around the events and we're dealing with mainstream media
and there are social media activity as well, and I will keep members updated.
I intend writing to the Home Office, the Chief Executive at the GLA, advising all members
of our arrangements, and Mayor, I know you and I are both keen to write to the Secretary
of State, raising concerns about the focus of Tower Hamlets for some extreme political
activity that we need to guard against as we protect the community cohesion agenda in
the borough. You will also be aware it's Hate Crime Awareness Week and we are promoting
various activities at the moment throughout the week for the purposes of the minutes today.
On a positive note, BBC have been filming here today in relation to the launch of our
drug squad and as an update, as I said, it would give on a regular basis around best
You and I both attended a formal feedback session from the envoys this week at which
the deputy director for intervention attended and we discussed the positive progress that
the council is making in terms of addressing the issues that were raised by the Secretary
of State when the intervention was announced earlier this year.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thanks, Steve.
I echo some of the stuff you said on the proposed March on the 18th and the 20th and will make
further announcements in due course.
I do want to make an announcement today on two separate matters, please, if that's okay.
Once again, thank you all for attending our Cabinet meeting tonight.
before we turn to the substantive agenda, I would like to announce some good news
that we the council have succeeded in stopping the closure of Bertrand Green
Police Station front counter.
You will be aware that we brought a motion to full council last week precisely on that
urging the Met Police, the Mayor of London, to reconsider and separately I and the Chief
Executive had written to authorities to ask them to reconsider the decision that we couldn't
live with a front counter, a police station not being open, kept open in the borough and
for our residents to go to Stoke Newton.
I'm glad they have seen sense and they have listened to us and have agreed to keep the front counter.
I hope that is a decision they will honour going into the future.
So I'm very pleased to announce that.
Now I want to directly address the Council's proposed local plan which will be coming to full Council for adoption in November.
I know we've got members of the public and the campaign who are here supporting local
plan and supporting what's happening, the hearing with the Truman's Brewery.
In any event, it is a plan, we strongly believe, that goes beyond building of housing.
It is a plan that rebuilds communities.
It is bold, it is ambitious, and it is truly transformative.
It sets a new standard for London, not only for timeless across London.
It commits to delivering over 52 ,000 homes in 15 years with affordable housing raised
to a minimum of 40%, yes 40 % from 35 % and 50 % in key regeneration areas, i .e. in lands
that we formerly owned as a council, which has been transferred to housing associations,
for example. It prioritises family sized homes and reverses the trend of one bed dominance
that fuels gentrification. It moves away from intermediate and shared housing. Indeed, we
We have proposed an increase of genuinely social and affordable housing from 70 % now to 85%, an increase of 15 % once that local plan is adopted.
It will build on our current housing programme, including the Mayor's Accelerated Housing Programme, which will see over 9000 affordable homes being built in the coming five years.
expands to building zones, unlocking height and density to tackle overcrowding and accelerate
housing delivery.
We are a small borough and the most densely populated in the country.
We cannot go out, expand out, but we can go up.
And this plan will look to unlock the potential being realised in the west and south of our
borough and go even further.
Through diligent scoping and consultation, we have identified a number of site allocations
that will unlock development, regeneration and the retention of our communities in their
areas.
Like many sitting in this room, I am a product to of the social housing in this borough.
My family and I benefited from the security that a council home provided to us.
It is a sacred principle that I have always cherished, the right of every resident and every family to a decent, warm, affordable home.
Despite the poverty and deprivation, having a stable, constant family home allowed my family and me to pursue my dreams and propelled me to where I am today.
This is a principle that keeps communities together, that promotes inclusion, diversity,
and embeds pride, heritage and culture at the heart of an area.
At a time when London is seeing thousands of people priced out of their homes due to
an ever -increasing rental market, this local plan hopefully seeks to reverse the rot of
gentrification.
This plan is the qualification of this principle, enshrining them in policy and legislation
to give our borough the platform on which to build affordable homes while keeping our
communities together. One such site allocation is particularly close to my heart. The Pedley
Street site allocation, covering Chichin State, the Sputnikville of the Bangalah town and
the Truman's Brewery site. It captures in a snapshot what this local plan is about.
It is where I moved to with my parents thanks to newly built council housing by the then GLC.
It is where I represented as a councillor from 2002 to 2010 and where I continue to live.
It's a key town centre and embodies what can be achieved regardless of your background.
Built on seven central principles, this site allocation exemplifies what I want this local plan to achieve.
These principles can be summarised as follows.
1. Prioritise the development of social and affordable housing to ensure residents from the area can afford to stay in the area.
This should be achieved creatively, exploring height and density and a diverse mixture of unit sizes,
including ample family sized properties to reduce the economic and social impact of overcrowding.
This should be in conjunction with the views of residents, businesses and other key stakeholders
within the locality.
We will keep communities together and ensure that they can afford to stay in the areas.
To ensure that affordable and council -run community services, including cultural, sporting,
artistic and educational provisions are embedded in the plan, in the vision.
We want all developments in our new local plan to provide opportunities for self -development,
expanding spaces for our youngsters to continue to grow and chase their dreams.
Free, promote local businesses, yes local businesses, and explore ways in which these businesses can be supported,
can support, can be supported and support the residents and development of the area, and vice versa.
4. Retain, promote and enhance the historical and cultural identity of areas across the
borough.
5. Develop green spaces to prevent overbuilt and provide the environmental and health benefits
of open spaces, tree growth and horticultural diversity.
6. Be culturally sensitive to the diverse needs of residents in the area regardless
of race, belief or background.
And seven, provide a forum for all stakeholders in the area,
including residents, businesses, faith groups, cultural organisations
and charities to have their say on the development and implementation of the development.
These principles can and will be applied by this local plan to every site allocation in our borough.
They will underpin every development, ladies and gentlemen.
They will be the foundations on which we will build a better, more equitable borough and
keep our residents and communities together.
Finally, I would like to thank our officers, the lead member, COVID, the corporate director,
David and the director for planning, Sri, for the hard work that has gone into this
plan and I look forward to its adaptation at full council in November.
You're all invited to come to our full council in November, please, to witness history.
Thank you.
If I could now move on to Ogun Skoutani, Councillor Waheed, Chair of the Ogun Skoutani, thank
you for coming.
Your presentation, please.
Thank you, Mr Mayor, and thank you, cabinet, for allowing me to come and update you on
the work that overview and scrutiny have been doing.
Firstly, overview and scrutiny met on Monday 13th of October.
It was a very constructive meeting
with members being able to question officers
and cabinet members alike until they had all the questions
and the information that they needed.
I would like to see this kept up.
I would also like to see more debates between members at the meeting.
I feel that our meetings are going really well and I hope this continues.
We are still working on improving the acoustics in the Council Chamber.
I shall be keeping the Mayor updated in the progress in regards to this.
It is important that we as a Council carry out this as we want more members of the public to be present at our meetings.
Members of the overview and scrutiny have put forward some pre -decision questions, Mr Mayor.
These have been listed on a separate paper and I hope you can address these points as we go along through the agenda.
I'm grateful for you for taking the time out to respond to these.
And finally, any other unrestricted decisions that have been called in by overview and scrutiny?
Mr. Medd, there's no other decisions that have been called in. Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you, Chair, thank you for coming.
I've got the pre -scruiting questions.
Unless the members want to address them as we go along,
I would suggest that we give you and your team written responses.
If any member wants to come in and address them,
I'm more than happy for you to take the questions, it's up to you.
But on the whole, we can give written responses.
Thank you for coming, thank you for your presentation.
Can I also thank you, your members of your ONS for your contribution and as I said always
for holding us to account.
Your suggestions, your invaluable contributions are most welcome but also your scrutiny of
us is very much welcome too.
Thank you.
Steve.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I just wanted to make one point about overview and scrutiny if that's okay because we've
We have had conversations around the transition
during any political cycle around the importance,
and you are constantly talking to me, Mayor,
about the significance of over -the -end scrutiny.
And in discussions with the Transformation Insurance Board
and discussions with the envoys, I just wanted to thank you
for the commitment you continue to show to making sure
that the Executive is held to account during what can be
politically challenging times.
And I just think it is important as Chief Executive
I put that on record.
Thank you.
Great for your time.
Let's move on to the agenda, please. 7 .1, the first agenda is the local plan submission.
Corby and David and the team. Welcome.
Thank you, Mr Mayor. If it's okay with you, I'll give a brief response to the pre -scrutiny question,
and then a full written response will be given.
Essentially, in relation to the issue at hand,
we have had various submissions from residents
in and around Redchurch Street, the Shoreditch area
and the whole of Tower Hamblet.
So, as a listening council, we have responded to that
and subject to evidence -based indications of what residents wanted,
we've omitted to take out the night out of Redchurch Street.
Secondly, in relation to continued support for residents,
particularly around an area that does have a very active night -time economy
around the Hackney side, around Brick Lane, which then spills into both
Redchurch Street and the Boundary Estate, where there's a lot of ASB and
disruption caused around those areas. We are actively working with our
community safety team in order to ensure that patrols are regular around the area.
We have a CCTV camera based around there that's monitored. We encourage the public
also, if there are disruptions, please report in.
I've had numerous interactions with members and
part of various different WhatsApp groups in order to
track and monitor this and have personally reported as well as
encouraging members of the public to confidentially send me
reports so that can be reported. But on a wider scale
it's really important to understand that the approaches
we take is there to protect children from harm, particularly if they're going to places
to get religious education. Also, there is schools around the area and we have a lot
of vulnerable elderly residents as well who feel intimidation. So as a matter of priority,
I've worked with the cabinet member for community safety in order to put a more strengthened
programme in place for our deployment around the area.
So ultimately that's the first part of the question in relation to the local plan.
The second part of the question is around the implementation of the local plan.
Well, just for people to understand the process.
So once we pass this in cabinet today, this will go to the full council,
where hopefully the council will ratify the decision to adopt the local plan.
It will then go to the planning inspectorate,
who we are at the mercy of, waiting for a date,
but we will be fully ready on whatever date they set,
in order to openly prove the validity of our local plan,
which will be evidence -based.
So they're the two answers to the questions.
In relation to the introduction of the local plan,
I'll be very brief because the mayor's stolen my thunder.
But that's fine.
Can I thank officers?
We've got David Joyce here, he's the corporate director.
We've got Sri, who's the director of planning and
building control.
We've got Natalia, who's one of the heads of service,
who's overseen the local plan.
And we've got Matthew Pullen, who's also been actively
working on the local planners and other head of service.
Essentially we have worked collaboratively with local residents, with developers, with
the GLA as well as a number of other stakeholders.
This has been a journey which has lasted nearly three years now.
It started initially in 2022 and we've gone through various different stages.
We're now at the last stage where hopefully this cabinet will adopt and then we will ratify at the full council.
Ultimately we are raising the limits of what we want in terms of social housing to 40 % social housing.
In certain areas it will go up to 50 % social housing.
We also have to be mindful of viability and developers to build.
They have to have a balanced platform.
But through market testing and our viability teams, 40 % is a reasonable amount which will
deliver both for the local community as well as the developers who will be building out
the properties.
Lastly, as the Mayor has already picked this up, this plan hopes to deliver over 52 ,000 properties by 2038.
So it's an impressive piece of work, it's a trailblazing piece of work that a number of other local authorities have spoken to us about.
And the 40 % other local authorities are now trying to pick up on this as well.
What we've seen in turn, Mr. Mayor, in preparation for this local plan is developers have already reacted.
And as you will see in the forthcoming planning applications, developers are targeting that 40 % social housing.
And we're targeting larger units as well. So, you know, the issue around overcrowding will be supported greatly.
That's it, Mr. Mayor. If I can ask David, Sri and the team to say a few words.
Thank you, Llew Member and thank you Mr Mayor.
So just to, I'm not going to say too much because I think you've both introduced the
plan in a very sort of whole hearted and fulsome way.
What I did just want to add to is that myself and the team have met members of the local
community tonight to speak about the Red Church issue and how the local plan addresses that
concern and I would like to thank the input that we've had from the local community which
we've responded to.
I think the second part that I want to say is that I've been lucky enough to work in
a number of London boroughs that are ambitious about housing delivery but I've never worked
on a plan with as much ambition as this plan has.
The numbers of homes that are committed to be delivered by this plan will mean that we're
not resting on our laurels around our past successes in housing delivery.
We're setting out a blueprint to accelerate and build more homes than we've ever built
before as a result of this plan.
We've had really good engagement with the Greater London statutory stakeholders to make
sure that this plan is fit for purpose and that when we get to the examination in public
we can successfully move through that stage and hopefully onwards to adoption.
So I do just want to thank particularly the work of the team around building the evidence base and all of the documents that form part of this local plan.
So Councillor Ahmed has mentioned the key members of the team who are sat here before us, but I think they'd be the first to say there's a team that's underneath those officers working very hard to take us through the next stage.
Thank you.
I know Sri, Natalia, Matthew and also a colleague who left.
Marisa, you guys did fantastic work for the last two, three years, you know, since I've
been here and a lot of iterations.
Please feel free to say some words and sometimes we challenged you, but you came back recently,
you know, which is good.
Thank you, Mayor.
Firstly, to say that this is a very ambitious plan, and it's a very ambitious plan in the
context of a very long -term future for the borough.
And it's built on very strong evidence in terms of local need, what the borough needs,
and it also reflects some of the ongoing challenges that the borough has experienced, and it is
trying to find an innovative way to address that in the long term.
So that's the first thing to say.
The local plan sets out policies on some of the key areas as was discussed and introduced
by the Mayor on housing, employment and all the things that makes this borough and its
future the most ambitious as it can get.
And it also sets out very detailed plans for the site allocations and what's to be expected
to receive in the coming years.
I think the important point here is that it's a long -term plan.
and that is only been possible because of being shaped
by all the stakeholders that have contributed to it
from developers to officers within the council
operating on the operational matters
to external stakeholders.
So that was all I was gonna say, Mayor,
but really what we are seeking here is your support
and agreement to take this to the full council
so we can then get their agreement and ratification
to submit to Secretary of State for the examination.
Thank you very much.
Councillor Sharkey, do you want to say something?
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
I'm delighted to be here this evening
and reading out this draught of the new local plan.
It's very ambitious and it looks exciting for residents alike
and I'd like to thank the officers
as well as the residents who took part in shaping this progression
and support this for the full council and manage the growth in Tawahumwah for the next 15 years.
I am pleased to see the plan's recognition on the role that communities play in shaping their neighbourhoods
and the emphasis on place -based visions and the site allocation that reflects local priorities
a positive step towards more responsive and inclusive planning.
Also supporting the community -led plans,
ensuring residents have meaningful voice
in development decisions is essential
to building new homes.
And I'm excited that we will see
over 50 ,000 homes being built
for this borough for social housing.
It's an amazing achievement.
Well done and long may this continue.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Tala.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, officers, for this.
As the lead member explained, for this long journey,
I think it started many years ago and I feel like we keep on going from regulation to regulation
to this stage now.
I think all members will join me in saying that the majority of casework that we deal
with is housing.
So whether it's yourself, Mayor, who holds two surgeries a week, behold weekly surgeries,
95 % of our casework is to do with housing.
This plan goes a long way in addressing this acute shortage of mainly I'd say family sized
homes but housing in general in the borough so it's something that I really
welcome thank you to lead member and officers you know for working on
something that's ambitious is said quite a few times but it's a real need more
than ambition it matches the needs of the community and I think everything
else obviously from public realm works and all the other stuff that you
mentioned that's captured within that is of course important including community
safety and I do look forward to seeing how you know Tam this looks in the next
15 years and not only that's absolutely it's about place shaping of the next you
know many years but you know driving up affordable homes of 35 to 40 percent you
know I don't know if never borough of it is limited to it to no other borough
where are we the first borough somewhat it's another borough I have the same
aspiration? Ealing our shrine. Okay but for us I know in the early days, early days
when we suggested it you were very forthcoming and working with us to make
it happen but we very much saw the risk and others objecting to it but I'm so
happy that we are now consulting on something that is very aspirational,
that's very important and to push up and reduce the intermediate and the shared
ownership element to 15%. But shared ownership and intermediate, which I, David
and you should be in many meetings with me, doesn't do it for our residents.
Because our residents are priced out of those shared ownership. They're not truly
shared ownership, they're private homes effectively, so the intermediate homes.
So driving up the affordable element to 85%, if this happens, it's going to give
us another opportunity to reduce overcrowding in the borough. Please David.
Can I just make one, Chris, it relates to something Sri said about this being evidence -led
as well.
So you said it was a very ambitious target, but the team have gone away and produced the
evidence with a third party verification from a viability consultant to say that that level
of affordable housing is deliverable and achievable in Tower Hamlets and that's one of the reasons
we can go into that examination with confidence because we have that evidence base in place.
So I think, you know, it's really important that we've got the ambition, but we've also
back the up of evidence to hopefully then deliver on it.
Thank you.
Anyone else before I move on?
Yeah, please, Kabir.
Sorry, I can see Susanna's here.
Susanna was very passionate about us using the Bangatang Spital Field SPD as a design.
Just to reassure you, this is integrated into this local plan.
So something you were very passionate about is within this document
Thank you and my speech the seven principles that we set out in those early days when we did the master plan and the
SPD of spirit fills and bungalow town those seven principles as the living possess are
Embedded in the local plan going forward so we have a inclusive community
not a community just for the businesses, but as well as the businesses, the residents are
very important.
Okay, I just want you to understand that.
Thank you.
Okay, can we can we agree the new draught local plan and approve it to full council and then
submission to the Secretary of State please.
Is that okay?
Okay, thank you.
It's done.
Grateful to you.
Can we now move on to agenda item 6 .2,
the strategic delivery and performance report
year four, quarter one, Saeed.
Please, yeah, and we've got John, our young man.
Yes, thank you, we've got both Johns there.
Thank you, Mayor, so this is at the quarter one report
for our four year strategic plan.
I think the overall picture is positive,
we're doing very well, in fact,
with some unique challenges faced, some unique to us and other challenges which are faced
nationally by other boroughs as well.
So we have 60 measures that we measure ourselves against and out of the 60, 36 of the measures
are green at the end of quarter one, which is an increase of two additional KPIs since
quarter four report last few months ago.
Three previous measures that were red have improved and become green, which is very good,
And those three measures are KPI 006, which is the number of meals delivered to food aid
organisations, KPI 21, which is about the percentage of education, health and care,
EHC plans assessment completed within 20 weeks, and KPI 26, which is percentage of children
that reoffend.
So these areas have improved from red to green.
Overall, at the end of quarter one, the 60 measures are divided into different categories.
Just to touch again, so we have 36 that are green, we have four that's amber, and six
is red, and 10 are data only, and four are reported annually.
So that gives us the full 60 measures.
Now to touch on the challenges.
So out of the six measures that are read, we have the offices, departments, services
are facing particularly complex challenges.
So we have KPI03 which is percentage of homelessness cases prevented or relieved.
The service has increased and the number of offices in that department, especially around
PRS procurement team are looking into to provide additional homes, especially for TA pressures.
So that's one of the mitigations put in place already.
KPI 10 is less overcrowded households.
There's a series of actions being taken place to mitigate that, including closer monitoring
of property lets as well as proactive engagement with underoccupiers to engage and encourage
the downsizing of those properties.
Also dedicated support for overcrowded households being provided based on choice -based lettings
process to improve that.
KPI 11 is number of privately rented properties visited.
That's a very important one to tackle that.
Recruitment of staff is almost completed.
So having a full established team with three more officers
joining by the end of September will provide us
a better performance by October this year
for the next reporting period.
KPR 25 is ranked our first time entrance into youth justice system.
The Department already provided additional training to the partnership who make these
decisions to ensure that every child that can be diverted is diverted and to introduce
the outcome 22 in the borough alongside our police partners to help the Youth Justice
Governance Board as well.
KPR 46 is level of household recycling.
The Department have launched a sampling regime to monitor illegal waste.
That should then look at educational purposes as well as improve recycling infrastructure
throughout our services, especially to do with flats recycling package projects.
KPI 55 is the last red measure which is percentage of tenants satisfied that their home is safe.
There is a recovery plan in place and are making good progress.
We continue to work with the regulator to ensure that improvements of how safe our homes
are are believed to be ultimately reflected in residents' satisfaction.
Finally, we have four AMBA measures, which is KPI 28, with a percentage of care leavers
aged 17 to 21 who are in education, employment or training.
KPI 32 is the number of new jobs, training and apprenticeship opportunities enabled for
yet local people, KPI 33, enterprises supported through the Council's business programmes,
and finally KPI 52 is Council tax collection rate in year.
Just to touch on that, that is now looking positive as the numbers have come out and
hopefully for the next reporting phase that should go to green.
Overall lead members and corporate directors continue to lead the services to tackle these
challenges head on, as the Council will continue to work as hard as we can to ensure that every
residents enjoy the part of the living and they can be proud.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Steve, do you just want to quickly touch on, we're doing well now, on the EHC plans.
Please continue the question, if you don't mind.
Is that okay?
Please, thank you.
Thank you Mr Mayor.
Yeah, I attended overview and scrutiny on Monday and it was really positive.
One of the members of scrutiny asked me about how we delivered the improvement.
So we have seen significant improvement in the percentage of Education, Health and Care plans completed on time as a result of the additional investment that Council put into the team.
The latest report that we've actually received in the last week actually takes our performance over the quarter one reported performance, which says 54%.
Current performance is well above that at 71%, but we recognise there's still more work to do.
What I would say is that there was a suggestion that some people might be waiting for a full school year for the request for assessment
and then the completed EHCP. That is not the case.
And what I would also say is whilst the 20 week period for the plan being constructed is taking place,
children and families are supported throughout that period.
And one final thing just to reference again our recent significant send inspection
which showed significant improvement since the last inspection back in 2021.
So that progress has been recognised by the Ofsted and CQC inspection.
We still have work to do.
That's a pretty scrutiny question.
John, over to you.
You both, you are the engine room.
You get this performance monitoring.
You make sure we are on the right track with the corporate directors.
Please do comment.
Please go on to the...
Can I also ask you in your presentation at the end perhaps as the incoming strategic
director, the mayor and I have been talking about this, for change and improvement, is
there anything about our performance management framework you would change?
Thank you, Mr. Haki.
I might need reminding them of the pre -scrutiny question.
No absolutely I would add it was a really thoughtful, tenacious and productive conversation
of scrutiny and it felt like that's exactly how performance conversation is meant to be
as indeed conversations I've had so far in this room.
If I was to describe, add one element to it, it's probably a reminder to scale of the housing crisis in London.
So for example, there's been a 12 % drop in homes completed within London over the previous year.
There's just less than a thousand planning permissions approved, which is the lowest since 2006.
That's obviously very timely in relation to the local plan coming through.
but I think the word crisis can be overused but housing crisis remains in London.
£5 .5 million a day spent on emergency housing in London alone,
which is about 11 % of every household bill.
So building homes, of course the performance framework shows red indicators
because those red indicators are ambitious.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't remain ambitious,
would be my immediate reflection on those.
If I was to work in other councils when I first arrived,
Sometimes you fear targets because sometimes they're too easy so you're just reporting green or you fear targets that are absolutely beyond the realms of possibility.
I feel that many of the targets here are ambitious and just within reach if the council thinks differently and works hard in every way it can.
That sometimes means red, that sometimes means green but I think that having that level of ambition which is feels frighteningly hard is the right level
and really welcome from an officer point of view coming in,
although it does mean rightly we have to do everything we can to reach those targets.
I think we are doing some things which are going to be important to improve this corporate performance report,
and the next iteration we would want to see,
we intend to show you and demonstrate benchmarking
to how many of these measures compare to other London authorities.
Again, that doesn't mean that if we're doing really well we should stop, but it provides
really important context to see where we are doing well, or where in areas actually other
councils are kind of pioneering new approaches, we can go and learn from them and embed that
learning.
So there'll be many measures where Tower Hamlets is above their statistical neighbours and
the London operation, that's fine, still shouldn't affect the ambition, but there might be somewhere
we can get some really good learning from.
So embedding benchmarking would be the next part
of our development on this corporate performance framework.
And perhaps some more council measures
about how we're working around customer service,
for example, Mr. Mayor, you've kind of expressed
how important this is an ambition.
And some more measures about organisation wellbeing,
anything from kind of sickness to our kind of important
measures that we might expect to see.
So we'll continue to work at it
and we'll work at it over time.
But the next big change would be to bring benchmarking into it, which I think will help
these conversations be even more impactful, both at scrutiny and within rooms like this.
Thank you, John.
Unless something ends with burning, I'm going to move on.
But can I just re -emphasise and request the cabinet members, please, make sure in your
one -to -ones there is an agenda about performance.
you know your what the key indicators are and you you you talk to your and
Your corporate directors and make sure you're on track and if any item is read you understand it then today
we are the public face of
Performance and customer service in this council. Is that okay? Yeah, please. Yeah with that. Can we
note the report and
Review the status of 60 performance measures that set out in the recommendation. Yep
Great, done. Okay, let's move on to the next paper, please.
Thank you, John.
Contracts forward plan, quarter two, 7 .3.
Thank you, Mayor. So very quickly, we have three contracts into our contracts forward plan at quarter two.
We have one in health, adult and social care, which is to do with the public health GP enhanced services.
We have one in housing and regeneration to do with environmental impact assessment review
contract and we have one in resources which is very important, meals and on wheels.
Let's quickly go through them.
They're quite straightforward and we've discussed them in other forums.
So the first one as you said, appendix 1, is the public health GP enhanced services
2 .75 years plus 1 plus 1 plus 1.
Any comments?
Are we happy with this?
Yeah.
Okay.
It goes to contract tender.
Then the next one is the agenda item 5645 EIA review contracts.
Again 3 plus 1, 4 years.
Are you okay with that?
Yeah.
Okay, good.
It's got the usual community benefits in it.
And the next one is the Mills on Wheels one, which is very important.
We want to roll the Mills on Wheels out as soon as possible.
And this is the contract for 2 .5 years.
Okay, are we okay with it?
Provide denial, does the vulnerable with one -fourth mill a day, seven days a week.
Great.
Good.
So we've done that paper.
We agree with the recommendations.
they go forward to tender.
Let's now move on to 7 .4.
It's the time that children, young people, safe, supported housing, pathway
re -precurement, again, is quite straightforward.
We have no choice but to do it.
Is there anything you want to say, Mayum, Steve?
Yeah, go on, Steve.
Just really quickly, Madam, one of the questions that came from scrutiny was
where we're procuring 102 places, the question was what needs analysis have we done.
You'll recall that we worked really hard to keep our children in care numbers low
and our forecast is there should be fewer children in our care in future,
so our needs analysis means that what we're procuring should be enough for the future need.
I think I missed a few in between.
Okay, move to 7 .4. I did a board roll today.
Okay, but can we, any comments on that?
7 .4, yeah? Okay. I'm okay, yeah?
Okay, I'm doing well. Thank you for the confidence.
Okay, are we okay with any questions and comments?
We need to do this.
Okay, can we agree the recommendations?
Approve authorised corporate director in concerns with the mayor.
That's fine.
Okay, okay, great, thank you.
Next one is 7 .5, safeguarding adult board strategy.
You're on your own today.
No doubt you will do well.
We've got someone joining us.
Thanks for joining us.
Thank you.
You want to start?
As a lead member for health and care, I fully support this five -year strategic plan
with the five priorities outlined, which is safeguarding people experiencing homelessness,
transitional safeguarding, strengthening partnerships,
safety from domestic abuse and tackling inequalities,
are closely aligned with the core objectives of this administration.
The Action Plan sets out several promising initiatives, including the development of
coordinating referral pathway for homelessness, enhanced protection for young adults with
special education needs and targeted efforts to reduce stigma and underreporting within
the BAME community.
These are all pieces of work which we have already spoken with officers and further engagements
are in the process in the future as well.
Fiona, if you want to come in.
Thank you very much.
Can you hear me okay?
okay? Can you hear me okay? Great thank you. I just wanted to cheque. Yes so thank
you Councillor, yes and thank you Mr. Mayor. It is a bold plan but we've got
five years to do the work that's needed under each priority and we will cheque in
with progress through each annual report. So each year we'll review the progress
against the priorities and then report in our annual report about how we're
doing and any changes that are needed. The majority of the work will be undertaken by
our four subgroups who are currently updating their work plans to focus on the actions.
We've talked about strengthening partnerships. I'm very mindful that we'll be working closely
with the community safety partnership and the children's partnership around our shared
priorities. Thank you.
Thank you, grateful to you. Any, any, it's an ultra report, you okay everyone?
Yeah, no question, I'm burning. Great, can we adopt the recommendations set out in the paper?
Great, thank you. And there is a question, please, but you can do that in written response, not a problem.
Yeah, okay, okay, that's fine. Okay, now we move on to East London Apartments Grant Contingency.
contingency, you're doing that too, yeah? Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. So East London Apartments provides housing and support to the most complex and vulnerable residents in our borough.
This service supports those who cannot be supported elsewhere and who would likely to do greatest harm
to the public if they were to return to the streets.
My hope is that in this retendering, this service, we will be able to build a better
offer that puts a greater level of responsibility on providers to address related ASB and bring
about real behavioural changes in residents.
So while East London apartments will in all likelihood continue to be funded by the GLA,
One way or another, Tahemelet really needs this service and this service to be continued, I believe.
Thank you. David, Jennifer and our colleague over there, anything you want to add? Please feel free.
Just to add to that really, to say that there is a substantial overhaul of the funding arrangements across temporary accommodation,
and homelessness, and we are expecting confirmation of further grant funding and a move away from
the yearly grant awards to a multi -year settlement which will allow for the long -term planning
and service continuity.
So, as I said, we are expecting that.
The only thing is notification of that is likely to be after the spending review, so
we're expecting that in sort of late November, December, and the current contract for the
service comes to an end at the end of March of next year.
So what we're seeking permission is to be able to
procure the service for three years, to be able to give that
service continuity and have that long -term forward planning
to be able to address issues like the ASB.
Thank you.
Go on, Kabir.
If you could turn the mic off, please.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Just to reinforce when we're going through this procurement process,
and I know the lead member has spoken about it and I've spoken about it myself with officers,
we really must be robust in how we monitor the contract, particularly around the significant impact
that some of the residents of this particular hostel may have on the surrounding area and other local residents.
everybody has a right to a good quality of life and we want to support these residents
but we want to ensure that all residents have a good quality of life.
So that's a really important element and I think we have to be quite vigilant
in how we performance manage those hostels and in particular the level of support that's required,
particularly working in conjunction with our enforcement team as well as our treatment
teams that are available.
And I think that will also partly answer the question that's been posed.
Anyone else?
No one else?
So can you, I know we're okay for the tender to proceed, but before you award, I know the
truly consulted, not just to award without my authority.
So I'm not asking for the matter to come to cabinet,
but I do ask that, yeah, I should be truly consulted.
Please, yeah?
Of course, I would like to know, see the evaluation
and the marks and who is recommending for your vote.
Yeah, okay, okay, thank you.
With that comment, can we agree this going forward?
Yeah, thank you for coming.
The
mayor and I have discussed this.
The mayor wants to be advised of the outcome of the process and to be briefed.
It's not in any way under any other circumstance.
Because it's the parameter of the executive to agree or not to agree.
So I was just saying I need to see the evaluation and to take a view whether to agree or not to agree.
Yes, that's okay. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
date presented to you, it outlines the progress made against six recommendations made through
the flood risk management scrutiny in January 2025 aimed at strengthening the flood resilience
in tower hubblers and it prioritises a cleaner green future, boosting culture, business and
jobs in the desert, investing in public services and a council that works for everyone.
I would like to hand over to Vincent to outline the recommendations that were implemented.
Thank you.
Thanks, Councillor Shafi. Good evening, Mr Mayor and cabinet.
Ashraf and I presented to overview and scrutiny on Monday.
It was a positive session. As Councillor Waihid and yourself said, we
welcome the scrutiny on this key piece of work that the Highway Service has undertaken.
So as Councillor Shafi says, we presented to overview and scrutiny earlier this year
in January. This report is reporting on the progress that
we've made on six key recommendations.
The recommendations are one, publish updated
local flood risk management strategy,
and SUDS guidance, review, asset register,
and SUDS mapping.
In terms of the status of this,
we expect this publication to be in December 2025,
subject to consultations and approval.
Recommendation two, increase team capacity.
We're delighted to say that we've recruited successfully,
and we have another flood engineer with an highway service.
Recommendation three, implement targeted works and monitoring.
We're pleased to announce that there were 200 cycle -friendly gully covers installed
since the beginning of this year, and building resilience and ensuring that there's less
complaints as the year progresses.
Number four, strengthen our out -of -hours response.
We currently have a good resilience with regards to our current CCTV led out of hours arrangement
and no additional service is yet implemented, however we'll review this in 2026.
Recommendation five is to establish an internal flood risk group.
We're pleased to announce that we are holding annual internal meetings, cross service engagement
and internal meetings.
Recommendation 6 is to strengthen our external partnerships and this has resulted in continued
engagement with LODEC, which is London Drainage Engineers Group, the GLA, the Canal Rivers
Trust and liaison on a case by case basis as we see necessary with other areas.
We're really pleased to say that the overview and scrutiny were positively impressed by
the progress that we have made as an authority.
And I'd like to add that actually we're in good shape when it comes to resilience.
We already ensure that there's resilience built in across the highways, transportation
and parking service, and we hope to build on this.
So Mr Mayor, what we're asking is that you please note the midterm update and the significant
progress that we've made against ensuring that our highways are safe and, as you said,
not susceptible to drainage.
provide approval for the service to explore funding opportunities
and for further improvements to achieve optimum results.
And please note that a final Flood Risk Management Action Plan report
will go to overview and scrutiny later this year.
Thank you. Are you okay?
Are you okay with this reassurance?
It won't be flooded soon.
Yeah? You're okay? Are you okay to...
You are okay to agree to this?
So we note the report, the approval we agree with, and we note it again.
Thank you Vincent, thank you Tim.
Okay, next one, a good interesting one.
Okay, reduction recycling plan progress report, quarter one.
You're not asking for more money for the back route are you?
Simon, Ashraf, Shafi and Richard.
You're not. I don't see it anywhere.
Shafi.
Thank you again, Mr. Mayor.
This is the Evergreen Quarter 1 budget report on recycling and reduction.
As you know, your investment of the 5 billion is working wonders
and we are looking at ensuring that our recycling rate has gone up to 19 .82%,
which has a rise from last year's quota of 4 .7%, 12 %
and the contamination rate which was 26 .36 % has now reduced
and gone down to 21 .69 %
and the dry recycling tonnage has increased
and this is a direct result of the achievements that have been made
through the investment in ensuring that a borough -wide information
with schools, mosques, flats above shops,
SACS distributions, implementing multi -channel recycling
communication strategy, delivered over 211 community
engagement events, updated infrastructure by 1 ,915 blocks
to 3 ,800 bins. So this is a work in progress
and we are still seeing some challenges
that we are working towards in eliminating them
and one of them is the lack of land loan accountability
with ALMOS undermining infrastructure, high pollution,
density limits, recycling capture and illegal dumping
and misuse of communal bins.
So we hope to go forward and I'd like to bring in Director Apaulo -Rauhm,
Ashraf Ali, if you need to say anything, and also to Richard.
Thank you, Councillor, he's left the heartbeat to me.
Thank you for the update.
So mr. Mayor a lot of work has gone into in terms of achieving the recycling rate from where we were at the base
Of 16 15 .4 at the beginning of year at this time last year where we are just under 20 %
So it was a counsellor mentioned 4 .12 percent increase. So the significant work has been done
Based on all the activities working with the local community
faith groups
community organisation and schools and so forth, helping us to reach this 4 .2%.
We also have significant comms work with our comms team,
Andreas and his teams, in terms of videos in bilingual languages,
going out in terms of posters and digital content going out there,
reaching out behavioural change in terms of the community and reaching out to BAME communities.
We've also done national campaigns and working with national RE London, a national recycling
organisation and government organisation in order for us to reach the recycling and change
behaviour.
Challenges that we are working towards further improvements, we are trying to actually work
with states, previous states, so we're trying to actually roll out from the pilot states,
the five pilot states, which we know some of the intervention has worked, but we want
to actually scale that up to the rest of the borough and other areas.
We are holding ourselves more accountable for their waste cleansing and we want to do
a lot more in terms of enforcement and working with a collaborative with ASB and the community
safety teams, doing a lot more enforcement within the states, working with our colleagues
in the housing sector with RSLs, all the RSL included on our own state.
We want to actually roll out food waste collection which we have already done and that is seen
in terms of increasing our recycling rate and performance.
So there are some challenges which we are working towards those interventions.
Okay, thank you Richard.
Don't repeat what he just said, please.
It's just complimentary patting this back.
If you get anything different, say it, otherwise we've got some questions to ask.
But we are grateful.
I think we have seen the improvement.
Good.
But given the investment we put in, when we're going to see meeting the targets and exceeding
the target, that's what I want to know.
That's what I want to know.
I want to know what else you need to do, we need to do as a council, to meet and exceed
targets and sustained embed that target the improvement one and two you know the
timelines we need to see the timelines by which you're going to achieve those
targets that's what we want to know what you've done so were excellent but what
else is outstanding that's what we want to know okay before you come in can I
ask Steve please because you know this area you're very passionate like me well
I suppose to correct I have worked incredibly hard and I think we're
I'm beginning to see the output of that and some of the initiatives,
some of the stuff you've got in here around through the MOST
and all of the stuff that you've been doing.
Two questions from me, Richard.
First of all, I've long been of the view that the target isn't sufficiently stretched
and I would like to understand the impact of food waste
and if it's in there, I'm sorry, but I haven't managed to pick it up.
So rollout of statutory food waste,
enhancing what we're already offering will have an impact.
Whether you think the, and it doesn't need a long answer in terms of whether
you think the target is the right target. When you get to 19 .87 I don't really understand
why it's not 20 and we're rounding up and I'd like to understand that in a little bit
more detail as well. Actually I'd really like to understand your view on where does this
take us in terms of where we are against other London authorities? Because I look at Hackney
and I look at other inner London local authorities and I'm interested in the comparison with
particularly if the mayor, if any political party or any administration were to decide next year to go to fortnightly residual waste collection,
forcing a more regular recycling collection, like they do in Hackney, what would the impact be here?
I mean the most significant things that we're going to do this year is we're working with
our own housing colleagues to make sure that we take the pilot best practise that we've
part you know we've worked to come up with a blueprint we're looking to adapt that blueprint
we've polished it across five estates but we've got a plan to roll that out to all of
own estates as quickly as possible which includes food waste and you know we
talked before about the fact we've got to bake this into what we do you know
we've got to bake it in good practise management of improve recycle on our own
estates before we push others so we're doing that the other thing is food waste
is starting to you know we're planning to roll out food waste by April 20 27
you know that's 40 % of what is in our bins so that's going to be significant I
I think we can look at, once we start to see that food waste come out of the waste stream
and be captured, we can look at that target because you'd expect to be able to achieve
more than 23 % if you get good participation in food waste, but people actually need to
do the action to separate their food waste which we are pushing on hard.
Our dry recycling performance at 19 .2 % is better than other, some other local authorities
So on dry recycling performance, we're not the worst in the country.
I can tell you the exact...
So that's a slight improvement, but we are seeing improvements
on our dry recycling improvement.
If you just looked at dry recycling, we're not the worst.
And the other local authorities in London are worse than us on dry recycling.
And we'd expect with the work we're doing on food waste to start accelerating.
We want to be the best in class or the most improved.
So for my clarification, Richard, thank you.
So, for me, sorry, I won't get on, but the target for me is if we have the infrastructure
in place, are we rolling out food waste recycling quickly enough?
Can we roll it out quickly, because it will have a significant impact, is pretty much
what you just said.
And are we sufficiently nuanced in terms of the data that we have to understand that there
are parts of the borough where potentially, I'm not suggesting this will ever happen,
I'm interested in the data, where we could have less regular residual waste collection.
It doesn't have to be uniform across the whole borough because data will dictate that decision
and more regular recycling collection irrespective of whether it's food waste or not.
We need to do that.
Most boroughs have really seen a big jump in their recycling.
They've introduced food waste weekly and off the back of that they've reduced their residual
waste collections.
And for us, we will push food waste as quickly as we can, and we have to have it in by April 2027, so we're pushing that hard now.
But once we've rolled it out, we can look at things like Hackney have done. They've said we will restrict residual waste collections, which is the right thing to do.
But you've got to get the food waste collections in in the first place.
But I think that will be significant for us in terms of helping drive people to do the right thing.
Thanks Richard. Anyone? Please Mr Deputy Mayor.
Thank you Mr Mayor. Richard I'm looking at the page 357 in terms of challenges.
So my focus is on landlords and managing agents.
I mean we have many issues on the Isle of Dogs.
I mean we've raised it so many times.
And your department Ashraf, you guys kindly help us out.
especially with the aerosols and so on.
And it's our resource end of the day.
And I think the issue I'm trying to say is we don't often find them
or we don't really do anything.
So I think my point is around we need to find them
or we need to issue some kind of notice
and also we need to name and shame them
because just saying that we're going to issue tickets and so on is not good enough.
I think we need to be more ruthless now and start naming and shaming them and generally start finding them.
I think that's the only way we're going to resolve this issue. Thank you.
We are looking to become more ruthless. We're looking to instigate a league table that allows us to show who's good and who's not so good.
I was on the Isle of Dogs the other week looking at Riverside Housing and the
tenant, the TRA was saying that you know they can't you know that they're
frustrated by the lack of engagement from the RSLs. We are looking at adopting
a standard across our own housing and then from that adopted standard pushed
out as a standard for everybody that we could enforce using bylaws which would
allow us then to take action, legal action to prosecute somebody that's not
complying with our new standard. We're developing that approach at the moment
but we're trying to get our own house in order for us before we start developing
a bylaw but you know we are looking to bring the bylaw in that gives us a stick
to use against those landlords who do not take responsibility as well as
looking at things like how we use selective licencing and build that in to
be able to enforce this new standard that we need people to work to and that
That is a massive issue for us at the moment.
Every day we're suffering from businesses abusing our bins,
landlords not doing the right thing.
We put a big investment in, over two million pounds,
to put up recycling bins onto estates.
And the blueprint says the landlord
should look after those things.
We collect, we engage, but if the landlords don't do their bit,
it's not going to work.
And so there's a real focus on sorting that out.
The perception is it's the council, it's us.
But I think the name and shame is quite important.
So the residents and the people of this borough know
that it's not always the council, it's the landlord or the ourselves.
I think that's quite important, Mr. May. Thank you.
The Abitumya does take serious interest in food
and food waste that comes with it.
So, it's okay, can you look at enforcement and it's only proper if someone is a persistent offender,
we need to look at other ways of enforcing and calling them out, it's quite important.
So, okay, thank you.
Kobi?
I'll start with good news first.
So, I think the daily sacks is a great idea.
I used one this morning and every morning, you know, on your way down you can easily
carry recycling down and put it in the recycling bins.
So that's good.
However, I'm a bit concerned around 6 .2 and 6 .3 in relation to the Chief Financial Officer's
comments, which suggests that for the food waste collection programme you'll need significant
investment of 3 .6 million from revenue budget and then another additional 4 .21 million capital
funding. That's nearly £8 million. And then 6 .3 says additional investment proposals towards
improving recycling is estimated to require a revenue budget of £3 .354 million in 2526.
So for me that's quite concerning considering the level of investment that we've made.
And I'm going to suggest that you guys really need to consider the numbers and look at how you will challenge those numbers,
how we can drive efficiency levels up, how we can work better in partnership in order to achieve our targets.
I think when we set the MTFS last year, the target was set at achieving 23 % in budget.
So I'm going to request if you need support from TAHUF or the housing team within my portfolio
or David Joyce's support in getting landlords together, we can do that in order to assist
you and drive further change and support from the RSLs in order to support you do that.
So thank you.
You just hold on there, Richard.
Yes, if I could request that, you get the RSLs together, please,
as soon as possible, so they need to take ownership,
work with us collaboratively.
I mean, the vast bit of the borough is controlled by RSLs,
but can I ask Steve to comment on the MTFS
and the further request?
Not today, but we'll have to consider going forward.
Of course.
It will be absolutely clear agreeing this report is not agreeing to funding.
It's in no circumstances.
It is not a backdoor route into securing money.
Secondly, the significance of this report is the elements of the service are becoming
statutory.
So you'll pick that up in your discussions around statutory and non -statutory services.
There will be no growth bid for this in the current MTFS process.
If it's not allocated as a part of an earmarked reserve already,
then that's the consideration you'll have
and the phasing of it from reserves that you already have available,
which is why it's really important as we establish the MTFS
and we allocate section 106 and ENSO.
My question, so just to join this all up,
my question around heat maps
and where we know we're getting low residual waste
but we've got the potential good to high food recycling
is exactly that.
It matches the ENSO, how we prioritise ENSO being used on an area basis.
and David, it goes to the point that when we negotiate in section 106 or development
agreements in the future, we target it at things that the mayor prioritises, not have
this retrospective combination, can we substitute it?
We should be developing those frameworks so that we know we will substitute it and it
will become part of the MTFS.
But I wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding.
This is a statutory service but you're not agreeing funding.
Okay, Mr Azak, thank you.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
You're right, Steve, this is a noting report, so it's not asking for approval for funding, just to clarify that.
Secondly, in terms of the point about food waste, I've been speaking to other London treasurers, so there might be some good news, I don't know at the moment, as part of the funding settlement.
Because this is a new statutory requirement, so there might be additional funding coming across. As soon as I know more, I'll relay that back to the Service.
Sure, and just to thank you and just to emphasise on what Steve has said, David and Kabir, because
we can seek a lot of help from you and how you frame those section 106 agreements going
forward in terms of trying to support more on, we do in any way, eco stuff, carbon stuff,
decarbonisation stuff, how we can support more work around this going forward.
It's going to be revenue intensive and capital intensive going forward.
Is that okay? Yeah? Please. Great. Good.
Anyone else? Ashraf, are you okay? Yeah.
Have a smile. Yeah. We'll discuss some money too, going forward.
Okay. Good. Thank you for the work you've done, team.
Simon, Ashraf and Richard and the team.
I think the significant increase is very much welcome.
Welcome.
How we sustain that and improve on that, let's look at that going forward.
Is that okay?
So we note the report.
I'm grateful to you and let's move forward.
Thank you.
Okay, the last agenda now, the female locations management contract.
Thank you, welcome both.
Okay, please.
Thank you Mayor. Tower Handlers is proud to be one of the London's top filming destinations,
ranking second in filming days across the 33 London boroughs.
This reflects the borough's unique appeal and its growing reputation within the film and television industry.
Today we are seeking approval for the pre -procurement of the Film Locations Management Contract.
This contract will coordinate and manage filming activity across council -managed assets, ensuring
that Tower Hamlets remains a leading borough for filming while safeguarding our communities
and public spaces.
The new contract will commence on 1st April 2026 for an initial period of three years
with the option to extend by a further two years.
It will be awarded through an open tender process with bidders required to process a
revenue share model and demonstrate the necessary expertise to deliver a safe, efficient and
income generating service.
The appointed contractor will be responsible for all staffing and operational costs, significantly
reducing financial liability to the Council.
This arrangement enables us to continue generating income across multiple departments, including
arts, parks and events, highways and parking, housing, facilities management and leisure,
supporting our medium -term financial planning and delivering benefits to residents at a
time of increasing financial pressure for local authorities.
The contractor will also be responsible for ensuring that all filming activity adheres to the Film Location Code of Practise,
meets statutory requirements and is delivered in close collaboration with production companies, residents and businesses to minimise disruption.
Importantly, that contract will provide community benefits, including free training and employment
opportunities for local residents, helping to build skills and open pathways into the
creative industries.
I'm handing over to Johar Ali to elaborate more or answer any questions.
Thank you.
Great.
Thank you, Johar.
Katherine, welcome.
Please.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
The procurement offers a lot of benefits to the Council with minimal risk, especially at a time when the filming sector is very inconsistent with things happening internationally, with potential tariffs in the USA that could impact us.
So we think this is something that is really good.
It gives us stability.
The provider would provide a 24 -hour service,
industry expertise using their established networks.
Through effective community engagement,
we have maintained a low level of complaints thus far
and this will remain a priority under the new contract.
Key performance indicators will ensure the provider is held accountable
and delivers a high quality service.
We anticipate significant income to be generated for multiple departments across the council, subject to market conditions.
And we think this will be very helpful for the MTFS period.
Can I add Catherine? You're okay? Anything to add to what's been said?
I think Johan has said everything and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Steve, Steve was...
So, I think it's a really good piece of work.
And I really like the upper limits that you're describing here.
I'm interested in my question, if that's okay, is an internal thing.
I'd like to understand a little bit more about paragraph 1 .4...
Oh no, we're not there yet.
I know, I'd like to understand, it's a really good...
Yeah, I've jumped the gun.
So my general view is, I do support it.
I wasn't there at the preliminary of this discussion,
but I would like to talk later on.
In the closed session.
In the closed session. Thank you.
Thank you. Like the Chief Executive, I support it as well.
But I think one of the recommendations 2, 3, 4,
I think it needs to be mentioned in consultation with the mayor.
Recommendation 2, 3 and 4.
Anyone else? I'll come to a recommendation.
Anyone else? No? Okay, before we move on to a closed session.
So, always saying, when it comes to recommendation 3, authorise the corporate director to award the contract or the extension,
it's going to be in consultation with the mayor, please. Can you make that amendment?
Is that okay? Please, yeah?
Is that okay?
Okay.
If no one else, can we agree this and move to closed session on the exam paper?
Is that okay?
Okay.
Go on.
Yeah, you turn it off, turn it off.
Thank you.
We're closed.
We're finished with the open session.
Thank you for those listening and the hundreds of members of the public.
Thank you.