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Cabinet
Wednesday, 21st October 2026 at 3:00pm

 

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  1. Webcast Finished

Welcome to our cabinet meeting.

PUBLIC QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

The usual rules about fire drills and filming in the meeting applies.
There are no public questions.
I have not received any, so none to take.
Any apologies from members, all the members there?
Thank you.
David Joyce is coming, he's on his way, he should be here.
Steve Reddy is on leave.
And Tina has a personal appointment, so Chris Leslie.
Chris is here, then we've got Shafi, you're here for Steve Reddy, welcome.
Okay.
We should be on David who is joining us.
Any declarations of interest on anything, please?
None.
Okay.
Can we read the minutes of the 23rd of September?
Yeah.
Is that okay?
Okay.
Great.
Steve, over to you, sir.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Just a couple of two or three items to alert members to.
Firstly, to remind you for the purpose of the minutes, although we discussed it elsewhere,
the lead envoy has advised the mayor and myself that he has now formally submitted his latest
report to the Secretary of State about the Council's performance in relation to the
best value intervention.
We expect to have a response from the Secretary of State about next steps in the second week
of November.
Secondly, just to remind members that we have launched our budget consultation this week,
which gives residents the opportunity to comment on budget setting process,
which as you know will be considered by Cabinet in December
and roll forward to full council in February next year.
And also finally, briefly, just to remind you that the council,
it's quite a big step in terms of recycling.
We are rolling out food recycling, extending the existing service,
that is happening this week.
We do expect there to be, you know, it's a new service,
there will be some teething problems, but we're well attuned to dealing with that
and we will keep you advised of how performance is progressing as a result.
And that's it today, ma 'am.
Thank you. Thanks, Steve.
Welcome to the chair of overview and scrutiny, Councillor Lémotte.
Thank you for coming.
You have up to 10 minutes, yeah? Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor.
I am reporting back on this week's overview and scrutiny committee.
The committee heard two call -ins on cabinet's decision on the Copenhagen play scheme.
Can I thank Councillor Saeed Ahmed and Councillor Omar Mehdi for joining us for this discussion.

2 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND OTHER INTERESTS

The calling raised the loss of light to neighbouring homes, the removal of a bridge that gives

3 UNRESTRICTED MINUTES

4 ANNOUNCEMENTS (if any) FROM THE MAYOR

5 OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

step -free access, emergency escape routes, the loss of the community centre and whether
the 2024 change to the planning consent was really a minor one.
The committee voted to confirm cabinet's decision on both call -ins.
Members recognised the need for the council homes the scheme will deliver, including family -sized homes.
But members were clear that they wished to see better engagement with residents.
Some members were also uneasy that existing residents are bearing the cost of new homes through lost light and lost community space.
Officers made four commitments at the meeting.
One was provide written clarification regarding the Section 203 description in the Cabinet
report concerning the overriding of neighbouring rights to light.
Two, share consultation and engagement data undertaken with residents regarding the development
scheme.
Three, the EQIA, so the Equality Impact Assessment to be provided to overview and scrutiny committee
when completed.
and fourth was officers to note and act upon committee comments regarding resident communication
and engagement. I have two asks of Cabinet. First, that these commitments are delivered
and reported back to the committee. Second, members heard that three residents had prepared
to speak at Cabinet but were not able to. Where Cabinet uses powers like Section 203
which affect residents' rights, we ask that the people affected are engaged and have a
a chance to be heard before the decision is taken.
We also had a spotlight on community safety and welcomed Chief Superintendent Brittany
Clark, the Borough Commander, with Superintendent Oliver Richer.
Can I also thank Councillor Kabir Ahmed for joining us for this item?
There is good news to report.
Tower Hamlets has the highest positive outcome rate for domestic abuse in the Met and has
kept it for some time.
The positive outcome rate for hate crime has more than doubled to just over 16%, which is above the net average.
Drug offences are down 12 % and violence with injury is broadly stable.
Members also raised real concerns.
Shoplifting is up almost 35 % and the commander described it as the biggest current threat, including violent incidents.
Robbery and phone snatching are concentrated around stations and busy areas with hotspots
in Blackwall and Cubittown and Canary Wharf.
Rape and serious sexual offences are up almost 7 % and violence against women and girls remain
a priority concern.
Residents asked about a sharp rise in Islamophobic hate crime.
Members also asked about child criminal exploitation, knife crime around Whitechapel, nitrous oxide
and neighbourhood officers being pulled away from their wards.
On stop and search, members ask for data by ethnicity, age and ward, which is missing
from the current dashboard.
The committee's view is that the police are doing a great job in difficult circumstances,
but demand is arising and members want to see early intervention, more visible neighbourhood
policing and measurable improvement when the commander returns to committee.
The Council has its part to play too through CCTV enforcement, the Estate Safety Plan with
housing providers and the Nitrous Oxide Diversion Programme.
We also had a spotlight on Be Well Leisure.
Can I thank Deputy Mayor Mayyum Talukdar and Councillor Minara Khatun for joining us for
this discussion.
Before the meeting, members visited a number of leisure centres and spoke to staff and residents who used them.
I want to thank the officers and centre managers who made those visits possible.
Members saw signs of improvement but also real differences between centres and numerous areas of concerns.
At the meeting, the cabinet member was candid that the service is not yet where it should be.
We welcome that honesty and we recognise the work now underway to stabilise the service.
We also welcome the success of free swimming with over 71 ,000 swims this year, 93 % of them
by women.
But significant improvement is needed before the service consistently meets the standards
residents should expect.
Members raise continuing concerns about workforce stability and staff relations, health and
safety compliance, particularly in relation to communications to staff and service users
around the closure of York Hall.
The maintenance and cleanliness of centres was a concern, communication with customers,
the resilience of service as a whole.
Two issues stood out.
The first is data.
The report says customer data is unreliable and performance measures have not been agreed.
Information that would normally guide management decisions has not always been available.
We need confidence that decisions rest on a clear understanding of performance, costs,
demand and customer experience.
The second is York Hall. Its closure has affected residents, schools, clubs and the boxing community,
and the estimated loss of income up to Christmases around $900 ,000.
Members asked what the closure says about contingency planning.
They also asked how the Council moved from early assurances in January 2026 that the service was on track to today's assessment of its weaknesses,
However, past financial forecasts reflected the true cost of running it.
Some questions could not be answered on the night and we have asked for written responses.
The Committee agreed on two things.
First, the financial performance and sustainability of B -Well -B added to the work of our Finance
Scrutiny Task and Finish Group in November, so it can be tested as part of budget setting.
Second, we want a further update within six months and we expect it to show measurable
improvement, not just new plans. Cabinet will consider the investment and commercial plan
on 25 November. I ask Cabinet to make sure that the plan includes an agreed performance
framework built on reliable data, clear standards for cleanliness and maintenance at every centre,
proper contingency arrangements and a realistic financial position. Residents care deeply
about these centres. They need to be safer, cleaner and better run. Finally, please note
the Committee has submitted a number of pre -decision scrutiny questions for response. Thank you,
Mr Mayor.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you for coming here and thank you for the contribution of your
Oberlin Scoot -in Committee. Not everything I agree with, but I do respect the role that
colleagues discharge when it comes to checking banners on the Executive.
That's the pre -scootin questions. I'll ask the lead members to comment on that when we discuss the individual papers I'll bring you in.
I just want to address one thing about the Copenhagen Place, some misinformation I need to correct.
They had circulated, there were some guests who came in, residents, they had circulated a written statement on the night
and I felt the written statement did the job, it conveyed their sentiments, their proposals and the narrative quite well.
So rather than taking further comments to and fro with the members, I asked David and the lead member to address the points in the written statement.
and a lead member and David had done so.
Not only that, I requested David, the corporate director
and the director to go out and meet and talk
to those residents in person,
because having that discussion here,
we can't have a question and answer session here,
unfortunately.
It would be better for the corporate director
and directors to go and meet colleagues
from the community outside and see what their concerns were
and do their best to address those comments, and they did so.
However, the point was on that night,
we only discussed and agreed in principle
section 203 paper, powers.
However, planning was granted the proper forum
for them to have raised any objections
or any concerns, deliberations would have been
at the planning stage.
I don't know whether they did so or not. I don't know, I wasn't there.
The planning was granted. The planning committee is a cross -party, non -partisan committee,
and they fought fit to grant permission.
And what did they grant permission on? They granted, please correct me David,
they granted planning permission on 18 council homes.
18 council homes, no private element there, and most of the homes are family sized, free
four bedroom homes. We have a huge waiting list in our borough, we have around 9 ,000
families who are languishing in, and some of them are serious, you know as a councillor,
I know, all our colleagues know, languishing in overcrowded households. We have a top priority
as an administration we will deliver as many homes as possible.
We will deliver council homes, social affordable homes and large family homes.
And people to come and object to homes being built on their state for council homes,
I find that unacceptable.
One, two, yes they may have other concerns.
I know during pre -election, during the campaign, one gentleman was a black taxi driver and
his livelihood was driving and to earn a living and he had a genuine concern.
He said, Mr Mayor, we know you're doing a development, I'm okay with it, however, I
park my vehicle, please, whatever you do,
reprovision parking spaces for us.
So I come home at late.
I come home at various unsociable hours.
If I could find a parking, it would help me very much.
And I spoke to David, I spoke to Sri and Han about that,
that please engage our residents
if they have genuine concerns
about when their property is built,
about parking, light, light, et cetera,
see how can I address that.
But the light issue was addressed at the planning stage.
Experts are involved.
They measure and report back on the light,
daylight, sunlight, and officers reported back
that shouldn't be a problem, wasn't a problem.
And they recommended grant of permission, we did that.
So I just wanna leave it there, say look,
officers will continue to engage them. We engaged them, I engaged them in their, with their briefing
note and the question they raised in the written statement at last cabinet and subsequently you
had an O &S session this week when this was called in but you recommended that this goes forward.
Thank you for that and we'll answer some of the questions later on. Let's just leave it there.
David or Saeed, what I've said.
Is that okay?
Thank you, thank you, Chair.
Thank you very much.
For the record, I should have done it when it came to announcements, I went on to O &S.
is that we're celebrating Black History Month at this moment in the Council.
I'm grateful to our officers and our community at large for putting on this event every year,
and other events every year.
We are a diverse borough, we are a multicultural borough,
and that's what makes us very strong.
understanding, celebrating our heritage, respecting our differences and that's what keeps us going
as a borough. I said it in our forums, I know the staff survey is out, we'll get the results
soon. Sorry, not staff, the resident survey. The last resident survey says 91 % of our people
get on with each other. That shows how community cohesion is so strong in our borough, is strong
in London and this country.
That's what makes Ta Hamlets a great borough
and our country a great country.
The black and the Afro -Caribbean community have made huge
contribution to Ta Hamlets.
Thank you to that community.
Our elders, our foreboders, have made a huge contribution.
They continue to make a contribution
and it's only proper we celebrate leaders,
community leaders, and celebrate the culture and the heritage
of many parts of our communities.
Thank you Mayor and I would just add to that that members will recall that this time last
year we had a celebratory event at the Tower of London. To celebrate inclusivity, to consider
and celebrate the results of the annual resident survey which will be reported to you in due
course. That event will be repeated again this year at the Tower of London. Arrangements
are currently being put in place to ensure that you celebrate not just inclusivity but
diversity of the borough. So further report, you'll be circulated with further information
in the next few weeks.
Thank you Steve. Let's move on to the agenda now please here. I know others have a meeting
at 5 .30. Okay. Thank you. The first paper is the Committee Grants Programme, 27 to 12
and 31. Mr Jeebiti Mayor.

5 a) Chair's Advice of Key Issues or Questions

5 b) Any Unrestricted Decisions "Called in" by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee

6 a) Community Grants Programme

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm pleased to introduce this new grants programme, which will provide
a refreshed approach to investing in our voluntary community sector and supporting residents
across the Tower Hamlets. I would first like to respond to the two pre -decision questions
raised by the Overview and Security Committee. In response to the first question, we engage
a diverse range of stakeholders in developing the grant programme,
including organisations that support older and disabled residents.
The Council will also commission two external organisations
to help groups apply for funding, will run a series of information sessions.
In response to the second question,
the Council will provide capacity building support to local organisations,
works with partners to ensure that seldom hard groups are supported.
More detailed response to both questions have been tabled.
The Community Grants Programme brings together the Mayors Community Grants Programme,
Small Grants Programme and Emergency Grant Fund into a single framework.
This will help create more strategic, transparent and accessible funding programmes
that respond to the needs of our communities.
From July 2027 to March 2031, we will invest $9 .7 million in the voluntary and community sector that no other borough in the country are investing.
The proposals have been shaped by extensive engagement with residents, voluntary and community organisations, partners and council staff, as well as the findings from the Grants Deep Dive Review.
The engagement highlights three key messages.
Residents are facing increasingly complex challenges, including poverty, poor health
and social isolation and barriers to employment.
Health and wellbeing emerged as the strongest priority, alongside support to tackle inequality
and the impact of cost of living crisis.
There is strong support for simpler grant processes,
sustainable funding arrangements,
and greater involvement of communities in shaping services.
The new programme aims to support prevention early intervention,
strengthen community resilience, and reduce inequality,
enable local organisations to continue to deliver
trusted services to residents.
It will also improve accountability and outcomes by ensuring that Council invest is aligned
to our strategic priorities and delivers measurable benefit to local community and local people.
This programme represents a significant investment into the voluntary and community sector and
reflects our continued commitment to support strong and vibrant and empowered communities
across Tower Hamlets. Having worked in the voluntary and community sector throughout
my career as a strong advocate for the sector, I am pleased to present this report and its
recommendations for cabinet consideration. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I have a sort of statement I want to add.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, as the Deputy Mayor said, this new grant programme aligns to our
emerging strategic plan which is coming to cabinet next month and also our voluntary
community sector strategy that cabinet agreed last year.
I think one of the things we have throughout the engagement process
and from our learning from last time is look how can we improve this programme.
So part of that will be streamlining the application and assessment process.
As the Deputy Mayor mentioned, we are looking at support for groups,
particularly external supports, particularly for smaller groups,
and we will do a number of information session.
So subject to cabinet approval, we are looking to open the grants programme for application
from 16 November and will close on 24 January, so that will be a 10 week period and on paragraph
3 .6 we've set out the timeline.
I mean once we've done the assessment on paragraph 3 .9 we set out how we will prioritise which
groups to fund through the grants programme and some of the key considerations will be
around the size of the organisation, how they meet our priorities,
the geographical spread to ensure all sections of the borough is covered through the grants programme,
and equality is considered, again ensuring that different groups benefit from our grants programme.
At SARAH in the recommendation, we will present a report for the chief exec to agree the final grants programme,
and his decision will then be reported to both the Grants Determination and Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
And obviously as part of the improvements we will consider the draught recommendations that have come out from the Grants Deep Dive.
Thank you Mr Mayor.
Thank you. Please sir.
The only thing I would like to add Mary is the comment that the Deputy Mayor made and Afzal referred to as well.
This is an example of where Envoy involvement and endorsement has been helpful.
We do need to simplify the process.
We have had a deep dive which will be reported to members in due course.
And I just think it's where we get added value and we have, we should refer to it at cabinet.
So I just wanted to make that point.
Thank you.
Thanks very much.
And I bring colleagues in.
Councillor Tala.
Thank you, Mayor.
Can I just start off by thanking the Deputy Mayor and Afrozulu and colleagues in, you
know, developing this report.
as a beneficiary of a community organisation and being involved in many community organisations,
I value and understand the role that they play.
Despite all the significant investment that this Mayor, this administration has put in since 2022,
we know that the Council alone can't fix our social problems and all the other problems in Tower Hamlets.
So looking at some of the consultation responses, it's quite interesting.
Some of them are similar and they have been similar for a while in terms of the concern around cost of living,
health and well -being have been a top concern but I think others are really
good suggestions in forming our strategy moving forward. I did mention a sort of
different forum where I think lead members where we where our work aligns
with some of these themes I think it'll be good to go out and actually meet some
of these organisations and we're told organisations want to meet us and I
I think this is a good opportunity to go and see how, for example, I think Council can be picked up in that same committee
where there's an organisation working on improving educational attainment.
Well, that is a top priority for this Council, so why don't we get the lead member for education to go out and meet what this organisation does?
Those are the kind of examples and I think synergies, connexions, we need to be making.
And I think on a final point, I think this Council does things differently, we do things uniquely,
We are the best in many cases and this is an example of such.
The Deputy Mayor touched on this being nearly 10 million pounds of investment through this period.
That's probably the biggest grant programme in London and correct me if I'm wrong.
So I think it's something to talk about and I know POM's colleagues are up there.
But this is something that residents need to know but more importantly obviously understand whether you can access support from.
Thank you.
Thank you. Greatful. Councillor Sivrina Octavio please.
Thank you Mayor and Cabinet. As we can see, the top priority in the engagement, the health
and physical and mental health, I think it's over 500 annually given and the health will
be one of the highest priority theme. So I'm really happy that public health is contributing
in a huge amount, I believe it's 982 ,000.
And I want to see the, hopefully we can see the outcomes,
frameworks, track and how we can track that as well
to kind of measure the outcome.
So I'm really pleased and really hopeful
that we have a scheme like that in Ta Hamlet.
We know how much the volunteer sector means to our community
and being one of the largest, like I said,
for my colleagues.
I think it's a huge opportunity for the community again
and where we can really work together and we can have a progress in face to see the outcomes and the benefits that come with the course.
So really helpful and hopeful that this is a scheme that we can support.
Thank you. Do you want to come back on anything at all? Very briefly please, yeah?
No problem, thank you Mr Mayor. So just on Councillor Townsend's point, I think we will definitely look to arrange some visits for members to go and see the voluntary sector.
I think the wider point that the council alone cannot support the demand that's out there.
So one of the pieces of work we are doing is reviewing our social value framework.
And we've recently worked with the church to see how we can get some of our partners to support.
So we are working with other funders, other local partners that are working with us to support some of our voluntary groups.
And I think on council access point, particularly around the public health fund,
We will be including some KPIs for groups who monitor some of those public health outcomes
so we can demonstrate that public health money is delivering improved health outcomes for
our residents.
Okay, thank you.
Fozal, very quickly, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Oya.
I just want to say, despite all your investment, this administration's investment into the
youth services, perhaps the most in the country.
We're spending an additional close to 10 million pounds
over the next three years.
Because there are, despite our investment into youth
and other areas, there will be some gaps
where we can't cover, we can't be everything for everyone.
So I'm really kind of encouraged with this new investment
into our voluntary youth sector.
So they can kind of perhaps provide the support and fill in gaps where the council can't.
So they're very positive, great news.
Thank you very much.
Anyone else?
Councillor Said, please.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thanks to the Deputy Mayor for bringing this paper to the offices as well.
I think I just want to make a couple of points, not to repeat what people have said.
From being the previous lead member in this area, I think I had some feedback from our residents and user groups,
especially the very key groups in the voluntary communities sector, who are, you know, many of these organisations are vital lifelines for a lot of our residents.
One of the main feedback I always got was that we set clear application processes that residents know and groups know when and how to apply,
and also we set clear background and criteria per question.
So people need to understand where and how to get the marks that's required
and what delivery they need to do.
So I know we put a lot of information out there,
but at the same time it's also sometimes become a little bit difficult for people to identify and find the information.
So that's my request.
And secondly I would say comms is key.
I think one of my colleagues mentioned earlier,
I think we just have to make it very clear from the council's comms strategy
how and when to apply
And I know we do a bit
But I think we just have to do a little bit extra work on how we can really put this really good work out
I mean this may has come through and straightaway put the investment in the community sector and if we can't
Put the information out there for all the organisations to apply. Obviously. We're just losing out in our own own own sort of merits. Thank you
Thank you. Thank you
Councillor Shafi
Thank You, mr. Mayor
I support this report and thank the lead member on this and the officers bringing this forward.
As a cabinet member for a green clean borough, I see these voluntary community grants as
beneficial for our environment outcomes.
From community cleanups to greening projects to healthy walks and food growing is led by
the voluntary sectors and groups and these are trusted by our residents.
I would also like to welcome the emphasis on a transparent assessment, measurable outcomes
and value for money, while retaining flexibility.
That balance will ensure funding delivers both council strategic priorities and the
local need.
This is a positive target and I welcome this report.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Thank you.
Greatful.
Anyone else?
If not, shall we move on?
Thank you.
Thank you, Avazul.
Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
Thank you to the officers generally for bringing this work forward.
I know it takes a lot of effort to work on a programme and to take it forward.
But for us and for me as administration, as the executive mayor, our community comes first.
The voluntary and community sector, the third sector, play a historic role in contributing
to the fabric of our borough.
I'm also a product of, a beneficial product of the
community sector.
And as a youngster, you know, I received a lot of
benefits and mentoring.
Also, I was part of, I volunteer in a number of
organisations, chaired a number of organisations,
and I've seen how it had contributed to the fabric
and the betterment of our community.
So I very much support this endeavour.
When we came into power five years ago,
or maybe four and a half years ago in 2022,
like the previous term, we made it very clear,
we want to continue and expand the Community Grants Scheme
and to re -provision some of the streams of funding, so it touches and benefits each and
every sector. I'm grateful, I want to thank the voluntary sector for the work that they
do and the money, the additionality they bring into the borough through this contribution
that we make in the borough. We are a very ambitious council, we are very ambitious administration,
You know, if you look at our last manifesto and this manifesto, we have and we will contribute
to expanding services in the communities.
We have put in over the last three or four years some 250 million pound additional money
into the communities.
We've done that.
In the current manifesto we will already have started implementing some of the pledges.
Our pledges will come and this is a serious additionality to this, this community grants programme.
So don't take the community grants programme in isolation.
That is part of, take it in a holistic way, part of the 250 million pound additional money
has gone back into the community, like the Education and Maintenance Alliance, like the
University Grants, like the free home care, like the free school dinners, etc, etc.
It's a huge contribution.
I'm glad we're doing this.
It's going to continue to make a huge difference.
As you say, we've increased the number of organisations who got benefit last time around.
We want that to be an upward trajectory.
Please, I have dedicated my power to the Chief Executive in awarding grants.
We left it to the officers.
But please be an enabler.
Make the application so that people can fill them in.
People can be enabled, empowered.
And it's not the usual organisations who succeed.
But there should be an opportunity for new organisations, small organisations,
medium -sized organisations, as long as they work and are in the borough to access this money.
So it should be an enabled endeavour, not just an endeavour to support the big wallets.
Although big wallets do make a huge contribution, but they have the pulling power to pull in money from elsewhere.
It's the smaller ones, it's the medium sized ones, may not have that opportunity, may not
have the skills to write an excellent application or have the money to buy in people to do the
application but they must be supported.
So I'm requesting Steve, officers should be available to support people with their applications
to enable them and we want to spread the money around extensively as much as possible rather
and few organisations receiving money should be more organisations, but the performance
must be there too.
That's what I want to say.
Deputy Mayor.
Sorry, Mr Mayor, I should have said it earlier.
If you go to page 23, 24, under the recommendation, I mean, recommendation 8 is fine, but I just
want you to have a look at recommendation 3.
Are you okay with that?
You won't achieve executive audit?
And you're saying?
Yeah, I've got a mental, I'm coming on to that.
Thank you.
Thank you. So just come to the recommendations. One is to note fine. Two is to authorise fine.
Three is the
Chief Executive, please. Yeah, to authorise the Chief Executive to finalise the digital prospectus of each branch programme
in consultation with the Mayor.
Is that okay Steve? Is that reasonable? Yeah, is that okay? Just what I'm saying.
Four is to note, five is to agree, we agree, six is to agree, we agree, seven is to agree,
we agree, eight absolutely we agree, we authorise and nine we note.
Is that okay?
Is that okay?
Yeah, is that okay?
Okay, thank you.
With that amendment we agree the recommendations.
Thank you, thank you, Deborah.
Great, good.
Okay, to move on to 6 .2, please.
And sorry, you answered the P question, it's good to know your question.
I heard you.
Okay, the next one is very important.
Okay, 6 .2, planning fees and charges review.
Is it you?

6 b) In Year Planning & Building Control Fee Review & Adjustments

It's not Talla, no?
No?
Okay, so I've got it right this time, yeah?
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
So this one's about the planning fees and the report seeks the approval to update our
planning and building control fee structures.
So that changes and the charges are better reflected to the true cost of providing these
services and also that they remain aligned with the comparable Eelan London boroughs.
More importantly that they are sustainable and we can perform high quality planning services.
The proposals include revised pre -application fees, new and updated service categories and
the introduction of an optional fast track planning service for suitable applications.
And these changes have been informed by benchmarking, service analysis, engagement with officers
and teams to ensure that we continue to provide a responsive and effective service for residents,
businesses and developers.
And the review has shown that the annual inflationary rises alone are not sufficient to meet the
service cost and expectations.
And the proposed changes will improve cost recovery, provide greater clarity and transparency
for applicants strengthen our ability to forecast income as well as create a more consistent
approach for future fee reviews.
Subject to today's approval, the changes are expected to generate around £400 ,000 additional
income in -year and also further £800 ,000 ongoing year -on -year.
And all of this will help us maintain a service with the right capacity and the performance
while reducing the financial pressures on the council.
May I have got David and team to add anything further.
Thank you.
David, please.
Thank you, Mayor.
I think the lead member has introduced it very well, but this report is an important
contribution from Housing and Regeneration to the council's mid -term financial strategy.
And crucially, this is about making sure that we can continue to have a best in class planning
service, delivering high levels of development and all the benefits that flow from that.
But it's only right that when we provide such a good service, which I think all the statistics
show that we do, that developers pay an appropriate level for that insight and service and the
levels that we're proposing to charge bring us into line with benchmarked data from other
authorities and we're very pleased to be able to present this for your
consideration tonight and the work has been done by Daniel and Paul who are
here in the room. Thank you, grateful to say anything you want to add quickly.
Thank you for coming. Thank you Mayor, I think Councillor Ahmed and David have covered all the pertinent points.
I guess just to to remind members and of the context that the development
management services is heavily reliant on planning income.
And we get that from statutory fees set by central government
and discretionary fees that we have control over.
So this report is really focusing
on those discretionary elements and where there's opportunities
to bring those into line with other local authorities,
but importantly, making sure that we recover all of the costs
of providing those services.
I would say that we've had some very positive feedback
from our developer forum about the quality of the pre -application services that we offer.
We want to continue to be able to do that, but as David sets out, we do need to make
sure that our fees and charges are aligned with the cost of providing that service.
The review was evidence -led through the benchmarking that we did with six local authorities, including
the City of London and Westminster.
And finally, just to mention that you'll see in the report there are different scales of
charges that we currently operate. So we've thought carefully about where those increases
should be proportionate. So for example the services that are most likely to be used by
residents for example extending homes or making changes to businesses, the increases there
are slightly more modest than they are elsewhere in the higher scales. But on that note, I
think that's all I had to add at this stage unless there's any further questions from
yourself or members. Thank you.
Thank you, it's a straightforward paper, it's not that complicated.
And it's an addogenality for us, and we do live in the real world.
So, Deputy Mayor.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I had one comment, and one question, is that okay?
So my first comment was around, I'm very supportive of this paper, and I think it's a good paper,
But my only, I just wanted assurance from you Paul
and your team that we're introducing the Fast Track service
and but I just want to show us that our normal residents,
they do normal application that won't be impacted
in terms of the pace.
That's my first one and second one was around 3 .24.
You're talking about the pilot that went during September, October, and you're saying that
further you need further design and testing.
If you just want to kind of touch on that, what exactly you mean by that?
Paul, give me a second.
I'll bring, let's take one more, and I'm going to make my comment on that too.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
Please, Taler.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, lead member, David, Paul and colleagues who've developed this.
As the lead member of finance, we obviously welcome this.
This is 400 ,000 pounds additional income this year,
and nearly one million, close to one million pounds next year.
This is on top of everything else that colleagues are doing
to address the pressures that we have in the council.
So I just wanted to say, as the lead member,
it's definitely something I'd welcome.
And also getting that assurance that, yes, we are competitive,
but not really dissuading people from engaging in our services.
So there's some new ideas in there.
We are still competitive.
I have heard words like best in class.
That is exactly what we are.
And it is bringing us extra money.
So thank you.
Thank you.
I very much welcome the fast track model for delivering big
planning applications.
So any applications where people,
if developers want to put that money in at the initial
pre -application stage and get this application turned around
much quickly.
So very much welcome.
That is much needed.
So thank you for that proposal.
So I don't believe the non -fast track applicant is going to be left out in any way, because
there is a shattering provisions timelines that we have to follow, but you can comment
on that, David, of all.
And you make a very valid point, Tala, is that we are – with our competitors, our
reinvesting in the services, it's not about making profit, it's about enabling the applicants.
And we are a borough, we get so many applications comes in, we want to deliver a good, efficient,
fast service for them who need more development in the borough. Thank you. So you want to come in,
Paul? Thank you, Mayor and thank you, Deputy Mayor, for your question. So in this
In this paper, the services that are aimed
at the larger developers are largely
the planning performance agreement services.
Which means, so for example, we already offer
those services to the likes of Canary Wharf Group,
for example, across all of their different
sort of portfolio.
The fast track that we're recommending in this one
is a slightly different approach,
which is actually more for smaller applications
where through the benchmarking exercise
that Daniel and the team did, they noticed
there's a number of authorities in London
that currently offer this, and we would like to add this
as a new basket of services in terms of optimising income.
It's mainly aimed at things like sort of
your household replications
or lawful development certificates
where you can get quite quick turnaround.
In answer to the point around
would people not taking up service
because of bans, no they wouldn't,
and for the reasons that the mayor pointed out,
we have statutory time scales
and what we're trying to do is accelerate those
timescales where we can, but we would still be beholden
to, for example, the eight week turnaround anyway
that we have to report to governments
in terms of our performance.
In terms of the design and testing, that was simply
that we ran this as a slightly behind the scenes pilot,
so those applicants didn't know that they were being
subject to this, we weren't charging them anything
at that stage, and we've simply noticed that there's
a few areas of our internal processes that just need
a bit more finessing, shall I say, to make sure that we can offer the service correctly.
So what the report's asking is for agreements of the lion's share of this, which is the
planning performance agreements and the pre -application fees, and then the fast track fees agreed
in principle but subject to further testing with the aim to bring them in by the next
financial year or possibly sooner if we can.
So it's just a bit more tweaking behind the scenes of our processes, really.
Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? No one else? Okay. Please. Sorry, sorry, Shubhieh. Please.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to come in on the point, and I think you have touched on it already,
but I just wanted to emphasise for the benefit of cabinet the legal comments that are already contained in the report,
and to emphasise the point that they are discretionary services, and the model of costs is based on recovering costs only,
Thank you very grateful to a member of the corporate direction officers coming in.
Can we agree the recommendations?
Thank you very much. Let's move on quickly.
6 .3 and 6 .4, I know it's two separate contracts, but they both are similar.
Can we take them together?
I know that I'm conscious of the time.
I know that Chirik Zulu and others need to go to the point of this panel.
Is that okay, Steve?
Okay.
Is that okay?
You want to introduce it?

6 c) Electrical Measured Term Contract

Yeah, I'll be very brief then.
6 .3 is the electrical measure term contract.
This report was seeking an extension of an amount.
So when the new contract is in place in April 2027, we can obviously recommend it to the
new contract.
So it's covering a small period of a maximum value of £900 ,000.
Just explain the period, how long is the period?
Six months.
Great, good.
Okay.
Okay, that's it, yeah?
Yeah, and the next one?
6 .4 essentially is a commencement of procurement.
So it's for the mechanical contract.
The value is £12 million, 2 plus 2, right?
2 plus 1 plus 1.
Let's quickly disagree the first one that we got into the second one.
So we can all take it together.
Any comments on 6 .3?
6 months extension, 900K, no source of value as such because there's a short extension.
Are you okay?
Yep.
Okay.
Good.
The next one, thank you, is 12 million pound over a period of?
Four years.
Three years.
Two, one year.
Okay.
Just 2, 1, 1.
Just want to understand the community benefits please.
Yes, if food and combat is the
the food and combat is the
food and combat is the state
so it's only a total of
so we only spend the incentive money
to spend money on the community benefits
and that happens with public
so it's only public benefits
and including our state
via ID's or whatever
But do we get extra public benefit?
community benefits
part of my introduction, but there will be opportunities for local supply chain.
We would expect bidders to offer work experience and placements for local people.
So it is an assessment criteria and something we're hoping to seize as an opportunity as part of this contract.
That's fine. And can you, Sam, Chris, Sarah, can you make sure that it comes through the centre
so that they don't engage with organisations out there?
What happens when it comes, it goes through us,
We've got a fantastic work part, skills department and enterprise department.
We want to maximise the benefits.
Okay, thank you.
Go on, Deputy Mayor.
You said it.
Thank you.
You've said it, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you Mayor.
This report presents a significant opportunity to increase the amount of temporary accommodation
available within Tower Hamlets by leasing four commercial office buildings at Marsh
Wall and converting them for residential use.
Subject to the necessary works and approvals, the proposal could provide approximately 180
self -contained family size accommodation units including 167 two -bedroom and 13
three -bedroom units. This will help us reduce our reliance on out -of -borrow
placements and importantly enable more homeless families to live closer to
their schools, health care, employment, family networks and wider community
support. Mr. Mayor, only this morning and over the past few years I've had to
with sadly residents that have become homeless,
moved out of the borough.
Today was someone that lives in Orpinton now.
A couple of days ago was someone that lived in Jillingham.
A few months ago was someone that lives in Ealing.
And they have to wake up very early with their kids
to come and drop their children off to Haig Primary School
or some of the other local primary schools.
Sadly, if they're single parents, in some cases,
because of the amount of time it takes
to go back to their home, they have to wait around during the day in markets or in high
streets or wherever they go to family houses, just so they don't miss the collection time
for their children.
These are just some of the benefits of having a local, sorry, these are just some of the
issues that people have to face by having an out of borough provision.
But having an in borough provision would hopefully address a lot of these issues.
The report also is clear that this proposal is still at an early stage and carries financial and delivery risks.
Further design work, planning and statutory approvals, financial assessment and negotiations will be necessary.
The recommendations therefore allow that work to progress while ensuring further approval is sought once outstanding risk and negotiations have been concluded.
For me, I guess the mayor, the key point is that we carefully balance those financial
considerations with the social, educational, environmental and health benefits of bringing
families back into Tower Hamlets and providing more suitable local accommodation.
So on that basis, I recommend the proposals set out in this report.
Wait for, please David, Court Book Director.
Thank you Mr. Mayor, thank you, lead member.
I think just to emphasise a couple of the points that the lead member made.
This is a really significant opportunity to bring families back into Tower Hamlets.
The lead members spoke very well to the point around the impact of placing families relatively far away from the borough.
If you've got children in school in Tower Hamlets, other family support networks and the human impact have been placed far away.
But I think also another point is that often the type of accommodation people are placed in is
insecure and nightly paid accommodation
Some of these families can be moved several times over a period of a number of months or years and that is extremely detrimental
To their life chances their stability and it has all sorts of social consequences
We have you have challenged us
along with the lead member and the whole cabinet to bring as many people back into Tower Hamlets as possible.
We've got a really good track record over the last year where we've driven that up from 40 % to over 50%.
But we can't ever be satisfied with that because that still means we have many families outside of Tower Hamlets.
This is going to address a significant chunk of that and is a big opportunity for us to do it.
We are, as the lead member said, going to be doing a lot of further work to really develop the detailed proposals
and the detailed commercial terms to improve them in the Council's favour
and we are putting a team in place to take that work forward.
But for me this is a really significant opportunity that does not come along often and one we should not miss
and that is why we brought this proposal for your consideration tonight.
Thank you David for your words. I'll come in afterwards. Sam, you want to come in on April? A lot of effort into this.
I think both the Councillor and David have covered everything that I intended to say from the report, Mr Mayor.
You know, the impact on families in the borough and the benefits of this scheme are clear in the report
and I think they've covered everything very well.
Thank you. Can I bring Said in?
And I'll bring Sabina, then the Deputy Mayor, then I'll bring others in.
So, Meghana, I'll bring you in before Foyzal, because you haven't said anything yet.
Thank you, thank you Mr. Mayor.
And I think, let me thank everyone who worked on this paper, it's very important.
As the lead member for housing, I very much welcome this,
because we see TA issues across every day and I think the amount of cases I see every
day is very sad, the condition we have at the moment.
And this is not just Tower Hamlets, it's across London, across the country when it comes to
homelessness and the pressures on TA.
But the good thing from my point of view is the work that the track record that we have
with David and the team, who have driven the cost down when it comes to TA pressures.
and this is just another element on how we can provide the service even better
and make sure there is a financially viable one going forward for making sure we can procure properties in borough.
The issue when it comes to TA properties is when we procure properties through landlords,
they can easily take the properties away, the prices are very high, we have to get them in,
and residents who at the end of it face the difficulty, who have to move place to place,
month in month out, people are moving several times in a year.
And this gives us some stability.
Just to give you an example, if someone is already in the waiting list,
who we've placed outside of the borough,
and if we can bring them here within the next six to five years,
they'll have an opportunity to move from this one place alone
into a permanent housing.
So this gives that stability of our residents coming forward
and knowing that they can stay in borough,
are well connected within the borough in the heart of our
in the borough from South East stations around the corner.
Schools, doctors and everything are very close by.
So I think it's very good, well -secured location
and something for our residents to be very happy with.
Social impact is very important.
So I really support this with the element of people
coming here in the next five to six years
if they continuously can carry on bidding
to move into a social permanent property going forward.
Thank you.
Thank you, lead member. Can I bring in Minna Rind, if she has a major comment.
Okay, I'll bring others in.
Thank you, Mayor. I have to say this is such a welcoming initiative to happen and I think all of us welcome it.
We are seeing day to day how residents are struggling, they're suffering, overall mental health, the support links and everything.
it really impacts when you are accommodated outside of the borough on temporary accommodation
and coming back into the borough, having that hope that there is and that families can reconnect back to the communities
that they've like born and brought up and probably have lived for many years but for overcrowding issues
they've had to be moved out.
And I have to say, it's in part of Blackwell and Cupid Town,
so it's really welcoming for all of us
councillors that are there, that families that were moved out
can reconnect back.
And the human benefit, I think we all
know that the human benefit is huge.
And also, the other long -term, council
will be saving money as well.
Because when you're spending a lot of money housing people
outside the borough temporarily,
So, yeah, I think the benefits are huge both ways.
So, thank you.
Thank you, member.
Councillor Shonali, please.
I'll bring others in.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Again, just echoing to what my colleagues have been saying,
I have dealt with many, many residents in my ward
with young children that are attending local schools
and the impact on their wellbeing.
And I think this is a very, very good opportunity
if we can take that on.
I really do support this.
So hopefully it will be good for the community and our residents.
Thank you.
I've been grateful.
Can I bring in Councillor Sivinak that I bring in Kobiarina?
Okay, thank you.
Yes, so Mayor and the cabinet, on a daily basis I'm sure we're all familiar with the
similar pains, the struggles and on a daily basis how people are experiencing travelling
in and out of the borough, bringing children back into the borough.
and I'll just give you an example. Just today morning, former resident, I did ask permission if I could speak about him,
his wife is bedbound. He's able to work but he can't work because he needs to drop his children back and forth.
His wife being bedbound means that he has to do all the house chores as well.
And the condition that he's living in, it's horrible and not suitable at all.
But despite that, he's one of his childs taking GCSEs this year, another child in year five, another child in year three.
So you can see the pain and the travelling they have to do on a constant basis.
And then recently they've been offered another house outside the borough.
So families like those, what it will mean for them to be back in the borough,
and as the cabinet member for health, bringing back 180 families into the borough,
puts them out of isolation, loneliness.
and when you're stable, when your family is stable in the home, it kind of brings the
mental and the wellbeing much better for them. So in terms of families, this is such a good
initiative and I really, really support this and it would definitely help people's health
and wellbeing.
Thank you. Councillor Coburn and Councillor Shafi.
Thank you, Mayor. I'm not going to speak too long. Fellow colleagues of course, I'm
covered. Yeah, yeah, I will do, I will do. So I just want to focus around issues of best
value and I think what we found with Calvert Avenue, the boundary launderette, it's not
always about the money element that provides best value and colleagues have raised time
and time again what the location and how the location makes a difference. As we know, a
member pointed out the travelling times for young children you know travelling
across London and from the home counties sometimes trying to get to school
because you're not placed in schools immediately when you're put in TA
accommodation. The drain that has on families throwing things to and fro.
Also I think one of the areas we should think about is around health and
being, okay, and quality of life. Where that move, though temporary, happens quite
quickly, quite close by, and children involved within the families as well as
the adults can find easy access to their work as well as schooling. And most
importantly, the support services that operate within those families from GP
surgeries, from dental practises, a whole range of other sort of initiatives run
both by the council as well as other third sector organisations. So my point
is around best value isn't always determined by the financial indicators
but more quality of life and this is a paramount sort of area where quality of
will be enhanced from moving out.
But one other issue is I was lead member for four years
and never could we find a site with so many properties
so close by.
So commend lead member, corporate director and the team
on acquiring this.
Okay, thank you.
Sorry, please should be.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I'd like to make some comments,
but I'd like to do that in private session.
Thank you.
No problem.
Councillor Shafi.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Once again, this is the bold decision that was taken by yourself as the mayor to ensure
that residents' lives matter.
And it's not just a number of, it's just 180 apartments or 180 apartments, it's almost
500 residents, including children, women, who come back into this borough.
And it's necessary and it's needed.
and this is what it's called for. So really, really, really welcome this initiative, this
programme, lead member, assets, everyone involved in bringing this important, I mean we know
every single day we have people knocking on our doors, knocking on our emails saying that
they've been rehoused in Scrapham, they've been rehoused in Basildon and although we
say there's a 90 minute travel rule thing, I know there's probably three trains that
someone has to change to come into the borough.
And this is the bold decision that this administration
is taking to ensure that our residents come first
and we invest in those things that matter to our residents
and benefits our residents.
So I'd like to commend you as well as the whole team
in ensuring that we have come up.
This is just the beginning.
I think we need more like this.
So long may it continue and long may you continue
to serve the people of this borough.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Foyzo, you want to thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Tower Hamlets has one of the highest rates for child homelessness in the country.
So I'm not going to repeat what my colleagues have already said,
but I just want to thank lead members, David, Sam, everyone else who involved in bringing this proposal.
and because we all, as elected members, we all know the huge impact the travelling, the distance has on families,
especially on children, the disruption it has to their education, their wellbeing, their development.
So I know the proposal can possibly accommodate up to 180 families, but even if it was just the one family,
I would say it's a worthwhile endeavour. So congratulations, I'm really excited and really welcome the proposal.
Thank you.
Thank you and grateful.
Okay, the last speaker, Mr Deputy Mayor, then we're going to say a few more words.
Thank you, Mr Mayor.
Before I come into my comment, I just want to say, often people ask me on the island,
who is behind the transforming the Isle of Dogs, is it you or me?
So anyway, I'll say that one and all, but I would like to thank you and congratulate
you first.
I think it's you. And the way the Isle of Dogs has been transformed over the last 10 years,
it all started when you became the leader of the council, because the vision takes 5 to 10 years,
and then it takes another 10 to 15 years, so we've still got a lot to do.
Anyway, I would like to thank the lead member and our officers, especially David.
This is about vision and this is about working out a different way.
And this is exactly what you're doing.
And we, on the Isle of Dogs, we've got six councillors that we fully support this.
And I think, look, every day we speak to people.
Every day we see people outside President Hubb who are outside the borough
and the children's school.
they attend school within the borough and it's a struggle for them.
And it's all about cost as well, travel cost and so on.
And the living condition is so bad. Every day we get that.
And this is something, an example, I think there are many other sites available
and which officers should investigate and see how we can utilise those.
So, you know, thank you very much for that and especially lead member, well done.
Thank you.
Please, David.
I just wanted to comment on the Deputy Mayor's point.
We are developing a long -term temporary accommodation supply strategy which is doing exactly what

6 e) Acquisition of 191, 193, 195 and 197 Marsh Wall

you've just suggested of looking at other opportunities and acquisitions.
We do want to power ahead with that because the more that we can do, the more that we
can bring families back into the borough but also reduce costs, so it's absolutely something
they were looking at.
Thank you for all those comments.
Extremely important paper.
I want to thank Steve also, the Chief Executive, Sir David and Sam, the effort and your team,
the effort that you and your team have put in to get this paper to Cabinet reasonably
quickly.
We're very grateful.
And David, the measure and effort and work that you put in behind this and the finance
colleagues.
As some colleagues have said, you can't always measure benefit financially.
That's one of the ingredients, absolutely.
But for us, it's money and the human benefits, the socio -economic benefits are equally important, David.
And you and Paola have articulated that and others very well.
So thank you for that.
But also, what you say quite often, so does Steve, the chief executive,
The preventative work, what this will prevent.
This will prevent also savings and the burden on other burdens of the council.
You know, whether it's social services, the school welfare service, the admissions service,
you know, you name it.
Other benefits will flow from this.
But extremely importantly is the 500 or so people from those 180 homes.
And young children will benefit from this.
Don't forget, at the end of the day, we are all human beings.
We have, you know, we can touch, we can feel, we have emotions.
Some of the emotions that people go through, kids go through,
when they're living far away from outside of the borough.
You know, it's heartbreaking to see kids, you have to get up at six, six thirty in the morning,
live in Romford, Croydon, you know, a number, Lewsham, I know a number of families that far or further away,
but yet they come here for the school places, they come here for the hospital or GP places.
There are single parents and mothers who are unwell at most time.
We can't get everyone back unfortunately, but we can make some contribution.
You know, 500 or so people, 180 families, the benefit of that for this council and the human benefit is going to be phenomenal.
I mean, you all cited cases.
I mean I can give you many cases come to my surgery
And it's not only fault of the council. We try our best, you know, David's got an acquisition programme buying homes
to take people off the waiting list
Putting place into a temporary accommodation in the borough. It's not enough. It's not enough
This will make some contribution to those 500 lives. No, I have I've one family keeps on you know
sticking out for me, a father and a mother,
mother has serious mental health problems.
She sometimes gets sectioned, she comes out.
They live in Romford, they have three young children,
they go to two schools in the borough,
in the borough, father unfortunately can't leave
the mother behind at home because then she can't,
he's the carer, full time carer,
she can't look after herself.
She could put the coupon or do something,
I put the bath tap on.
So he brings her every morning.
She gets dragged out of bed, all of them.
They leave home at 6, 6 .30.
Come there to get her, walk it, then get a bus,
then get a train.
They do that back.
So but father sends, takes the, brings the mother along.
Sadly, she's so unwell, it's unbelievable.
And sometimes she's on the train bus.
Other people, you know, get disturbed.
They don't know she's that unwell.
Yeah, and to see a grown -up man cry in my surgery is heartbreaking.
And you put the mother along and I looked at her, I can tell how unwell she is.
So I'm not going to say this will make a difference for her,
that may make a difference for people like her.
Yeah, so we need to do this.
I understand the comments from our finance colleagues, that's their job.
but we have a wider responsibility and I'm grateful, it's an excellent paper,
very grateful for the paper, let's get it delivered now.
Is that okay? Please, we're going to move that pace,
we've got to make sure the red tapes are dealt with,
we procure what whoever want to procure, David,
and we need to project manage this at speed, with efficiency,
and get to the bottom whether we deliver this or not.
and I'm saying I request this, we do our best to deliver this.
Please, yeah? Okay, thank you.
Are we...
Oh, sorry, we need to go to the exempt paper, the pink paper,
so if you can just come back to the public paper too, yeah, we'll come back, yeah?
Thank you.

6 e) Acquisition of 191, 193, 195 and 197 Marsh Wall

Thank you.
Can we return to the public element of this paper?
Thank you all for your contributions.
Very grateful to you.
And I think we've had a good debate and good discussion on this.
This is extremely important.
We want to explore all opportunities to bring people back into the borough, to retain them
in the borough.
We understand the social economic costs and the human costs of placing people outside.
But we live in a real world, not everyone who becomes homeless, we can accommodate in
the borough for various reasons.
But it is a costly affair placing people
in a homeless accommodation,
whether in borough or outside of the borough.
I'm grateful David and the team,
Steve your contribution lead member
for bringing this proposal to us.
I think it's very good paper.
My request is can we please explore
other similar opportunities?
you know, we understand the social economic benefits of retaining people.
It's so important, so important.
So if you could please explore that, I'm sure you do, but if we can, Sam Tuya, look at other potential partners, if that's possible.
Thank you for your acquisition programme that is proceeding at pace.
We want to proceed with this.
Proceed with this.
I believe when it comes to cost benefit analysis,
benefit outweighs, I believe.
Do you agree, members?
The costs, the costs.
So I'm just going to recommendations, David.
So recommendation page 152.
The first, I'm just going for each one of them,
so we're very clear.
2 .1 is to note, we note it here.
Okay, 2 .2 is to delegate to the corporate director
of housing regeneration in consultation with the mayor.
Are we okay with that?
Okay.
The 2 .3 is to approve the initial capital allocation
applied in Appendix 1.
Are you okay with that?
Next one is to approve the commencement
of all necessary procurement activity, et cetera.
Are we okay with that?
Okay.
Similarly, next one, 2 .5 is to delegate
authority to the corporate director
In consultation with the Mayor. You're okay with that?
Okay. The final one, 12 .6 is to note.
We note here, it's a cabinet decision we're making, not individual Mayor's decision.
Is that okay? On that note, we agree this paper.
Can we move on please? There's no other business.
Thank you and until next time. Thank you.