Agenda and draft minutes

Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission - Monday 6 October 2025 7.00 pm

Venue: Ground Floor Meeting Room G02A - 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH. View directions

Contact: Amit Alva  Email: Amit.Alva@southwark.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

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    To receive any apologies for absence.

    Minutes:

    Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Irina Von-Wiese.

2.

Notification of any items of business which the chair deems urgent

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    In special circumstances, an item of business may be added to an agenda within five clear working days of the meeting.

    Minutes:

    There were no items of business which the Chair deemed urgent.

3.

Disclosure of interests and dispensations.

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    Members to declare any interests and dispensations in respect of any item of business to be considered at this meeting.

    Minutes:

    There were no disclosures of interests and dispensations.

4.

Minutes

5.

Commercial Property Portfolio

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    To receive a report from Councillor John Batteson, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, Jobs and Business and Mark Grant, Assistant Director of Property on Commercial Property Portfolio.

     

    ·  Management of commercial leases including rent, repairs and marketing

    ·  Increased revenue targets. Letting Southwark properties, Debt Recovery Plans

     

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    The commission first heard from Ben Davies (Blue Bermondsey business district) on the management of commercial leases including rent, repairs and marketing covering the following points

     

    • 366 Businesses in the Business Improvement District (BID) area, Retail businesses in High Street where Southwark Council is the commercial landlord.
    • Affordable workspaces in the BID to open in early Q1 2026; Small family-owned businesses in the BID and challenges faced, legal advice, rent reviews, issues carried over from Covid and rent reviews backdated 5 years which is allowed by legislation.
    • Overdue repairs on business/commercial units especially with housing above; Local business owners unable to reach points of contacts for repairs within the council, lack of process to receive updates and identifying dates of overdue repairs.
    • Empty commercial units with ongoing legal processes; Usage of BID units not as intended, such as consumer facing business with closed shutters or barricades.
    • Impacts of admin work due to pending rent reviews and overdue repairs in flourishing BID that are mainly family-owned small businesses in a deprived area such as Blue Bermondsey.

     

    The commission then received a report on Commercial Property Portfolio from Councillor John Batteson, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, Jobs and Business and Mark Grant, Assistant Director of Property on Commercial Property Portfolio on the following themes

     

    • Costs of running small businesses post Covid; Commercial properties is a key asset to the councils for revenue generation; 40% funds/income generated from Housing Revenue Account (HRA) assets that are Commercial Units with housing properties above and 60% from General Fund Assets which are larger industrial/commercial units.
    • HRA assets with occupied Housing properties above have access issues for repairs. New budget expected to include recently acquired and developed commercial properties and increased revenue from rent reviews due to increase in market rates.
    • Annual income for 2025 year £25.5m up from £18m pre-Covid. Reviewing High Street Markets to ensure best value for the units, diversifying to encourage more footfall, review of the lettings policy for commercial properties and discussions on empty units in high streets.
    • Void properties less than 3%, reviewing commercial property leases for supporting the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS). Affordable workplace strategy and using commercial property planning applications to allocate business units for affordable workspaces in the borough.
    • Council Covid period Debt and Commercial income; resolutions: payments plans and legal options; Repair in commercial units, rent-review and pragmatic payment arrangements.
    • Helping small businesses understand complex law around covenants in plain English and reviewing their circumstances for payment options.

    The commission then asked questions on the following topics

     

    • Proportion of properties curated by the council in the high street compared to other boroughs; reassurances on approaching businesses for rent reviews in a timely manner.
    • Rent arrears and legal costs to councils; repairs in HRA commercial properties with leaks from above; Disposal of Land and commercial lets from the council.
    • Criteria for rent review and market value rates; Communicating to residents regarding access for repairs; Tenants selection, tenants needs, protection of the neighbourhood character and assessment of local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Youth Services and Positive Futures for Young People Fund

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    To receive a report from Councillor Portia Mwangangye, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Parks and Young People and Toni Ainge, Director of Leisure and Eva Gomez, Head of Culture on Youth Services and Positive Futures for Young People Fund. (Report to follow)

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    The commission then received a report from Councillor Portia Mwangangye, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Parks and Young People and Toni Ainge, Director of Leisure, Eva Gomez, Head of Culture and Justine Wilson-Darke, Youth and Play Service Manager on Youth Services and Positive Futures for Young People Fund (PFYPF) covering the following topics

     

    • In-house youth service and commissioned youth service; Youth Centres and Adventure playgrounds (In-house services); Damilola Taylor Centre (DTC) and Kennel playground offer youth programmes
    • Youth commissioned service get PFYPF of £1.2m which is given to VCS every two years for sport and culture programmes; Youth Parliament – representative branch of young people who get decision making powers on PFYPF allocation, influencing planning policy and safer Southwark aspects that affect young people
    • One-hub website is a conduit for parents to find out what is going with the youth organisations; Youth in-house services being developed to support the upcoming cohort of young people; £500k from the governments youth transformation programme allocated to voluntary youth organisations.
    • Southwark Youth Parliament and Young Advisors link to young people to be expanded to include youth interested in getting involved in community programmes.
    • Exploring engagement with young people in parks, podcast centres and sports centres like the Burgess Sports Centre which is quite popular.
    • Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) path finder programme funding £0.5m to be invested by August 2026; Small Grants fund given directly going to young people who want to get into football and can’t afford boots, kits etc.; young girls who want to get into fashion or beauty.
    • New state of the art equipment, fresh turf for football pitches at DTC; New music production space at the new ventures’ youth centre; Capital investment in adventure playgrounds like Ellen Brown.
    • Ring fenced funding from positive futures fund for young people who are neurodivergent and have SEND needs.

     

    The commission then asked questions on the following themes

     

    ·  Supporting families of children having neurodivergent needs and the need for quiet spaces and better training for staff

    ·  Consultation in the report indicate that 33% of youth are not aware of the youth clubs; New funding £0.5m and hurdles in delivering within the timeframe of August 2026

     

    The commission heard from Toni that the council is exploring ways in which playgrounds and parks can be all inclusive and some parks are being considered in having more capital investment for SEND disability needs.

     

    Justine informed the commission that the council is working with a couple of organisations on training staff like Diversity Family Hub and Southwark Resource Centre team.  The staff working is these areas have an annual training plan. There are some challenges with spaces in council buildings which are one-room facilities and not appropriate for quite spaces. In addition, resources and child to staff ratio is also a challenge.

     

    Councillor Mwangangye explained to the commission that there is work being done with children services and through the Youth Transformation Programme to identify areas that have SEND children to make it easier to access  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Cabinet Response to Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Reviews and Recommendations 2024-2025

8.

Work Programme 2025-26