Agenda item

There were fifteen questions on the report, the written responses to which were circulated at the meeting.  There were 13 supplemental questions.

 

There were two amendments to this report.

 

In accordance with council assembly procedure rule 1.14.9, Councillor Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for equalities, democracy and finance, moved the report.

 

In accordance with council assembly procedure rule 1.14.9, Councillor Nick Johnson responded to the cabinet member’s statement.

 

Councillor Jason Ochere, seconded by Esme Hicks, moved Amendment A. 

 

Councillor Victor Chamberlain, seconded by Councillor Irina von Wiese, moved Amendment B.

 

Following debate (Councillors Ian Wingfield, Helen Dennis, Emily Tester, John Batteson, Margy Newens, David Watson, Richard Leeming, Cleo Soanes, Hamish McCallum, James McAsh, Youcef Hassaine, Adam Hood, Jasmine Ali, Jon Hartley, Jane Salmon, Cassandra Brown, Richard Livingstone, Graham Neale, Portia Mwangangye, Evelyn Akoto, Natasha Ennin, Sunny Lambe, Kieron Williams), Councillor Stephanie Cryan exercised her right of reply.

 

Amendment A – Carried

 

Amendment B – Lost

 

At this juncture the clerk explained that the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, which had come into force on 25 February 2014, required a recorded vote on key budget decisions by local authorities. The regulations required a recorded vote on decisions only.  Therefore in accordance with council assembly procedure rule 1.16(4) (a roll call recorded vote), an announcement was made at the beginning and end of one minute, after which the vote was taken.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote, and the votes having been recorded, the Mayor declared the result as follows:

 

In favour of the substantive motion (45):

 

Councillors Suzanne Abachor, Evelyn Akoto, Jasmine Ali, Naima Ali, John Batteson, Cassandra Brown, Maggie Browning, Sunil Chopra, Stephanie Cryan, Ellie Cumbo, Sam Dalton, Helen Dennis, Dora Dixon-Fyle, Gavin Edwards, Sabina Emmanuel, Natasha Ennin, Sam Foster, Renata Hamvas, Barrie Hargrove, Jon Hartley, Youcef Hassaine, Esme Hicks, Sarah King, Sunny Lambe, Richard Leeming, Richard Livingstone, James McAsh, Darren Merrill, Portia Mwangangye, Margy Newens, Jason Ochere, David Parton, Reginald Popoola, Sandra Rhule, Bethan Roberts, Catherine Rose, Martin Seaton, Andy Simmons, Michael Situ, Charlie Smith, Cleo Soanes, Joseph Vambe, Kath Whittam, Kieron Williams, and Ian Wingfield.

 

Against (0):

 

Abstained (10):

 

Councillors Victor Chamberlain, Adam Hood, Nick Johnson, Maria Linforth-Hall, Hamish McCallum, Graham Neale, Jane Salmon, Emily Tester, Irina von Weise and David Watson.

 

Absent (8):

 

Councillors Rachel Bentley, Mohamed Deen, Esme Dobson, Ketzia Harper, Emily Hickson, Laura Johnson, Victoria Mills, and Leo Pollak.

 

The Mayor declared that the motion as amended by Amendment A was carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That Council Assembly approved:

 

a.  the allocation of the additional funding from the final local government finance settlement, and updated public health grant allocations, outlined in paragraph 5 and Table 1.  

 

b.  the final balanced budget as detailed in Table 2.

 

c.  the allocation of £2 million from the Southwark 2030 reserve fund.

 

Southwark 2030 is our commitment to building a better future for our people and our place – building a fair, green and safe Southwark where everyone can live a good life as part of a strong community.

 

We are listening and learning from every part of our community. We know that right now our residents are most concerned about crime and antisocial behaviour in their local area. They want their streets to be clean and for the borough to come together in support of those struggling with the cost of living. Where families have found themselves homeless, they want us to support them as a community, and where our children and young people have additional needs, they want us to provide best in class services providing specialist help.

 

That is why we are allocating £2 million to address these issues. We are:

 

·  Investing £600,000 to make Southwark safer at night, with new nighttime safety wardens and action to tackle harassment of women in local bars and clubs:

 

  i.  £450,000 to fund new Nighttime Antisocial Behaviour Officers – with wardens patrolling out of hours to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour.

  ii.  Further work to keep women safe at night, including providing spiking kits to bars and clubs, opportunities for training in self-defence and accelerating the rollout of our Women’s Nighttime Safety Charter.

  iii.  A new Noise nuisance app to allow recording and reporting of noise and tracking of complaints.

·  Extending the Southwark Energy Savers Scheme to support our whole community through the cost of living, with over £50 million of cost of living support provided to over 150,000 residents date.

·  Investing an additional £360,000 to clean our streets and estates, clamping down on people who fly tip in our borough:

 

  i.  Focussing on preventing fly-tipping, graffiti and other behaviour that makes our streets dirtier, including stronger enforcement, better education, and physical public realm improvements to design-out ‘problem areas’.

 

  ii.  Taking action with 22 projects to clean up the borough:

o  Tackling fly-tipping on our streets and on our estates with stronger enforcement

o  Providing additional support for flats above shops (FLASH)

o  Preventing and cleaning town-centre graffiti

·  Investing £520,000 to support families who've been made homeless:

 

  i.  addressing high levels of eviction from friends and family – the main cause of homelessness in Southwark

  ii.  a new support and resettlement service for people placed in out of borough Temporary Accommodation

  iii.  a new Southwark Temporary Accommodation Action Group

  iv.  improving Wi-fi for those in Temporary Accommodation so they can access the services they need

 

·  Investing an additional £440,000 to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), opening a dedicated centre where child under five and their families can get specialist help. This hub will be in the centre of the Borough on the former Anne Bernardt nursery school site.

 

  i.  The new Hub will help families with SEND get guidance on education, healthcare, and social care services without an appointment.

  ii.  It will empower families by providing workshops and resources on education and welfare, and reduce isolation by creating a safe purpose built space where families with SEND can meet and connect.

  iii.  The Hub will work with other Children and Family Centres to develop their SEND work and help the council and our partners deliver on early intervention and prevention, through fostering stronger community networks between schools, healthcare providers, voluntary sector providers and our families with SEND.

 

2.  That Council Assembly noted:

 

a.  the 4 February 2025 cabinet report at Appendix 1 of the report, which provides details of the draft budget following the local government provisional settlement.

 

b.  paragraph 8 of the report which confirms the Strategic Director of Resources ‘Section 25’ statement as originally published in the 4 February 2025 cabinet report.

 

c.  the council tax setting report at agenda item 2.2 which seeks approval to set the council tax based on the approval of the final budget in Table 2 of the report.