Your questions

James's full question was: My family recently experienced a crime. I know it is the police’s job, but I want to know how the Council is helping to prevent crime?

Answer from Councillor Graeme Henderson:

Community safety is a priority for Wandsworth residents, and therefore it’s a priority for the Council. We have invested in new Community Safety Officers across the borough who work closely with police officers to keep communities safe and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB).  

We were successful in our recent campaign to keep Lavender Hill police front counter open – I know residents really appreciate having somewhere to go in person to report crime.

You might have seen our new mobile CCTV vans, recently introduced to strengthen our proactive and visible approach. They are an addition to our network of over 1,200 CCTV cameras, one of the largest networks in the country. Our cars provide additional coverage and provide a rapid response. They support the police in catching and deterring crime and keeping you safe. 

Wandsworth is committed to developing an ambitious, long-term strategic approach to ending violence against women and girls (VAWG). Our strategy is based on a preventative model that has at the heart of it, plans to deliver the cultural and behavioural shift needed to deliver long-term change in men’s attitudes to women. Most importantly, this strategy is informed by survivors.

We have doubled the number of Community Safety Officers that engage with residents and community organisations to tackle anti-social behaviour and reduce crime. In addition, we have created new ASB officer roles and introduced a dedicated ASB manager position for North Battersea.

We also recently launched a new Safer Neighbourhood touchdown space in Roehampton. This dedicated hub allows our community safer officers and the police to meet and work together, ensuring a more visible and responsive presence to deter crime. 

Sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do. The new CCTV cars are paid for from funds the council collects from property developers to benefit the local area without adding a penny to your Council Tax.  

Wandsworth remains the safest inner London borough, with the lowest overall crime rate for inner London boroughs. Lavender Hill plays a vital role in keeping our community safe and making sure residents can speak to an officer face to face. We’ll continue working closely with the Met to ensure this commitment is kept and that local policing remains visible, accessible, and properly supported.

Answer from Simon Hogg, Leader of the Council:

Every household in Wandsworth can now get two free bulky waste collections a year. These can be booked on our website, and all you need is your postcode, email address, and a description of what is being collected. We'll take up to four items or 12 sacks of waste for free. Collection will be on your usual bin collection day.

We are a listening council and introduced free bulky waste collections following feedback from our residents. We've already had 14,000 bulky waste collections so far this year.

As well as our free bulky waste collection, we launched our 7 rings, 7 days guarantee.

The new 7 rings guarantee means calls to the council’s dedicated 0208 871 6000 number will be answered by a member of staff within 7 rings. A new email address of hello@wandsworth.gov.uk is also available for residents to get in touch.

We recognise that good customer service must be paired with swift action to resolve the issues raised. If a resident reports graffiti, a broken street sign, or a dangerous pothole, it will be fixed within 7 days. This is to ensure everyone can have pride in their neighbourhood.

To demonstrate our commitment, a digital dashboard is published on our website with weekly stats on the success rate of the 7 rings, 7 days commitment, along with monthly updates on actions taken to reach a 100% success rate.

Getting the basics right gives you the time to live your life.

I’ve been accepted on to the Access for All scheme. I was just wondering how do I get access to my off-peak gym membership? I haven’t got a code or pass yet.

Answer from Paul White, Cabinet Member for Environment:

To access your gym membership, you will first need to create a free Places Leisure account. Once you have your account, you can go into your local Leisure Centre and ask them to connect your Access for All membership to your Places Leisure membership. This will then give you free off-peak access.

For those who don’t yet have an Access for All membership, you can apply using this link. You will receive a digital card with a QR code. If you have a smartphone this can be added to the wallet and displayed when accessing discounts and concessions. For most Council services, you just need to show this to staff at the event or activity – it’s only our gyms and leisure centres where this needs linking up to another account.

The scheme offers eligible residents 100% to 50% discounts on key services from gym sessions to swimming lessons, wedding ceremonies to event tickets.

It launched last year with a range of offers focused on sports and leisure activities, such as free gym and swimming in our leisure centres, free sessions in Tooting Bec Lido, and free holiday swimming lessons.

We also have a range of other offers you can access. This includes:

• 1,000 tickets available for Country on the Common at just £3 each for Access for All members
• Lime and Forest bikes now offer 50% off rides for Access for All members
• Over 60 events at Wandsworth Art Fringe are completely free, but for the paid events £3 tickets are available for Access for All members

Wandsworth is a brilliant place to live and we want to make sure everyone has access to what it has to offer. This is London’s best concessionary scheme, and we already have examples of the scheme changing lives.

How can I meet with you to discuss concerns and ways to improve my community?

Answer from Simon Hogg, Leader of Wandsworth Council:

Hearing directly from residents is a top priority of ours. That’s why we host a series of drop-ins that happen monthly around the borough. Here you can discuss important topics, receive advice and support, find out more about Council services, plans for your local area, or share ideas for how to improve your neighbourhood. Our next one is on Saturday 26 April at York Gardens Library in Falconbrook – find information on upcoming drop-ins.

Along with myself, you may also be able to talk to your ward councillors and/or local MP, as well as representatives from Citizens Advice, the Police and various other services over hot drinks and refreshments.  

We’ve had a coffee morning in every ward in the borough over the last twelve months, and plan to visit every ward again in the next twelve.

This is all part of our Listening Council promise—modern, open, and working for you. This includes the new 7 rings, 7 days guarantee, which means calls to the council’s dedicated 0208 871 6000 number will be answered by a member of staff within 7 rings. A new email address, hello@wandsworth.gov.uk, is also available for residents to get in touch. 

We want to put your voices first, and to work with you to empower your communities – so please do come along and chat to us or get in touch through using the above phone number and email address.

I'm not sure if you deal with graffiti on shopfronts?

Answer from Simon Hogg, Leader of the Council:

In February, we launched the 7 rings, 7 days guarantee to make it easier for residents to get in touch and ensure faster repairs across the borough. If you report graffiti, a dangerous pothole, or a broken street sign, it will be repaired within 7 days; if you call us on 020 8871 6000 a member of staff will pick up in 7 rings.

We will remove graffiti within 7 days if it is on Council-owned property, private property, and commercial property and can be seen from the road. We will also investigate reports of graffiti in other places and remove it if we can. If graffiti is on a private property we need to write to the owner for consent for removal.

All other graffiti can be reported online.

To demonstrate our commitment, a digital dashboard is published on our website with weekly stats on the success rate of the 7 rings, 7 days commitment, along with monthly updates on actions taken to reach a 100% success rate.

We are a listening Council and will take care of the things that matter to you, to help keep Wandsworth special.

Answer from Jenny Yates, Cabinet Member for Transport:

As part of our ambitious Walking and Cycling Strategy we are investing to make it safer and easier for our residents to walk, wheel and cycle in Wandsworth. Lime bikes and other e-bikes are a very important part of our transport network here in Wandsworth where over a million journeys are made a year.

We’ve introduced a flexible parking scheme, which involves geofencing around our town centres. This means that in busy town centres it is mandatory to park an e-bike within a designated bay.

We’ve listened to residents who told us that in less busy areas, they really appreciate being able to park flexibly. This means that a bike can left in a sensible location on the footway. For example, women cycling on them at night feel safer being able to get home on them.

We do know that e-bikes can be parked inconsiderately, and we work closely with Lime and Forest, the other operator in Wandsworth, on ways of resolving this.

If an e-bike is causing an obstruction, the operators have an obligation to respond to complaints and arrange for the bike to be collected. You can report Lime bikes and Forest Bikes. Riders can be fined for poor parking and be suspended and banned from the service if they repeatedly flout the rules.

Answer from Aydin Dikerdem, Cabinet Member for Housing:

It is the Council’s priority to maximise the delivery of genuinely affordable homes for social rent. As part of our Local Plan changes, all major residential developments of 10 or more homes will be required to deliver 50% affordable housing at a minimum of 70% social rent (and a maximum of 30% intermediate tenure). For schemes of less than 10 homes, a financial contribution is also required to support the delivery of affordable housing more widely in the borough. 

This compares with the previous administration’s Local Plan which was only 35% affordable housing, with a 50% social rent and 50% intermediate tenure split, which does not maximise delivery nor prioritise those who are in the 8 Official most need. The Tories’ policy also did not require affordable housing on sites with less than 10 homes, unlike many other London boroughs who successfully apply a small site contribution. 

The Council has rigorously tested the emerging affordable housing policy across a range of common site types within the borough to make sure that they are viable, through the Whole Plan Viability Assessment (2024) which will be submitted alongside the emerging Local Plan for examination in Spring 2025. 

To incentivise the quick delivery of affordable housing, the emerging policy also sets out a localised fast track route of 45%, to ensure that developments that can deliver more than 35% required by the London Plan do so. 

In addition to these new Local Plan policy requirements and to hold developers to account, the Council now has in-house planning viability expertise to ensure the provision of affordable housing is fully-scrutinised and maximised on every development that comes forward, in accordance with the emerging policy and to meet the pressing needs of local residents.

Please can you tell us how the Council has been supporting older people in the borough, especially with regard to financial assistance and Adult Social Care enabling elders to be discharged from hospital in an appropriate and timely way?

Answer from Angela Ireland, Cabinet Member for Finance:

At the start of winter, we announced the Wandsworth Winter Support Payment which provides low-income pensioners with help managing increased costs over the winter. As always, we reviewed the needs of our residents and implemented the support they need. Those eligible for the scheme were those not receiving Pension Credit but receiving Council Tax Reduction. For those aged 80 and over, the payment was £300. For those under 80 the payment was £200. 

For residents we already held bank details for, payments were made directly into their accounts, with a letter notifying them this would take place, but no action at all required on their part. Payment was made immediately, ensuring these residents had their Wandsworth Winter Support Payment well before Christmas. Those whose details we did not hold have been sent an easy-to use way of receiving their payment online. 

The Winter Support Payment is part of a wider package of support for pensioners in Wandsworth – all part of the largest Cost of Living support package in London. We are using LIFT (the Low Income Family Tracker) to promote benefits take-up including Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance. We have already signed up over 200 additional residents to Pension Credit who have received over £1m in benefits that they would not have otherwise received, at no cost to the Council. We have also increased awareness and uptake of social tariffs for water, broadband and other utilities; warm packs; increased capacity in our information and advice services; and opened warm Community Spaces. 

Our Adult Social Care service recently scored very highly on the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework, which measures how well care and support services achieve the outcomes that matter most to people. 

The Department of Health and Social Care publishes this national benchmarking annually. It is composed of three parts: a service users survey; a carers survey; and a set of performance indicators. Performance in 2023/24 is very good when compared to London, with 17 of the 22 indicators (77%) in the top two quartiles and no indicators in the fourth/bottom quartile. 

Performance has improved since 2021 across multiple measures. Notably, the overall satisfaction of people who use services with their care and support indicator was in the bottom quartile in 2020/21 and performance is in the top quartile in 2023/24. The Directorate is investing in care and support services and through our transformation programme (Transforming Social Care) continues 24 Official to prioritise care and support services with the aim of furthering the improvement journey.