This meeting included a range of topics that affect all Newham residents, including the council's response to a negative report about housing, budgets for large building projects, and plans to improve transport and air quality.

Response to the Regulator for Social Housing’s Inspection Report

The Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) is the government body that regulates social housing in England. Following an inspection of Newham Council’s housing services, the RSH issued the lowest possible grading (C4) to Newham’s Housing Services, indicating serious failings.

The report said Newham had failed to meet statutory fire safety and electrical safety requirements in its properties. In particular:

Over 40% of [Newham’s] homes had not had an electrical condition test for more than 11 years.

The inspection also found that Newham was failing to communicate effectively with its tenants about the condition of their homes, and was failing to provide enough opportunities for tenants to have their say on housing services.

The report pack included Newham’s draft plans to improve its housing services. These plans prioritised work to resolve the health and safety risks found during the inspection. The report pack also included details about how the council planned to appoint named individuals to take on statutory health and safety, and complaints handling roles as required under recent changes to social housing legislation.

Delivering new homes at Pier Rd & Cyprus

Pier Rd and Cyprus are sites in North Woolwich and Beckton respectively, where Newham Council wants to build new homes. In December 2023, Newham’s Cabinet approved plans to build on these sites, and approved a budget of £8.1m for Pier Rd and £10m for Cyprus to progress these projects to the point that construction work could start on site. Populo Living, Newham’s wholly owned housing company, had been commissioned to manage these projects.

This report pack included an update on progress, with Populo Living having secured planning permission for both developments, and having appointed Hill Partnerships as the contractor.

To lock in the prices quoted by Hill Partnerships, this report pack requested an increase in the budget for both schemes: £147m for Pier Rd and £97.2m for Cyprus. This report pack also sought permission for Populo Living to sign the construction contracts.

Alongside this increase, the report pack proposed that the existing contracts for development management services provided by Populo Living be varied to enable the delivery of the construction phase.

Pier Rd will have 350 homes, with 36% of them being affordable. Cyprus will have 215 homes, with 31% of them being affordable.

Keeping Our Residents Safe - Fire Risk Assessment Requirements to High Rise Blocks

As a social landlord, Newham Council is required by law to assess the fire safety of its properties. In this report pack, Cabinet was asked to approve a proposal to undertake fire safety works, which will resolve issues that had been found during fire risk assessments (FRAs). The works included replacement of fire doors in communal areas and in some individual properties. This work was estimated to cost £20m.

Sustainable Transport Strategy (STS) and Local Implementation Plan (LIP) 2025/26 to 2027/28

Newham Council is working to encourage residents to travel more sustainably, by making walking, cycling and public transport more attractive options. This report pack included plans to improve cycling routes and pedestrian facilities across the whole borough, and to expand the coverage of existing schemes that discourage cars from using local streets, like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) and Healthy School Streets.¹

This report pack also included plans for improvements to public transport, particularly to bus routes. Newham was seeking to persuade Transport for London (TfL) to fund new routes that travel north to south, and to expand the night bus network.

Improving air quality and reducing CO2 emissions through parking charges

Newham Council is introducing new parking charges to discourage the use of diesel vehicles, and to more effectively incentivise drivers to switch to lower-emission vehicles.

This report pack sought approval for a package of changes, including the introduction of a diesel surcharge. This surcharge would apply to both short-stay parking and parking permits. Drivers of diesel cars would pay £1 more per hour for short stay parking than drivers of petrol or electric vehicles, and would pay an additional £50 a year for a resident parking permit. Drivers of vans and other business vehicles would pay £100 a year more for a parking permit.

The report pack also proposed changing the way parking charges are calculated for different types of vehicles. These changes would reduce costs for drivers of electric cars, while increasing costs for drivers of higher polluting vehicles.

Parking Debt Annual Assessment

Newham Council is required to ensure it is collecting as much parking income as possible, and to write-off any debt it believes will not be collected, known as 'bad debt'. This report pack outlined the current level of parking debt, and sought approval to write off £12.6m that Newham believes is irrecoverable. Most of this debt is due to people persistently evading parking fines, known as 'persistent evaders'.

Treasury Management Mid Year 2024/25 Update

Newham Council is required by law to publish an update on its finances halfway through the financial year. This report pack included the 2024/25 mid-year treasury report.

Pre Procurement Report in respect of the DfE School Capital Condition Programme 2025/2026

The Department for Education (DfE) provides funding to local authorities to carry out maintenance works in schools. Newham wants to start the procurement process for these works now, before it knows how much money the DfE will provide, in order to ensure there is enough time to complete the works over the 2025 school summer holiday.

In this report pack, Newham was seeking approval to procure contracts up to a value of £3.55m, with a provision to supplement the DfE grant by up to £1m if needed. This £1m would be drawn from Newham’s general capital funds.

Removal of Cap on Care Charging for Adult Social Care

When the council provides social care to residents, it financially assesses them to decide whether they can contribute towards the cost of the care. Currently, there is a limit of £400 per week on how much people are required to pay.

In this report pack, Cabinet was asked to agree to remove this limit. This would mean that everyone would pay for the full cost of their care if they were financially assessed as being able to do so.

The report pack included a summary of a consultation on these proposals. 98 residents responded to the consultation, with none of them supporting the proposals.

Award of Contract; for Microsoft Licensing Agreement (EA)

Microsoft is one of Newham Council’s main software suppliers. As part of the break-up of its shared IT service, ‘oneSource’, Newham was required to procure its own Microsoft licences. This report pack sought approval to award a contract to Pheonix Software for a cost of approximately £2.17 million per year for the next three years.

Scrutiny Report: Meeting Newham’s Future Needs

The report pack included a report from Newham Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission, which had been looking at the capacity of the borough’s health and care system to cope with Newham’s rapid population growth. The Commission had produced a number of recommendations, with the majority directed at Newham’s NHS partners, including Barts Health (which operates Newham Hospital), the East London Foundation Trust, and North East London Integrated Care Board.