Apologies were received from Councillors David Dean and Daniel Holden.

No pecuniary declarations were made.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 May 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

The Mayor provided the Council with a brief update on his recent Mayoral duties including that she was honoured to have seen AFC Wimbledon at Wembley, win the Playoff to gain promotion to Football League Division One and also been on their celebratory open top bus parade.

The Cross Party motion was moved by Councillor Oonagh Moulton and seconded by Councillor Stephen Alambritis.

The Motion was then put to the vote and was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

“That this Council records its sincere appreciation of the able, dedicated and professional manner in which Richard Tracey JP has discharged the duties devolving upon him as a Member of the Greater London Assembly, representing the constituency of Merton and Wandsworth from May 2008 until May 2016.

That in particular, the Council notes his valuable service as the Mayor's Ambassador for River Transport, on the Assembly’s Transport Committee (2008-2016), and his sterling work as Chairman of the London Waste and Recycling Board (2012-2016) and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group on the Assembly (2010-2016). He also served as a member of the Assembly’s Budget Committee (2008-2016), of the Metropolitan Police Authority (2008-2010) and as Vice Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (2010-2012).

That the wording of this motion be conveyed to Richard Tracey JP with very best wishes for his retirement.”

The Mayor then presented Mr Richard Tracey JP with a framed copy of the motion. Mr Tracey addressed the Council stating he was honoured by the motion and thanks for the Council for his recognition.

The questions and written responses will be circulated at the meeting.

The responses to the written public questions were circulated prior to the meeting. The Mayor then invited each of the questioners in turn to ask (if they wished) a supplementary question to the appropriate Cabinet Member. However no supplementary questions were asked.

The questions and written responses will be circulated at the meeting

The responses to the Members’ ordinary priority questions were circulated prior to the meeting. The Mayor then invited each of those Councillors in turn to ask (if they wished) a further supplementary question to the Cabinet Member.

A copy of the supplementary questions and the responses will be included within the ‘Councillors' ordinary priority questions’ to cabinet members published document.

The questions and written responses will be circulated at the meeting.

The responses to the Members’ strategic theme priority questions were circulated prior to the meeting. The Mayor then invited each of those Councillors in turn to ask (if they wished) a further supplementary question to the Cabinet Member.

A copy of the supplementary questions and the responses will be included within the ‘Strategic theme: Councillors' questions to Cabinet Members’ published document.

It was also noted that a copy of the Councillors non priority questions and the responses will be published after the meeting in line with the Constitutional requirements.

The Strategic Theme report on Older People with a focus on Adult Social Care was moved by Councillor Tobin Byers and seconded by Councillor Martin Whelton.

Councillor Suzanne Grocott also spoke on this item.

RESOLVED

That the Strategic Theme report is agreed.

The motion was moved by Councillor David Williams and seconded by Councillor Hamish Badenoch.

The Labour amendment, as set out in agenda item 19 was moved by Councillor Mark Allison and seconded by Councillor Mike Brunt.

The Labour amendment was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 22 with 1 abstention.

The amended substantive Motion was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 22 with 1 abstention.

RESOLVED

This Council notes that financial forecasts are by their very nature estimates but with local authorities required by law to set a balanced budget they are the only tool we have to ensure we comply with the law.  Council acknowledges the intense effort officers put in to assessing likely demand and inflationary pressures, coupled with the complications of uncertainty and in year cuts to government grants, and also acknowledges the in depth work the Financial Management task Group do in challenging some of these assumptions, although Councillors similarly can only estimate the likely pressures in any given year. With this in mind council notes:

•       Merton’s projected 2015-16 deficit at the time of the Budget Council meeting that took place on 2 March 2016 to agree the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2016-20 was £2.605million.

•       By contrast, the Council’s actual overspend in the published draft accounts for 2015-16 (as presented to the Standards and General Purposes Committee on 30 June 2016) was £0.699million.

•       General Fund balances have not in fact reduced by the amount of the overspend as was advised would happen during consideration of the Budget by councillors earlier in the year - by a margin of £1.906million – but this is because we reduced the Balancing the Budget Reserve as was always advised was one of the options.

Council congratulates officers on taking management action where necessary to bring in overspends in some areas and notes that the overall net position was helped by underspends/additional income in corporate provisions.  However this cannot be relied upon in future years and the underlying overspends in some areas are a concern that need to be understood and addressed.

Given that the Council rejected increasing council tax for hard pressed residents, and earmarking the additional £1.35m for  Adult Care Services which would have helped to mitigate the £5m savings required in 2016/17 as ASC’s share of the £21.7m cuts the council was faced with at the start of the budget setting process, and instead established a £1.3m Savings Mitigation Fund to reduce the impact of the cuts on vulnerable residents, and given the on going demographic pressures facing those services coupled with the increasing number of older residents and people with more complex needs requiring access to services in Merton, this Council regrets the continued reduced levels of funding which have led to the council’s difficult  decision - as part of its recommended MTFS 2016-20 - to cut or cease completely  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7c

Councillor Mary-Jane Jeanes presented the report, which was received by the Council.

Councillor James Holmes presented the report, which was received by the Council.

The Cross Party motion was moved by Councillor Edith Macauley and seconded by Councillor Oonagh Moulton.

Councillor Peter Southgate also spoke on this item.

The Motion was then put to the vote and was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

We are proud that Merton is a place where people from different backgrounds have lived and worked together harmoniously for many years.  We have zero tolerance for hate crime and continue to work in partnership to maintain good community relations and enjoy the benefits of being a cohesive borough.

The council supports the Inter Faith Forum, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Forum and Joint Consultative Committee with Ethnic Minorities. This gives us the opportunity to work closely with community representatives from diverse backgrounds to ensure that everyone has a voice, to get a better understanding of community concerns and actively promote community cohesion.

We also work closely with the Police to promote community safety and encourage local residents to report hate crimes and get involved in Police engagement forums such as the Safer Neighbourhood Board.

The Council has issued a joint statement with the police to reassure the community that we will not tolerate any form of racist behaviour in Merton. We are also encouraging everyone to wear a safety pin as a symbol of solidarity against racism. This is part of a national campaign and is a very simple way to show support for all members of Merton’s diverse community.

The Council resolves to continue its commitment to work together and demonstrate that with unity we can combat hate and extremism and continue to have a borough where residents peacefully coexist.

The motion was moved by Councillor Charlie Chirico and seconded by Councillor James Holmes.

The Labour amendment, as set out in agenda item 20 was moved by Councillor Ross Garrod and seconded by Councillor Abigail Jones.

The Labour amendment was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 22 with 1 abstention.

The amended substantive Motion was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 22 with 1 abstention.

RESOLVED

This Council notes that, as part of an affordable shared contract with three other south London boroughs of all political complexions, the administration is considering agreeing a joint contract that would see two new wheelie bins provided to Merton households, with both food waste and recycling collected on a weekly basis - paper and card recycling one week and plastics and bottles recycling the other - whilst residual waste will be collected on alternate weeks in recognition of an expected increase in recycling as part of major changes to the borough’s waste collection service in order to achieve cleaner streets at an affordable cost, given the current problem of foxes ripping open black sacks.

Under proposals submitted by the proposed preferred bidder that has also been proposed by Sutton, Croydon and Kingston Councils, food waste will be collected weekly, residual waste will be collected fortnightly and recycling will be collected every week but in two streams, with residents’ two recycling containers emptied on alternate weeks.

Each household will be provided with:

·             One wheelie bin for non-recyclable household waste, size to be determined but likely to be the option of requesting smaller or larger bins depending on family size;

·             One wheelie bin for paper and card, size to be determined but likely to be the option of requesting smaller or larger bins depending on family size;

Residents will continue to use:

·             Their existing box or a reusable bag for plastics, glass and cans;

·             Their existing food waste caddy

Households will continue to receive weekly collections, with two collections (food and recycling) one week and three collections (food, recycling and residual) on alternate weeks.

If residents wish to avail of the discretionary garden waste service they will continue to use their garden waste wheeled bin or bag.  Such households will receive three collections every week, with food, recycling and garden one week and food, recycling and residual on alternate weeks.

This Council recognises that many residents would very much welcome wheelie bins, and this was borne out by the extremely high satisfaction rates in the Lavender ward wheelie bins pilot, and that the Sustainable Communities panel on 9 June 2016 agreed that Cabinet should use the period of ‘Preferred Bidder Fine Turning’ to determine how many households would experience significant difficulty in storage and/or presentation of wheeled bins for regular emptying – Cabinet confirmed that it will  work with the preferred bidder as part of the fine tuning and mobilisation process to identify households deemed not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The motion was moved by Councillor Suzanne Grocott and seconded by Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender.

The Labour amendment, as set out in agenda item 21 was moved by Councillor Tobin Byers and seconded by Councillor Sally Kenny.

The Labour amendment was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 18 with 5 abstention.

The amended substantive Motion was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 18 with 5 abstention.

RESOLVED

This council acknowledges that successive governments have tried to downgrade services at St Helier hospital, including accident and emergency and maternity services, and acknowledges the work done by our residents, our local MP Siobhain McDonagh, this administration and many local Councillors to fight these attacks but notes that we must always remain alert to any re-emergence of proposals to close or downgrade our local hospital at St Helier.

Nonetheless, council notes that in recent months our local NHS has sought to work more closely with the council and to take into account the needs of local residents when considering the future shape of health services in the borough and this is very much to be welcomed and encouraged. 

Notwithstanding this, should closure or downgrading proposals re-emerge, council re-iterates its policy to vigorously oppose proposals to close accident and emergency and maternity services at St. Helier Hospital and its resolve to continue to do everything in its power to keep St. Helier Hospital’s accident and emergency, maternity services and other related services open.  

The Council acknowledges that St Helier Hospital is in urgent need of investment, to better serve the needs of Merton residents in its catchment area, since the £219m promised to the hospital under the previous Labour government was withdrawn by Conservative Chancellor George Osborne. The Council has been involved in discussions with the Trust on an action plan developed in conjunction with the Care Quality Commission following its report which found the hospital requiring improvement, to ensure that significant improvements are made. Council will continue to monitor the implementation of this plan closely.

Council is fully aware of recent and proposed consultations, including the current Estates Review and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) on which the Council has sought to work closely with the Clinical Commissioning Group.  Council has sought to be an active partner with the NHS in developing 21^st century healthcare facilities right across the borough, whilst always making clear that we will not allow either the Estates Review or the STP to be used as a cover for the resurrection of proposals to close or downgrade St Helier Hospital.

Council notes that the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health:

·             Has already met with the Chair and Chief Officer of Merton CCG to discuss the STP and will continue to meet both regularly alongside council officers in order to discuss the progress of the STP.

·             Has given an indication to the draft  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

The report was moved by Councillor Peter Southgate and seconded by

Councillor Peter McCabe.

Councillor Oonagh Moulton also spoke on this item.

RESOLVED

That Council notes the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report.

Councillor Martin Whelton moved the updated report by, which was seconded by Councillor Stephen Alambritis.

Councillor Najeeb Latif also spoke on this item.

RESOLVED

That the council notes the recent Court of Appeal decision regarding the Written Ministerial Statement advising councils not to seek affordable housing contributions from small sites of 10 homes / 1,000 square metres or less within planning decisions.

The report was moved by Councillor Stephen Alambritis and seconded by Councillor Mark Allison.

RESOLVED

That Council

1.     notes that, in respect of the Mayor of Merton’s Charitable Trust, Councillors Agatha Akyigyina and Pauline Cowper have resigned with effect of  22 June 2016 and secondly that the Council note the appointment of the Mayor Councillor Brenda Fraser and Deputy Mayor Councillor Stan Anderson as trustees from 22 June 2016.

2.     agrees the updated terms of reference of Standing Advisory Council On Religious Education (SACRE), as detailed in Appendix A to the report.

3.     notes the changes to the membership of Committees that were approved under delegated powers since the last meeting of the Council.

4.     following the changes of memberships, re-appoint Councillors Daniel Holden and Adam Bush as the Vice-Chair of Sustainable Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel and the Pension Fund Advisory Committee respectively.

The report was moved by Councillor Stephen Alambritis and seconded by Councillor Mark Allison.

RESOLVED

That Council

1.     notes the update on the petition received at the last meeting,

2.     accepts receipt of a petition presented by Councillor Suzanne Grocott called ‘(Objection to planning application 16/P1139)

That the Strategic Theme for the next ordinary meeting of the Council to be held on 14 September 2016 shall be Sustainable Communities with a focus on Housing.