Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Butcher and Skeete who both attended remotely.

There were no declarations of interest.

It was moved by Councillor Stephen Alambritis and seconded by Councillor Martin Whelton that Councillor Joan Henry be elected Mayor of the London Borough of Merton for the 2022/23 municipal year.

Councillor Nick McLean also spoke in support of the nomination.

(Copies of their speeches are attached at Appendix A to these minutes)

There not being any other nominations, the Mayor put it to the meeting and it was

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY

Councillor Joan Henry signed the statutory declaration of office and was invested with the Mayor’s chain and badge of office.

The Mayor announced that her Deputy Mayor for the 2022/23 municipal year would be Councillor Agatha Akyigyina.  Councillor Akyigyina signed the statutory declaration of office and was invested with the Deputy Mayor’s badge of office.

The Mayor announced that her consort would be Floyd Blake. The Mayor’s Chaplain would be Reverend Kenneth Scott.

The Mayor presented badges to the outgoing Mayor, Deputy Mayor and their respective consorts.

The Mayor, Councillor Joan Henry thanked the Council for her election for the forthcoming year and announced that her two Mayoral charities would be the Dons Local Action Group and the Jimmy Asher Foundation.

(A copy of her acceptance speech is attached at Appendix B to these minutes)

The Mayor invited Councillor Michael Brunt to receive the Council’s vote of thanks.

The Deputy Leader of the Council Councillor Eleanor Stringer, moved and the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Anthony Fairclough seconded the vote of thanks to the retiring Mayor.

In doing so, both, along with the Leader of the Conservative Group, the Leader of the Merton Park Ward Independent Residents Group and Councillor Andrew Howard all spoke in praise of Councillor Brunt’s year in office.

(A copy of these speeches are attached at Appendix C to these minutes)

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

That the Council places on record its sincere thanks and appreciation to Councillor Michael Brunt for the dedicated manner in which he has served as Mayor of the London Borough of Merton for the year 2021-2022.

The Mayor asked for nominations for the Leader of the Council.

It was moved by Councillor Eleanor Stringer and seconded by Councillor Edith Macauley that Councillor Ross Garrod be elected as Leader of the Council.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Anthony Fairclough, also spoke on the nomination.

There not being any other nominations the Mayor put the motion to the meeting and it was

RESOLVED

That Councillor Ross Garrod be duly elected Leader of the Council.

The report was moved by Councillor Kirby and seconded by Councillor McCabe.

Councillor McLean also spoke on the report.

RESOLVED:

A. That, following their retirement from membership of the Council, the Council places on record its sincere appreciation of the valuable services rendered to the Borough by the former Councillors listed in the attached Appendix A and extends to them its grateful thanks for their activities on behalf of the Borough.

B. That Council notes that a Special meeting will be held on 20 July 2022 to award Alderman status to eligible former Councillors and Freedom of the Borough to Councillor David Williams MBE JP (post meeting note: this was subsequently amended and will now be held on 5 September 2022).

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 March 2022 are agreed as an accurate record.

The report was moved by Councillor Garrod and seconded by Councillor Christie.

The Liberal Democrat amendment as set out in Item 9 was moved by Councillor Kohler and seconded by Councillor Bokhari.

The Liberal Democrat amendment was put to a vote and was lost  - votes in favour 24, votes against 29, abstentions 2.

The substantive motion was then agreed,

RESOLVED:

That the Council:

A.   i) approves the constitution of committees, sub-committees and scrutiny bodies set out in Appendix A and;

ii) agrees the allocation of seats, chair and vice-chair positions and the appointment of members to those seats;

B.   i) approves the constitution of consultative forums and other bodies set out in Appendix B and

ii) agrees the appointment of members to those seats;

     C. agrees the allocation of seats and appointment to the outside organisations as detailed in Appendix C.

D. agrees the terms of reference of consultative and other bodies appointed by the Council, detailed in Appendix D

E. Notes the appointment, made by the Leader, of the Deputy Leader and her portfolio responsibilities, appointments to the Cabinet including their respective portfolios; and, if appointments are made, Assistant Cabinet members including their areas of responsibility (Appendix E)

F. agree the membership and note the amended Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure for the South West London and Surrey Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) as set out in Appendix F;

G. To note that the Council, together with the other five South West London Boroughs comprising the area covered by the South West London Integrated Care System, will be required to jointly nominate a local authority partner member(s) to the Integrated Care Board with effect from 1 July and to delegate the authority to make that nomination to The Chief Executive

H. To appoint Cllr McCabe, in their capacity as Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, to the South West London Integrated Care Partnership.