Apologies for absence were received from Councillors McLean, Pearce and Skeete.

Councillor Wilson attended remotely.

There were no declarations of interest.

It was moved by Councillor Usaama Kaweesa and seconded by Councillor Michael Butcher that Councillor Gill Manly be elected Mayor of the London Borough of Merton for the 2023/24 municipal year.

Councillor Daniel Holden 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 Gill Manly 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 2023/24 municipal year would be Councillor Martin Whelton. Councillor Whelton 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 Ann Gillespie. The Mayor’s Chaplain would be Father David Pennells.

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

The Mayor, Councillor Gill Manly thanked the Council for her election for the forthcoming year and announced that her two Mayoral charities would be the Merton Music Foundation and the National Brain Appeal.

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

The Mayor invited Councillor Joan Henry to receive the Council’s vote of thanks.

The Leader of the Council Councillor Ross Garrod, 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 Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group and the Leader of the Merton Park Ward Independent Residents Group both spoke in praise of Councillor Henry’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 Joan Henry for the dedicated manner in which she has served as Mayor of the London Borough of Merton for the year 2022-2023.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 April 2023 are agreed as an accurate record.

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

The Conservative amendment as set out in Item 9 was moved by Councillor Barlow and seconded by Councillor Holden.

Councillors Willis, Hicks and Foley also spoke on the item.

The Conservative amendment was put to the vote and fell: Votes in favour – 22, votes against – 28, abstentions – 3.

The substantive report was then put to the vote and carried: Votes in favour 28, votes against – 22, abstentions- 3.

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. notes the appointments to the Cabinet including their respective portfolios in Appendix D

      E. Agrees the amended Terms of Reference for the Planning Applications Committee as detailed at Appendix E

      F. agrees that the Council’s Constitution be amended to incorporate any changes resulting from the approval of recommendations A to E.

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

Councillor Fairclough also spoke on the item.

RESOLVED:

A That Council agreed (on the recommendation of the Standards and General Purposes Committee) to delegate the appointment of the Managing Director, South London Legal Partnership (who will also be the Council’s Monitoring Officer) to the Appointments Committee.

B. That Council agreed that the appointment will be at management grade 5 which currently ranges from £100,218 to £104,637, together with such market supplement as the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chair of Appointments Committee, considers necessary to secure a good appointment.

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

Councillor Oliver also spoke on the report.

RESOLVED:

A.         That Council agreed that the following amendments to the Council’s Constitution be authorised: 

(i)The amendments to the Pensions Committee terms of reference as detailed in paragraph 2.1 of the report
(i)That all references to CHAS 2013 Ltd be removed from the Constitution as detailed at paragraph 2.4 of the report

B.         That Council noted that the Monitoring Officer will use her delegated authority under Article 15.2(b) of the Constitution to make consequential amendments to the Constitution to reflect the new Council structure agreed in September 2022.  

C.        That Council agreed that changes be made to the Published Pay Policy and the Officer Employment Procedure Rules to clarify the approval process for making termination payments to officers by making it the responsibility of the Appointments Committee in accordance with Option C set out in paragraph 2.8 of the report. 

D.        That Council authorised the Monitoring officer to implement amended versions of the terms of reference of the Appointments Committee, the Pay Policy and the Officer Employment Procedure Rules which reflect Council’sapprovals set out in paragraphs A to C above. 

E.         That Council agreed that the appointment of the Monitoring Officer be delegated to the Appointments Committee in respect of the upcoming appointment process only