Apologies were received from Councillor Cooper-Marbiah.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2023 are agreed as an accurate record.

RESOLVED:

A.   The Cabinet noted the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel Task Group’s report and would respond to the recommendations within two months.

At the invitation of the Chair, the Chair of the Task Group, Councillor Kirby addressed the meeting to present the reference, noting that members were concerned about the issue and whilst a lot was being doing, there was more work to do, advising that mental health in young people was declining and that eating disorders can be fatal. Councillor Kirby spoke on the moving evidence they had heard as part of the task group work and gave an overview of the recommendations.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services spoke to thank Councillor Kirby and the task group for their work and advised that the reference would be addressed with a formal response in due course.

RESOLVED:

A.   The Cabinet noted the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel Task Group’s report and would respond to the recommendations within two months.

RESOLVED:

a) That Cabinet agreed to the adoption and implementation of the changes to the pre application fees system as set out in this report and based on inflation since the last increase with effect from 1st January 2024.

b) That Cabinet agreed to the proposed charging and remuneration proposals, and the code of conduct and process changes for Merton’s Design Review Panel.

c) That charges and fees are increased each April in line with the annual rate of inflation

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Sustainable Development presented the report and gave an overview of the principle recommendations within the report. The Cabinet Member noted that the fees would, if the report was approved, increase each April in line with inflation, having not increased fees for 12 years. It was noted that the Council had fallen with fee levels behind in relation to other Boroughs and fees needed to cover costs. The report described present charging arrangements and comparative data from other Local Authorities. The report also outlined recommended changes to the Design Review Panel.

In response to questions from the Cabinet, the Cabinet Member advised that evidence suggests that good pre-application advice leads to a higher quality of submissions including s106 terms and leads to reduction in time taken for determination. The Council had benchmarked and these were set out within the report, noting where our current fees differed from nearby Boroughs and this data had been taken into account when assessing the levels of the new fees.

RESOLVED:

a) That Cabinet agreed to the adoption and implementation of the changes to the pre application fees system as set out in this report and based on inflation since the last increase with effect from 1st January 2024.

b) That Cabinet agreed to the proposed charging and remuneration proposals, and the code of conduct and process changes for Merton’s Design Review Panel.

c) That charges and fees are increased each April in line with the annual rate of inflation

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1. Award a new contract to Bidder A for the provision of loan brokerage service to administer an energy efficiency loan to Merton homeowners

The Cabinet Member for Local Environment, Greenspaces and Climate Change presented the report noting that the paper outlined the process to find a service to administer the scheme and if agreed this would be planned to be running by the end of February 2024. The scheme would help with upfront retrofit costs on homes taking steps to reduce carbon emissions.

In response to questions from the Cabinet, the Cabinet Member responded that in order to become a net zero Borough by 2050, this would rely on retrofitting private homes and the scheme would assist with the initial cost barriers on those. More support to retrofit homes would help residents save on energy bills and a number of other authorities across the Country had similar schemes in place.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1. Award a new contract to Bidder A for the provision of loan brokerage service to administer an energy efficiency loan to Merton homeowners

RESOLVED:

A.   That Cabinet approve £1,126,319 draw down from the Balancing the Budget Reserve to Finance and Digital to fund the Dark Fibre programme of works. The Council was awarded a grant to provide fibre in the borough to CCTV camera and Council buildings. The grant only covered certain areas and additional funding is required to rollout to the other areas. Work has started using the grant but the additional funding is now required to commission the other work.

B. That Cabinet note the contents of Section 5 and appendices 5a to 5c and approve the adjustments to the Capital Programme in the 4 Tables below:

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services presented the report.

RESOLVED:

A.   That Cabinet approve £1,126,319 draw down from the Balancing the Budget Reserve to Finance and Digital to fund the Dark Fibre programme of works. The Council was awarded a grant to provide fibre in the borough to CCTV camera and Council buildings. The grant only covered certain areas and additional funding is required to rollout to the other areas. Work has started using the grant but the additional funding is now required to commission the other work.

B. That Cabinet note the contents of Section 5 and appendices 5a to 5c and approve the adjustments to the Capital Programme in the 4 Tables below:

To RESOLVE that the public are excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following report(s) on the grounds that it is (they are) exempt from disclosure for the reasons stated in the report(s).

The meeting proceeded entirely in public and therefore this item was not required.