No apologies were received.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2025 are agreed as an accurate record.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet note the contents of the report following the introduction of the landlord licensing on 24th September 2023

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Sustainable Development presented the report, noting the current progress update on the two schemes. The Cabinet Member highlighted that officers had inspected 469 separate premises resulting in 233 preliminary improvement notices and 122 properties had been improved in line with enforcement policy. The Cabinet Member outlined issues in properties which could lead to illness and thanked officers for their work on the schemes. The Cabinet Member also noted that an interim management order had been introduced on one landlord who could not be licensed under the schemes.

In response to questions from the Cabinet, the Cabinet Member responded that surveys are carried out of the whole borough to ascertain which parts of the borough were the worst affected and that it was important to retain an evidence based approach.

The Chair spoke to echo the thanks to officers on the work which was driving up the standards of housing.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet note the contents of the report following the introduction of the landlord licensing on 24th September 2023

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Allocate £609,365.16 Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy and £166,000 Community Climate Action Funding, in line with Merton Council’s approved criteria, to recommended bids summarised in Appendix A covering 23 bids received through the 2024 Civic Pride - Investing in Neighbourhoods and Community Climate Action Funds bidding round.

B. Approve the award of funding being subject to:

c) any conditions shown against each bid recommended for approval in Appendix B; and

d) due diligence being carried out to ascertain the appropriateness of grants under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and other relevant powers and policies applicable to the award of funding by the council to external organisations.

C. Delegate authority to the Executive Director, Housing and Sustainable Development in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Civic Pride to make any amendments to Civic Pride Investing in Neighbourhoods funding bid amounts recommended for approval, in line with Merton Council’s approved criteria

D. Note that capital bids will be added to the capital programme as part of the financial outturn report

The Cabinet Member for Civic Pride & Climate Change presented the report which proposed to distribute over £750,000 to projects that delivered civic pride and tackled the climate crisis, having received nearly 40 applications and the Cabinet Member thanked all who had applied and to the officers who assessed the bids which had been very carefully assessed against key criteria – 23 projects were proposed for funding.

In response to questions from the Cabinet, the Cabinet Member advised that where promising bids which didn’t quite meet the criteria or where other funds could be potentially accessed, conversations were ongoing with those bidders to understand how the Council or others could support them.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Allocate £609,365.16 Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy and £166,000 Community Climate Action Funding, in line with Merton Council’s approved criteria, to recommended bids summarised in Appendix A covering 23 bids received through the 2024 Civic Pride - Investing in Neighbourhoods and Community Climate Action Funds bidding round.

B. Approve the award of funding being subject to:

c) any conditions shown against each bid recommended for approval in Appendix B; and

d) due diligence being carried out to ascertain the appropriateness of grants under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and other relevant powers and policies applicable to the award of funding by the council to external organisations.

C. Delegate authority to the Executive Director, Housing and Sustainable Development in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Civic Pride to make any amendments to Civic Pride Investing in Neighbourhoods funding bid amounts recommended for approval, in line with Merton Council’s approved criteria

D. Note that capital bids will be added to the capital programme as part of the financial outturn report

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Lot 1- Award the contract for the provision of Supported accommodation for 23 Single people with a Mental Health diagnosis to the successful Bidder H. Lot 2 –To Award the contract for the provision of Homelessness Prevention Housing related support service for (Adults) at risk of Homelessness to the successful Bidder E. Lot 3 –To Award the contract for the provision of Homelessness Prevention Housing related support service for Young people at risk of Homelessness to the successful Bidder E. Lot 4 –To Award the contract for the provision of Supported Housing service for 80 Single Adults at risk of homelessness to the successful Bidder N

B. Agree delegated authority to award any subsequent contract extension of this new contract to the Executive Director of Housing & Sustainable Development in consultation with the Lead Member for Housing & sustainable Development.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Sustainable Development presented the report, noting there was no further provision within the contract to extend as all extensions had been utilised. The Cabinet Member provided an overview of the lots and the proposed contracts, with the proposal that lots 1-3 would start on 1^st June 2025 and lot 4 on 1^st November 2025.

The Chair noted that it was encouraging that all contracts would be paying the London Living Wage.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Lot 1- Award the contract for the provision of Supported accommodation for 23 Single people with a Mental Health diagnosis to the successful Bidder H. Lot 2 –To Award the contract for the provision of Homelessness Prevention Housing related support service for (Adults) at risk of Homelessness to the successful Bidder E. Lot 3 –To Award the contract for the provision of Homelessness Prevention Housing related support service for Young people at risk of Homelessness to the successful Bidder E. Lot 4 –To Award the contract for the provision of Supported Housing service for 80 Single Adults at risk of homelessness to the successful Bidder N

B. Agree delegated authority to award any subsequent contract extension of this new contract to the Executive Director of Housing & Sustainable Development in consultation with the Lead Member for Housing & sustainable Development.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Adopt the Climate Delivery Plan – Year 5.

B. Give delegated authority to the Executive Director for Environment, Civic Pride & Climate in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Civic Pride and Climate Change to make minor amendments to the Climate Delivery Plan – Year 5.

The Cabinet Member for Civic Pride & Climate Change presented the report with an annual report brought to Cabinet on the Climate Delivery Plan and to track progress made towards the Climate Strategy and Action Plan adopted in 2020. The Cabinet Member outlined a number of measures that had been implemented including decarbonising the civic centre heating, tree planting, adoption of the new local plan and the recruitment of a new minimum efficiency standards officer.

In response to questions from the Cabinet, the Cabinet Member advised that the Council regularly communicated with residents via the monthly climate newsletter and that it was considered how to engage with different parts of the community to support others to make decisions to tackle the climate crisis. A climate action group had been setup at the beginning of this work as well as a green schools network.

The Chair thanked all involved for their work.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Adopt the Climate Delivery Plan – Year 5.

B. Give delegated authority to the Executive Director for Environment, Civic Pride & Climate in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Civic Pride and Climate Change to make minor amendments to the Climate Delivery Plan – Year 5.

RESOLVED:

That the decision be deferred to a future meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Sustainable Development presented the report noting that a request had been received of the adjoining property to the land to purchase the former entrance from the Council, the subject land being used by the landowner and their father as an extension of their land. Disposal must be advertised under legislation and representations mut be considered. It was noted that the proposed disposal had been advertised and the representations were summarised in appendix 2 of the report. The Cabinet Member noted that members had continued to take legal advice up to the meeting.

The Executive Director Housing and Sustainable Development spoke to reaffirm that the convenants would be sold with the land so would still be a requirement.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Bragg addressed the Cabinet to speak to oppose the recommendations within the report. Mr Bragg stated that he felt it had been a flawed process, that there were a number of omissions from the report, that he felt the report was biased towards the option for disposal, that it did not discuss the public ownership aspect and that additional information was submitted late and that as such he had lodged a complaint to the Council.

The Cabinet Member for Civic Pride & Climate Change addressed the meeting and advised that engagement was taken very seriously and the additional information received needed due consideration. The best course of action therefore was, the Cabinet Member proposed, to defer a decision on the item and continue to take further legal advice. The Chair of the meeting agreed with the proposal which was agreed by Cabinet following confirmation from the Deputy Monitoring Officer that it was possible to defer the decision.

RESOLVED:

That the decision be deferred to a future meeting.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Approve the award of successful tenderers a place on the MAL Approved Partner List (APL).

B. Agree delegated authority to award any subsequent contract extension or variation of these new contracts to the Executive Director of Children Lifelong Learning and Families Department in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs, Skills and Education.

The Cabinet Member for Jobs, Skills and Education presented the report. 29 applications had been received with 28 accepted, with a wide range of courses across the borough for 19+.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A. Approve the award of successful tenderers a place on the MAL Approved Partner List (APL).

B. Agree delegated authority to award any subsequent contract extension or variation of these new contracts to the Executive Director of Children Lifelong Learning and Families Department in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs, Skills and Education.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A: Note the financial reporting data for period 10 (January) relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net adverse variance of £7.602m when corporate and funding items are included.

B: Note the contents of Section 7 of the report and appendices 5a to 5d and approve the proposed adjustments to the programme in the table:

n/a      As agreed in June 2023 monitoring report schools’ capital maintenance budgets are funded by one government grant and although on different cost centres are treated as one budget for monitoring and budget management.

(1)          Requires Cabinet and CMT Approval

(2)          Requires Council Approval

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services presented the report, which set out the latest financial position of the Council noting that the final position of the Council had improved from the original projection although there remained a forecast adverse variance of £7.5m with this position within the context of significant financial challenges across London and the country. The report set out the pressures in three particular areas – Temporary Accommodation, Adult Social Care and Children including those with disabilities in the education system, with the report setting out the work undertaken to mitigate these.

In response to questions from the Cabinet, the Cabinet Member advised that a two pronged approach had been taken to address the pressures including looking at possible ways to improve and make services more efficient and to invest more funds into those pressure areas to help towards mitigating the same pressures in future years.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

A: Note the financial reporting data for period 10 (January) relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net adverse variance of £7.602m when corporate and funding items are included.

B: Note the contents of Section 7 of the report and appendices 5a to 5d and approve the proposed adjustments to the programme in the table:

n/a      As agreed in June 2023 monitoring report schools’ capital maintenance budgets are funded by one government grant and although on different cost centres are treated as one budget for monitoring and budget management.

(1)          Requires Cabinet and CMT Approval

(2)          Requires Council Approval

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.