No apologies received.

There were no declarations of pecuniary interest.

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.

Matters arising - in response to information requested during October’s meeting, the Panel were given

·         Rankings of parking services income in the country. 

·         Results of the analysis of Fly-tipping Reports

The Panel discussed each of the new savings proposals and asked questions of clarification about the growth proposals.

Councillor Daniel Holden proposed the motion that recommended to Cabinet “This Panel does not accept ENV1920-01. It is a tax on motorists and we recommend that Cabinet look at alternative savings”. This was seconded by Councillor David Dean. There were two votes in favour, four against and one abstention. Motion fell.

The Panel further discussed and commented on the report and RESOLVED (six votes for, none against and one abstention) to make the following reference to Cabinet; 

“That Cabinet note the excellent work of the Merton Finance Team in managing the pension fund and the resulting benefits to the people of Merton of over £2.4 million per year for the foreseeable future”.

This report is provided separately and will be discussed as part of the preceding agenda item on the Business Plan Update.

The Chair asked the Panel to agree to discuss agenda item 5 without making any reference to the figures and information within the exempt appendix.

The Director of Environment and Regeneration summarised the report and further explained the reasoning for the exempt appendix – revealing Veolia’s pricing approach would advantageous to other bidders, thus we treat the information as commercially sensitive and confidential.

In response to questions from the Panel Members, the Director of Environment and Regeneration explained that; 

·         There was a gap in the contract with regards to Public Rights of Way, but these are now wholly covered. 

·         We are looking at improving the reporting functionality, such as from April green sacks not collected in time will be include in the SPI framework and we will be adding this as a reportable issue on CRM as soon as possible.

Councillor David Dean proposed the motion that “The vast increase in costs that the contractor requires is unacceptable when the state of street cleaning is so poor”. This was seconded by Councillor Daniel Holden. There were two votes in favour, four against and one abstention. Motion fell.

The Assistant Director of Public Space summarised the report.

In response to a Panel Member the AD explained that Merton are looking at approaches adopted by other Local Authorities such as ‘name and shame’ and video surveillance as an element in the fly-tipping action plan.

The Transport Planning Project Officer introduced the report.

In response to Panel Members questions the Transport Planning Project Officer clarified the following;

·         Half of budget dedicated to cycling and active travel improvements.

·         Plan to run more balance-ability training.

·         Station accessibility/step free access is not part of the LIP. We can utilise the accessibility budget pot for station forecourts etc. but step free access must be approved in conjunction with Network rail. Although we were unsuccessful with our Raynes Park and Motspur Park bids, we have raised the issue of step free access at Wimbledon Chase station with the Planning Team.

The Director of Environment and Regeneration highlighted some of the KPI’s

·         SP509 Permits applied/processed online is above target - Transition to new system and charges went smoothly.

·         Page 106 Public spaces performance set of indicators – We acknowledge the figures are not where we want them to be but they are improving and heading in the right direction.

·         SP354 Total waste arising - Volume has gone down.

·         SP113 Planning enforcement cases closed – The team are working hard and bringing down the number of cases. Ahead of year to date target.

The work programme was agreed.