There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

It was moved by Councillor Alambritis and formally seconded by Councillor Allison that Councillor Sally Kenny be elected Mayor of the London Borough of Merton for the 2020/21 municipal year.

Councillor 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 Kenny 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 2020/21 municipal year would be Councillor John Dehaney. Councillor Dehaney 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 Mrs Amanda Woodman.  The Mayor’s Chaplain would be Father David Rudduck.  To preserve social distancing, the Mayor would present badges to the outgoing Mayor, Deputy Mayor and their respective consorts outside the meeting.

The Mayor, Councillor Sally Kenny, thanked the Council for her election for the forthcoming year and announced that her two Mayoral charities would be Morden Little League and Merton & Morden Guild of Social Service.

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

The Mayor invited Councillor Janice Howard to receive the Council’s vote of thanks.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Alambritis, moved and the Leader of the Conservative Group, Councillor McLean seconded the vote of thanks to the retiring Mayor.

In doing so, both Group Leaders, along with the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, the Leader of the Merton Park Ward Independent Residents and Councillors Macauley, Holden, Moulton and Williams all spoke in praise of Councillor Janice Howard’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 Janice Howard for the dedicated manner in which she served as Mayor of the London Borough of Merton for the 2019/20 municipal year.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2020 are agreed as an accurate record.

The report was moved by Councillor Allison and seconded by Councillor Whelton.

The Liberal Democrat amendment as set out in agenda item 7 was moved by Councillor Gould and seconded by Councillor Fairclough.

Councillors McLean and Southgate spoke on the item and Councillor Kohler spoke on the report.

The Mayor advised that a recorded vote had been requested by six Members of the Council, in accordance with the Council Procedure Rules.  Voting was as follows:

Votes in favour: Councillors Bailey, Bokhari, Fairclough, Foley, Gould, Kohler, McGrath and Southgate (8)

Votes against: Councillors Akyigyina, Alambritis, Allison, Anderson, Attawar, Braund, Brunt, Butler, Byers, Christie, Chung, Cooper-Marbiah, Cowper, Curtin, Draper, Fraser, Henry, Irons, Kirby, Lanning, Macauley, Makin, McCabe, Mundy, Pearce, Pritchard, Quilliam, Skeete, Stanford, Stringer, Ward, Whelton and the Deputy Mayor Councillor Dehaney (33)

Not voting: Councillors Barlow, Benbow, Adam Bush, Omar Bush, Crowe, Dean, Gretton, Holden, Holmes, Andrew Howard, Janice Howard, Latif, McLean, Moulton, Ormrod, Simpson, Wilkinson, Williams, and the Mayor, Councillor Kenny (19)

The Mayor declared the amendment to be lost.

The Mayor then called for a vote on the substantive report and it was

RESOLVED

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

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

B.           i)    that the constitution of consultative forums and other bodies set out in Appendix B be approved; and

ii)    that the appointment of members to those seats be agreed; 

C.           that the allocation of seats and appointment to the outside organisations as detailed in Appendix C be agreed.

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

E.           that the changes to the appointments to the Cabinet including their respective portfolios (Appendix E) be noted; and

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