Councillor Mark Allison

Councillor Mark Allison, Leader of the Council, thanked the chair for the invitation and had been fascinated by the issues raised by residents. Mark has been a Cllr for 20 years, spent most of the time in more background roles. He was born locally in St Helier and grew up in St Helier area before moving to Mitcham. Mark said that Merton is a great community but there are huge challenges. Mitcham is one of the more deprived areas and whilst huge progress has been made the COVID pandemic has undone some of that. Improving schools has been a vital element in improving life chances. As part of a mixed race family Mark said he is passionate about fairness, including appointing the most diverse cabinet in Merton’s history. As Leader he plans to celebrate Merton’s diversity.

Mark has been Leader since November so has only experienced the role during the COVID pandemic. Mark launched Merton Together to recognise how many in the community wanted to step up and help their neighbours and others. Mark thanked everyone in Raynes Park who got involved in responding to COVID. Merton Council has worked with the NHS and other partners to help keep people safe but of course many families have lost love ones or had their circumstances changed. Supporting these households through this will need to be a priority.

The Your Merton engagement exercise was launched to listen to residents about what they value and what their ambitions are for the borough. We are still analysing the results but it is clear that residents value their community, their local open spaces, and were much more conscious of their local area, especially their local high streets. Mark said he is still in listening mode and wants to hear want people have to say. He knows that there are local issues that will need addressing and wants to work together, as we did during the pandemic, to tackle the challenges ahead. Mark said he was proud of Merton and Merton’s community, and wants to build on residents priorities.

The Chairman of the RPA asked about the distribution of Community Infrastructure Levey funding and said this not getting fairly distributed and not coming to Raynes Park. If Raynes Park projects are not a priority then let residents know so they do not waste time in bidding. Cllr Allison said that while he did not know about the details of those bids the criteria for CIL bids is clearly set out in advance so bids have to meet these. There will be areas of need in Raynes Park so would be happy to see bids submitted to help these.

Cllr Crowe asked about Merton Council setting a strategy for land supply as the lack of a strategy had been cited in the successful appeal for the Development of the Tesco site. Cllr Allison said that the Housing target set by government, and is difficult to meet. Building more homes relies on the Planning Applications Committee approving schemes to meet the target to avoid applications going to appeal. Planning rules on viability mean the 40% affordable housing target is often not met and there are also reduced subsidies for many schemes.