Leader of the Council, Councillor Ross Garrod

Councillor Ross Garrod gave an update on Council issues. Cllr Garrod had just come from a public meeting for the residents in Galpin Road. Cllr Garrod said he grew up in Merton, lives in borough and his family still lives here. It is an honour to be leader of Merton Council and he is proud to come from Merton with its fantastic parks, schools, outstanding Children’s services. The overarching aim for the new administration is to reinstate pride in Merton, with everyone having a stake in making Merton a place we are all proud of. The Council has three main priorities:

Civic Pride

• Residents to have a greater stake, volunteer, rewarding communities for local action
• People value our parks, high streets and town centres so we will invest in these

Building Sustainable Future

• Encourage sustainable transport, move to Electric Vehicles, e-bikes, and active travel
• Tackle climate emergency
• Build new affordable homes, with a target of 400 new genuinely affordable homes on Council land by 2026
• Shift in emphasis in planning through new Local Plan to get good quality green and energy efficient development

Sporting borough

• New Cabinet Member for Sport and Heritage
• Make Merton best borough of sport
• Investment grass root sport and healthy lifestyles
• Working on blueprint for weekly free activities for 4–16-year-olds and those over 65

Actions so far have included

• Supporting residents through the cost-of-living crisis including £2m fund being used to help people hit the hardest. We will be recruiting two additional benefits advisors based in libraries, providing support for the Community Fridge and vouchers for school meals during holidays. We will also be working with Thinking Works to do energy audits in people’s homes
• We have held four cost of Living events including one in Colliers Wood, with another one in Pollards Hill at end of October.
• £2m added to climate emergency fund
• Cabinet agreed to end Veolia contract Street cleaning and waste collection in 2025
• Merton Local App to promote local businesses already downloaded 4000 times and features more than 400 local businesses
• Weekly walk around estates to see conditions and speak with residents
• New scheme for Housing Multiple Occupation landlords means they will require planning permission to divide up existing family homes. We will also be introducing a landlord licensing scheme
• We have recruited ten additional enforcement officers
• We have extended the existing Public Space Protection Order for Anti-Social Behaviour related to alcohol in five wards. We will be consulting on extending borough wide
• We have announced two new Civic Pride funds, one for the Voluntary and Community Sector and for Neighbourhood projects

A resident asked about fly-tipping in St Helier Avenue and Netley Gardens including problems caused by an HMO not using the bins correctly. Cllr Garrod said fly-tipping is a national problem and is infuriating. Merton has 10 mobile CCTV cameras that are deployed covertly. We have been publishing videos on our Wall of Shame to get help from residents in identifying offenders and this has resulted in five fixed penalty notices being issued. We will continue to issue penalties to fly-tippers. We are introducing additional regulation of HMOs and part of this will be a requirement to be clear on waste collection arrangements.

Cllr Pearce said that he would like to see more responses to the Local Plan hearings from Morden residents.

A resident said that the toilet in the Civic Centre needs to be open all the time. They also asked if Cllr Garrod could raise with the NHS that they include the George Cross the NHS received for its response to COVID on their publicity materials. Cllr Garrod said he was happy to raise this with local NHS leaders.

A resident said there were redundant tennis courts in Morden Park and Cllr Garrod said we have some fantastic parks, and the Council is investing in improving facilities.

A resident said the fee for garden waste collection was too high in Merton and Cllr Garrod said the price in Merton was similar to the other boroughs in the South London Waste Partnership.

Cllr Cox asked what support would be available for businesses with cost of living, talent and supply chain issues. Cllr Garrod said the energy support package is coming from central government and the Council does not have the budget to financially support businesses. Cllr Garrod said he has met with the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to understand their issues and is working with the South London Partnership to support training in the area. We are also introducing new course on green skills through our Adult Education provider.

Cllr Mercer said that the six-month agreement for many families hosting Ukrainian refugees is coming to an end soon and asked how the Council could support these families. Cllr Garrod said he was pleased to attend the Ukrainian Independence Day celebrations at the New Horizon Centre and Merton schools have higher rate of Ukrainian students than other boroughs. The needs to be government action on the homes for Ukraine scheme but Cllr Garrod will raise with Cllr Stringer the need for Merton to have a local plan.