Welcome to the third edition of my Insider’s blog. You can read the first and second editions here and here. I hope you’re having a good summer and are not too warm! I was away for a week at the end of July and so this month’s update is a little later than usual.

Amongst other things this month I report back on the July full Council – this is where all councillors come together to hold the administration to account. There’s a different theme for each full Council meeting, and councillors get to ask questions and make proposals about how things should be done differently.

I also cover the work we’ve been doing behind the scenes, out and about and down your street!

*Our thoughts are with all those affected by the fire and explosion on Galpin’s Road – many of whom can’t return to their homes yet. Last week we wrote to our residents’ email lists encouraging people to donate directly to the Commonside Trust who are supporting evacuated residents on the ground (donate here, include “Galpins” as the reference)*.

July full Council

You can watch the meeting in full here and the agenda, papers and minutes are here.

Local health matters

As I reported last month, the theme of the July meeting was “Supporting residents’ who are most in need and promoting the safety and wellbeing of all our communities with an emphasis on health inequalities.”

The Labour lead councillor for health accepted that there were gaps in the Council’s work with regards to breast cancer screening, childhood immunisations and reducing self-harming by young people, and they didn’t oppose our proposals in these areas.

We also called for a review of the borough’s cycling and walking infrastructure, with the aim of increasing the number of children cycling and walking (and thereby reducing school-related traffic congestion and resulting air pollution). This was also accepted by Council bosses.

Unfortunately Labour councillors used the remainder of our time looking at health to propose that “the Council” write a letter to the Clinical Commissioning Group (“CCG”), a GP-led body responsible for local health service decisions, to remind them that the Council’s policy was to retain all hospital services at St Helier Hospital in Sutton.

It was unclear what the point of this was, especially as the CCG had actually been abolished on 1 July. It’s replacement, the Integrated Care Board should actually give councils a greater say in health decisions, but Labour councillors seemed largely unaware of the change or the difference.

I’m disappointed to say that Labour seemed mostly concerned with trying to attack us, despite there being no disagreement on the issue. The main Labour speaker suggested we should be calling on Sutton Council’s Liberal Democrat administration to block the planning application for a new hospital when it comes through. But planning is a quasi-judicial process, decisions that can only be made in line with planning law. So it would be deeply irresponsible for a Council administration to try to block a planning application on political grounds – and for us to ask them to do so.

It might even allow a developer to win a costly planning appeal. Political groups are also banned from telling councillors how to vote on particular planning applications.

Merton is a step closer to becoming a London Living Wage employer

We’re celebrating after the Council administration agreed to begin the process of becoming an accredited Living Wage employer. Labour Council bosses agreed to a Lib Dem proposal to begin becoming accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. This would be a real step forward for many people still working on low wages for Merton’s contractors.

This is part of our long-running campaign to ensure fair pay for the Council’s employee and contractors.

Support for local schools to reduce energy bills …

… Was once again blocked by the ruling Labour group.

We suggested that the Council’s Cabinet “looks at ways to directly or indirectly support schools with the additional costs of energy bills, including by supporting them through the capital programme to make improvements that reduce energy use (and therefore also help to contribute to the targets in the Council’s climate strategy and action plan)”.

They literally voted against asking the Cabinet to look at ways of doing something. It’s really difficult to know what to say about this, it’s really rather dreadful.

Behind the scenes

Much of the work we do takes place behind the scenes. This month we’ve been working on preparations for the September full Council on housing, I’ve been fighting to make it easier to be a pedestrian on the Broadway, and we’ve had a major victory in bringing proposals to add extra floors to blocks of flats within planning rules.

Housing needs

The theme of the September full Council meeting is for the Liberal Democrat councillors to choose. We’ve chosen a focus on housing, homelessness and support for renters – both in the private rented and social housing sector. Part of our preparations is putting together a list of issues and questions we hope the Council will cover in the report it presents to use all.

As an aside, I have been particularly disappointed that the Leader of the Council will not apologise for or acknowledge the Council’s failure to support residents living in poorly maintained homes effectively – for me a key part of rebuilding trust.

Labour Council bosses have been very keen to highlight on social media and in press releases that they found a number of problems after they briefly visited some housing recently.

But significant housing repair problems were highlighted in national TV and media news reports in 2021 – so what have they been doing in the last 12 months (and it’s not entirely clear to me why the Council wasn’t aware before)?

You can see my questions and his replies on page 16 here.

The Broadway digital advertising screen rejected (and removed)

Merton’s Planning committee rejected planning permission for a new and larger digital advertising board outside 87 The Broadway (by Diba). You can watch the debate online here.

It’s unusual for these kind of applications to be decided by councillors but this one was opposed by local residents, businesses and community groups – and I asked over 12 months ago that this application be decided by the full committee. The display board really restricts the pavement and the matter is an important marker in our attitude to/our vision of improving accessibility, and making Wimbledon a nice place to be a pedestrian.

I spoke at the meeting, and the Committee rejected the planning permission by 8-1. As the previous planning permission has expired, the existing display screen has been removed, reducing the pavement clutter in this little strip of The Broadway.

Merton Residents saved from high-rise free-for-all

Local Liberal Democrats have forced a reversal of Merton Council planning policy to prevent developers adding extra floors to high-rise buildings without local scrutiny. Under national law, these extra storeys are considered “permitted development” which only has to receive “prior approval” consent not full planning permission. This means there’s limited consultation with residents, and requirements for affordable housing, minimum space standards, or for amenity space don’t apply – but we’ve managed to stop this happening across a large part of the borough.

Out and about

Councillors attend a number of civic and other events – particular highlights for me this month were:

• Meeting with Love Wimbledon to discuss how to make Wimbledon town centre a great town centre.
• Learning in more details about the services that the Wimbledon Guild offers – from its wellbeing sessions for older people, to its emergency financial support to local residents, as well as its cafe. I also learned a bit about its plans for new purpose built offices.
• Attending the annual Chariot Festival (Ratha Yatra) starting from the Shree Ghanapathy Hindu Temple in Effra Road in Wimbledon Town & Dundonald ward.

Down your street

As local councillors we regularly help people solve local issues and problems as well as work on local priorities. In the last month we have:

• Continued work supporting residents near three large building sites where there are problems – and discussed enforcement generally with the new head of planning and building control. Raised a number of residents with smaller household planning applications struggling to get decisions from the Council.
• Advised residents with neighbour disputes how to get advice and support.
• Supported residents to have their say on the planning application for Wimbledon Chase Station, including running two public meetings. Full details and updates are here.
• Met with Love Wimbledon to discuss plans and priorities for Wimbledon Town centre. (repeat)
• Attended the assessment of Dundonald Rec for a Green Flag Award, and working with the Friends of Dundonald Rec to use this as an opportunity to secure Council interest and investment in the park.
• Discussed plans to prevent service and delivery vehicles turning right down Graham Road after they leave the new hotel site (signage and changes to the pavement to make that turn difficult for large vehicles).
• …. As well as many other things – get in touch if we can help.