Cllr. Pauline Cowper introduced herself as the new Chair of the meeting and welcomed everybody to the meeting.

Approximately 16 residents attended, as well as 10 councillors, and officers from the council and its partners.

Councillor Stephen Alambritis will provide an update and take questions

Councillor Alambritis announced that on Tuesday 6th November, between 4 and 6pm, everyone is welcome to visit the brand new Morden Leisure Centre, for its soft opening. He thanked Pellikaan, the construction company, for their work on the project.

Finances across local government remain stretched and Merton is no exception. The latest Medium Term Financial Strategy shows that there is a budget gap of £19m from 2019/20 to 2022/23. This will be met through a mix of savings and income generation. Much of the cost pressures relate to Adult Social Care where the Council has a statutory duty to provide for some of the most vulnerable people in Merton. The Council has invested an additional £9m in Adult Social Care to help meet these challenges.

Children’s Services, where the Council is a corporate parent to 135 children and young people, are also a high priority. The recent Ofsted inspection found that the Council was good with outstanding features and one of the top ten authorities in England for children’s services.

Working in partnership with other boroughs has also helped reduce costs: Merton leads a legal services partnership on behalf of four other boroughs; shares regulatory services like licensing across three boroughs; and has even let out three floors in the Civic Centre to colleagues in the NHS. Renting out parks has also brought in additional revenue but can cause residents concern which the council is sensitive to.

The new dementia-friendly library in Colliers Wood was recently short-listed for the 2018 Library of the Year award.

The Council has created an additional 4,400 extra primary school places since 2010 by extending 23 schools, and a new secondary school, Harris Wimbledon, has opened in the former adult education site at Whatley Avenue, with adult education now being delivered by Merton College. The school will then move to a new building on High Path in South Wimbledon for the 2020 intake. There are now 15 outstanding schools in Merton, including most recently Harris Morden, a school which had previously rated as inadequate. The Council’s School Improvement Team continues to work across the borough to support schools. In last year’s GCSE results Merton had the highest scores for the Progress 8 school which measures progress from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4.

There a number of important regeneration projects underway. Clarion Housing is investing £1billion in improving three estates, that will result in better quality homes and no loss of social housing. The More Morden regeneration is back on track. Councillor Alambritis paid tribute to the Conservative Group, which kick-started the project. On Plough Lane, work is progressing on the new football stadium for AFC Wimbledon. The club will hopefully move in for the 2020/21 season. There will also be 600 new homes, at least 30% of which will be affordable. There is to be a new national health centre called The Wilson, which will address matters such as mental health. Work is ongoing on Mitcham Town Centre, in conjunction with TfL and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Update on the new Leisure Centre from Christine Parsloe, Leisure & Culture Development Manager, Merton Council

Christine Parsloe, Leisure & Culture Development Manager at the council, updated residents on the new leisure centre development.

She encouraged everyone to come to the launch on 6th November and try out the new pool and the café. The diving facility has been installed too, along with the fitness suite and a studio/community room. Feedback on the appearance of the new centre has been positive.

Pellikaan completed construction 16 days early and Greenwich Leisure have now moved in to fit out the building and train their staff, whilst still running Morden Park Pools. It is proposed that Morden Park Pool will be closed at noon on 6th November, before the new Morden Leisure Centre is opened to the public at 4pm.

Car charging bays have been installed for electric cars and parking controls will go out in the next few weeks, in particular to ensure disabled bays are used appropriately.

Demolition of the old pools will start around the 13th November. Once demolition is complete, the land will be returned to open space, to compensate for the footprint the new site has taken.

A newsletter providing an update will come out shortly.

A silent auction will be launched online on 12th October for people to bid to be the first to swim in the pool. Proceeds from the auction will go to the Mayor’s charities.

Asked whether the council will be working with Merton CCG and Public Health to encourage all our communities to use the services, Chris said this is already done at Merton’s other centres and in time will also be done with the new centre. It is hoped what has been created at the new centre will encourage everyone to come and use the facilities.

Chris also mentioned the Fireworks displays in November, encouraging residents to buy their tickets in advance online. Also, on 11th November from 6.30-7.30pm, there will be a commemoration for the end of WWI at the Civic Centre, which residents are encouraged to attend.

Abbas Mirza, Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Abbas Mirza, the Community Engagement Lead for the Merton Clinical Commissioning Group gave a presentation on the Merton Health and Care Plan (see Appendix 1).

After the presentation, Abbas asked for feedback from residents on NHS services they’ve liked in Merton and services that can be improved. Detailed feedback can be sent by email to abbas.mirza@swlondon.nhs.uk.

GP access is being invested in to provide appointments at the GP hubs at the Nelson, Wimbledon and the Wide Way Medical Centre, Mitcham, with training being given to staff to help people to make appointments. A working group is looking at improving Mental Health services across Merton.

Asked about St Helier, Abbas said no decisions have yet been made about changes to the services. Councillor Alambritis added that Merton Council is working with residents and Siobhain McDonagh MP to make sure no services are reduced at the hospital.

Update from Future Merton team

Jake Lister from Kanda, a public and stakeholder consultation company working jointly for the council and Transport for London on Morden regeneration, presented the results of the recent consultation that was carried out on the regeneration programme.

Focus Groups were held in September 2018 with councillors and stakeholder groups where a series of design principles were looked at, including the Station Forecourt, Green and Open Spaces, and Type and Quality of the High Street.

Attendees at the focus groups had a constructive discussion where they raised a number of important factors to be included in the design of the town centre such as:

•              Improving the pedestrian experience along London Road – as the station forecourt is currently very congested

•              Emphasising Morden’s already brilliant green spaces and linking them together

•              That they would like to see more active frontages along the high street to encourage visitors to stay and shop

Further consultations will be taking place and anyone interested in further information can contact the team.

Public Drop-Ins were held over 3 days with a series of high street stalls outside Sainsburys, Iceland and the Underground. These were held to gather feedback on what amenities the local community would like to see brought forward as part of the regeneration of Morden Town Centre, and to determine local priorities and aspirations for regeneration. The events were designed to gather data on areas of activity in the Town Centre and how the local community navigates through the Town Centre and to other nearby amenities.

A number of different methods were used for gathering the feedback including a survey, maps for people to identify their routes into the town centre and areas they visit, and a board on which members of the public could identify what amenities they would like to see in the new town centre.

The events were attended by over 150 members of the local community. The general consensus from attendees at the events was that there was a need for improvements to the Town Centre and that they generally welcomed the regeneration project. Members of the public believed that the green spaces in the borough and the public transport links were the most successful assets in the area. Many residents stated that they would like to see improvements to the existing retail offer of the Town Centre, with the aspiration that more independent, high quality shops be delivered as part of the regeneration. There was similarly an interest in nighttime uses, including pubs, bars and restaurants. Residents also ranked reducing traffic congestion as their number one issue for the town centre improvement.

Eben van der Westhuizen, the project lead on the More Morden Regeneration project updated residents on the next steps. There will be public consultation on the draft Merton Local Plan over the next six weeks. The new Local Plan will hopefully then be adopted in early 2020, with phased works targeted to start in 2021. It will take approximately a year to procure a development  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A resident asked what is happening with Dog Control Orders and also whether LB Merton looking to end the provision of adult education.

On Dog Control Orders, there are still a few minor issues of detail to resolve such as details of wording of the Order and supporting maps to confirm. At that stage it should be ready to sign-off – it is hoped this will be in the next couple of weeks.

Councillor Draper explained that the council will keep adult education going and is making improvements on it. Not all courses are sustainable and run at a loss, which is why the prices for them have to be put up. It is not possible to subsidise classes.

7.15pm, Thursday 28 February 2019, Council Chamber, Civic Centre.

Councillor Cowper closed the meeting