See below the Merton Conservative Group's amendment at Merton Council.
Amendment – agenda item 4
Amend recommendation 1 by adding the following wording: “subject to the following amendment:
Use £1,000,000 from the “For use in future years budgets Reserve” to:
i) Defer saving ENV2023-2411 Management of Parking Permits at a cost of £500,000 for one year;
ii) Use £250,000 to establish the Merton Children’s Sport Fund;
iii) Use £250,000 to repair cycle lanes across the borough.
After Recommendation F to add:
Recommendation G:
The Council encourages the Cabinet to embrace a new ambitious vision for Merton that addresses the challenges of the 2020’s:
- To continue to provide funding for the Merton Children’s Sport Fund over the coming years;
- To prioritise and ensure the successful management of regeneration opportunities and projects in Morden, Mitcham and Wimbledon, for town centres, green spaces and housing;
- To develop new planning policies that local residents can have confidence in;
- To look into establishing a scheme to incentivise and lessen the financial and administrative license burdens for the operation of pop-up and street market offerings, including considering the suspension of street licence charges for a period;
- Increase support for apprenticeships and encourage businesses to hire new apprentices by actively promoting government apprenticeship support schemes;
- Investing in greener, low carbon and well-designed community infrastructure to improve amenity, green spaces, wellbeing and air quality within the borough;
- Ensuring the council prioritises sustainable travel and safe cycling by recognising the need for low carbon provision in future development plans;
- Invest in innovative and new technology based solutions to combat the climate emergency and the pollution crisis in Merton, such as green walls and city trees, and also increase funding and take opportunities within new developments to deliver significantly higher levels of tree planting across the borough;
- Accelerate the introduction of electric vehicles charging infrastructure (including fast charging) for residents and those visiting the town centres;
- Invest in children’s active sport and fitness and consider opportunities for further use of the borough’s greenspace to achieve this goal;
- Focus on children’s wellbeing and mental health impacts caused by the Covid19 pandemic and work towards preventative mental health schemes available for all children in Merton;
- Develop a new partnership with business to support youth clubs across the borough;
- Commission an independent analysis to identify the social determinants of health inequalities that are specific to Merton;
- Consult with residents with a view to maintaining existing dementia day-care centre provision;
And a review of strategic objectives by:
- Ensuring that the financial strategy is explicit about how it supports strategic priorities vs balancing the council’s budget to ensure that resources are in the right place to exploit the opportunities, and meet needs;
- Developing a clear narrative that describes strategic vision to create clarity for planning across the departments;
- Constantly reviewing risk appetite to ensure opportunities that can deliver a transformative council with a wider range of benefits are not missed.”
