The Merton Council Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel met on 18 November 2025, according to the agenda. The panel was scheduled to discuss budget and business planning, anti-social behaviour, performance monitoring and the panel's work programme. The meeting was to be held at the Merton Civic Centre.

Budget and Business Planning

The panel was scheduled to discuss the Budget for 2026/27 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2026-30. The report pack included a report to the Cabinet from 20 October 2025, which detailed new savings proposals for 2026/27 to 2029/30, and emerging draft Equalities Impact Assessments. The Cabinet had resolved to refer these proposals to the Overview and Scrutiny panels and Committee for consideration.

The report noted that the council is required to set a balanced budget, and that the report to Cabinet on 20 October 2025, set out the progress made towards setting a balanced budget. The report pack stated that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would consider comments from the panels, and provide a response to the Cabinet when it meets on 15 December 2025.

The report pack included a table that summarised draft savings proposals:

The report also included details of draft departmental savings proposals for Finance and Digital, Housing and Sustainable Development, Environment, Civic Pride and Climate, Children, Lifelong Learning and Families, and Adult Social Care, Integrated Care and Public Health.

The Finance and Digital savings proposals included:

• £2,000,000 from Treasury Management due to additional interest on revenue balances.
• £30,000 from Resources due to miscellaneous savings in Supplies and Services.

The Housing and Sustainable Development savings proposals included:

• £46,000 from Building Control due to reduced agency staff.
• £70,000 from Development Management and Building Control due to service restructure.
• £23,000 from Development Management due to local fee setting.
• £100,000 from Property Management due to increased income from rent reviews and lease renewals.
• £75,000 from administration of new Affordable Housing Policy income stream.

The Environment, Civic Pride and Climate savings proposals included:

• £550,000 in 2026/27, £300,000 in 2027/28, £250,000 in 2028/29 and £200,000 in 2029/30 from fees and charges inflationary uplift.

The Children, Lifelong Learning and Families savings proposals included:

• £63,000 from Education and Early Help - Participation and engagement
• £250,000 from the SEN Transport Team - Transport efficiencies for children with SEND and Adults
• £165,000 from Joint Commissioning ICB & CLLF
• £74,000 from Strategic Redesign of My Futures Service: Enhancing Post-16 Transitions and Service Efficiency
• £195,000 from Education and Early Help services
• £533,000 from Children's Social Care & Family Well Being Teams
• £33,000 from Education, School Improvement and Adult Learning

The Adult Social Care, Integrated Care and Public Health savings proposals included:

• £215,000 from Maximising Independence by adopting a strategic approach to Supported Living
• £500,000 from Using predictive technology to maximise independence, manage demand and fulfil our statutory duties
• £435,000 from A review of residents receiving Section 117[^2] aftercare
• £275,000 from Streamling Financial Assessment Processes
• £325,000 from Transforming commissioning in Adult Social Care to deliver better outcomes for residents
• £250,000 from Empowering Residents through Self Directed Support (Direct Payments)

The report pack also contained summaries of Equalities Impact Assessments for each of the savings proposals.

Anti-Social Behaviour

The panel was scheduled to discuss anti-social behaviour (ASB) and receive an update on the Safer Streets Neighbourhood Wardens. The report pack included information on the ASB Team, the Safer Streets Neighbourhood Wardens Team, key statistics, partnership working, and good news stories.

According to the report pack, the Safer Streets Neighbourhood Wardens team was launched in July 2025 to provide a visible, responsive, and reassuring presence across all 20 wards. The Wardens play a key role in fulfilling the Council's 'Every Ward Every Week' commitment by tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB), supporting Police colleagues, and working closely with the Council's ASB Team to provide early intervention, intelligence sharing, and consistent enforcement.

Since launching, the Wardens have delivered over 2346 community engagements, completed more than 1200 patrol hours, and undertaken 45+ joint patrols with Police and partners. They have carried out 158 Public Spaces Protection Orders interventions, 18 formal enforcement actions, and engagement with several hundred residents each month, which is increasing month on month. Referrals into drug and alcohol treatment rose from 4 to 39 in one month, demonstrating the effectiveness of early intervention.

The report pack stated that the Wardens form part of the borough's integrated Community Safety model, operating alongside the ASB Team, CCTV, and the Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs). The team consists of six Wardens and one Senior Warden, operating seven days a week, from 07:00 to 22:00.

The report pack also included a number of 'good news' stories, including:

• Reducing ASB: Youths causing issues at school finish time has reduced with the Warden's on patrol in Wimbledon High Street – Direct feedback from Merton CCTV
• Disrupting a Drug Deal Wandle Meadows: Wardens interrupted a live drug deal, providing intelligence and evidence to Police leading to an arrest.
• Knife Incident Mitcham Town Centre: Wardens and Police jointly responded to a knife threat outside a pub, supporting public safety and evidence gathering.
• Safeguarding Success Rough Sleeper Support: Wardens persuaded three rough sleepers to access temporary accommodation through StreetLink and VIA, demonstrating compassionate intervention.
• Community Engagement Roller Skating Project: Joint youth initiative at Mitcham bandstand engaged 100+ young people. Police reported no ASB warnings during events and described it as engaging the right young people .

The report pack stated that the Safer Streets Neighbourhood Wardens team is now fully staffed by permanent Merton employees, to aid stability and building of contextual knowledge.

Performance Monitoring

The panel was scheduled to review performance data for Quarter 2 of 2025/26. The report pack included performance reports for Environment, Civic Pride and Climate, and Housing and Sustainable Development.

The Environment, Civic Pride and Climate report included data on:

• Safer Merton, including ASB cases acknowledged within service timescales, CCTV Cameras Upgraded, and domestic abuse survivors reporting improved resilience and wellbeing.
• Greenspaces, including Average Performance Quality Score (Litter and Cleansing Standards) and number of trees on public land.
• Traffic and Highways, including Carriageway condition - unclassified roads, % not defective.
• Climate, including Number of publicly available Electric Vehicles Charging Points available to Merton Residents.
• Libraries, including No. of people accessing the library by borrowing an item or using a peoples network terminal at least once in the previous 12 months.
• Waste Services, including Number of refuse collections including recycling and kitchen waste (excluding garden waste) missed per 100,000 and % Household waste recycled and composted.
• Street Cleansing, including % of sites surveyed on local street inspections for litter that meet the required standard and % of fly tips removed within 24 hours.
• Borough of sport, including Number of residents accessing free swimming provision, Percentage aged 16+ who are physically active, Percentage of physically active children and young people and Awareness of Borough of Sport amongst residents.

The Housing and Sustainable Development report included data on:

• Regeneration, including Average no. of stalls in Mitcham Market and No. Of events in Mitcham.
• Housing supply, including New Homes.
• Development Control, including % Major applications processed within 13 weeks or within agreed timescales and % of minor planning applications determined within 8 weeks or within agreed timescales.
• Housing, including No. of households in temporary accommodation and No. of homelessness preventions.
• Number of enforcement/improvement notices

Action Log

The panel was scheduled to review the action log. The action log included updates on:

• Waste & Recycling, including that the Cabinet Member for Local Environment, Green Spaces and Climate Change would return to the Sustainable Communities Panel once the Environment Bill and legislation has been published.
• Green Spaces, including that the Council would create an overarching Green Spaces strategy in line with the Council's climate commitment and with a focus on community wellbeing.
• Idverde, including that the Council should consider developing a 'One Stop Shop' web-based reporting system to make it easier for our residents to report any issues relating to parks, waste and public spaces in one place and bring an update on this to the SC Panel AND To display signage in parks informing residents on how to report issues and express their views
• Retrofitting, including that Officers consider more proactive engagement of Councillors when designing engagement days or communications strategies.
• Retrofitting, including Energy efficiency and EPCs in the Private Rented Sector.
• Clarion, including that Clarion should introduce a formal ambassador scheme for estates which don't have resident associations.
• Air Quality, including that in January 2025 the panel agreed to recommendation C - Action Plan with Funded Measures'
• Greenspaces, including that an update to 'fix my street' to go live in early 2025 to allow residents to report issues in parks.
• Tree Strategy, including that Ward specific information/data to be shared with Cllr's.
• Walking and Cycling Strategy, including that a more detailed breakdown on who replied to the survey to be provided to Cllr's.
• Waste & Recycling, including whether some level of discretion will be applied around the increased fly tipping fine of £400 on a case-by case basis?
• Housing, including why is the homelessness prevention target set at 450 for 2024/2025.
• Clarion, including how much is the disturbance allowance?
• Clarion, including have any discussions taken place about leasing parking spaces from Sainsburys on Station Road?
• Clarion, including how do the customer satisfaction figures compare to previous years and how many residents completed the survey?
• Housing Associations, including send letters to Housing Associations re, resident feedback.

Work Programme

The panel was scheduled to consider the draft Work Programme for 2025/26. The work programme included items on:

• Committee recommendation to Clarion
• Sports Facilities Assessment and Playing Pitch Strategy Progress Update
• EV Charging
• Quarterly Performance Reports
• Action Log