The Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel of Merton Council met on Wednesday 1 July 2026. The meeting was scheduled to include a verbal update on Cabinet Member priorities for 2026/27 and a review of the panel's work programme.

Cabinet Member Priorities - 2026/27

The panel was scheduled to receive a verbal update on the priorities of the Cabinet Members for 2026/27. This would have allowed the panel to review the priorities of the Cabinet Member for Transport and Cleaner Streets, Councillor Stuart Neaverson; the Cabinet Member for Housing and Sustainable Development, Councillor Andrew Judge; and the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Civic Pride and Climate Change, Councillor Eleanor Stringer. The aim of this discussion was to check alignment with the panel's existing work programme.

Work Programme

The panel was scheduled to review and agree its work programme for the upcoming year, 2026/27. This programme, outlined in the Public reports pack Wednesday 01-Jul-2026 19.15 Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Pane.pdf, details the issues the panel intends to scrutinise, the nature of the scrutiny, and the intended outcomes. The work programme is designed to be flexible, allowing the panel to respond to emerging issues or request new pre-decision items for consideration by the Cabinet or Council.

The draft work programme for 2026/27 included planned discussions on various topics, such as Public Space Protection Orders, Morden Regeneration, and the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, with specific dates and lead officers identified for each item. The panel was also to consider its work programme for future meetings, including a review of the budget and business planning in November 2026 and February 2027, and a discussion on delivering the Council's Network Management Duties in March 2027. Additionally, a task to improve public information regarding private building inspectors and resident experiences with planning enforcement was noted for future scheduling.

The panel's work programme is supported by Scrutiny Officer Ross Pike, who can be contacted for further information. The panel's approach to scrutiny includes reviewing Cabinet Member and Directorate priorities, policy development, issue-specific reviews, performance monitoring, and partnership-related matters. The panel also maintains an Action Log to monitor the progress of recommendations made in previous meetings.