MERTON’S COMMUNITY PLAN, 2 February 2001
at St. Mark’s Church Hall, Wimbledon,

Rob Moran, Head of Partnerships at the London Borough of Merton (LBM) spoke of the Merton Community Plan as giving the first opportunity for the community to speak.

He pointed out that all 170,000 in the borough could not be accommodated
together but, under the Steering Group chaired by Roger Casale, M.P., “we
are at the first stage of the consultation exercise”. He said that there
were three groups with whom a particular effort was being made: the elderly,
ethnic minorities and young people. He added for the benefit of the front
row of young people that LBM were keen on meeting youth aspirations.

The second guest speaker, Andrew Wakefield, Chairman of the Merton Chamber of Commerce and Vicar of St. Andrew’s said this exercise reflected a change in the role of local government following the efforts that various groups
had made in the last three to four years including the Wimbledon Civic Forum
to change the relationship with LBM. This was just as important for the
business community which he represented as it was for individuals. He added
that LBM was in the bottom 10 of boroughs for community spending on youth
work.

The Chairman, Adrian Barnes, of the Executive Committee of WCF then opened
the meeting for questions and a number of the younger members present then
argued strongly for better facilities; including pool tables, darts and somewhere to hang out that was not too expensive. They gave the positive example of the Astroturf patch in Raynes Park which was very well used but also of some tennis courts there which could not meet local demand and were poorly maintained.

Rob Moran said the Astroturf patch was an interesting example for a school
raising money followed by lottery funding on condition that the facilities
were opened to the community and used to the maximum.

After a comment from the floor that LBM was a cash strapped Borough,
Councillor Gilli Lewis Lavender (?) (West Barnes Ward) said that not to
spend money on youth was a bad investment for the future. Following
references to graffiti, the Councillor said that this energy should be
channelled in other ways, for example, through Church youth clubs.
Peter Davis, Chairman of WCF, wondered why business could not be prevailed
on to help with facilities for young people with some additional help from
LBM. Responding, Andrew Wakefield said that businesses had not been asked
but he added that most local businesses were small with very small margins
of cash and people for this sort of voluntary work. He pointed out that
over 50% of employment locally was in the local authority, health authority
and education sectors.

Anne Blakie strongly supported the idea of working with wine bars and other
drinks outlets to get them to sponsor youth teams so that there was
somewhere for young people to go. Rob Moran said that he understood the
increasing frustration in the Borough that, of the large sums of money paid
to LBM, people did not see much in return. He stressed that the money was
carefully allocated including the amounts that went to local schools and
refuse collection, adding that the money left is very small. He said that
he would welcome all inputs from this LBM initiative.

Yasmin Sheikh referred to the minority achievements service for schools
which were getting more money by making appropriate bids.
After further discussion, Andrew Wakefield suggested that it would be
sensible to have a mapping exercise of the number of people and
organisations involved in youth work in the Borough, although this would be
quite a difficult undertaking to achieve. His impression was of a very
strong wish for people to become involved but agreed with another speaker
that it was important to get full participation and leadership from parents
and others.

Summing up Adrian Barnes thanked Rob Moran and Andrew Wakefield and then when on to thank the young people from Raynes Park for the contributions
they have made, to a spontaneous round of applause from those present. He
said that it was agreed that it was important to make the maximum use of all
existing sports and social facilities within the borough, that we needed to
pursue new initiatives and resources that would attract lottery funding as
well as giving LBM all the support we could in answering the questionnaires
on the community plan.

A.F.P.B.

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