Secrecy Surrounds £15m Merton Council Fund
Decisions on how Merton Council’s new Legacy Fund Advisory Board will allocate £15 million of public money will be made behind closed doors, after Labour councillors blocked plans for transparency.
At Wednesday’s (19th November 2025) Council meeting, Labour councillors unanimously voted against a Liberal Democrat proposal that would have required the Board’s meetings to be held in public.
Liberal Democrats warned that this secrecy raises serious questions about accountability and fairness. The Council has still not published who will sit on the Board, or the selection criteria for choosing members.
The Legacy Fund Advisory Board is a group of 5 residents, one from each of Merton’s town centres — Mitcham, Morden, Colliers Wood, Raynes Park, and Wimbledon — plus the Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Stephen Alambritis, who will co-chair the Board.
The Board will review over 1,400 ideas submitted by residents for spending the £15 million Legacy Fund and will shortlist costed projects, which will then be presented back to residents for a vote.
The Liberal Democrat amendment asked for two simple things:
- Open the Advisory Board meetings to the public, as is normal for decision-making bodies spending public money; and
- Publish the Board’s Terms of Reference, including how members are selected.
Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned that, with Board meetings held in private, residents will have no way of knowing why their ideas were rejected.
They say that full transparency is essential, and they will continue to press for public scrutiny of every stage of the process.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Simon McGrath said:
“It is extraordinary that Merton Labour thinks £15 million of public money can be decided in secret. Residents have submitted ideas in good faith. They deserve to see how these decisions are made, otherwise they will rightly ask what Merton Labour are trying to hide.”
Liberal Democrat Cllr Tony Reiss said:
“The Council says the Board will be ‘representative’, but unless the selection criteria and list of members are published, no one can know if that is true. Will it reflect our communities or simply be a group of Labour appointees? Residents deserve transparency, fairness, and accountability but Merton Labour kiboshed our proposal to make that a reality.”
ENDS
Further reading:
The Liberal Democrat amendment is here:
The Financial Monitoring Report, containing details of the Legacy Fund, is here:
The Cabinet Report detailing the Legacy Fund Advisory Board is here:
https://democracy.merton.gov.uk/documents/s57197/Legacy%20Fund%20report%20-%20October%20Cabinet.pdf