2018 Merton London Borough Council election

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All 60 council seats onMerton London Borough Council
First party Second party   Party Labour Conservative Last election 36 seats, 49.6% 20 seats, 31.6% Seats won 34 17 Seat change 2 3 Popular vote 83,890 56,223 Percentage 46.9% 31.5% Swing 2.7% 0.1%   Third party Fourth party   Party Liberal Democrats Merton Park Residents Last election 1 seat, 8.9% 3 seats, 3.7% Seats won 6 3 Seat change 5 Popular vote 26,158 5,898 Percentage 14.6% 3.3% Swing 5.7% 0.4%
Map of the results of the 2018 Merton council election.Conservatives in blue,Labour in red,Liberal Democrats in yellow andMerton Park Ward Residents Association in white.
Council leader before election Stephen Alambritis Labour Council leader after election Stephen Alambritis Labour

Elections for theLondon Borough of Merton were held on 3 May 2018 to elect members ofMerton London Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as otherlocal elections in England.^[1]

In February 2018, Peter Walker, a formerLabour councillor forFigges Marsh who was suspended by the party in October 2017, claimed that the local Labour Party was excluding supporters of the national party leader,Jeremy Corbyn, from becoming councillors.^[2]

Labour pledged to complete the building of a new leisure centre, bringAFC Wimbledon's home grounds within Merton, consider the introduction of a landlord licensing scheme, establish targets for affordable housing and introduce 20 mph zones.^[3]

TheConservatives pledged to reintroduce weekly street cleaning, increase mobile CCTV, deliver a masterplan forWimbledon, regenerateMorden, establish a 24/7anti-social behaviour hotline, rebuildSt Helier Hospital, introduce borough-wide anti-idling measures and reintroduce webcasting of council meetings.^[4]

TheLiberal Democrats pledged to institute a target of 50% affordable housing in large developments, install more public bins and public drinking fountains, increasecycling infrastructure, introduce default 20 mph zones, makeRaynes Park andMotspur Park railway stations fully accessible, replace the closed walk-in surgery inMitcham, introduce a levy on planning developments to pay for local schools, scrap charges for the use of Council-owned parks and playing fields, develop incubator sites for start-ups and establish neighbourhood plans.^[5]

A key issue during the campaign was the proposed closure of Wimbledon police station by the LabourMayor of London. The Conservatives proposed to buy the police station,^[4] while the Liberal Democrats supported a legal action against the closure.^[6] The legal action was brought byPaul Kohler, one of the successful Liberal Democrat candidates for Trinity in the election.^[7]

A key issue during the campaign was the partial demolition of the historic Merton Hall inSouth Wimbledon, which was given planning permission by the council in September 2017.^[8] Under the plans, theElim Pentecostal Church would assume tenancy of Merton Hall after the year-long works, under the condition that the site could still be hired as a community space by local residents.^[9] Elim Church's current High Path site would then become aHarris Federation school hosting 1,200 students from September 2020.^[8]

A petition opposing the plans and calling onHistoric England tolist Merton Hall attracted over 4,000 signatures.^[10] The plans attracted national attention in March 2018 over concerns that Elim Church could seek to preventLGBT groups from hiring Merton Hall.^[11] The Conservatives opposed the demolition plans and pledged to end the demolition works immediately if elected; they also alleged that the demolition broke pre-electionpurdah rules, given that it was using public money on a contentious issue.^[12] TheMerton Park Ward Residents Association also expressed their regret over the council's plans; their councillors suggested alternative sites for the secondary school and questioned the extent of the demolition required.^[13]

The demolition works began in April 2018.^[10] In the election, the ward of Abbey, in which Merton Hall is situated, returned one Conservative councillor.^[14] After the election, responding to criticism of the plans, council leader Stephen Alambritis claimed that the council is building a brand new hall and not demolishing the existing one. Alambritis confirmed that two investigations were underway, one by theLocal Government Ombudsman and another byErnst and Young.^[15]

Labour retained its control of Merton Council, its majority reduced to four seats. The Conservatives gained two seats from Labour (one each in the wards ofCannon Hill andAbbey) and the Liberal Democrats gained five seats from the Conservatives (two inWest Barnes, two in Dundonald and one in Trinity). The Merton Park Ward Residents Association maintained its three councillors inMerton Park.^[1] By seat count, this was the best ever election result for the Liberal Democrats in the borough, and the first time they had held council positions outside the West Barnes ward.

Paul Kohler, who achieved significant recognition after leading a legal campaign against the proposed closure of Wimbledon police station,^[16][17] was elected for the Liberal Democrats in Trinity.^[18] Two months after the election, his legal action resulted in a judgment that the decision to close the police station was unlawful.^[7]

Merton local election result 2018^[19]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	34	0	2	2	56.7	46.9	83,890	2.5%
	Conservative	17	2	5	3	28.3	31.5	56,223	0.1%
	Liberal Democrats	6	5	0	5	10.0	14.6	26,158	5.7%
	Merton Park Residents	3	0	0	0	5.0	3.3	5,898	0.4%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0	2.8	4,970	1.3%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	836	N/A
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0	0.3	459	3.3%
	Democrats and Veterans	0	0	0	0	0	0.1	151	New
	TUSC	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	77	0.1%
	Duma Polska	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	33	New

On 11 May 2018, it was announced that the council's cabinet would be reshuffled.^[20] Mary Curtin, a Labour councillor forLower Morden, was voted in as the council's new mayor at the Annual Council Meeting on 23 May 2018.^[21]

Following the resignation of Mark Kenny, a by-election was held on 20 June 2019 with the Liberal Democrats gaining the seat.

On 12 June 2020, Quilliam left the Liberal Democrats and joined the Labour Party.^[26]

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Cllr. Mark Kenny of the Labour Party.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Cllr. Kelly Braund of the Labour Party.

Notes

References

• Council elections in the London Borough of Merton
• 2018 London Borough council elections

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022