Agenda and minutes

The Mayor to report apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Janet Crowe, Michael Goodridge, George Hesse, Connor Relleen and Michaela Wicks.

To confirm the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 20 February 2024 (herewith).

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 20 February 2024 were confirmed and signed as a correct record subject to a correction to CNL96/23 General Fund Budget 2024/25, Capital Programme 2024/25 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2024/25 – 2027/28 where Cllr Ken Reed stated that Cllr Hymans name had omitted from the list of those in favour of the substantive motion.

To receive from Members, declarations of interest in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting in accordance with the Waverley Code of Local Government Conduct.

There were no interests declared.

107.1  Pedro Wobel, Joint Chief Executive Officer, welcomed Cllr Alan Earwaker to the Council following his successful election for Farnham Castle Ward.

107.2  The Mayor thanked everyone who joined her outside The Bury’s for the raising of the flag for St George’s Day and she looked forward to seeing everybody at Godalming Museum on Friday the 3rd of May at 6:00pm for the private view of the exhibition by the artist from the Meath which she was co-hosting with the Mayor of Godalming.

108.1  The Leader of the Council thanked the Mayor for inviting the students from Broadwater school to speak to Council. As one of the two Ward members he advised he would be very pleased to meet with them to continue their ambitions further.

108.2  He also welcomed Councillor Earwaker and thanked the Electoral Services team and other Staff who supported the byelection and their continued work on the Witley and Milford byelection and the Police and Crime Commissioner elections to be held on 2^nd May.

108.3  The Leader advised he had attended a number of Town and Parish meetings in recent weeks as well as a planning committee at Alfold parish and extended the Executives usual offer to other parishes to attend to take questions on any matter relating to the remit of Waverley Borough Council.

108.4   The Leader Councillor Paul Follows then said, “Mayor, with your agreement, I would also like to invite members of the Executive to say a few words under this item.

108.5  Councillor Merryweather advised that the Executive were delighted to announce, that on April 10, Lounges PLC, the owner of Lounges restaurants had signed an agreement for the lease with Waverley Borough Council to occupy the front part of 69 High Street, Godalming. A planning application for the commercial part of the development will be submitted by the end of the month and officers and members hosted drop-in sessions in the Bury’s last week for local residents to see plans and give their views on those proposals.

108.6  Many businesses from The High Street popped in to give their encouragement. Residents could view and comment on the plans on Waverley’s commonplace platform which included frequently asked questions. There had been 550 visits to the site in addition to the residents who came in person. The feedback was positive. The key aim was to ensure that the first element of the development happens quickly so that we could move on to the more important development up to 10 new much needed affordable homes on the larger part of the site to the rear. These New Living Spaces will be energy efficient and designed sympathetically to the surrounding area the homes will reflect the council strategy to create more affordable housing in Godalming as well as protecting the environment by using a previously developed site and optimizing the space.

108.7  He advised that a planning application for the housing will be submitted later this year. Cllr Merryweather thanked the officers for their professionalism and thanked Loungers for their confidence in GodaIming.

108.8  Councillor Paul Rivers thanked Terry Daubney, Chair of the Waverly Tenants Panel for running the tenant open meeting last Thursday. It was a worthwhile meeting with Councillors hearing directly from tenants on how effective and supportive our officers are. He encouraged tenants who wish to join the panel to do so. Cllr Rivers highlighted it is the 30th Anniversary of the tenants panel next year and an opportunity for our tenants to  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL108/23

To respond to questions from members of the public, received in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday 16 April 2024, any questions received will be published in a Supplement on 17 April 2024.

The following questions were received from members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10:

1.    Question from Daniel Kuszel

Could the Leader explain why the FOI Team is not responding to queries for information within the statutory 20 working day period? Is he aware that the team is still using Covid-19 as a reason for not meeting the statutory deadline? Could he explain why the completion of FOI requests continues to be affected by Covid-19 when it appears all other council services have returned to normal operation?

Response by Cllr Victoria Kiehl, Executive Portfolio Holder for Organisational Development and Governance:

Thank you Madam Mayor. Thank you to Mr Kuszel for his question which I will respond to as co-portfolio holder for Legal Services.

The Council takes its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 seriously; this includes responding to FOI requests within the statutory timelines of 20 working days. During COVID all public authorities in the UK including Waverley Borough Council were unable to meet the statutory timelines for responding to FOI requests, however post COVID, local authority officers, including Waverley Borough Council Officers, were able to return to their offices and this improved their compliance rate for FOI requests. Waverley Borough Council has stopped using COVID as a reason for non-compliance with FOI statutory timescales; however, it is noted that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council has been receiving a large amount of FOI requests, coupled with pressures due to staff absences, sickness, and resources.

To ensure the Council improves its FOI compliance record, the Council has recently increased the number of officers working in the FOI Team from 1 to 3 officers; the Council is also working on upscaling the knowledge of the team and officers by arranging refresher training on the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In the last 2 months, the new team have reduced the number of late responses by 80% and they hope to clear all the backlog within the next couple of months. Every member of the public can of course refer their dissatisfaction with the way the Council has handled their FOI request to the Information Commissioner's Office.

2.    Question from Katie Hobson on behalf of CranleighHighStreet.uk team

This question is in relation to the new Cranleigh Leisure Centre and the proposal to build it in the middle of the Village Way car park.

The minutes of the Cranleigh Parish Council AGM on 9^th March 2023, state that Councillor E Townsend spoke about the proposed new leisure centre, in her role as Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development at Waverley Borough Council.

·         When asked ‘will there be a consultation on the location of the new leisure centre?’, Cllr Townsend answered ‘once a consultant has been formerly appointed there will be more information available and a full consultation on its final location.’

·         Cllr Townsend also explained that ‘there will be disruption to parking to begin with but at the conclusion of the project there will not be any  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL109/23

To respond to any questions received from Members of the Council in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.2.

The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday 16 April 2024, any questions received will be published in a Supplement on 17 April 2024.

The following questions were received from members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11:

1.    Councillor Hyman

It is a matter of public record that the March 2023 Revised Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) for Farnham was, as ever, merely a Plan to have a Plan at a future time, specifically stating its reliance upon the awaited details and modelling of the County Highways Authority’s ‘Farnham Infrastructure Programme’ proposals for East Street, Castle Street, West Street and the gyratory system.  

Surrey’s proposals consist of a mixture of roadspace (capacity) removal and partial contraflow sections in The Borough and Downing Street, with accompanying signalisation. Their aim is to discourage car use significantly by significantly increasing congestion, even though the latter increases journey times and fuel usage, increasing air pollution.    

The CHA measures are intended to shift the town centre air pollution problem to less central and more residential roads where current levels are already likely to be, or become, far above the WHO (if not EU) pollution limit levels.   The March Farnham Board papers indicated that the detailed plans and Paramics traffic modelling remain to be completed, despite Surrey Highways having supposedly provided a previous (June 2023) Farnham Board meeting with selected results from that modelling.   We now find that Surrey and Waverley are already relying on that dubious ‘satisfactory modelling’ for supposedly meeting our obligations under planning and air quality legislation.

Will Waverley now please agree to meet our obligations (under Schedule 11 Parts 6-8, Sections 83A, s85A(2) and 85B of the Environment Act 2021), and due process, by requesting and ensuring that SCC publicly demonstrate their ‘2019 Base’ and ‘2025 With-FIP’ Paramics models for Farnham on-screen for scrutiny, along with their assumptions and input and output data, before any related decisions are made and before works commence?    And if not, why not?

Response from Cllr Tony Fairclough, Deputy Leader and Executive Portfolio Holder for Enforcement and Regulatory Services:

I thank Cllr Hyman for his question.

As Cllr Hyman is aware,

Although Waverley is, through the allocation of CIL funding, a supporter of the Farnham Infrastructure Programme and, as such a partner of the programme …

… the ultimate authority and the ultimate responsibility for the Farnham Infrastructure Programme, and the resulting air quality, rests with Surrey Highways.

As a result:

Whilst Waverley may request information, SCC are not obliged to provide it. 

Waverley officers are working with SCC to ensure a full assessment of the air quality impact of all proposed traffic management measures and, to that end, WBC officers are meeting with their SCC counterparts to progress this in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, the SCC Transport Studies Team and Atkins have responded as follows:

The county’s strategic transport model, SINTRAM, was used to estimate demand for the 2025 forecasts of the more detailed Paramics microsimulation models of Farnham, as well as the scheme’s air quality assessment. It was developed in accordance with the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Transport Appraisal Guidance. 

The SINTRAM modelling completed in  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL110/23

The Council is recommended to make the resolution set out in the report at agenda item 8.

Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Policy, Governance and Communications.

The Leader moved the recommendation of the Executive, seconded by Councillor Liz Townsend. There being no debate, the Mayor called upon Members to vote by electronic vote and it was agreed by unanimous vote.

RESOLVED:

That Richard Bates be appointed to the permanent role of Joint Strategic Director of Finance/Section 151 Officer with no objection having been made by either of the two Council Leaders on behalf of their respective Executives.

The Council is recommended to note the New Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2024-32 set out in the report at agenda item 9.

Portfolio Holder for Planning & Regeneration and Economic Development.

112.1   Cllr Liz Townsend introduced the Economic Development Strategy and thanked the Economic Development Team for their hard work completing the Strategy and Action Plan. She explained that following the Council declaring a climate emergency it was recognised that things needed to be done differently by working within social and ecological thresholds. The strategy aimed to create flourishing, sustainable and equal economy. It was highlighted that all four settlements in Waverley had property vacancy rates well below the national average and this had been further supported by providing funding for Business Improvement Districts in these settlements. Officers would continue to meet with these groups along with the more established Chambers of Commerce to assist them in achieving their plans.

112.2   Waverley were working with the UCA on their trailblazing regional initiative Pixel Rise which aimed to create a thriving ecosystem in gaming and to promote creativity, innovation and inclusive inclusivity. Professor Sophie Smith, Director of the School of Games and Creative Technology would be attending the Guilford and Waverly business question time on Monday June 3 hosted and chaired by Professor Amelia Hadfield, Associate Vice President at the University of Surrey.

112.3   The Leader seconded the strategy and asked to reserve his comments till later in the discussion.

112.4   Cllr Murray welcomed the section called Creative Waverley focussing on Farnham and encouraging worldclass artists and professionals to use public and retail space. He also welcomed the aspiration to create an additional thousand jobs over the next five years but highlighted the caution that 45.5% of businesses fail within 5 years. He highlighted the lack of affordable accommodation in Waverley and the risk to businesses as staff cannot afford to live nearby.

112.5   Cllr Williams welcomed the strategy and highlighted the section of the strategy on a thriving and green economy.

112.6   Cllr Martin, Leader of the Principal Opposition Group, felt the section on the donut approach was interesting and highlighted the issues of online shopping and its effects on the high street. He emphasised the increase in coffee shops and the diminishing of pubs and felt the document did not capture the changing face of the high street.  He welcomed the areas on retaining key businesses but emphasised that increasing car parking charges were inconsistent with retaining a good economy.  He also felt acquiring properties and spending public money on them was not the right approach. He welcomed the focus on rural economy and improving the links with these small businesses.

112.7   Cllr Merryweather supported the strategy and emphasised the importance of the document and that it reminded us that as important as the High Street is we must also remember that the health and education sector needed support too.

112.8   Cllr Spence welcomed this paper, particularly the emphasis and priority put on the Green Waverley theme. He highlighted that climate change was the biggest existential threat and impacts everything and everyone. He felt that at a time when the government is rowing back on some of its commitments it  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL112/23

The Council is recommended to make the resolution set out in the report at agenda item 10.

Portfolio Holder for Finance, Assets and Property together with Portfolio Holder for Planning & Regeneration and Economic Development; and Co Portfolio Holder for Housing (Delivery). 

113.1   The Mayor advised that paper copies of the updated report were available on member desks. Cllr Merryweather introduced the report advising that the item flows well from the previous discussion on the Economic Development Strategy. He advised the project was allocated for mixed use development in local plan part two. He explained that the Fairground site was currently used as an informal car park and was popular because parking was free but it was neither a fair or sustainable use of a valuable Council asset.

113.2   Cllr Merryweather was pleased to recommend advancement to the next stage of the project following officers considerable work on viable options. The report presented a case for five options recommending pursuing a mixed use development of a new community hub, retail space, 32 residential homes with a Waverley rent mix of 65% of market rent. The retail element would generate valuable revenue income. Other options included the sale of the residential element to a private developer but this would mean losing control of the design and potentially the affordable housing. He emphasised that the report was the transition from feasibility to design and was not seeking approval to start construction.

113.3   Cllr Fairclough seconded the proposal thanking the team for putting the proposal together. He emphasised this was an exciting and ambitious proposal reflecting many of the council’s stated objectives.

113.4   Cllr Weldon highlighted that the report stated the ward affected was Haslemere West and asked that Haslemere East also be included as, although the Fairground site itself  was in Haslemere West, the other two parts affected were in Haslemere East. He agreed with Cllr Merryweather that the status quo on the site of leaving it as a unmade free parking was not acceptable.

113.5   Cllr Atkins advised that she was in favour of providing affordable housing and was passionate about improving economic development in the area but she questioned the merits of the investment and development projects because of significant cost overruns, overpaying for sites and unevolved business cases. She felt there was a lack of vision in maximizing valuable asset bases and asked how we could be considering spending £280,000 let alone committing £21 million when we were not even at the point of procuring a development partner. She had raised a number of questions during the Fairground briefing which she advised had not yet been answered. These questions included “How a proposed scheme, that costs more than it's worth, even before the inclusion of a development partner, who's clearly not going to do this for free, meets our strategic objectives and can be deemed financially viable?”, “How can we attribute just £6,500 value to an important development site?” and “How we can pre-empt a supermarket scheme with historic data and no economic master plan?”. She highlighted that the Economic Development Strategy had suggested that we lack highly flexible lower cost business space and that we knew we were losing businesses and jobs. She suggested some of the reasons for this  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL113/23

The Council is recommended to make the resolutions set out in the report at agenda item 11.

Co-Portfolio Holder for Housing (Delivery)

114.1   The Chair of the CIL Board asked Cllr Peter Clark to introduce the item.

114.2   Cllr Clark advised that after four years of consultations on numerous proposals and designs he was pleased to have got to this stage.  He explained that the FIP was an unusual project as it was the first time all three tiers of local Authority had worked together in this way.  He advised that the recommendation made by the Executive to Council was not to address any technical aspects of the project but to approve the bid to partially fund the Town Centre improvements in Farnham. He explained that last year £14 million of funding was approved but that funding could only be drawn down once match funding had been secured via strategic contributions from both Waverley and Farnham.

114.3   It was explained that the FIP was formed in 2019 to agree the vision which was supported by three objectives for Farnham. These were: to provide well-connected communities across the town and the surrounding area; support the economic vitality of the town; and thirdly to improve the quality of place with clean air and less dominance of traffic. He explained that Farnham, like other towns in the Borough, had seen significant Housing Development both within the town and the surrounding area with no investment in its infrastructure. In Waverly's Local Plan Farnham had a housing target of over 2,000 additional homes and the NPPF stated local planning authorities should work with other authorities to assess the quality and capacity of the infrastructure and transport. This had not happened.

114.4   Members were advised that the Local Plan was supported by the infrastructure delivery plan which identified an infrastructure requirement for Farnham town centre, funded from a mix of funding from CIL and strategic. This had not happened yet. This lack of investment in Farnham, over many years, had left its road network struggling to cope with the increase in traffic. This has resulted in significant congestion and a severe impact on the town's air quality. Waverly had a legal duty to provide an air quality action plan and the latest one has three priorities - two of which specifically relate to the FIP: To work with Surrey County Council to ensure that the Farnham infrastructure project was agreed and delivered and secondly to report on an annual basis the impact the Farnham Infrastructure Project would make on Waverley's clean air strategy.

114.5   Cllr Clark recommended that members give the green light to this recommendation.

114.6   Cllr Beaman welcomed the Executive Working Group’s recommendation. He explained that there had been many studies which had put forward proposals to resolve Farnham’s traffic problems but to date none had been implemented. He highlighted that the geographical and historical restraints restricted what could be done without materially affecting the character of the town. Whilst the ultimate answer would be a western relief road to allow the town centre to be pedestrianised it was recognized that this would generate even greater  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL114/23

The Standards and General Purposes Committee recommend that Council resolve to approve the recommendations set out at agenda item 12.

Chairman of Standards and General Purposes Committee.

115.1   The Mayor asked the Chair of the Standards and General Purpose Committee to introduce the recommendation.

115.2   Cllr Macleod proposed that the Council adopt the new Council Procedure Rules set out. It was outlined that the new rules were part of a major work programme carried out by the Strategic Director of Legal and Democratic Services and her team to update the Constitution and procedures and align them where possible with Guildford Borough Council’s constitution. He thanked the members of the Guildford and Waverley Joint Constitution Review Group for their hard work and dedication in looking at these matters. Guildford’s Council considered these proposals and agreed them.

115.3   The Leader advised that on behalf of the Executive they fully support this and thank everyone involved for the massive amount of work done.

115.4   Cllr Martin advised that in the detailed constitution talks about the annual budget meeting it said the Leader had an unlimited amount of time to propose his budget and the leader of the opposition had 10 minutes. The rules as we have them at the moment sweep that away which raised concern that a time limit would not give time for such a sufficient and important process. With that outlined Cllr Martin advised he was happy to support the motion.

115.5   Cllr Ken Reed commended procedure rule 11.4.

115.6   Cllr Ward advised that he welcomed rule 11 on page 379 as questions often take a large amount of time to read out. He questioned item 9 quorum and the last paragraph stating business deferred from that meeting will be discussed at the next meeting be that ordinary, extraordinary or special. Cllr Ward advised that this was raised at the Standards and General Purpose meeting as business that was not listed as things we could discuss at extraordinary and special meetings.

115.7   The Mayor thanked Cllr Ward for raising the point and advised that paragraph 1.8 of the report did actually highlight the three amendments that were supported by the Standards Committee and the recommendation was that these rules are adopted with those three amendments as proposed in the report.

115.8 Cllr Macleod thanked members for their input.

The Mayor moved to the vote and Council voted unanimously

RESOLVED:

Council approves to adopt the new Council Procedure Rules, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report, into the Constitution.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15.3, the Leader of the Council shall report that oneSpecial Urgency decision was made pursuant to Article 14.2 in the preceding three month period.

15 February 2024 – Decision of the Leader of the Council to: Purchase a Residential Property in Farnham

Decision - Special Urgency Decision - Purchase of a Residential Property in Farnham - Waverley Borough Council

116.1   The Leader advised, that as part of his constitutional obligation, he would report to Council to note that on the 15^th of February 2024 he made a special urgency decision pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 142 to purchase a residential property in Farnham. Cllr Martin, as Chair of the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee, was duly consulted and agreed as the decision was urgent because further delay may have caused the vendor to withdraw.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14.2 (i), the Monitoring Officer corrected an transcription error in the Officer Scheme of Delegation to the Executive Head of Regulatory Services on 7 February 2024.

117.1   The Mayor invited the Strategic Director of Legal and Democratic Services (Monitoring Officer) to introduce the item.

117.2   She advised that part of her constitutional duty was that article 14.2 provided her with the authority to make minor amendments to the Constitution and ask Council to note them. She advised that, on 7th of February 2024, in consultation with the Executive Head of Regulatory Services, a transcription error had been corrected in section Q1 of the Officer Scheme of Delegation to the Executive Head of Regulatory Services to reinstate Provisions that had not been copied across in July following the joint management restructure of the preceding year.  This correctly reinstated the provisions that had been omitted.

The Council duly noted the corrected transcription error in the Offer Scheme of Delegation to the Executive Head of Regulatory Services.

No Motions were submitted in accordance with Procedure Rule 12.1 by the deadline for receipt of motions: 5pm on Thursday 11 April 2024.

No motions were submitted in accordance with Procedure Rule 12.1 by the deadline.

To receive and note the Minutes of the Executive meetings held on 9 January 2024, 6 February 2024, and 5 March 2024.

The Mayor moved the recommendation that the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 9 January 2024, 6 February 2024 and 5 March 2024 be received and noted.

RESOLVED to receive and note the Minutes of the of the Executive held on 9 January 2024, 6 February 2024 and 5 March 2024.

To receive and note the Minutes of the Standards and General Purposes Committee meeting held on 8 January 2024.

The Mayor moved the recommendation that the Minutes of the Standards and General-Purpose Committee meetings held on 8 January 2024, be received and noted.

RESOLVED to receive and note the Minutes of the Standards and General Purposes Committee 8 January 2024.