Agenda and minutes

The Mayor to report apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Atkins, Crowe, Keen, Macleod and Wicks.

To confirm the Minutes of the Ordinary Council meeting held on 18 July 2023, together with the Minutes of the Extraordinary Council meetings held on 29 August 2023.

Subject to two amendments:

      i.         paragraph 21.3 of the minutes of 18 July £138 should read £138 million;

    ii.         only Councillor Goodridge should be attributed with the comments at minute 42.7 of 29 August, not Cllr Murray as well.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of 18 July 2023 together with the Extraordinary Meetings held on 29 August 2023 be confirmed and signed.

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.

45.1    Councillors Morrison and Liz Townsend declared an interest in agenda item 8 as Cranleigh Parish Councillors. Councillors Morrison and Austin declared interests in the same item as users of the leisure centre.  

45.2    The Joint Chief Executive declared an interest on behalf of the Joint Management Team as employees of Waverley and Guildford Borough Councils, and advised that the Joint Management Team would not be present for the duration of Item 12. 

46.1    The Mayor thanked those that had attended the fundraising concert at Chart House; and was looking forward to the Mayor’s Christmas Carol Service scheduled for 10 December; and the Mayors’ quiz night on 9 February.

46.2    The Mayor then made the following statement: “Waverley Borough Council condemns the appalling attacks on Israel by Hamas. Residents across our borough have been shocked and upset by the senseless loss of life. Our thoughts are with the innocent and vulnerable people caught up in these tragic events. We stand against all aggression and acts of terror, and we ask for calm and understanding at this time. We respect everyone - those of faith and those of none. Local government is based on the fundamental principle that communities are stronger when they support each other. We stand for justice and peace, shalom, salaam.”

46.3    At the invitation of the Mayor, those present stood for one-minute in silent reflection.

47.1    Mindful of the business on the agenda, the Leader stated that he had no announcements to make; however, he called upon the Portfolio Holder for Planning & Regeneration and Economic Development to update the Council. Councillor Liz Townsend thanked the planning team for the improvement in planning services. Non-major applications performance in the most recent quarter was 97%, which was significantly greater than the 70% threshold set by the government, accordingly, the Council had received confirmation that it not been designated by the Secretary of State.

47.2    Councillor Townsend continued by wishing every success to the Business Improvement District ballots in Godalming and Farnham that were underway and was looking forward to the results which would be declared on 1 November.

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 10 October 2023.

There were none.

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 10 October 2023.

49.1    Councillor Austin had given notice of a question to be put to the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development in accordance with procedure rule 11: “Waverley Borough Council recently disclosed that it is the third worst performing Council in the country for staff turnover in its planning department. The national average for District and Borough Councils is 16%. Waverley's planning team currently has a staff turnover of 47%. Our partner Guildford Borough Council follows close behind at 40%. Would the Planning Portfolio Holder please advise of the actions being taken to improve the staff turnover issue and also confirm the current numbers of interim/agency staff versus full time members of staff in the Waverley Planning team?”

49.2    Councillor Liz Townsend responded: “I'd like to thank Councillor Austin for her question which highlights a national crisis in planning officer retention and recruitment across the country the politically independent Local Government Chronicle who reported this information last year received replies from 276 councils and amongst those who responded only one in 10 Council planning departments were fully staffed and a quarter had a staff turnover rate of 20% or more.

49.3    London and the home counties were reported to be the worst affected as Waverley has one of the highest housing costs outside of London it is also not difficult to see that this could be a barrier to attracting planning officers whose skills are easily transferable our figures which include the high turnover of contract staff could be seen as having a distorting effect on our final figure it is also difficult to draw too many parallels across the councils who responded without inspecting the source data to ensure that permanent and contractor staff were given equal weight when calculating total turnover figures the article quoted reasons for the difficulty in attracting planning officers quoting the combination of low numbers of new entrance to the planning profession and the loss of many older highly skilled professionals through retirement or moves to employment within other sectors or fields from our experience private sector salaries can exceed those afforded by the public sector and these major factors remain difficult for the council to counterbalance.

49.4    However, in anticipation of a continued recruitment issues you'll be aware that this administration secured an additional budget of £350,000 to fund a series of initiatives to improve the planning service some of these measures are aimed at recruitment campaigns in addition to improving planning officer roles and enhancing fulfilment levels and creating a more positive environment.

49.5    In the meantime given the national crisis around the shortage of planners and competition for candidates between the public and private sectors, the Council like many other councils across the country expects turnover to remain high and in the interim period to rely on temporarily covering vacant posts with able and experienced contractors whilst we run our recruitment campaign for permanent positions and investigate potential apprenticeship opportunities and in answer to council Austin's final question there are  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL49/23

The Executive recommends that Council approves: 

1.    That a revised capital budget of £31,137,252, as shown in the financial viability assessment at Exempt Annexe 1, be agreed and allocated to deliver a new-build Cranleigh Leisure Centre.

50.1    Councillor Liz Townsend introduced the report and thanked Officers accordingly. The proposal was supported by a viable business case and was aligned with the Corporate Strategy which included improving the health and well-being of residents together with supporting a strong resilient local economy, and a serious commitment to be a carbon neutral Council by 2030. Architects GT3 had led the successful St Sidwell’s Point Passivhaus development for Exeter City Council and subsequently had been engaged by Waverley.

50.2    All Councillors had been invited to be briefed on Passivhaus by consultants, and those that attended had heard the projected significant long-term energy consumption benefits of potentially up to a 70% saving. The Council had taken a cautious approach in its projections and had included a 50% saving in its proposal.  The report showed a significant increase in budget required to progress to the next detailed design stage and Councillors could be assured that the procurement process would fix costs where appropriate and beneficial to the Council.

50.3    It was difficult to compare the initial capital budget agreed in December 2021 with the current proposal. The December 2021 proposal had been based on a traditional build leisure centre. Since then, costs had been negatively impacted by inflationary pressures and the effect of the mini budget in 2022 saw inflation rise to 10.1%. This had caused the cost of materials and associated fees to increase. The revised capital budget of £31.1 million was shown in the exempt Annexe with the use of £18 million capital receipts, section 106 contributions and internal borrowing of approximately £11 million. Greater borrowing costs of up to £18 million had been fully considered against the impact on the Council’s treasury management and the proposal was still within the limit set by the Council in its Treasury Management Strategy.

50.4    Councillor Liz Townsend summarised that the proposal represented a significant opportunity to future-proof the leisure centre in Cranleigh, to build an exemplar accessible low energy and low carbon building, and to continue to provide much needed and valued health and well-being services to residents.

50.5    Councillor Austin spoke against the proposal due to the 50% cost increase on the 2021 feasibility study.  Councillors had been given little information upon which to base their decision and no alternative options had been presented. The report appeared to cite the achievement of Passivhaus certification as the reasoning for the budget increase. Councillor Austin illustrated that the original £20m budget plus actual build cost inflation over the period would be £23m. The additional £8m requested in the proposal before Members could not be accounted for. Councillor Austin had requested details of an alternative option from Officers and had been provided details of a less expensive alternative which provided carbon reduction not far off Passivhaus, with a shorter payback period than the many decades planned in the Passivhaus proposal. Councillor Austin was concerned that the specification could continue to change and consequently, the budget could increase, 

50.6    Councillor Goodridge was concerned that  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL50/23

The Audit and Risk committee recommends that Council adopt the updated Financial Regulations.

51.1    Councillor Spence moved the recommendation, seconded by Councillor K.Reed. Councillor Spence highlighted the increase to the supplementary estimate limit which had not been reviewed for some time. An uplift to £250,000 was needed to allow for the smooth and efficient running of the Council.

51.2    Council Goodridge spoke against the recommendation as the increase in the supplementary estimate limit would increase risk and reduce transparency, and urged that a smaller increase be considered instead.

51.3    The Leader stated that it had been agreed that any spend in excess of the original £100,000 would be communicated to both the Audit & Risk Committee and to the Executive.

The Mayor moved to a vote and it was RESOLVED that

1.    The financial regulations be approved and adopted.

The Licensing and Regulatory Committee recommend to Council that the Statement of Licensing Policy 2023-2028 be approved.

52.1    Councillor Murray moved the recommendation, seconded by Councillor Ward. There being no speakers, the Mayor moved to the vote and it was RESOLVED that:

1.    the Statement of Licensing Policy 2023-2028 be approved.

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

21 September 2023 – Decision of the Leader of the Council to: Award a Software Contract for Payroll and HR Administration.

Leader's decision on Thursday, 21st September, 2023

53.1    The Leader reported in accordance with Council procedure rule 15.3 that one special urgency decision had been made on 21 September 2023, to award a software contract for payroll and HR Administration. Councillor Martin had duly agreed in his role as Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Resources that the decision was urgent for the following summary reasons:

1)    the existing software contract for payroll and HR Administration expired on the 30th of September 2023

2)    the unanticipated expiry of the preferred procurement framework agreement

3)    delays in the provision of information from the contractor; and

4)    approval was required before the expiration of the contract and could not be reasonably deferred.

To consider one motion submitted in accordance with Procedure Rule 12.1:

Collaboration Arrangements with Guildford Borough Council

The deadline for receipt of motions was 5pm on Thursday 5 October 2023. 

54.1    Councillor Martin introduced the Motion submitted by himself, together with Councillors Cockburn and Goodridge. Cllr Martin stated that opposition groups at Waverley and Guildford Borough Councils voted against the collaboration or ‘merger’ at every opportunity and particularly at three Council meetings in July and August 2021 and April 2022. His view was that the governance structure was flawed, the idea of a single administration responsible to two entirely separate councils and political entities was questionable. It was poor even when the two bodies had similar political ideals and would be disastrous at some point in the future when that would not be so. The Business Case had never been clearly laid out, the idea was that each senior management post would be merged with each Joint Executive Head being paid more, but a saving would be generated because of the halving of the posts. Each Authority then had 16 halves of a senior executive working for it. No criticism of staff was meant but the Council was asking too much of them. The theory was that the bigger joint positions would be more attractive and would be easily filled. Reality showed that the Council had instead employed and lost two Section 151 Officers, three Executive Heads of Planning and were now looking for a second Joint Chief Executive in a short period of time.

54.2    Councillor Martin stated his opinion that collaboration savings were less than planned and the negative impact on service levels to members of the public and on staff morale was clear. The Council had an interim Section 151 Officer but had not yet been able to find a permanent replacement. There had been significant resignations, large numbers of interim and agency staff and high staff turnover. Waverley had found itself allied with a failing Council in Guildford which was in financial difficulty and had recently avoided a Section 114 Notice. There were accounting and financial irregularities at Guildford centred around the housing maintenance contract, which the press had asserted amounted to many millions of pounds. Joint Senior Management time was drawn to the Council where the problems were, to the detriment of the other Council.  The Collaboration Risk Register included joint risks 5, 8, 11 and 13 which were all red. The governance structure was not fit for purpose, it was ‘a merger by the back door’ and should be terminated.

54.3    Councillor Goodridge seconded the motion and spoke about his concern that no risk assessment had been made when the decision was taken. Subsequent risk assessments had been created and were regularly reviewed with the intention to reduce red to amber and from amber to green. The most recent report showed officers were recommending that some of the ambers should now be turned to red. The unavailability of Guildford Members to attend the scheduled Joint Governance Committee led to the Committee being adjourned without any consideration of business.

54.5    The Leader countered that the Motion was irresponsible, and objected to the use of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item CNL54/23

To receive and note the approved Minutes of the Executive meetings held on 1 August, 2023 and 5 September 2023.

Councillor Austin had submitted a question to the Portfolio Holder for Organisational Development and Governance in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.8 in relation to the Executive Minutes of 5 September 2023. Councillor Austin read her question “the resolutions of the minutes are unclear about the shared staffing arrangements please could the leader or an appropriate member confirm what you have actually agreed to. One, for a temporary delegation of the shared staffing arrangements of an up to unlimited number of staff, if so, what is the timeframe for that temporary delegation? Or, two, for this delegated authority to be permanent for an up to unlimited number of individual staff members to be shared for a designated time period?”

Councillor Kiehl responded accordingly “thank you Councillor Austin for your question on minute 43/23 from the Executive meeting on 5 September 2023.  To provide some clarity the delegation is not intended to be temporary however delegations can be amended in future if necessary. It is a permanent delegation to the Head of Paid Service to consider sharing staff with Guildford Borough Council on a temporary arrangement which may include temporary circumstances there is no limit to the number of such arrangements that the Head of Paid Service may authorise. It is likely that the Head of Paid Service will keep such arrangements under regular review and that they would be for a maximum of two years to prevent employment rights being gained. It is anticipated that both councils may have made more permanent decisions by the about the sharing of Staff before such temporary arrangements expire, the purpose of the decision is to enable opportunities to be realised where they arise whilst both councils consider further options around collaboration and more permanent decisions.”

On the recommendation of the Mayor, Council RESOLVED to receive and note the Minutes of the Meetings of the Executive held on 1 August 2023 and 5 September 2023.