Agenda, decisions and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 September 2022.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 September 2022 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

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 declarations of interest raised under this heading.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from members of the public for which notice has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday 27 September 2022.

The Executive received the following question in accordance with Procedure Rule 10:

Received from Gary Struppe of Godalming:

“As a long term resident of Godalming I was horrified to hear of the Council’s plans to build housing on the Crown Court car park, a cornerstone of the central high street, and construct some replacement multi-storey parking on the Burys site. I should like to ask the Executive:

1.    Why, given this is a major proposal for our community, the Council initially planned for only a limited consultation during the busy summer holiday period and designed a questionnaire that deliberately excluded those people wanting to object.  In particular, why were these people unable to opine they did not want any housing to be built on Crown court nor given the chance to express that view?

2.    When and how does the Council intend to analyse and subsequently present to members of the public the feedback received from the questionnaire and will the Executive please give a clear assurance that this analysis will include the views of the many people I know who have written directly to the designated consultation email address with their views as the questionnaire did not give them a chance to adequately express their opinions?

3.    Will the council provide a commitment and undertaking that it will halt its plans for building housing on Crown Court and for constructing a multi storey car park if the majority of questionnaire, email and other respondents disagree with these proposals?”

Response from Cllr Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Assets:

“Can I firstly thank Mr Struppe for a very timely question and recall, especially for our non-Godalming members, that the concept of building some housing on Godalming’s Crown Court car park is only one of several possible elements that have been identified and studied over many years, by us and our predecessors, as part of a potential package of measures that’s capable of resolving the significant pressures we face with our inefficient, indeed wasteful office building:  something that we can’t afford to ignore.

It’s actually been quite remarkable how many residents are able to remember the cottages that were on the Crown Court car park site for decades up until the 1960s but be that as it may we’ve started with the assumption that most residents are used to the car park as it is now, and we’ve worked on that basis.

We’re a financially and environmentally responsible Council and the housing we’re contemplating would only be for low density, sustainable homes developed by us, and for us to rent at affordable and ethical rates on both the Crown Court and Wharf Road car parks.  They would still have to be viable enough to contribute desperately needed recurring revenue income that would not only help pay for the homes themselves but also contribute to a refurbishment of the Council offices that we think could both save hundreds of thousands of pounds in costs that the offices currently waste  ...  view the full minutes text for item EXE 37/22

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday 27 September 2022.

There were no questions from councillors.

The Leader and Portfolio Holders gave brief updates on current issues not reported elsewhere on the agenda:

·         The Leader thanked the Officers who were managing the engagement events in Godalming High Street on the Central Godalming Regeneration Project. They had met a lot of residents and answered many questions, and it had been very valuable engagement which would continue through this month.

·         The Leader also thanked the team of Officers who were dealing with Ukrainian refugees and guests. He had attended the session in Milford the previous evening for Godalming and villages, which followed on from sessions in Cranleigh, Farnham and Haslemere. There had been around 50-60 refugees and hosts present, and officers had dealt with a variety of questions. The Leader particularly thanked the gentleman who since the Cranleigh meeting had volunteered to do all of the translating and who had attended all the following sessions.

·         Cllr Clark provided an update on the new Citizen Hub which marked a major step forward in customer service improvements. The Hub would create a ‘golden customer record’ and enable the council to link customer records to cases they raise and improve the quality of response that officers are able to provide. Cllr Clark had also received a demonstration of the new in-house digital customer complaints management database. This would integrate with the Citizen Hub and enable improved record-keeping in managing and resolving complaints.

·         Cllr MacLeod reported that improvements to the South Street car park in Farnham were ongoing. Crest Nicholson were still looking for new anchor tenants for Brightwells to replace M&S. The opening date was now likely to be the middle of 2023. Crest Nicholson had also recently invited the Community Liaison Group on a site visit, which Cllr MacLeod had attended. He was pleased to report that they had been impressed with the quality of the build that they saw.

·         Cllr MacLeod had also met this week with the newly appointed Joint Executive Head of Regulatory Services for Guildford and Waverley, Richard Homewood, who would be managing most of the councils’ environmental enforcement activities. Mr Homewood had previously been exploring ways to improve the efficiency of environmental enforcement across different service teams within Waverley, and he was now exploring at how to extend this to Guildford in order to maximise the efficiencies across both councils.

·         Cllr Marriott reported on work to implement the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, and noted the input from the Corporate Equalities Group on behalf of Waverley staff. One event had been held for councillors which had produced lively discussion and it was planned to hold more meetings in order to expand the councillor input to the Policy. There was a strong commitment to making Waverley an organisation where the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion were upheld in every part of the system.

·         Cllr Merryweather had previously commented on the impacts of government policy on the Council’s finances, and on the ability to take steps to respond, but the priority was the impact on  ...  view the full minutes text for item EXE 39/22

To follow.

The Leader introduced the recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committees meetings which had been held in September. The Executive had discussed the recommendations at their informal meeting, and thanked the Cllr Deanus and Cllr Peter Marriott for attending and for their contributions.

The Leader addressed the recommendations as follows:

R22-09-27-11               Accepted. The Executive agreed that it was always possible to improve performance on complaint response times, and the Leader hoped that O&S would work with the Executive in suggesting how this might be achieved.

R22-09-27-14               Accepted. The Joint Executive Head of Finance would provide an update to O&S and the Executive on proposals for Wey Court East.

S22-09-20-22(a)           Partially accepted. The priority of items in the action plan was a function of the size of the carbon footprint and the ability of the council to make an impact. Housing was an area where the council wanted to do more and the Leader expected that the priority would change following the review of the HRA Business Plan and it was clearer what there was capacity to do.

S22-09-20-22(b)           Accepted. A checklist was in a final draft form and would be circulated shortly.

S22-09-20-22(c)           Accepted. The Cost of Living Working Group will input to the action plan, but broadly agree.

S22-09-20-22(d)           Accepted. Subsequent versions should be mindful of accessibility and navigation in different formats.

S22-09-20-23                Noted that the recommendations of the Task & Finish Group had been incorporated into the draft contract documents. It was agreed that all members would be updated on the progress of the tender process.

Background Papers

Unless specified under an individual item, there are no background papers (as defined by Section 100D(5) of the Local Government Act 1972) relating to the reports in Part I of these minutes.

The purpose of this report is to seek the Executive’s approval of the Climate Change and Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), and that it is recommended to Full Council for formal adoption as a material planning consideration.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Executive recommends to the Council that the Climate Change and Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) be adopted, and that the Council subsequently adopts the SPD.

RESOLVED that

1)         the Joint Strategic Director for Place in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development review and amend any typographical errors and other non-substantive elements of the document that need correcting; and

2)         the Executive recommends to Council that the Climate Change and Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) be approved, and adopted as a material planning consideration.

Reason: The SPD provides further guidance on the implementation of Local Plan Part 1 (LPP1) policies relevant to climate change and sustainability and will form part of the Council’s response to the climate emergency and will become a material planning consideration. It will enable the Council to influence new development across the Borough so that it is sustainable and responds to the challenges of, and mitigates against, climate change.

This recommendation follows a statutory public consultation on the SPD undertaken in accordance with Regulation 13 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (“the Regulations”). The final SPD has been amended in response to comments raised through the public consultation.

[This matter is recommended to Council for decision and is not subject to the call-in procedure]

Cllr Townsend introduced the report which presented the new Climate Change and Sustainability supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and recommended that it be submitted to Council for adoption.

Cllr Hyman was in remote attendance, having registered to speak in accordance with Procedure Rule 23. He noted that the document contained a number of typographical errors which needed to be corrected, and outlined his objections to the SPD on the basis that, in his opinion, the Council was not in compliance with the Habitats Regulations. The Leader and Cllr Townsend noted Cllr Hyman’s objections but reminded him that the Council had obtained multiple legal opinions over the years that confirmed that the Council’s approach was legal and correct.

RESOLVED that

1)         the Joint Strategic Director for Place in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development review and amend any typographical errors and other non-substantive elements of the document that need correcting; and

2)         the Executive recommends to Council that the Climate Change and Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) be approved, and adopted as a material planning consideration.

Reason: The SPD provides further guidance on the implementation of Local Plan Part 1 (LPP1) policies relevant to climate change and sustainability and will form part of the Council’s response to the climate emergency and will become a material planning consideration. It will enable the Council to influence new development across the Borough so that it is sustainable and responds to the challenges of, and mitigates against, climate change.

This recommendation follows a statutory public consultation on the SPD undertaken in accordance with Regulation 13 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (“the Regulations”). The final SPD has been amended in response to comments raised through the public consultation.

The background papers relating to the following items are as set out in the reports included in the original agenda papers.

This reports provides the second annual update of the Carbon Neutrality Action Plan (CNAP) since its adoption in 2020. This is 8 months since the previous update presented in February 2022. The date has been brought forward in order for it to be aligned with the budget setting period. The outcomes of the work to date are set out in the revised CNAP and the spreadsheet with updates on individual actions. 

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Executive:

a.     Notes the progress made on the CNAP during 2022 attached in Annexe 1

b.    Note the GHG report attached in Annexe 2 and agree that it is published on the Waverley Borough Council website

c.     Endorses the updated content of version 3 of the CNAP as presented in Annexe 3

RESOLVED that:

1)         progress made on the CNAP during 2022, as shown in Annexe 1 to the agenda report, is noted;

2)         the GHG report attached at Annexe 2 to the agenda report, is noted, and the report is published on the Waverley Borough Council website;

3)         the updated content of version 3 of the CNAP, as presented in Annexe 3 to the agenda report, is endorsed; and,

4)         the observations and recommendations of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 20 September 2022 in relation to the CNAP are noted.

Reason: To ensure that the Executive is up to date with the council’s progress on its response to the Climate Emergency and to request support on the direction of travel over the next year.

[This report has already been considered by the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee]

Cllr Williams introduced the second annual update of the Carbon Neutrality Action Plan (CNAP) since its adoption in 2020. The report outlined progress on actions, and it was noted that the Action Plan had been revised to reflect progress and new actions identified to enable the Council to achieve its target of becoming a net zero carbon authority by 2030.

The report also detailed Waverley’s organisational Greenhouse Gas emissions in 2021/22, which at 3,500 tonnes CO₂ which was a 34% reduction compared to the baseline year of 2015/16.

RESOLVED that:

1)         progress made on the CNAP during 2022, as shown in Annexe 1 to the agenda report, is noted;

2)         the GHG report attached at Annexe 2 to the agenda report, is noted, and the report is published on the Waverley Borough Council website;

3)         the updated content of version 3 of the CNAP, as presented in Annexe 3 to the agenda report, is endorsed; and,

4)         the observations and recommendations of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 20 September 2022 in relation to the CNAP are noted.

Reason: To ensure that the Executive is up to date with the council’s progress on its response to the Climate Emergency and to request support on the direction of travel over the next year.

This report is to update Members on progress made since the 3 March 2022 and request budget to move to the next stage of the project which is to run a procurement for a development partner.

Recommendation

It is recommended that Executive approve:

·         a budget of £125,000, to be met from the Property Investment Reserve, to put funds in place to see the project through stages 3 and 4 as detailed in the revised timeline below and to allow the feasibility work detailed in exempt annexe 1.

RESOLVED to approve a budget of £125,000 to be met from the Property Investment Reserve, to put funds in place to see the project through stages 3 and 4 as detailed in the revised timeline and to allow the feasibility work detailed in Exempt Annexe 1 to the agenda report.

Reason: Following the Executive approval in March 2022, officers have been working with external property advisers, Montagu Evans, on progressing the project with the focus on a mixed-use housing and supermarket provision in support of the Local Plan Part 2.

[Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee]

Cllr Merryweather presented the report which set out progress on the project to date, and requested a budget to move to the next stages of procuring a development partner.

Cllr Hyman was in remote attendance, having registered to speak in accordance with Procedure Rule 23. Cllr Hyman outlined his objection to spending more money on this project without having first resolved the issue that, in his opinion, the Council was not in compliance with the Habitats Regulations. The Leader referred Cllr Hyman to his comments earlier in the meeting regarding the legal assurances the Council has received regarding its approach to the Habitats Regulations.

RESOLVED to approve a budget of £125,000 to be met from the Property Investment Reserve, to put funds in place to see the project through stages 3 and 4 as detailed in the revised timeline and to allow the feasibility work detailed in Exempt Annexe 1 to the agenda report.

Reason: Following the Executive approval in March 2022, officers have been working with external property advisers, Montagu Evans, on progressing the project with the focus on a mixed-use housing and supermarket provision in support of the Local Plan Part 2.