Agenda, decisions and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 October 2023 as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 October 2023 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.

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 24 October 2023.

There were no questions from members of the public.

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 24 October 2023.

There were no questions from Members of the Council.

76.1    Cllr Clark,  Deputy Leader & Portfolio Holder for Customer Services, Business Transformation and IT updated Members on progress toward the Council’s ambition for electronic access to meeting papers. It was pleasing that 40 of the 50 Councillors now accessed their papers electronically either on a Council provided device or on their own device. It was also accepted and understood that there were good reasons for some Members to continue to request paper copies of agendas. The paperless approach was a cash saving of £20,000 per annum, and a contribution toward the Council’s ambition to be carbon neutral.  

76.2    Councillor Kiehl, Portfolio Holder for Organisational Development and Governance advised that the Executives of Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council had met informally the evening before to reaffirm support for the partnership Vision between the two Councils and to receive a Financial update. Members were united in supporting the collaboration as had been demonstrated in the recent Council Motion debates. The Joint Governance Committee and the Joint Constitution Review Group would meet in November to consider matters within their respective terms of reference. 

76.3    Councillor Townsend, Portfolio Holder for Planning & Regeneration and Economic Development was pleased to report that the Planning Service had continued to improve and the performance measure for Major applications was now 20% above the 70% threshold set by the government.  Similarly, appeals performance had improved and was below the 10% threshold set by the government. Thanks were conveyed to Officers for their hard work.

76.4    Councillor Townsend was looking forward to the opening of the Godalming and Farnham BID ballots during the week; and as Chair of Waverley Training Services (WTS) invited Members to visit Farnham Memorial Hall to see the work of WTS.

76.5    Councillor Williams,  Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability announced that an engagement process would take place including with Farnham Town Councillors regarding a proposal to install a solar canopy on the Upper Hart Car Park. A bid to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme would be made to seek support for the decarbonisation of Leisure Centres. Farnham Leisure Centre represented a significant challenge as the roof would have to be replaced before a solar installation could be considered.

76.6    The Leader voiced his appreciation for the hard work that Guildford Borough Council and its Leader were doing to tackle their financial challenges, and was pleased that both Executives had met informally the previous evening.

There were no recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committees - Services meeting held on 22 September 2023. 

77.1    The Leader noted that no recommendations had been made from the last meeting of the Services Committee, but that matters had instead been raised at the last meeting of Council. The Leader would register to speak at both forthcoming Committees to emphasise the importance of timely scrutiny in good governance.

Recommendation that the Executive:

(i)        Approves that the contract in respect of the Council’s Regulatory Services IT Management System be awarded to the preferred supplier;

(ii)       Approves that the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules in respect of tendering be waived in respect of this procurement;

(iii)      Approves that authority to spend the funding allocated to this IT system replacement in the 2023/24 capital programme be granted;

(iv)      Approves that authority be delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services, in consultation with the Joint Executive Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to complete and execute the necessary contractual documents.

     I.        That the contract in respect of the Council’s Regulatory Services IT Management System be awarded to Idox;

    II.        That the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules in respect of tendering be waived in respect of this procurement;

  III.        That authority to spend the funding allocated to this IT system replacement in the 2023/24 capital programme be granted;

  IV.        That authority be delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services, in consultation with the Joint Executive Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to complete and execute the necessary contractual documents.

78.1    Councillor Clark introduced the report and explained that Guildford Borough Council had fully implemented the preferred supplier’s software for Regulatory Services. Given the limited market availability of the type of software, the ongoing successful implementation of the preferred supplier by Guildford, the level of support offered by the preferred supplier and looking ahead to future collaboration opportunities, the project team were of the view that it was opportune to utilise the same software system as Guildford. Consideration had been given to the cost per user, data security, maintenance fees and future service harmonisation. Councillor Fairclough spoke in endorsement of the proposal as a demonstration of the benefits of collaboration for both Councils. 

There being no further discussion the Executive RESOLVED that:

1.    The contract in respect of the Council’s Regulatory Services IT Management System be awarded to Idox

2.    The Council’s Contract Procedure Rules in respect of tendering be waived in respect of the procurement

3.    Authority to spend the funding allocated to the IT system replacement in the 2023/24 capital programme be granted

4.    Authority be delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services, in consultation with the Joint Executive Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to complete and execute the necessary contractual documents.

Reasons:

             I.        To take advantage of the offer of significant free support for data migration elements of the implementation of the new system, and align systems with Guildford Borough Council to facilitate future collaboration.

            II.        To enable the procurement of the new system to proceed.

To consider the following recommendation on the motion of the Chairman:

Recommendation

That, pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 andin accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Executive agrees:

1.    that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following matter on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100I of the Act) of the description specified in Paragraph 1 of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972; and

2.    that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

79.1    The Leader moved, with the assent of the Executive, that, pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 andin accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it be agreed:

1.    that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the matter on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100I of the Act) of the description specified in Paragraph 1 of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972; and

2.    that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Recommendation

That the Executive approve the recommendations set out in the Exempt report.

The Executive approve the recommendations set out in the Exempt report.

The Executive RESOLVED to approve the recommendations set out in the Exempt report.

Reasons:

As set out in the Exempt Report.