Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and note any substitutions.

Members who are unable to attend this meeting must submit apologies by the end of Wednesday 7 July 2021 to enable a substitute to be arranged, if applicable.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Joan Heagin and Brian Adams.

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

There were no declarations of interests in connection with items on the agenda.

It was noted that most members of the committee had discussed and voted on a related matter at the Council meeting on 6 July 2021.

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

Recommendation

That pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 and in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items 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 items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100I of the Act) of the description specified in the appropriate paragraph(s) of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (to be specified at the meeting).

At 7.05pm, the Committee RESOLVED that, pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 and in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the grounds that it was likely, in view of 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) as specified in paragraph 3 of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, namely: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

On 22 June 2021 the Executive approved the recommendation set out in the report “Property Matter”.

On 30 June 2021, a call in of that decision was received from Councillors Stephen Mulliner, Simon Dear, John Gray and Peter Martin, who are members or substitute members of the Overview and Scrutiny Value For Money and Customer Service Committee. 

Whilst in Exempt session, the Committee heard a detailed presentation from Cllr Stephen Mulliner on the reasons for the call-in of the Executive decision of 22 June (EXE 8/21); received information from witnesses: Cllr Paul Follows, Leader of the Council; Cllr Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Assets and Commercial Services; Graeme Clark, Strategic Director and S151 Officer; and Peter Vickers, Head of Finance and Property.

At 9.15pm, the Committee returned to Open session and confirmed that the Committee had RESOLVED:

(i)            not to refer the Executive’s decision back to the Executive for reconsideration; and

(ii)           to recommend to the Executive that highly complex decisions (as exemplified by the matter under discussion) are communicated thoroughly to all Members, and are the subject of interactive Member briefings and discussion at an early stage in the decision-making process, and are subject to formal pre-decision scrutiny by Overview & Scrutiny and/or Audit Committee.