Agenda and minutes

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 21 March 2022 and published on the Council’s website. 

The Minutes of the meeting of the Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 21 March 2022 and published on the Council’s website were agreed as a correct record.

To receive apologies for absence and note substitutions.

Members who are unable to attend this meeting must submit apologies by the end of Tuesday 14 June 2022 to enable a substitute to be arranged, if applicable.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Ruth Reed and Michaela Wicks, Cllr Joan Heagin attended as substitute.

To receive from 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.

There were no declarations of interest submitted for this meeting.

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

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is Tuesday 14 June 2022.

There were no questions submitted by members.

The Chairman to respond to any questions submitted by members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is Tuesday 14 June 2022.

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There were no questions submitted by members of the public.

The Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee is responsible for managing the Committee’s work programme.

Recommendation

Members are invited to consider their work programme and make any comments and/or amendments they consider necessary, including suggestions for any additional topics that the Committee may wish to add to its work programme.

The Committee Forward Work Programme was noted.

The Committee asked that the item ASB PSPO Update could include information on impact on the surrounding areas and any evidence of this impact.

It was highlighted that the item on the Affordable Housing SPD was not required and the Scrutiny Officer was actioned to check if it needed removing.

The Corporate Performance Report provides an analysis of the Council’s

performance for the 4th quarter of 2021-22. The report, set out at Annexe 1,

is being presented to each of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees for

comment and any recommendations they may wish to make to the Executive.

Heads of Service to highlight areas relating to this committees remit (pages to note are Pages 37 (HDC Communities aspect only) to 68 of the Performance report [pages 51-92 of the agenda papers]).

Louise Norie attended for this item. The Committee noted the report circulated with the agenda and each head of service gave a summary of their service. The Committee made the following comments:

Environmental and Regulatory Services

·         Who now looks after Waverleys OOH service?  Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

·         If BIFFA work weekends to catch up who pays? BIFFA pay the overtime.

·         Food Safety Checks – Should this have a target rather than be data only? This would be discussed with then team.

·         Have we had any cases of Monkey Pox in Waverley? None we are aware of.

·         Complaints regarding noise and light pollution from residential gardens. What can be done as it appears onus is on complainant to get the evidence?  Enforcement team are on 4.5 FTE so resources are limited. Complainants are given diaries to complete and then officers can investigate if there are trends.

·         Heat exchangers and solar panels fitted to Memorial Hall - Have we installed underfloor heating or is it just heating the existing system? Is it reducing the bills? The Sustainability Manager will advise.

·         SP21/24ES16.1 – dates are inconsistent as it states completed but narrative says it will not be complete till end June 2022?

·         Bonfires – how are we dealing with these?

·         Strays – would like data on how many we are dealing with.

·         Dead Animals on highways – numbers seem to be increasing – is there a contributary factor for this rise? Response will be given offline.

·         It was noted that the figures for E2b (No of flytips dealt with) appears to significantly rise in Q4 of 20/21 and 21/22. Was it possible to identify why this was? Also are we taking action against flytippers? Additional enforcement officers have been recruited and action is taken against those identified.

·         When will the monitoring of street cleansing begin again? Meeting with BIFFA this week to discuss.

Commercial Services

·         How were the key priority areas for the CSP decided? They are based on the Surrey priorities and then focussed down to those relative to Waverley. Eve Budd to advise via evidence received.

·         Will new ASB officer visit towns and parishes? Yes he will be addressing all areas of Waverley.

·         Household Support Fund – why did this only go to Farnham and Haslemere? FTC and Haslemere had their own COVID groups set up so they administered the fund for their areas. WBC then administered the fund for the rest of the Borough.

·         It was noted that the number of those registered to careline were down but the calls to the line were increasing.

·         SP21/24CS4.1 – Officers were asked if this had been discussed at Resources O&S as it had a financial implication and were advised it had not.

Planning & Economic Development

·         It was noted that KPI’s were still in the red but that trajectories were on an upward trend. The Committee were assured that they would see a significant improvement in the Q1 figures at the next meeting.

·         The committee expressed concern that the responses to L2  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

David Olliver, Head Ranger introduced the draft Biodiversity Action Plan circulated with the agenda.

The committee noted there were a no of grammatical errors within the report which needed attention.  It was also felt there was too much background before the actual policy itself which could be distracting to reader.

The Committee felt that the plan needed financial resources outlined and an indicative spend profile. Information to provide should include how much would be funded internally and how much was to come from grants.  How much of the resources needed would be utilising existing staff and how much would rely on external staffing.

Other comments included;

·         Each item should be given a priority

·         Nothing in report about key species in Farnham Park

·         Legislative content is very thin

·         Report should outline what we are going to do differently in the future

·         Are we going to put education on all areas? How effective will this be?

·         Not enough data to see how this is going to work. What do we have now? How will it be improved.

·         It was highlighted that in the report it stated that Broadwater Park was leased to the golf course. This was incorrect.

·         With regards to amenity spaces please don’t forget the villages.

·         Have Hankley User Group and MOD been consulted on this plan?

·         It was highlighted that the Environment Act 2021 imposes a requirement to produce a Biodiversity Report every 5 years so this would drive much of this.

·         The committee asked what the justification was for not mowing verges?

The Committee NOTED and provided feedback and comment on the current version of the Biodiversity Policy.

The Committee felt it could not, at this time, recommend the Biodiversity Policy (subject to feedback and comment amendments) be considered for adoption by the Council at the next available Executive meeting as they had raised a number of issues which they wished to be addressed. It was agreed that the amendments would be made and the draft recirculated to the committee for agreement before being recommended for adoption.

To receive a verbal update from the Corporate Policy Manager.

The committee were reminded that at the last meeting when the committee looked at Service Plans they expressed a wish to develop a number of working groups to look at each services plans in isolation.  With the current collaboration discussions with Guildford BC and the possibility that the services will have a ‘shake-up’ the committee were asked if they wished to scrutinise the current service plans or wait for those coming up?

It was agreed that this would be rescheduled for September and then they could look at the new plans.

To receive a verbal update from the Head of Planning and Economic Development.

The Committee were advised this item would be postponed until the September meeting as officers were currently in discussion with the portfolio holder.  It was highlighted that officers must ensure that we lead by example in this plan and ensure we are following our own policy.

To enable the Committee to comment on the report on its activities in 2021/22.

Recommendation

That the Committee endorse the report included as annexe 1 whilst making any suggestions for amendments.

The Committee NOTED the report and were asked to make any comment to the scrutiny officer by the end of the month.

To keep the Committee apprised of the activities of the Leisure Management

Contract Task and Finish Group.

Recommendation

2.1       That the Committee note the details of this report and ask the Task and Finish Group to continue its work.

2.2       That the Committee agree the scoping document included as annexe 1 shall serve as the terms of reference for the Task and Finish Group.

Cllr Mary Foryszewski had been elected chairperson for this task and finish group.  She gave the committee a brief summary of the discussions that had taken place at the first meeting and were asked to note the scoping document circulated.

The Committee RESOLVED to delegate authority to the members of the task and finish group to make interim recommendations to the Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing, Parks and Leisure. These are to be shared with the wider Committee and will be subject to retrospective confirmation at the Committee’s next meeting in September.

To consider, if necessary, 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 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) to be identified at the meeting.

There were no items to discuss in exempt session so the Chairman closed the meeting.

To consider any matters relating to aspects of any reports on this agenda which it is felt need to be considered in Exempt session.