Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and note substitutions.

Members who are unable to attend this meeting must submit apologies by the end of Tuesday 17 January 2023 to enable a substitute to be arranged, if applicable.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Ruth Reed and Michaela Wicks.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 22 November 2023 and published on the Council’s website. 

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2022 were agreed as a correct record.

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 submitted by members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is Tuesday 17 January 2023.

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There were no questions submitted by members of the Public 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 17 January 2023

There were no questions submitted by members submitted for this meeting.

To receive a presentation on the proposed refresh of this strategy (attached) which sets out the approach to reducing suicide in Surrey based on national and local evidence, local learning and national suicide prevention recommendations.

The Strategy is delivered through a partnership approach which involves a multi-agency collaboration between health, local government, people with lived experience and the voluntary sector. To be part of the partnership all partners must sign the attached protocol (Annexe 1.) A consultation on this protocol was carried out last year and Waverley’s consultation response is set out at Annexe 2.

Nanu Chumber-Stanley, Public Health Lead, SCC attended for this item.

Members were given a presentation updating on the Surrey Suicide Prevention Strategy which ended in 2022 (slides attached to minutes). It was highlighted that the national guidance for refreshing the strategy had been delayed with no revised publication date but that given its importance a refreshed strategy had been drafted using learnings from Surrey and national evidence and a Suicide Prevention Protocol had been added.

Members enquired how much funding was required to support this work and it was agreed that Officers would get this information from Surrey and Borders.

It was noted that currently 50% of referrals still result in suicide and therefore members suggested that this could be used as a measure as to how well the new strategy and protocol is working.

Members discussed the number of road traffic accidents and that there were less deaths on the roads than suicides and yet more money goes into preventing deaths on the roads than suicide prevention. They asked if highways have input.  They were advised that they did and would be involved in the protocol actions.

Members highlighted that there were many groups in Waverley who supported vulnerable people and not many had received contact with a Surrey Health Worker.  It was agreed this was something which should be addressed.

It was emphasised that work in schools was well embedded but that the information available on the internet on self-harm/suicide needed better control.

The Committee resolved to ask Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to quantify the expenditure on mental health services in the Waverley area.

The Committee NOTED the update and the Chair thanked Nanu for her presentation.

Receive an update on the actions taken to implement the plan

Louise Norie updated the Committee on the progress with Waverley’s Suicide Prevention Strategy which had been adopted by the Executive in June 2021.

It was highlighted that the Action Plan follows the six priorities of the County’s Suicide Prevention Strategy and includes actions relevant to a district council.

It was reported that Waverley Borough Council had implemented a number of initiatives to support the well-being of their staff. The internal newsletter has wellbeing as a regular item, mental health training is available for all front line staff and there is an internal group that looks at the link with Safeguarding.  The purpose of all of these initiatives is to share information and signpost those in need.

Cllr Mary Foryszewski who had raised the issue of suicide prevention as part of her mayoral year thanked officers for all their work in establishing this action plan and the work by the Council in evolving their support.

The Committee thanked Officers and Cllr Foryszewski for their work in bringing this issue to the fore and in starting the roll out of these important initiatives. The Committee encouraged the Council to continue the work going forward and ensure the legacy continues.

To make comment on the LPP1 review.  

Andrew Longley and Matt Ellis attended for this item. Members were reminded that Local Plan Part 1 (LPP1) was adopted in February 2018. There is a statutory requirement to review LPP1 within five years from its adoption (i.e., by the end of February 2023) to decide if an update to the Plan is required.

The Committee were given an update on the need to carry out a review and develop a scoping document with recommendations as to how much of the plan needs updating.  It was highlighted that greater clarity was needed on the proposed national government planning reforms as this was likely to impact on the level of update needed.

Members raised concerns that the report was misleading as it gave a perception that LPP1 needed a full update and that it should be made clear this was not the case and the scoping exercise would provide the evidence of how much or how little needed updating. Some members felt that LPP1 needed no update and was fine as it was, however, officers advised that if full council decided not to update at all they would need to provide substantial reasons why not.

The Members also enquired what the costs would be to carry out this work and were advised there was an indicative cost of £850k which had been budgeted for.

Members raised concern that if a full update was suggested that this would indicate that LPP1 was not fit for purpose and would then give developers ammunition to claim there was evidence that further housing supply was needed.  It was explained that whilst a review and update was taking place the current LPP1 and NHP’s statuses would still remain.

Cllr David Beaman had registered to speak and read out a prepared statement (attached to minutes) highlighting his concerns.

Cllr Jerry Hyman had registered to speak and highlighted the responses from other Local Planning Authorities and the risk of Waverley being forced to take on some of their housing need allocation as has already happened with Woking. He also raised the need to ensure we comply with the habitats regulations.

Recommendations:

The Services O&S Committee recommend to the Executive and Full Council that:

1. Having undertaken a review of LPP1 in accordance with regulation 10A of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended), the Council resolves that LPP1 requires updating to a greater or lesser extent. However, the Local Plan as a whole continues to provide an up-to-date statutory development plan for Waverley, which must remain the starting point for decisions on planning applications while an update is brought forward.

2. A further report on the detailed scope of the update and the timetable for its preparation is prepared for consideration by the Executive when the implications of a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the emerging Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill are better understood.

3. Budgetary provision is made to enable technical work on an updated evidence base to commence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

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

The current work programme (attached) includes items agreed and takes account of items identified on the latest Executive Forward Programme (Annexe 2) as due to come forward for decision.

It also includes a review, as requested by the Committee at its last meeting, of those recommendations which have not been accepted by the Executive.

Recommendation

·         The Committee 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.

·         The Committee note the information in para 4.4-4.8 and annexe 2 about past recommendations and decline to make any follow-up recommendations related to them at this stage.

·         That the Committee change the status of recommendation S22-06-21-8.2 recorded in Part 1 of the Committee Work Programme, suggesting that the draft Biodiversity Policy and Action Plan be amended to “highlight which aspects of the policy and action plan reflect current practice and which are new”, be changed from “rejected” to “implemented”.

Consideration of this item was deferred to the next meeting due to the late hour and the Chairman closed the meeting.