To receive any updates from the Leader or Executive Portfolio Holders.
Minutes:
The Leader and Executive Members reported on current issues within their respective Executive portfolios:
15.1 Cllr John Ward, Leader of the Council:
· A lot of time had been spent in recent days on the matter of local government in Surrey, and responding to Surrey County Council’s letter to the Secretary of State.
15.2 Cllr Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Assets and Commercial:
· The second round of local authority discretionary business grants for small businesses was now open and criteria had been expanded to include businesses with a rateable value or fixed property-related costs of up to £55,000. Applications could be made through the Waverley website, until 9am on Monday 3 August.
15.3 Cllr Steve Williams, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability:
· Work was progressing on the Climate Emergency Action Plan to provide a more coherent approach and move forward on key projects that would serve as a catalyst and leverage key activities, particularly around active transport, community energy, and invest to save projects that would provide financial as well as carbon savings.
· Public consultation and engagement was a key part of the Strategy, and a process of public consultation and engagement would begin in August.
15.4 Cllr Anne-Marie Rosoman, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety:
· The Council’s Housing Officers continued to support vulnerable and shielded residents, although it was unclear currently what would be required by the government when shielding came to an end at the beginning of August. Preparations were in place in the event of a second Covid-19 wave.
· Redevelopment of Ockford Ridge was progressing well, and an average of four households per week would be moving back over the next four weeks.
· Waverley had housed over thirty homeless households at the height of the pandemic, most of whom had now been moved out of temporary accommodation and into more suitable accommodation.
15.5 Cllr Andy MacLeod, Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Brightwells
· Work on the Brightwells Yard development had resumed post-lockdown, and was now up to 80% capacity. However, the opening would be delayed, from spring 2021 to autumn 2021. There had been some changes in the Crest Nicholson management team, but they were confident that the development would open in autumn 2021.
· The NMA planning application in relation to tree works on site had been withdrawn.
15.6 Cllr Nick Palmer, Portfolio Holder for Operational and Enforcement Services
· Car park usage continued to increase, but they were still well under capacity and there were no proposals to make any changes to parking charges for the time being in order to protect the interests of shops and car park users.
15.7 Cllr David Beaman, Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Culture
· The Waverley HOPPA service had resumed, and every effort was being made to encourage people to use the service and get out and about again.
15.8 Cllr Peter Clark, Portfolio Holder for Business Transformation, IT and Customer Services:
· In contrast to the recent discussions around unitary authorities, and a potential Surrey-wide unitary authority, Waverley was focussed on transforming its approach to customer services, and replacing individual service-level customer service teams with one integrated customer service centre. This would include a master customer management database, enabling better understanding of customer needs and making the customer journey more efficient and easier.
15.9 Cllr Paul Follows, Deputy Leader
· Work on refreshing the Corporate Strategy was continuing over the summer.
· The revised governance structure for Dunsfold Park Garden Village had now been circulated to all councillors; it now included the borough councillors local to the Dunsfold area, and also representatives from Alfold, Bramley, Cranleigh and Dunsfold parishes.