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:
6.1 Cllr John Ward, Leader of the Council:
· Following the recent announcement from the Government regarding its White Paper on Devolution to be published in the autumn and subsequent rumours regarding unitary councils, the MJ had reported that Surrey County Council had commissioned a study into how the county council could become a unitary authority. The Government appeared to be favouring a model of larger authorities with elected mayors, but was also looking for consensus from authorities bringing forward proposals proactively. Waverley’s Leadership would keeping a close watch on the issue as it developed.
6.2 Cllr Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Assets and Commercial
· A major focus for the council was the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the council. A contingency revised budget for 2020/21 had been prepared to address the budget gap of £6.6m in the budget agreed by Council in February 2020, which was equivalent to 60% of the annual Council Tax revenue. The revised budget was detailed in a report for the Value for Money Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting on 13 July, and Members had received a briefing on 6 July. The Council was still awaiting detail on what further support might be available from the Government, if any, following the announcements of last week. In the meantime, the Contingency Revised Budget for 2020/21 would be considered by the Executive at the end of July, and an Extraordinary Full Council meeting in early August.
6.3 Cllr Steve Williams, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability:
· Very grateful to Waverley Officers for their work during the lockdown period and beyond, and their relentless focus on keeping essential services going, and protecting the most vulnerable in the community.
· There had been an inevitable pause in the consultation on the Sustainability Strategy and Climate Emergency Action Plan, but this work was now progressing again and comments were welcomed from the general public, organisations concerned about the environment, town and parish councils, and Waverley Members.
· Reducing our carbon footprint was a responsibility of every department and every member of staff in the council, and a culture was being built that put sustainability at the heart of decision-making in each department. The Climate Emergency Action Plan was key to this, and the central core of the Covid-19 recovery strategy was to build back better and not just to return to the way things were but to learn the lessons of lockdown. A green recovery was at the heart of our strategy for moving forward, including investing in greener energy, greener homes, offices and public building, and greener transport, and supporting more sustainable businesses and communities in Waverley.
· In line with that, the Executive was heartened and vindicated in its serious objections to UK Oil & Gas and their plans to drill for fossil fuels in Waverley, when the Surrey County Council planning committee turned down the planning application.
6.4 Cllr Anne- Marie Rosoman, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety:
· Waverley’s Housing Team had responded magnificently to the incredible challenge of supporting the community through the coronavirus pandemic, whether that was tenants, residents who were shielding, or rough sleepers, and making a real difference to individuals.
· The Housing Service had developed a recovery plan to get routine work back on track, to let homes to maximise rental income, to resume responsive repairs and commence the capital works programme.
6.5 Cllr Andy MacLeod, Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy & Brightwells
· The Brightwells development had been suspended for about 3 months due to the Covid emergency. Activity on the site had resumed about 3 weeks ago, but with a reduced workforce to meet social distancing and health and safety regulations – work had resumed with around 50 operatives and was now up to around 80, compared with a typical number of 100 pre-Covid. The opening was now likely to be summer 2021, at the earliest.
· The Brightwells development was likely to be affected by the downturn in the high street, and the town would be looking to the Farnham Infrastructure Project that was recently launched to get local people interested in what is happening.
· The Woolmead project on East Street had been suspended for about 9 months. Berkeley Homes had submitted a planning application to reduce the car parking in the scheme but this had been unanimously rejected by the council’s Planning Committee. We were now waiting to see what they would do with the site.
6.6 Cllr Nick Palmer, Portfolio Holder for Operational and Enforcement Services:
· Echoed previous comments about the amazing performance of Waverley officers, and this gave particular urgency to the need to avoid redundancies as the council confronted the Government’s failure to provide for the financial losses incurred by the council.
· A key part of that was restoration of parking fees, whilst adopting a cautious approach so as not to damage the return to the shops. Charges had been resumed from 1 July at previously announced rates and usage would be carefully monitored. Currently car park usage was around 40% of pre-Covid levels.
6.7 Cllr Liz Townsend, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, Leisure, Parks and Countryside:
· Thank you to Officers for the vital role they have played in awarding business rate relief and paying out business support grants of about £23.5m to over 1,800 businesses.
· She had been meeting every three weeks with local Chambers of Commerce and the town and parish clerks from the four main settlements, and earlier had chaired the inaugural meeting of the Covid Business Task Group, which would meet again in August.
· Frensham Pond had attracted national press coverage with unprecedented numbers of visitors during the recent hot weather. This had meant hundreds of additional vehicles spilling over onto rural lanes, an explosion of litter and increased fire risk from disposable BBQs, even though these were banned on site. It had been extremely challenging for officers and local residents, and work was ongoing with partners including Surrey Police, the National Trust, Surrey County Council and Guildford parking enforcement, as well as parish and Ward councillors, to alleviate some of the issues with additional highway signage, installation of wooden posts to protect green spaces, and contact-less charging for car parking. For the longer-term, the County Council was looking to implement double-yellow lines that would help alleviate longstanding problems in the area.
· Waverley’s Rangers and Enforcement Officers, and Surrey Police, had all put considerable resources into managing the problems at the site, and at times had experienced unacceptable and confrontational behaviour from visitors.
6.8 Cllr David Beaman, Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Culture:
· Recorded great appreciation of the contribution of the voluntary sector during the current crisis.
· The council was actively looking at ways and means of repairing Wilmer House, which housed the Farnham Museum, although there was concern about the Government’s lack of attention to the cultural sector, like the Farnham Maltings. Farnham had recently been declared a Craft City, and this needed to be supported.
6.9 Cllr Peter Clark, Portfolio Holder for Business Transformation, IT and Customer Service:
· Waverley’s IT team had had to support hundreds of Waverley officers who had suddenly been required to work from home. They had significantly increased the number of incoming phone lines and also the capacity of the broadband connection to cope with the increase traffic. The Support Desk had provided support and advice to many staff who had no experience in setting up their equipment to enable them to work from home.
· The IT team had also responded to the Government announcement allowing committee meetings to be held remotely, and procured video-conferencing equipment to set up Zoom Rooms at The Burys and licences that enabled up to twelve meetings to be held concurrently.
· The IT team had risen to the challenge and allowed council business to carry on and resident services to be maintained.
· Looking forward, a new IT Strategy was being developed and would be considered by the Executive by the end of the year.
6.10 Cllr Paul Follows, Deputy Leader of the Council:
· Thanks to the Communications Team who kept residents and councillors informed about what was going on during the Covid period, despite a challenging communication strategy from central Government. They had extraordinarily well in getting the messages out clearly and concisely, working with almost every council department and with the wider Local Resilience Forum in Surrey.
· Cllr Follows commended the inclusion of this item on the Executive agenda, which allowed Executive Members to engage on matters of importance and policy, beyond the specific agenda items.
· He thanked the Democratic Services Team and the IT Team for enabling virtual committee meetings, and for allowing vital connections with the wider community to keep going throughout the emergency period.
· Finally, work was now starting on the Corporate Strategy, version 2, which would act as a spine for the Covid recovery efforts and ongoing strategic direction of the council. More details, and the timeline for engaging with the scrutiny process would be available soon.
The Leader thanked Executive Members for their reports, which he hoped had provided an idea of topical issues in addition to those on the rest of the meeting agenda.