Minutes:
26.1 The Leader noted that there would be a discussion abut recent developments in relation to unitary councils later in the meeting, and he would not pre-empt that, but thanked Members for the cross-party co-operation that had enabled the late Motion to be added to the agenda.
26.2 The Leader also advised Members that since appointing a Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Dunsfold Park the arrangement for the Strategic Governance Board and the Advisory Group had been reviewed and updated, and would be circulated to Members imminently. He expected that this work stream would start to move forward in the near future.
The Leader then invited the Executive Portfolio Holders to give brief updates on current issues:
26.3 Cllr Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Assets and Commercial Services:
· Further to the government announcement at the beginning of the month about additional funding for local authorities, Waverley would be receiving £145k from the £500m funding pot announced. However, there was still insufficient detail about the second element of the funding announced, which was the formula-based compensation for lost income, to be able to estimate how much Waverley might receive.
26.4 Cllr Steve Williams, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability:
· Not only had the Environmental Services team managed to maintain waste and recycling collections throughout the lockdown period, they had now almost completed a significant change in the bin collection routes, after which new kerbside collections of textiles and small electrical items would be introduced.
· Whilst there had been an inevitable pause in the public engagement on the Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy, this was now resuming and commentary from the public and organisations including town and parish councils would be invited. It was important to build on the culture of putting sustainability at the heart of decision-making, and he would be writing to Jeremy Hunt MP to seek his support for the recent Private Members Bill introduced by Derek Thomas MP asking for provision of necessary powers and resources to enable all UK local authorities to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
· The Council had mounted a serious challenge to UK Oil and Gas and the their plans to drill for fossil fuels in Waverley, and at the end of June the Surrey County Council planning committee turned down the planning application, which was a vindication of the extensive consultation Waverley had carried out and work done to fight the application.
26.5 Cllr Anne-Marie Rosoman, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety:
· Waverley’s Housing Officers had provided invaluable support to tenants and residents, particularly the vulnerable, shielding, and homeless. As restrictions were now lifting, the Housing Service was moving forward with the recovery plan to resume repairs and capital works to the housing stock.
· Reports of anti-social behaviour had reduced substantially during lockdown, but going forward the council would continue to work with partners in the Safer Waverley Partnership and there was a recent success in having CCTV installed at a Senior Living Scheme in Farnham where there had been reports of anti-social behaviour.
· Inspector Gary Smith was moving to a new role at Surrey Police Headquarters at Mount Browne and would be replaced as Borough Commander by Inspector Sam Adcock, who would take up the role in September.
26.6 Cllr Andy MacLeod, Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Brightwells:
· With regard to Local Plan Part 2, Planning Policy Officers were now reviewing the responses to the ‘call for sites’ in Haslemere and Witley, and would be discussing these with the relevant councils and other relevant bodies such as Natural England.
· The Brightwells Yard development site had been shut for three months and whilst work had now resumed it was at reduced capacity to maintain social distancing. The development was now unlikely to open in spring 2021, but it was extremely important that it opened by autumn 2021 in order to be ready for the Christmas trading period.
· The recent planning application to reduce the size of the basement parking at the Woolmead development in Farnham had been refused, and whilst the next steps were in the hands of the applicant, it was extremely important that there was progress on site due to its proximity to the Brightwells development.
26.7 Cllr Nick Palmer, Portfolio Holder for Operational and Enforcement Services:
· Car parking revenue was around 40-50% of normal, and was starting to improve gradually. Charges were being maintained at the current level for the time being to avoid discouraging people from going to the shops.
· As lockdown had eased there had been a considerable increase in the number of visitors to local beauty spots, including Frensham Pond. Unfortunately there had been a consequent increase in littering and anti-social behaviour, and Waverley officers had done an extraordinary job in very difficult and challenging circumstances to protect the heathland and wildlife from the dangers of wild fires and excess littering. The intention was to bring in additional resources to help support the environmental enforcement work on the site and to ease the pressure on the area.
26.8 Cllr Liz Townsend, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, Leisure, Parks & Countryside, and Dunsfold Park:
· Waverley officers were continuing to process business grant applications and had now issued about £23.6m of government funding.
· Towns and villages had made huge efforts, and were now ‘open for business’. The Economic Development Team had provided exceptional and professional support throughout the Covid crisis, and through the newly established Business Task Group she was now meeting with a broad cross section of businesses from across Waverley.
· The situation at Frensham Ponds had been very challenging and Cllr Townsend echoed thanks to the Officers, Rangers, and volunteers for their work in dealing with poor behaviour and excess litter left by visitors. Several new traffic management measures were being implemented including contactless parking payments, extra signage, and additional highways measures.
· The governance structure for Dunsfold Park Garden Village had been revised to address previous concerns and would be circulated to all councillors tomorrow, together with a formal invitation to relevant parishes for formal representation. This was an exciting opportunity for Portfolio Holders, local Members and local Parish Councillors to make the expectations of this new garden village a reality.
26.9 Cllr David Beaman, Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Culture:
· Whilst the cultural sector had lagged behind in receiving support from the government, there were two positive announcements: the first was to congratulate Farnham on being awarded Craft City designation; and the second was to congratulate Creative Response in Farnham who had got Arts Council funding to enable their work in using art therapy for disability and mental ill-health.
26.10 Cllr Peter Clark, Portfolio Holder for Business Transformation, IT and Customer Service:
· Since the introduction of Government regulations to enable council meetings with remote attendance, Waverley’s IT team had procured video-conferencing equipment to set up Zoom rooms in the Council Offices at The Burys. In addition to Committee Room 1, and a mobile Zoom room, the Council Chamber had also now been adapted for Zoom meetings.
· The IT team had risen to the challenge of enabling business and customer services to be maintained with little or no interruption over the last few months. They were now looking forward and developing a new IT Strategy that would embed the learning of recent months, and this would come forward to the Executive in September. One of the exciting developments was that most of the IT team were now approved software developers for Liberty Create low-code software. This would allow the council to develop applications for the business to replace licensed applications and legacy software, and so provide improved on-line self service for residents as well as cost savings.
· Work on bringing together the various customer-facing staff from across the council into one customer service centre was continuing, with formal consultations starting shortly.
26.11 Cllr Paul Follows, Deputy Leader:
· Thanked the Communications and Engagement Team for their continuing efforts to keep residents and Members informed, particularly about Covid-related guidance and information.
· Work on the revised Corporate Strategy had started, with meetings between the Portfolio Holders and their Heads of Service. He had been attending all the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees in preparation for re-booting the Governance Review Group which would be happening shortly.
· Thanked Inspector Gary Smith for his work with the Safer Waverley Partnership, particularly in Godalming and Farncombe, and looked forward to welcoming his successor.