Agenda item

To respond to questions from members of the public, received in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

A question has been received from Alfold Parish Council, on behalf of residents of Alfold. This is set out in the attached letter.

A question has been received from Mr Daniel Kuszel, of Godalming:

“The Deputy Leader of Waverley Borough Council has publicly acknowledged that under previous administrations Godalming did not receive a proportionate share of capital spending and improvement projects compared to other towns within the borough and certainly in comparison to the population sizes of towns within the borough. It has now been over a year since the new "rainbow coalition" took control of the council but as yet there has been no levelling or redress for Godalming or its residents.

Does the Leader believe that the Deputy Leader was mistaken when he made the statement? If he doesn't, why not, but if he does, what is being done to address the historical imbalance.”

The following questions were received from members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10:

27.1      From Alfold Parish Council, and read out by Parish Councillor Penni Mayne:

“Our question is; will the Council now consider it time that local Parish representation is invited as a full participating member into the governance and decision-making process, as co-leaders in developing a positive plan for DPGV, and in accordance with national best practice as set out by the Town and Country Planning Association?”

Cllr Liz Townsend, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, Leisure, Parks, Countryside and Dunsfold Park, responded:

“At the beginning of March I was delighted to join the Executive team, and alongside responsibilities for economic development, parks and leisure I also took on responsibility for the new Dunsfold Garden Village. After an initial meeting on the 20^th March with the planning project team leader to receive an update on the new settlement and to discuss the governance arrangements, we then had lockdown announced on 23^rd March. We then had, like all councils, to prioritize our response to the immediate Covid-19 emergency and to rapidly adapt to the considerable challenges that we faced as well as to implement the additional responsibilities assigned to us by central government. We had to quickly adopt new processes like all councils, with online meetings and temporary governance, together with a new planning committee structure. I am extremely proud of the council and our officers, that we responded so swiftly to meeting all of these demands and continued to provide all of our services without interruption to our residents.

You will not be surprised to learn that I am completely committed to providing every opportunity that I can to encourage local representation at parish level. As soon as I could at the beginning of, June I resumed regular meetings with officers on Dunsfold and with the complete support of the Executive started to look at the governance structure which was presented to the Executive on 30^th June and agreed. I am aware that the Leader has already announced the new structure earlier and I am delighted to be able to confirm that representatives from Alfold, Cranleigh, and Dunsfold Parish Councils will be formally invited to sit alongside Waverley local councillors as full participating members on the Dunsfold Park Garden Village Advisory Group. I am really looking forward to working with you to make the expectations of this new village a reality.”

27.2      From Mr Daniel Kuszel, of Godalming:

“The Deputy Leader of Waverley Borough Council has publicly acknowledged that under previous administrations Godalming did not receive a proportionate share of capital spending and improvement projects compared to other towns within the borough and certainly in comparison to the population sizes of towns within the borough. It has now been over a year since the new "rainbow coalition" took control of the council but as yet there has been no levelling or redress for Godalming or its residents.

Does the Leader believe that the Deputy Leader was mistaken when he made the statement? If he doesn't, why not, but if he does, what is being done to address the historical imbalance.”

Cllr John Ward, Leader of the Council responded:

            “The Deputy Leader, at least, will be relieved that I do not believe he was mistaken. I would refer Mr Kuszel to the responses given to your previous inquiries on this subject, most recently in September 2019 when Councillor Merryweather provided a very comprehensive response to your question about the perceived inequality of spending by Waverley across the borough. Councillor Merryweather confirmed in his response to you that he had consulted with Councillor Follows, also now Leader of Godalming Town Council. I don't intend to read the whole response out in full at Council as it ran to a number of pages but I am satisfied that this provided you with a full explanation and position still stands today.”