Minutes:
36.1 The Leader gave a brief update on the activity relating to Surrey County Council’s bid for a single Surrey unitary council. As discussed at the previous Council meeting, this had not been positively received by the Leaders of the eleven Districts and Boroughs, who had written to the Minister to ask that they be allowed to submit an alternative proposal. The Leaders of the eleven Districts and Boroughs had now confirmed the common approach they would be taking in developing their proposal, including sharing of baseline data with Surrey County Council, and appointing consultants to assist in developing the bid. Also, as instructed by Council, the Leader had written to Leaders of neighbouring boroughs in Hampshire and West Sussex to invite them to explore cross-border opportunities for alternative local government structures.
36.2 The Leader then invited the Executive Portfolio Holders to give brief updates on current issues:
36.3 Cllr Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Assets and Commercial Services:
· The Council had published its unaudited year-end report and accounts for the 2019/20 year ending 31 March 2020. These showed negligible impact from Covid, and due to the sound financial management throughout the year the Council had again maintained service delivery without cuts and with an overall surplus of £325,000 or 2% of the approved net budget of £13.2m.
36.4 Cllr Steve Williams, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability:
· The public Climate Emergency survey was live on Waverley’s website, and residents were asked to participate and have their say on what the council should be doing to become a greener borough.
· Surrey County Council Planning & Regulatory Committee would be reconsidering the planning application by UK Oil and Gas and the their plans to drill for fossil fuels near Dunsfold, and Waverley had reiterated the objection previously submitted.
· Waverley would be submitting an objection to Hampshire County Council in relation to the planning application from Veolia for an ‘advanced energy recovery facility’ – or incinerator – near Alton, due to the impact on the environment and on Farnham.
36.5 Cllr Anne-Marie Rosoman, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety:
· Inspector Samantha Adcock would be taking up the role of Borough Commander in September, and it was hoped to arrange a Member Briefing with Inspector Adcock and Supt. Tom Budd who was the new Neighbourhood Superintendent for West Surrey.
36.6 Cllr Andy MacLeod, Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Brightwells:
· There were two very important government consultations in progress about potential changes to the planning system, to which the Council would be responding. He directed Members to recent emails from the Head of Planning that set out the detail of the consultations.
36.7 Cllr Nick Palmer, Portfolio Holder for Operational and Enforcement Services:
· Car parking usage varied greatly from week to week, but was still between one- and two-thirds below the same period last year. The boost expected from the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme had not been seen, but the overall trend was gradually upwards.
36.8 Cllr Liz Townsend, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, Leisure, Parks & Countryside, and Dunsfold Park:
· The Rangers and other Officers had continued to work hard to manage visitor numbers at Frensham Pond, and Members were asked to help spread the messages about not leaving litter, bringing barbecues to the site, or parking on the clearways, and respecting the ‘site full’ signs.
· Plans to reduce pesticide use on Waverley land across the borough were progressing, with trials of pesticide-free products in selected areas.
· The council continued to work with the Chambers of Commerce, Towns and Parishes and local businesses to support the local economy. Over 1800 businesses had been helped with business rate relief and business grants.
· Plans were well-advanced for the opening of Waverley’s leisure centres on 17 August, and whilst they would look different to when they were last open, Places Leisure were putting in the measures to ensure that everybody would be able to exercise as safely as possible.
36.9 Cllr David Beaman, Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Culture:
· Farnham Maltings had prepared a video showcasing the work they had been doing over the last few months, and a link would be circulate to all Members.
36.10 Cllr Peter Clark, Portfolio Holder for Business Transformation, IT and Customer Service:
· To speed up the digital transformation programme in Waverley the IT service had become accredited developers of applications using Liberty Create low code software. This would enable the development of bespoke customer-facing applications that would improve customer self-service and replace existing systems.
36.11 Cllr Paul Follows, Deputy Leader:
· Work on the revision of the Corporate Strategy was continuing, and Members would be able to contribute at workshops at the end of the month, and through the Overview & Scrutiny committee cycle in September.
· The Executive and officers were trying to engage proactively with Thames Water rather than wait for problems to happen in particular parts of the borough, and Members were asked to flag issues as they occurred so that they could be followed up with Thames Water.
36.12 In concluding, the Leader noted that there had been some negative comments from Members about the length of the updates, but the announcements were a genuine attempt to keep Members and the public informed of current issues that the Executive were engaging with on a day to day basis.
36.13 Cllr Foryszewski thanked the Leader for his comment, but felt that it would be a better use of time for the updates to be circulated in a report, and then Members be allowed to ask questions in the meeting.