Minutes:
31.1 The Leader thanked the both Waverley and Godalming Town Council officers for their efforts in organising the venue to enable the Council meeting to be held safely. He addressed the legal requirement for Councillors to be physically present in meetings and the current advice to staff to work from home where possible. The Leader reassured Councillors that where a greater level of officer support was needed in a public meeting, officers would also be physically present.
With the Mayor’s permission, the Leader then invited Executive Portfolio Holders to provide brief updates on current issues:
31.2 Councillor Peter Clark, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Business Transformation and IT:
· There had been some sound quality issues at recent hybrid meetings and as a result remote participants were being asked to log into the meeting 15 minutes early to test their equipment. Officers had been working with the AV supplier and a new component had been installed to improve the interface between the Council Chamber sound equipment and Zoom/YouTube. The new equipment would be tested at the next hybrid meeting. If the sound quality did not improve, officers would investigate a fibre optic broadband solution for the Council Chamber.
31.3 Councillor Andy MacLeod, Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy, Services and Brightwells:
· The Brightwells build was still progressing despite some delays and Crest Nicholson had advised that the first flats would be occupied by the end of the year, with the development becoming fully occupied over an 18 month period. The commercial elements of the scheme were expected to open in 2022 and there had been a lot of interest from potential retailers.
· The Planning Inspector at a recent planning appeal had determined that the Council had a 4.26 year land supply, which was short of the 5 year land supply required. Officers were talking to developers and reviewing current developments. The main issue was developers either not starting approved developments or not building them quickly enough and the Executive had recently written to Jeremy Hunt MP to point this out.
· There had been around 1250 responses to the Regulation 19 consultation and these were all publicly available on the Council’s website. There was a commitment to submit the Plan to the Planning Inspectorate by the end of 2021. There was currently an issue with housing provision in Haslemere and the Western Planning Committee had recently refused an application in Haslemere which would have contributed to the housing numbers in the draft Plan. Further discussions would take place in due course to discuss options to address the issue.
31.4 Councillor Penny Marriott, Portfolio Holder for Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion:
· The Council had been taking equalities into consideration in its policies for a number of years and it was common practice to consider how its policies would affect particular groups of people. Steps had been taken to ensure all staff felt able to speak out if they felt they had been discriminated against or if they felt others had been discriminated against. Briefing sessions had been arranged for all Councillors to discuss equalities issues raised to ensure that they can properly represent all sections of their communities including those with protected characteristics.
31.5 Councillor Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Assets and Commercial Services:
· The unaudited draft accounts for the 2020/21 financial year had been published and would go to the Audit Committee for approval in September, alongside the external auditor’s report and the Council’s Annual Governance Statement.
31.6 Councillor Kika Mirylees, Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Culture:
· Meetings with community organisations currently in a service level agreement with the Council were ongoing. Activities for young people were being provided across the borough throughout the school holidays.
31.7 Councillor Nick Palmer, Portfolio Holder for Operational and Enforcement Services:
· The parking proposals were being prepared, on which Councillors had been consulted.
· The Community Infrastructure Levy scheme would restart in September and Councillors were encouraged to contact the Portfolio Holder if they were aware of any eligible local groups who would be interested in applying.
31.8 Councillor Anne-Marie Rosoman, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety:
· Following remedial works, Blunden Court was now legionnaires free.
· There were some fire safety issues to be addressed at Riverside Court in Farnham, however work had already been undertaken to address these as quickly as possible.
· Officers had successfully bid for additional funding from the Contain Outbreak Management Fund for two anti-social behaviour officers until 31st March 2022.
· A service level agreement was now in place between Housing and a mediation service to address neighbour disputes.
· The procurement for a housing repairs service was progressing well and housing delivery continued apace with a number of sites in development. Homelessness numbers remained low and an officer had been seconded from the Housing Management team funded through the Government’s rough sleeping initiative.
31.9 Councillor Steve Williams, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability:
· Councillors had been receiving regular updates on the current situation with collections and issues arising from the pandemic.
· Further sites were being sought for electric vehicle charging points in the borough and solar canopies were being investigated.