Minutes:
The Leader and Portfolio Holders gave brief updates on current issues not reported elsewhere on the agenda:
· Leader spoke on the unprovoked and illegal attack on the people of Ukraine and invasion of its territory by the Russian Federation. The Mayor would be reading a message of solidarity at the forthcoming Council meeting and the Leader wished to offer solidarity on behalf the Executive. He urged the Government to urgently review the visa status of those fleeing Ukraine and highlighted the links on the Council’s website to useful resources for residents who wished to donate and offer help.
· Councillor Clark echoed the comments made by the Leader in respect of the conflict in Ukraine and updated on the Farnham Infrastructure Programme. The five members of the Farnham Board who were Farnham Councillors had been meeting with the Surrey FIP team to provide them with local feedback. The Surrey project team and their consultants had shared their proposals for improving the town centre infrastructure which would reduce traffic and attract people into the town centre. The next meeting would take place on 25 March and would be available to livestream.
· Councillor MacLeod echoed the comments made in respect of Ukraine and welcomed the response by the public. Officers were currently reviewing the planning enforcement action plan which would come to the Executive for consideration in due course and a wider review of enforcement across the whole Council was also taking place. Brightwells was still on course to open later in the year and the work on connecting Sainsbury’s car park to the scheme had begun and this would take approximately three months to complete. Complaints had been received regarding noise and officers were investigating whether the developers were complying with their agreed hours of operation.
· Councillor Merryweather echoed the comments made in respect of Ukraine.
· Councillor Palmer echoed the comments made in respect of Ukraine and stressed that the Council was ready to help refugees and urged the Government respond to the overwhelming public feeling that the UK should help.
· Councillor Penny Marriott spoke about International Women’s Day in the context of the conflict of Ukraine. The Council’s revised policy objectives were starting their decision making journey and would come to the Council for approval.
· Councillor Liz Townsend echoed the comments made in respect of Ukraine, offering sympathy for their plight and spoke of the importance of protecting democracy and challenging leaders who seek to erode people’s freedoms. The planning team had reduced the backlog to three cases and she thanked the officers for their work. As of 1 April 2021, there were 5309 dwellings in the Borough with planning permission. Of those, 2912 were on sites where the development had not yet started. The Council was bound by the housing targets set for it by the Government and it was felt that the National Planning Policy Framework was not fit for purpose. The system imposed on the Council was tilted in the favour of developers and urged people to direct their criticism to the national policy makers rather than the administrators of the policy.
· Councillor Williams echoed the comments on Ukraine and urged the Government to overcome the barriers which would enable Waverley to welcome refugees. He updated on the recruitment for a sustainability team officer. Work was continuing to expand the network of electric vehicle charging points. Officers were working with the Council’s refuse contractor on decarbonising its fleet of refuse vehicles. The Executive had met with the Director of Environment at Surrey County Council and Guildford Borough Council Executive on how to work together towards net zero carbon and a motion would be brought to Council in April to ask the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up to ask the Government to provide funding for the Council’s trajectory to carbon neutrality.
· The Leader thanked the Executive for their contributions and welcomed students from University of Creative Arts who were filming a documentary on local government.