Minutes:
The Leader and Portfolio Holders gave brief updates on current issues not reported elsewhere on the agenda:
· The Leader advised that as part of the ongoing collaboration work with Guildford Borough Council, both Councils had at their meetings held on 1 November 2021 appointed Tom Horwood as Joint Chief Executive to commence on 1 December 2021.
· The Leader welcomed the COP26 themed climate change workshop held recently with students from Broadwater school and Godalming college and advised that Waverley would be ensuring that its social housing and leisure centres were sustainable and contributed to climate reduction.
· Councillor Clark provided an update on the planning documents portal, which had been the subject of cyber-attacks. Software had been installed to stop these attacks and interim reporting had showed that in one 24 hour period, 175,000 website hits from “bad bots” had been processed. Following the activation of the blocking software, download speeds had positively improved and he thanked the IT team for solving the complex problem.
· Councillor MacLeod advised that planning officers had been working on the 5 year land supply and that the Council could now report a 5.2 year supply, which would help defend planning appeals. The full document would be published shortly and the Head of Planning had written to all Councillors and Parish and Town clerks. This represented a target of 900 homes a year, which was the result of a backlog and although challenging was achievable. Responses to the LPP2 consultation were being received and analysed by officers. The Brightwells scheme was still on target to be opened in June 2022.
· Councillor Penny Marriott had attended a remembrance day service in her Mayoral year and given a reading for the Muslim fallen, and this year had been invited to a virtual remembrance service by the Pan-African Ahmadiyya Muslim Association which would be livestreamed on YouTube and encouraged colleagues to contact her for details on attendance. The Leader advised that he would also be attending as Waverley’s Armed Forces Champion.
· Councillor Merryweather advised that following his update at the previous meeting in respect of the impact of the new Health and Social Care levy on the Council’s finance of at least £130,000 annually or the equivalent of a 1.2% increase in Council Tax, the Government had announced its combined spending review. Despite a period of low inflation, the Council had experienced a structural imbalance where the cost of staff had risen at a rate faster than the ability to raise income, which was heavily regulated by the Government, which had also eliminated significant amounts of local government funding. Therefore any threat of cost inflation was a matter of concern. The Office of Budget Responsibility was predicting inflation to peak at 4.4% next year, and to stay at over 2% for at least 4-5 years. It was expected that the current cap on Council Tax increases would be maintained at 2% and there was no apparent intention that the Government would allow the Council to retain any of its business rates. So far the Council had managed to balance its budgets however there was still a need to identify further savings in order to balance the budgets in future.
· Councillor Mirylees advised that a meeting with the members of the Health and Safety Board had taken place to discuss its terms of reference and priorities. Meanwhile the SWP would continue to carry out its statutory functions.
· Councillor Palmer advised that the current round of applications for CIL funding had closed and they would be assessed by officers with the Advisory Committee due to meet in January 2022. The parking revenue remained healthy despite fluctuations and the impact of the increases would be known shortly.
· Councillor Rosoman advised that the first Afghan family were due to arrive in the Borough the following week as part of the pilot resettlement scheme. The modular homes project, jointly delivered by Beattie Passive, had completed at Badgers Close in Farncombe. She read out a message of thanks from one of the new occupants. An ASB officer was with the Council until March to address some of the long running ASB issues in the Borough. Covid cases were still high and people were encouraged to keep safe. The Leader added that the full Council meetings would continue to meet in venues which allowed social distancing until at least January.
· Councillor Townsend advised that the Dunsfold Park Supplementary Planning Document would be considered by the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee the following evening before being reported to the Executive and thanked the team for their work.
· Councillor Williams updated on the active travel consultation for the Godalming gateway and a drop in session would be held on 4 November. Local communities, town and parish councils would be engaged with to ensure that the right structure was put in place. The COP26 workshop held with Godalming students and run by a local charity had been successful and brought to life the issues. Officers and councillors were encouraged to get involved in the next workshop.