Minutes:
The Leader and Portfolio Holders gave brief updates on current issues not reported elsewhere on the agenda:
· The Leader thanked all those involved in managing the aftermath of the tragic fire in the Charterhouse ward in Godalming the previous week. Councillor Williams, Charterhouse ward member echoed his thanks to the Waverley officers and emergency services involved.
· The Leader updated on the work on the Guildford collaboration, which was currently developing an Inter-Authority Agreement and risks being drafted for Executive and Council in due course.
· Following discussions with administration group leaders, the Leader had made a number of changes to the Executive following the resignation from the Executive by Councillor Rosoman on health grounds. Councillor Rosoman would remain a borough and town councillor. He thanked Councillor Rosoman for her contribution to the Executive and for her work on behalf of residents. In light of the significant workload involved in the housing portfolio, the decision had been taken to make the following changes and a press release would be issued shortly:
o The Leader, Deputy Leader, Councillor Merryweather and Councillor Williams portfolios would remain largely unchanged, with an explicit responsibility for the Leader and Deputy Leader in respect of the Guildford collaboration.
o Councillor MacLeod would become the Portfolio Holder for Enforcement, Operations and Brightwells. The Leader thanked Councillor MacLeod for his work in planning. The new enforcement role would encompass the business transformation elements.
o Councillor Mirylees would become the Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing, Parks and Leisure.
o Councillor Townsend would become the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development, retaining responsibility for the Cranleigh Leisure Centre as it moved into its capital project and planning stages and retaining the leadership of the Dunsfold Park governance.
o Councillor Palmer would become Co-Portfolio Holder for Housing (Delivery) which would encompass delivery of new social housing, joint responsibility for the housing strategy, homelessness and refugee management and retaining the chairmanship of the CIL Board.
o Councillor Paul Rivers would be joining the Executive as Co-Portfolio Holder for Housing (Operations), which would encompass maintenance of existing housing stock, oversight of the housing maintenance contract and joint responsibility for the housing strategy. Councillors Palmer and Rivers would rotate the chairmanship of the Landlord Services Advisory Board.
· Councillor Clark paid tribute to Councillor Rosoman, thanking her and wishing her well for the future; and paid tribute to Councillor MacLeod for his work in planning and wishing him luck for his future role contributing to the modernisation of enforcement in the borough. He welcomed the way the Executive, which was made up of representatives from four political groups, had worked together over the last two years.
· Councillor MacLeod echoed the comments made about Councillor Rosoman. A Brightwells project meeting was due to take place the following week with Crest Nicholson. He thanked the officers in the planning team for their work, acknowledging that it was a difficult job and there were significant demands on the service. He addressed the problems caused by unrealistic housing targets imposed on the Council by the Government, the limited powers the Council had in this area and the deficit that the current Executive had inherited. Despite planning applications being granted, developers were then not building the houses resulting in targets being missed. The Leader echoed the comments about planning and advised that the planning team would be collating some factual information which could be communicated to residents.
· Councillor Townsend paid tribute to Councillor Rosoman who would be missed and thanked Councillor MacLeod for his work on the planning portfolio. She echoed the comments made about planning and the frustration of seeing applications which had been refused by the Council to then be overturned by the Planning Inspector. Government planning policy offered very little protection to countryside beyond the Green Belt. The Government’s housing delivery test was flawed however it remained in place. The Council was not able to deliver housing, it could only grant planning permission and then if developers failed to deliver that housing, the Council was penalised and it was misleading to blame the Council for Government policy.
· Councillor Merryweather echoed the comments made about planning. He highlighted the gap in the expectation between what residents thought the Council had the power to do and what the Council actually had the power to do, which was to follow Government policies which resulted in having to implement a system which was fundamentally unfair.
· Councillor Mirylees echoed the frustrations with the current planning system and thanked her Executive colleagues for their comments and their efforts.
· The Leader addressed some of the comments he had received from residents in respect of the Loxwood Road planning appeal. He understood that the appeal had taken place before the Government’s Plan B restrictions were introduced and therefore the appeal took place entirely in the Council Chamber without being livestreamed and he would clarify with residents in writing. Another comment made by the Inspector was the Dunsfold Park would not be deliverable within a 5 year period. The Leader reiterated that the Council was not in a position to deliver the houses and it was felt that the Inspector’s decision was disproportionate and the Executive was considering its options.
· Councillor Palmer thanked the Leader for his comments and stated his commitment to addressing the challenge of delivering more affordable housing in the borough. He also thanked Councillor Rosoman for her work. He provided an update on his current portfolio and advised that parking charges at Farnham Leisure centre were being reviewed in light of comments made by a number of residents who use the centre.
· Councillor Merryweather paid tribute to Councillor Rosoman’s work and experience. He advised that the draft budget had been published ahead of the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. Although the proposals included a £5 increase in Band D council tax charges, they also included additional funding to help those households most affected by the pandemic and the rising cost of living. There were no proposed cuts to services or funding to community organisations. The financial projections had been made in very uncertain conditions. In addition to the rising cost of inflation, there could still be significant financial pressures as a result of the pandemic and recovery and further cuts in Government grant.
· Councillor Townsend thanked her Executive colleagues for their work and wished Councillor Mirylees well for her new expanded role. The draft Biodiversity Policy was currently being finalised and the Dunsfold SPD was being prepared for presentation to the Executive following the consultation. She thanked the Dunsfold Advisory Group and Design South East for their input.
· Councillor Penny Marriott talked about the challenges in measuring whether diversity and inclusion policies have been successful. One way was to examine the Council’s workforce and this had been done by the Corporate Equality Group. A voluntary staff survey had been carried out with 95% of respondents agreeing that Waverley was an equal opportunities employer and 93% agreeing that they were treated fairly at work. 94% of respondents agreed that they were free from bullying and harassment at work. The Equalities Action Plan would be presented to the Council in due course. She also paid tribute to Councillor Rosoman, from whom she had inherited the community safety part of her portfolio. She had attended a meeting on youth services hosted by Surrey County Council, which highlighted equalities issues with the traveller community and the community safety elements of youth work. She thanked all the officers for their work.
· Councillor Williams paid tribute to Councillor Rosoman and her work on the Executive; and to Councillor MacLeod for the work on the planning portfolio. He wished Councillor Townsend well for her new role. He welcomed the opportunity to work with Councillor Paul Rivers on housing. A third meeting of the Climate Emergency Board had been held and he was beginning to see a change in the culture in the Council in respect of climate change which was to be welcomed. He also welcomed the proposals for the new Cranleigh Leisure Centre and the work being carried out to refit a small part of the housing stock to retrofit green technology and contribute to the climate agenda.
· Councillor Mirylees advised that 33 applications had been received for funding from the Thriving Communities Fund, the majority being of a high quality. Successful applicants had been advised of their indicative funding, which was subject to approval of the budget in February. The options analysis being carried out on Farnham Museum was expected shortly. She welcomed the new part of her role and paid tribute to Councillor Rosoman.