The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.
The deadline for receipt of written questions is 5pm on Tuesday 14 March 2023.
Minutes:
Members noted that the written question and response were not circulated prior to the meeting and the Chair advised officers to circulate this to Members.
Councillor Brian Edmonds has asked the following question, which relates to Agenda Item 9, the Housing Development Update, specifically the Ockford Ridge Refurbishment.
“Reports to Council and Committees must be self-contained for reasoned consideration. The Executive’s agenda recommendation p52 to the Committee does not include the “how” it has “given reasoned consideration” to the Committee’s report, which raises the following unresolved concerns.
The Executives response should have included reference to statutory investment guidance and “quantitative indicators that allow councillors and the public to assess the local authority’s total risk exposure as a result of this decision.” This includes the requested quantification of the net carbon reduction.
The National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee has expressed concerns that Local authorities are exposing themselves to too much financial risk through borrowing and investment decisions; “members do not always have sufficient expertise to understand the complex transactions that they have ultimate responsibility for approving.”
In terms of capacity, skills and culture it would assist if the action taken to ensure that the elected members and statutory officers involved in this critical investment have been provided with appropriate capacity skills and information was advised. Reference paragraph 48 STATUTORY GUIDANCE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT INVESTMENTS (3rd Edition). Transparency in this process has become essential considering its cost escalation occurring with project delay. It is requested that the portfolio holders with more comprehensive and familiarity with statutory investment guidance could provide transparency to a less familiar councillor on these issues.
The UK has passed legislation requiring new homes to produce at least 75% less carbon from 2025. Yet it places no limits on the upfront carbon emissions needed to build or dispose of them.” It is advised that “homes at Ockford Ridge will be net zero carbon in lifetime operation, meaning that the carbon emissions associated with the building’s energy on an annual basis are zero or negative.” Transparency is requested for carbon lifecycle analysis upon which this statement is made.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678866/Guidance_on_local_government_investments.pdf”
Response to Councillor Edmonds:
“The Statutory Guidance that Cllr Edmonds’ refers to, the Statutory Guidance on Local Government Investments (3rd Edition), defines an investment (in paragraph 4) as covering "all of the financial assets of a local authority as well as other non-financial assets that the organisation holds primarily or partially to generate a profit; for example, investment property portfolios."
This type of investment is covered by Waverley’s Capital Strategy 2023-2028, incorporating the Treasury Management and Asset Management Investment Strategy, which was approved by Council in February 2023.
The Overview & Scrutiny – Resources Committee scrutinised the draft Capital Strategy at its meeting on 23 January 2023, and recommended to the Executive that the wording of the Capital Strategy be simplified so that it can be more readily understood by Members. The Portfolio Holder (Cllr Merryweather) has said that he is happy to work with Cllr Mulliner, and any other councillors who wish to contribute, to develop a plain(er) English version of the Capital Strategy.
The Ockford Ridge Refurbishment is an investment in Waverley’s own housing stock and is being dealt with in the same way any investment in our current housing stock would be under Waverley’s Asset Investment Strategy.
The decision to approve the additional budget for Phase 4 of the Ockford Ridge Refurbishment is one for Full Council, to be considered on 21 March. The additional budget, if approved, will be released from reserves and will not require the council to borrow to fund this workstream.
With regard to the last paragraph of Cllr Edmonds’ question, our sustainable building services consultants have calculated the carbon emission savings per year by comparing the existing kgCO2/m2/year for the existing homes and as a result of the proposed work. Based on these initial assessments and across the range of property types the CO2 savings of kg/m2/year is between 50.96 and 58.7 or a reduction of carbon emissions per year between 3368 to 6411 kg CO2. In terms of calculation of expected payback period in years, this will require further information some of which is currently unknown. For example, confirmation of the embodied carbon within the products specified and capture of direct and indirect carbon emissions through delivery of the project.”
Councillor Martin expressed disappointment that the minutes of the meeting held on the 20th of February had not been made available sooner. He stated that the executive had received comments made by the Resources O&S Committee regarding the Ockford Ridge Deep Retrofit project but there was no indication of the comments made to full council on the 21st of March 2023.