The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.
The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday 22 November 2022.
Question received from Councillor Jenny Else to the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Assets:
“I would like to know WHY the name of the proposal for changes to Crown Car Park and the Burys site was changed from "The Burys Project" to "Godalming regeneration' when it is not a 'regeneration' of Godalming at all?
Was it anything to do with the criteria to validate a potential application for a government loan, to implement the project.?”
Minutes:
The Executive received the following question(s) in accordance with Procedure Rule 11:
(i) From Councillor Jenny Else
“I would like to know WHY the name of the proposal for changes to Crown Car Park and the Burys site was changed from "The Burys Project" to "Godalming regeneration' when it is not a 'regeneration' of Godalming at all?
Was it anything to do with the criteria to validate a potential application for a government loan, to implement the project.?”
Response from Councillor Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Assets
“Can I thank Cllr Else for this question but for the record can I also note that the correct name of this project is the Central Godalming Regeneration Project and is not about any regeneration of the whole town in its entirety.
So, Members will recall that in 2019 we inherited a project from the last Conservative administration which had, amongst other things, commissioned and scoped a Council Office Accommodation Strategy & Options Evaluation report from Lambert Smith Hampton that was the subject of a detailed response that I gave to a question from Kathy Smyth at the Executive on 1 November.
Back then the project was referred to as The Burys Accommodation Project or just The Burys Project for short. But, as we assessed this work in the context of our own priorities it also became clear that it contained two very different workstreams that needed to be considered independently and so the so-called “where work happens” stream was spun-off which, with the onset of the Covid lockdown, turned out to be doubly helpful.
While the remaining stream did continue to be referred to as The Burys Project for a while, as we scoped Phase 1 it became clear that our priorities were so different from those we’d inherited that a change of name would be appropriate in order to record the clear distinctions between the two, and I’ve previously referred to some of these, including:
- Ruling out the sale of the Council’s land, including Burys Field;
- The protection of car parking spaces in the town centre, and
- The provision, by us, of genuinely affordable housing.
So it was that when we commissioned our own Phase 1 study we adopted the name “Burys Development Project” in July 2020. But, as the most viable concepts and options emerged from this and the deeper Phase 2 studies, it became clearer still that this name didn’t adequately capture the balance of the project’s elements beyond just the development of the Council offices and so, as we prepared for the presentation of the Phase 2 outcomes to residents in the public engagement in preparation for Phase 3, we felt that the name of the project should also evolve to reflect this, which was done at the same time in July of this year.
Of course it’s not only the Public Works Loan Board criteria that have changed since the last Conservative administration realised that this Council faced long-term structural inequalities in its funding even before the Covid and the current Inflation crises, and I’ll come back to that later in this meeting in my remarks on the Medium Term Financial Plan.
Thank you.”
(ii) From councillor Brian Edmonds
“With reference to the difficulty in recruiting a health and safety officer it would be helpful to confirm that the current health and safety management arrangements fulfil Waverley BC legal obligations under the Health and Safety Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
The selected Local Government Association - Health and safety in the Council Councillor workbook references outline the elected members responsibilities and requirement for their engagement in this issue. The Guide also advises the serious consequences of failure to manage health and safety.
The elected member’s role in health and safety “It is important to understand that elected members are not expected to be health and safety experts. The council is legally required to appoint competent health and safety advisors to help managers and members understand the technical and legal issues. The role and level of responsibility will also depend upon position held by the elected member.”
“The council through the leader and cabinet will set the direction for health and safety, through its strategy and policy, and allocate resources to make the strategy a reality. The strategy and policy will be implemented by officers and overseen by the chief executive as head of paid service and the senior management board made up of departmental directors. The chief executive and council leader will provide overall leadership on health and safety for the council and will sign off the health and safety policy statement.”
“There are serious consequences for both organisations and individuals when health and safety management falls below the required standard. Breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and associated regulations and non-compliance with enforcement notices can result in substantial fines and imprisonment.”
Waverley BC has the obligation to ensure suitable and sufficient health and safety assistance through “the number of persons appointed the time available for them to fulfil their functions and the means at their disposal are adequate having regard to the size of his undertaking, the risks to which his employees are exposed and the distribution of those risks throughout the undertaking.” With the Leader’s agreement it would be helpful to learn of the current status of the health and safety department at the next Executive Meeting.”
Response from Councillor Paul Follows, Leader of the Council
“The Council remains committed to ensuring it meets its obligations under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; and that its health and safety management arrangements fulfil those legal obligations.
The Council has robust Health and Safety Governance arrangements, and these are set out in the Health and Safety Policy. For convenience a schematic of these arrangements is included in the report to Councillor Edmonds
These arrangements seek to embed Health and Safety across the local authority and are not reliant on a single member of staff and the council remains confident that in spite of the current vacancy, there are suitable and sufficient persons in post and that they have sufficient time and resources to fulfil their functions.
The roles and responsibilities of council officers in respect of health and safety are detailed in the Health and Safety Policy which is attached to the report to Councillor Edmonds.