Agenda item

To respond to questions from members of the public, received in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday 11 July 2023.

22.1   The following questions were received from members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10:

(i)        From Mr Daniel Kuszel, Godalming:

“Could the Portfolio Holder give their assessment of the state of street cleaning in Godalming High Street and the town generally. Also, does the Portfolio Holder believe it is reasonable for residents to take the time to report graffiti on Council owned property but to not see this removed even though 8 weeks have passed since it was reported?”

Cllr Steve Williams, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Sustainability provided the following response:

“In general I believe the cleaning of our towns, including Godalming, is generally very good and our contractor applies significant resources to each town centre every day. That said there will be occasions where something may be overlooked or litter is dropped after we have cleaned in which case we would encourage the public to report any concerns through our website or customer services.

In relation to graffiti we do aim to clean our own property within a few days of reports, but there can be complications which can lead to delays, for example “council owned” does not mean Waverley owned and could be the County Council or a Town or Parish Council. Graffiti is the responsibility of the owner to remove and not Waverley Borough Council by default and whilst we are happy to receive reports and pass these on to the relevant bodies, we are not in a position to remove graffiti from others’ property.”

(ii)       From Brian Edmonds, Farnham:

“The question is sustained by statutory guidance issued under the Local Government Act 2003 that allows the public to assess a local authority’s total risk exposure because of its investment decisions.

The losses incurred by Waverley BC Leisure Centres from 2020 until 2022 advised by FOI request A12/4759 were understood to be £3,246,000 million with external support of £754,000 reducing the net impact to £2,492,000. Please advise why business interruption insurance did not mitigate these losses and who approved sustaining these losses by considering them an appropriate burden for council taxpayers?

The Statement of Accounts is the principal means by which the council is accountable to its electorate. However, it is understood that “the latest draft Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 is available on the Council’s website, subject to conclusion of the audit.” Recognising this limitation, what management controls are now in place to either prevent or mitigate similar substantial Waverley BC Leisure Centre losses?”

Cllr Mark Merryweather, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Assets, provide the following response:

“The losses referred to by Mr Edmonds were due almost wholly directly to lost revenue from income from the closures caused by the mandatory Covid lockdown which were not reimbursed from central government. Throughout the period of Covid there were many decisions that had to be made to maintain and sustain services for residents. The council mitigated lost revenues and controlled costs wherever possible and the whole council approved the budgets and the revised contingency budgets.

Waverley contracts the operation of our leisure centres and for that reason no business continuity insurance was available on the market to us. We are aware however that our operator at the time, Places Leisure, did hold such insurance and like many of its peers continues to chase for a payout to mitigate these losses. To date, insurance companies have refused to do so. As a result of the pandemic any new contractual arrangements recognize and clearly define the financial responsibilities should such a circumstance arise again. All operating and management controls have been updated to reflect the lessons learned throughout the Covid pandemic.”

(iii)      from Chris Grimes, Chairman of Sport Haslemere:

                    “The Council will be aware of the concerns Sport Haslemere has expressed on behalf of the clubs who use The Edge and the lack of certainty about their future use of the Building. To this end we have organised a petition entitled “Protect The Edge” which has over 2,500 signatures and we would like to present this at the meeting. We would also like to ask a question - can the Council give the clubs a categoric assurance that The Edge will re-open for Community Use by no later than 1st October 2023 so that they can plan their future activities?”

                    NB. At the Council meeting, Mr Grimes read out a slightly different question, reflecting the way in which discussions had moved on since he submitted his original question:

“Regarding The Edge Leisure Centre in Haslemere, this is a facility that was built by public subscription for the benefit of the people of Haslemere, thanks to the sterling work of the late Nick Chilton and the lake Eric Thompson who have over many years done so much for the development of sport in Haslemere. Until 1st of July the building was used by a large majority of clubs and for some of these there are simply no alternative permanent locations for them locally. In addition Rachel Morris MBA a double Olympic gold medal winner in disabled sport has also had to suspend her activities which she runs for disadvantaged and disabled children as she is wholly dependent on The Edge to be able to deliver her program.

We are now told by Surrey County Council that for the school and the Weydon Multi-Academy Trust to take over the facilities at The Edge will take a minimum of 12 months. We further understand that Surrey County Council are prepared to let Waverly Borough Council reinstate their lease for two years and this frankly is the only way that community use of The Edge can continue in the next 12 months. We realize that this will be at a cost but would save the council in the short term a lot of money in dilapidation costs. A group of users of the facilities has been set up and those people already have a track record of raising large sums of money for schemes for sport of up to £1m and we are confident we'll raise the necessary funds in the next two years to enable continued use of The Edge for community purposes. Health and well-being is an essential part of modern life and what the clubs need is an assurance that The Edge will re-open. They need certainty to enable them to plan for the future. If the clubs fold due to that lack of certainty that will do untold harm to many athletes, some disabled, some with huge potential for the future, and some just denied access to be able to continue with their chosen sport.

Hence our petition entitled ‘protect The Edge’ which has huge local support with over 2,700 signatures which I have formally are presented. The only opportunity now to keep The Edge open for community use is for Waverly Borough Council to take back the lease for two years whilst funding is sorted out. I was also aware of the letter that Jeremy Hunt had sent to the Leader this afternoon asking the council also to take back the lease. This is an opportunity for the Leader of the Council to make good on the promises he gave Sport Haslemere at its meeting on the 17th of April. He told us a that The Edge would not close for community use and that Waverley Borough Council would be prepared to provide financial assistance for a two-year transitionary period so I hope that the council will now agree to take back the lease as offered providing the categoric assurance that the club's need for them to be able to move forward. 

Thank you very much.”

                    Cllr Kika Mirylees responded to Mr Grimes original submitted question:

                    “We are very sorry that Waverly Borough Council are unable to provide a categoric assurance The Edge will be reopened by 1 October. We are not the owners of the facility, as you know, Surrey County Council are. Where we do have ownership at the site, in the case of the playing pitches including the new 3G pitch, we have ensured that these are still open for community use. Without going into the details of all the things that we have encountered during this handover period we would assure you that we are very committed to supporting sports activities throughout the borough and negotiations and discussions with the multi-academy trust will continue and be aimed at re-opening The Edge facility as soon as possible. We are very much supportive of this, and I think that whatever we can do we will bring it to some happy conclusion.”

Responding to Mr Grimes’ question, the Leader advised that the petition had met the threshold to be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He was unable to give the assurances that Mr Grimes was looking for as there were some contentious issues regarding the amount of money that would be required in dilapidations and these had not been agreed between Waverley and Surrey. The Leader offered to meet with Mr Grimes, and also Tim Oliver, Leader of Surrey County Council, and Jeremy Hunt MP, and officers to discuss this and the local government funding issues that had led the council to this point.

Waverley continued to support Sport and Leisure in Haslemere, primarily through the extant Haslemere Leisure Centre, so whilst he could not give a categorical answer to Mr Grimes’ additional question, he was more than happy to extend an invitation for that meeting to take place and would certainly come along and speak to the subject at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.