Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ashcombe, County Hall, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2DN

Contact: Huma Younis or Rianna Hanford, Room 122, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames 

Items
No. Item

1/16

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

    • Share this item

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Bob Gardner and Natalie Bramhall.

2/16

MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING: 26 JANUARY 2016 pdf icon PDF 151 KB

    • Share this item

    To agree the previous minutes as a true record of the meeting.

    Minutes:

    The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the last meeting.

3/16

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

    • Share this item

    To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

     

    Notes:

     

    · In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is aware they have the interest.

     

    · Members need only disclose interests not currently listed on the Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

     

    · Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the Register.

     

    · Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest

     

    Minutes:

    None were received.

4/16

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

    • Share this item

    To receive any questions or petitions.

     

    Notes:

     

    · The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (4 March 2016).

     

    · The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (3 March 2016).

     

    · The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

     

    Minutes:

    None were received.

5/16

RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE BOARD pdf icon PDF 143 KB

    • Share this item

    A response is included following recommendations made to Cabinet on 2 February 2016.

    Minutes:

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1. A response had been received from the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding following recommendations made to Cabinet on 2 February 2016 regarding extension to the Kier contract.
    2. The Chairman explained that the Board’s recommendation regarding the Surrey Wildlife Trust would be resubmitted to Cabinet as the proposals being out forward were still the same. A member of the Board strongly objected to the recommendations in the Surrey Wildlife Trust report. The Chairman stated that he would be attending the Cabinet meeting to present the board’s recommendations and concerns.  

     

6/16

RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 10 KB

    • Share this item

    The board is asked to monitor progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings and to review its forward work programme.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1. The Board noted the progress made on the Recommendation Tracker and reviewed the Forward Work Programme.

    . It was explained that 25% of local committee highways budgets had been allocated towards flooding, members questioned whether a list of schemes and priorities on flooding was available. Officers present informed the Board that this information was available; this would be circulated to Members after the meeting.  It was also agreed that information relating to wet-spots in the county would be circulated.

    2.    The Board was informed that there would be some movement in the budget for pavements (formerly referred to as footways) for 2016/17 and this would be reported back to the board as part of the wider asset management strategy.

    3.    Members requested that the changes to Community Recycling Centres (CRC) and the introduction of a charging scheme to CRC’s be brought to the board. The Chairman explained that this was something the Joint Waste Management group would be exploring.

     

    Actions:

     

    For the Assistant Director of Highways and Transport to circulate a works list detailing the schemes being undertaken through the local committee highways budget (25%)allocated towards flooding. For the Assistant Director of Highways and Transport to also provide members with an update on 'wetspots' in the county.

7/16

UPDATES FROM MEMBER REFERENCE GROUPS AND TASK GROUPS

    • Share this item

    To receive a verbal update from the Board’s Task and Member Reference Groups.

     

    Minutes:

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The Chairman of the Basingstoke Canal Task Group informed the Committee that there would be a formal report to the Board in June 2016.

    2.    The Chairman of the Countryside Member Reference Group informed the Board that the member reference group had recently met to discuss the report to cabinet.

    3.    The Chairman of the Customer Service Excellence Board informed the Committee that the Resident Experience Board had recently looked at customer service from the Highways department and lessons to be learnt.

    4.    It was noted that four recommendations were made at the Performance and Finance sub-group and would be reported back to the Council Overview Board. The group had found the cost analysis breakdown of the services helpful. The sub group would meet and review the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in July 2016. It was agreed that the budget setting for this year had been difficult.

    5.    The Local Transport Review Member Reference Group would be meeting on 22 March and the winter maintenance task group would meet again in July 2016.

     

     

8/16

PROJECT HORIZON pdf icon PDF 735 KB

    • Share this item

    To receive an update on Project Horizon.

     

     

    Minutes:

    Declarations of interest:

     

    None

     

    Witnesses:

    Jason Russell, Assistant Director for Highways and Transport

    John Furey, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding

    Mark Borland, Works Delivery Group Manager

    Jane Young, Carriageway Team Leader

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1.    The Assistant Director for Highways and Transport introduced the report and informed the board that the service was planning for year 5 of the Horizon programme and will await for Cabinet to approve year 4 of the programme.  Currently the service was working on ensuring the controls were robust and changes were managed. It was explained that the asset management team would also be involved in the delivery of Horizon going forward and would be responsible for generating the list of schemes.

    2.    The Committee was informed that the targets had been agreed three years ago and were achievable through the five year programme.  At the end of year five of the programme, 50km of Surrey’s roads would be resurfaced. Many lessons had been learnt along the way and officers would work with the MRG to ensure effective delivery of the programme.

    3.    Officers provided the board with a short presentation on Project Horizon (attached as Annex 1).Officers noted that a minimum of 10% of Surrey’s roads would be completed by the end of year four.  It was added that before the project had started in 2011, one in five Surrey roads were in a critical condition.  In the last three years that had been reduced to one in eight.  External partners were being worked with to achieve third party to complete to project, officers added that by the end of April a full four year programme could be issued.

    4.    Members raised concern over communication previously received regarding the programme.  Officers responded that due to the complexity of the programme and a lack of capacity, communication had suffered.  Recent improvements had been made and Members would be engaged in the programme.  The importance of engaging Members in programmes was expressed in order to acknowledge success or raise concern. A works communications team had been bought in house to deal with communications issues.

    5.    It was stated by officers that the Horizon programme for year 4 and 5 would be circulated amongst local committees.

    6.    Members congratulated officers on the delivery of the programme but had key concerns around utility companies digging up roads which had been resurfaced under Horizon. Officers explained that utilities companies were unavoidable but were becoming more cooperative. Officers will be sharing the asset management programme with utilities companies to ensure clear communication going forward.

    7.    The Cabinet Member informed the Board that Surrey County Council (SCC) was the only authority to have successfully put together a programme like this in the whole country.

    8.    The Cabinet Member explained that due to the budgetary issues faced by local government this year the year 4 programme for Horizon has had to be completed in a short amount of time so contractors are prepared to start work.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8/16

9/16

SURREY INFRASTRUCTURE STUDY pdf icon PDF 95 KB

    • Share this item

    Purpose of the report:  Policy Development and Review 

     

    The Surrey Infrastructure Study provides an evidence base of infrastructure requirements across the County for the period to 2030.  The Study will inform future work to develop an Infrastructure Strategy to ensure effective delivery of strategic infrastructure requirements to support sustainable economic growth.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Declarations of interest:

     

    None

     

    Witnesses:

    Lesley Harding, Place and Sustainability Group Manager

    Sue Janota, Spatial Planning and Policy Manager

    John Furey, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Flooding

     

    Key points raised during the discussion

    1.    The Place and Sustainability Group Manager introduced the report and presented the Board with a presentation detailing the study’s findings (attached as Annex 2). It was explained that the Surrey Infrastructure Study had now been published. Members acknowledged the effort committed by officers to complete this work stream.

    2.    The Cabinet Member explained that the South East area had generated great interest amongst the LEP’s It was further explained that south east leaders had put forward a report detailing infrastructure requirements for the region.

    3.    It was noted that the South East of England contributed £80 billion net to the government each year.

    4.    A member of the board queried how officers would keep the study up to date as currently the study was formed on a snapshot of Surrey as of July 2015. The Spatial Planning and Policy Manager explained that Surrey planning officers and District and Borough colleagues would work closely together to keep each other informed on any changes going forward. Officers would also be going back to consultants on this matter. Officers explained that the software was in place to easily update numbers in the study.      

    5.    Members agreed that a great amount of hard work had been dedicated to the development of the study but this was only a snapshot based on current assumptions.  Members noted that factors such as immigration and airport expansion could affect future assumptions.

    6.    Officers explained that London was looking to review their infrastructure plan which could have a knock on effect on Surrey but engagement with London was taking place. 

     

     

    Recommendations:

    The Committeenoted the findings of the Surrey Infrastructure Study and the next steps.

     

    Actions:

     

    None.

     

10/16

DATE OF NEXT MEETING: 21 APRIL 2016

    • Share this item

    The next meeting of the Economic Prosperity, Environment and Highways Board will be held on Thursday 21 April 2016 at 10.30am in the Ashcombe Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames.

     

    Minutes:

    The date of the next Economic Prosperity, Environment and Highways Board would be held at 10.30am on 21 April 2016.