Issue - meetings

Purpose of the report:

A draft version of the Cabinet report ‘Local and Joint Committee Highway Functions’ has been produced ahead of consideration at the Cabinet meeting of 22 February 2022.

The proposed recommendations contained within the report are presented for pre-decision scrutiny.

Witnesses:

Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport & Infrastructure

Mark Nuti, Cabinet Member for Communities

Marie Snelling, Executive Director - Customer & Communities

Katie Stewart, Executive Director for Environment, Transport & Infrastructure

James Painter, Community Partnership Manager

James Glover, Community, Partnerships & Engagement

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. An Officer introduced a presentation covering the new proposal that sought Cabinet approval to change the way in which the executive highway functions currently considered by Local/Joint Committees were undertaken. Current and transitional arrangements in addition to funding and allocation summaries for 2022/2023 and 2023/24 were summarised to clarify queries raised by Members previously.
2. The Chairman noted the Community Network Approach (CNA) had not yet been developed but was mentioned several times in the report and suggested that the CNA be disregarded at this stage and reconsidered when there were more details available.  The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure said there would be no objections to this recommendation if it enabled clearer consideration of the executive highways function.
3. A Member asked if the £50,000 capital referred to in the report was an increase. The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure noted that the current amount was £23,000 of capital and £7,500.00 of revenue and the proposal was to increase that to £50,000 of capital with an additional £7,500 of revenue, totalling £57,000.

4. A Member was concerned at the formula to split the transitional year amount of £2.95 million. Originally, budgets were divided by 81 Members and then multiplied by the number of county councillors per borough, resulting in larger boroughs receiving a larger proportion. The proposal reverts to an 11-way split which was disproportionately unfair to larger boroughs. The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure said that the proposal for the transitional year had been generous. Every district and borough would be given the same amount to give them the opportunity of delivering as many top priorities within this financial year, as possible. The same methodology from the previous year could be implemented, however it was worth noting that whilst larger area such as Elmbridge, Guildford, Reigate and Banstead and Waverley would benefit, other areas would lose out.

5. A Member queried the reasons for the recommendations of the new procedures and said it was not clear how the better outcomes noted in the report would be achieved. The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure said that the proposal was an extension of the Select Committee’s current remit. Currently results of spending and funding decisions were reported back to the local committee annually which would continue but instead to the Select Committee. Minor elements would be built faster with Members working in their local communities delivering more efficiently without the need to wait for annual or quarterly Committee cycles.

6. A Member asked how the current process which supported transparency and local involvement could be replicated. The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure confirmed that the highways engagement team would offer support with appropriate expertise and would attend local meetings.

7. A Member queried why a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13