Councillors and committees

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Haslemere Hall , Bridge Rd, Haslemere GU27 2AS

Contact: Carys Walker, Community Partnership & Committee Officer  Waverley Borough Council offices The Burys, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1HR

Note: 01483 517530 carys.walker@surreycc.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

65/17

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

    • Share this item

    To receive any apologies for absence.

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received by:

     

    Dr Andrew Povey

    Cllr Denis Leigh

66/17

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING pdf icon PDF 122 KB

    • Share this item

    To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

    Decision:

    The minutes of the meeting were agreed and signed by the Chairman

    Minutes:

    The minutes of the meeting were agreed and signed by the Chairman

67/17

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

    • Share this item

    All Members present are required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter

    (i)            Any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or

    (ii)           Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this meeting

    NOTES:

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

    ·         As well as an interest of the Member, this includes any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the Member is living as a spouse or civil partner)

    Members with a significant personal interest may participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial

    Minutes:

    No declarations of interest were received.

68/17

DECISION TRACKER pdf icon PDF 54 KB

    • Share this item

    To review the progress of decisions made at previous meetings

    Minutes:

    It was noted by the Chairman that there are no outstanding actions on the decision tracker.

69/17

FORMAL PUBLIC QUESTIONS pdf icon PDF 226 KB

    • Share this item

    To answer any questions from residents or businesses within the Waverley Borough area in accordance with Standing Order 69. Notice should be given in writing or by email to the Community Partnership and Committee Officer by 12 noon four working days before the meeting.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Two questions have been received from Mr Malcolm Carter, Mayor of Haslemere.

     

    Question 1: The was about on street parking around Hindhead Village and Haslemere Station. The parking officer’s response was noted as was the upcoming meeting of the 4th July to which local representatives have been invited.

     

    It was also noted that parking issues in Haslemere will be addressed as part of the borough-wide parking review.

     

    Question 2: This concerned the Hindhead tunnel and traffic congestion that results from emergency tunnel closures.

     

    It was acknowledged that this was a long-standing problem and one that wasn’t just the result of emergency closures but planned closures as well. Although Haslemere and Thursley are directly impacted, there is a knock on effect on other roads around the borough as drivers seek alternative routes. Amongst other roads affected is the A325 through Wrecclesham, thus illustrating the widespread effect that the closures have on the borough.

     

    It was suggested, that the local committee should play a part in ensuring that all possible measures are being taken to alleviate the problem and that Highways England should be held to account.

     

    It was agreed therefore that a letter should be sent to Highways England signed by the Chairman and the Cabinet Member for Highways and that Highways England should be invited to present to the committee meeting in September. The local Member of Parliament and the Minister for Transport should also be sent a copy of the letter.

     

     

     

     

     

     

70/17

PETITION

    • Share this item

    Minutes:

    No petitions had been received for this committee.

71/17

MEMBER QUESTIONS

    • Share this item

    To receive any written questions from Members under Standing Order 47.

    Minutes:

    No member questions had been received for this committee.

72/17

POLICING IN WAVERLEY: UPDATE (SERVICE MONITORING & ISSUES OF LOCAL CONCERN) pdf icon PDF 347 KB

    • Share this item

    A verbal update from the local Waverley police team sharing some of their work in the borough.

     

    Minutes:

    Sergeant Paul Edwards from Surrey Police’s Waverley team addressed the committee.

     

    Amongst the topics covered in his presentation was how the nature of crime has changed and how the police are tacking a rise in crimes being reported with a reduction in resources.

     

    Officers are now trained to be omni-competent. This means that they are now responsible for responding both to the initial call and the subsequent investigation. In the past; response and investigation were carried out by two different officers.

     

    The sergeant relayed a number of scenarios that were typical to weekend nights in Waverley and demonstrated how police resources can be stretched when a number of  multiple incidents occur simultaneously.

     

    Limited resources means that the police prioritise incidents where there is a danger to people rather than the theft or damage of property. There has however been some recent successes in Waverley concerning prolific burglars and the theft of plant vehicles.

     

    In addition, there is a commitment to crime prevention. Officers seek to engage with hard to reach communities and carry out joint patrols with the borough’s Joint Enforcement Team.

     

    The committee thanked the police sergeant for his presentation and asked how they could assist the police in their efforts. The sergeant suggested that they could help in educating their residents about the police’s priorities. The committee members may also want to encourage their residents to get involved in Neighbourhood Watch which is currently being refreshed across Waverley and to promote online interaction through the police’s ‘In the know’ website and social media accounts.

     

73/17

COMMUNITY SAFETY FUNDING UPDATE (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION) pdf icon PDF 96 KB

    • Share this item

    Reviewing the local committee’s community safety funding for 2016/17 and introducing funding for 2017/18

    Decision:

    The Local Committee agreed that:

     

    i.      The committee’s delegated community safety budget of £3,000 for 2017/18 be  retained by the Community Partnership Team on behalf of the Local Committee

     

    ii.     Authority be delegated to the Community Partnership Manager in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the local committee to authorise the expenditure of the criteria and principles stated in paragraphs 2.5-2.11 of this report

     

    iii.    The committee receives updates on the project(s) that was funded, the outcomes and the impact it has achieved

     

     

    Reasons:

     

    1. To secure greater oversight of the committee’s expenditure and better value for money for projects that help to achieve the County’s community safety priorities.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Minutes:

    The Partnership Committee Officer presented a report detailing the committee’s allocation of community safety funding for the year 2017/18 and updating them on how the funding was allocated last year.

     

    £3,000 of funding has been devolved to the committee for this purpose and it is proposed that the process to allocate this should be similar to the process that was introduced last year. Bids were invited from the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) which is an inter-agency organisation with responsibility for community safety across the borough.

     

    The change in process had come as a result of a borough-wide evaluation, the results of which suggested that measures should be put in place to ensure that the funding was being used to bring about tangible outcomes.

     

    Last year, Waverley’s CSP had determined that their priority for funding was Domestic Homicide Reviews.(DHR)  These are statutory exercises that are undertaken following an death brought about by a relative or domestic partner of an individual. Waverley has had more DHR’s than any other Surrey borough since they began in 2011 and this is why they had been prioritised. The committee will receive a full report on this at the December committee.

     

    The committee acknowledged the importance of accountability in determining how funding is spent. They were however keen that the process did not put an unnecessary burden on the Community Safety Partnership by adding an additional layer of administration.

     

    The Partnership Officer reassured the committee that the process was a simple one and that, as the person who had represented the county council on the CSP, she had drafted the bid on their behalf in collaboration with borough officers in order that this did not impose greatly on any one individual’s workload.

     

     

    The Local Committee resolved that:

     

    i.      The committee’s delegated community safety budget of £3,000 for 2017/18 be  retained by the Community Partnership Team on behalf of the Local Committee

     

    ii.     Authority be delegated to the Community Partnership Manager in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the local committee to authorise the expenditure of the criteria and principles stated in paragraphs 2.5-2.11 of this report

     

    iii.    The committee receives updates on the project(s) that was funded, the outcomes and the impact it has achieved

     

     

    Reasons:

     

    1. To secure greater oversight of the committee’s expenditure and better value for money for projects that help to achieve the County’s community safety priorities.

     

     

     

     

     

     

74/17

HIGHWAYS UPDATE (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION) pdf icon PDF 197 KB

    • Share this item

    To receive an update on the 2016/17 programme of highway improvement and maintenance works funded by this committee and to agree further arrangements for allocating the budget for 2017/18.

     

    Additional documents:

    Decision:

    The Local Committee resolved to:

     

    i.      Note last year’s expenditure of the devolved budget 2016/17

     

    ii.     Allocate the reduced revenue devolved budget for this financial year towards a vegetation gang as detailed in the report

     

    iii.    Allocate the reduced capital devolved budget for this financial year 2017/18 as detailed in the report and delegate to the Area Highway Manager the ability to agree the scheme per divisional area in consultation with the county divisional member

     

    iv.   To allocate up to £63,637 from the parking surplus to top up the balance of the capital devolved budget (£26,363) to provide a total of £90,000

     

    v.    Delegate to the Area Highway Manager, in consultation with the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Divisional Member the ability to resolve any problems encountered to facilitate scheme delivery

     

    vi.   Request that officers bring a report and a proposal for the parking surplus spend in all areas at the next meeting

     

    Reasons:

     

    i.      The Local Committee acknowledges that there is a reduced budget available this year

     

    ii.     The committee agreed that schemes should be allocated promptly so that scheme design can start at the earliest opportunity and increase confidence in their prompt delivery

     

    iii.    The committee would like to explore other proposals for allocating the parking surplus before allocating this funding

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Minutes:

    The Acting Area Highway Manager presented a report to the committee with proposals for the allocation of the budget during the 2017/18 year. The highways budget has been cut by approximately 90% this year. This is because savings of £93 million need to be attained across the council.

     

    The officer set out his recommendation that all devolved revenue budget should be put towards a vegetation gang whose sole focus would be to keep highways clear of overhanging foliage. There was some disappointment expressed that this would mean that there would be no funding for maintaining road surfaces and that parish and town councils would lose their opportunity to influence the programme of works. Whilst the committee ultimately approved this recommendation, the borough councillor for Cranleigh West felt unable to support this motion.

     

    The report highlighted that there was a significant amount of funding that had been generated from on-street parking fines. 60% of this funding is devolved to the Local Committee to decide how this can be allocated across the borough. The report suggested that a portion of this could be pooled with the capital available and then shared equally amongst the nine divisions. This would allow each division the opportunity to instigate highways improvements to a value of £10,000, which can be completed in this financial year. Divisional members would be responsible for nominating the works in their respective areas.

     

    Two ideas were expressed for the allocation of the remainder of this funding.

     

    Many felt that the parking surplus should be allocated proportionately in line with where the parking receipts have been generated as had been the case in previous years. Farnham has generated the lion’s share of the funding and there was a previous agreement that this money was to go towards a programme to tackle congestion in Farnham Town Centre.

     

    The alternative view is that the drastic reduction in highways funding means that any available funding should be shared across divisions so that the entire borough can benefit. This will mean that complex projects such as the one described would need to be put on hold until there was a more favourable financial position. It was argued that rural areas do not have the potential to generate income in this way and so they would be disadvantaged by funding being allocated proportionately.

     

    The committee agreed that it would be helpful to receive a breakdown of parking receipts by area before reaching a decision and proposed that a further report is presented to the September committee to illustrate the origins of this funding and to suggest options for its distribution. Unlike capital funding, the parking surplus does not need to be spent by the end of the financial year and so the committee can give careful consideration on how this can be taken forward.

     

     

    The Local Committee resolved to:

     

    i.      Note last year’s expenditure of the devolved budget 2016/17

     

    ii.     Allocate the reduced revenue devolved budget for this financial year towards a vegetation gang as detailed in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74/17

75/17

REVIEW OF TASK GROUPS AND EXTERNAL APPOINTMENTS (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION) pdf icon PDF 86 KB

    • Share this item

    To review the use of task groups in decision making and consider an alternative approach.

     

    Decision:

    The Local Committee resolved to:

     

    i.      Agreed that the establishment of task groups should be held in abeyance for the year 2017/18 and should be reconsidered if significant new funding becomes available

     

    ii.    Defer the appointment of two representatives from the Local Committee to join the Early Help advisory board until next meeting

     

    Reasons:

     

    i.      The local committee wished to slim-line the decision making process around Highways budget whilst retaining the valuable local knowledge of divisional members

     

    ii.     The local committee will appoint its representatives when it hears from the Children’s and Family Service at next meeting.

     

    Minutes:

    Mr Harmer left the meeting as this item was introduced.

     

    The primary objective of this report, which was presented by the Partnership Committee Officer, was to evaluate the use of local task groups to allocate highways funding in the light of the current financial situation and to suggest a simpler, alternative method for the year ahead. The second objective was to note the changes in youth services and ask the committee to appoint two representatives for the Early Help advisory boards that are in the process of being established.

     

    It was recognised that task groups had been very useful in focusing on the local highways issues in the past and that the involvement of parish and town representatives had meant that a wide range of views had been taken into account. One committee member expressed they would be unhappy to see task groups put on hiatus as they had often been used to addressed other local issues such as car parks and utility works and this had been beneficial to their area.

     

    It was however accepted that task group meetings add to a councillor’s busy schedule and that in view of the drastic decrease in available funds, it would be more efficient for the divisional members to act as single points of contact and liaise with the Area Highway Manager directly.

     

    The local committee had received a briefing about the Early Help service at their private meeting on 12th June. This initiative is a new way of identifying and deploying services to young people and their families. The local committee is invited by the service to appoint two representatives who can be either county or borough members As the service is due to present to them at the next meeting, the committee felt they would be better equipped to appoint representatives then when they could confirm what level of commitment the role is likely to entail.

     

     

    The Local Committee resolved to:

     

    i.      Agreed that the establishment of task groups should be held in abeyance for the year 2017/18 and should be reconsidered if significant new funding becomes available

     

    ii.     Defer the appointment of two representatives from the Local Committee to join the Early Help advisory board until next meeting

     

    Reasons:

     

    i.      The local committee wished to slim-line the decision making process around Highways budget whilst retaining the valuable local knowledge of divisional members

     

    ii.     The local committee will appoint its representatives when it hears from the Children’s and Family Service at next meeting.

     

76/17

LOCAL COMMITTEE FORWARD PROGRAMME 2017-18 ((SERVICE MONITORING AND ISSUES OF LOCAL CONCERN) pdf icon PDF 5 KB

    • Share this item

    To note the proposed forward programme and consider any additional items for future discussion.

    Minutes:

    The committee noted the forward programme and an entry for a presentation from Highways England was added to the September meeting following on from item 5, question 2