Agenda and minutes

REMOTE & INFORMAL, Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee - Monday, 7 February 2022 9.00 am

Contact: Kunwar Khan, Scrutiny Officer 

Media

Items
No. Item

10/22

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

11/22

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

    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); and

     

    ·         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.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None received.

12/22

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

    To receive any questions or petitions.

     

    The public retain their right to submit questions for written response, with such answers recorded in the minutes of the meeting; questioners may participate in meetings to ask a supplementary question. Petitioners may address the Committee on their petition for up to three minutes. Guidance will be made available to any member of the public wishing to speak at a meeting.

    Notes:

    1.    The deadline for Members questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (1 February 2022).

     

    2.    The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting(31 January 2022)

     

    3.    The deadline for petitions is 14 days before the meeting and no petitions have been received.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None received.

13/22

LOCAL AND JOINT COMMITTEE HIGHWAY FUNCTION pdf icon PDF 127 KB

    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.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    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.

     

    1. 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.

     

    1. 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.

     

    1. 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.

     

    1. A Member queried why a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13/22

14/22

SURREY ELECTRIC VEHICLE PUBLIC CHARGEPOINTS FURTHER INFORMATION pdf icon PDF 376 KB

    • Share this item

    Purpose of the report:

     

    The Select Committee requested on 21 January further background information and reasoning behind the Select Committee report ‘Surrey Electric Vehicle Public chargepoints Progress and preferred procurement Option’. This report responds to that request and proposes the formation of a reference group to provide scrutiny support to the development of the arrangements for delivery of the required chargepoint infrastructure.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport & Infrastructure

    Katie Stewart, Executive Director for Environment, Transport & Infrastructure

    Jonathon James, Electric Vehicle Project Manager

    Lee Parker, Director of Infrastructure, Planning & Major Projects

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1. The Chairman summarised that the concerns of Committee Members regarding the lack of detail in the previous report had been addressed. Cabinet had amended its recommendations following the Select Committee’s feedback and that a Member Reference Group reference group had been formed to consider this matter in detail.

     

    Resolved:

     

    The Select Committee:

     

    1. Agrees to the establishment of a Member Reference Group which will be engaged to provide scrutiny support to the procurement exercise, including in helping to define the outcomes to be specified in the procurement and the network plan.

     

    1. Membership of the Member Reference Group to be as follows:

    John O’Reilly (Convener/Chair)

    Andy MacLeod

    Lance Spencer

    Catherine Baart

    Stephen Cooksey

    John Furey

     

     

15/22

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING: 8 MARCH 2022

    The next public meeting of the committee will be held on 8 March 2022 at 10am.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Committee noted its next meeting would be held on 8 March 2022