Agenda item

The Chairman to give any announcements.

The Chairman gave the following announcements:

·         Coronavirus – There is lots of information and also misinformation being distributed. Surrey County Council (SCC) have been sending out regular information bulletins. I would urge you all to look at these and use this as the basis for informing your residents. As it stands there are two confirmed cases in Surrey who are either family members or known to each other. By following the advice given to us by SCC and Public Health we can minimise the risk and help stop the spread of the virus.

·         Members Community Allocation – The fund has now closed for 2019/20. In Reigate & Banstead 97% of the funds were committed and allocated to local projects across the borough. Several members helped to support the Junior Citizens Scheme. The events took place in February 2020 and involved 1000 young people across the borough.

·         Members Highways Fund – All money for 2019/20 has been committed and spent with just a few outstanding jobs to be done. This had been due to the weather. This is a pledge to members and residents to report any problems such as potholes or missing signs via the online ‘report it’ button. This is the easiest way to get jobs logged.

·         Rural Gigabit voucher scheme – Members should all recently have received an email from Katie Brennan in relation to the Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme. These vouchers can be applied for by residents in rural designated postcodes. Groups of two or more residential properties or small/medium businesses (SMEs) in Defra designated rural postcodes could be entitled to vouchers to upgrade their broadband to full fibre. It is estimated that approximately 2000 residents and businesses could be eligible for these vouchers in Reigate & Banstead. Can I urge members to spread the word to residents and businesses who this may be suitable for and encourage them to apply? Katie Brennan, SCC is also very happy to speak to anyone who would like to know more.

·         A217 works – The road safety work south of Reigate are due to start shortly. More information should be sent out to members on this shortly.

·         Sustainable Travel Task Group – the task group is making progress in the set up and we are still looking for innovators who would like to be involved. Details of the first meeting will be sent out shortly and is scheduled for 25 March. Members have been provided with two handouts today. One looks at the topics the task group would like to cover, although this is not an exhaustive list and is open to suggestions. The second handout looks at the project management tools that the task group will use to assess each of the topics on the list. This will also be distributed electronically after the meeting.

·         Thanks to services – The recent bad weather has caused much disruption and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the people; emergency services, highways officers and Keir that worked around the clock to ensure any disruption was minimal for our residents and ask the committee to join me in this thanks.

·         M25 J8 Improvements –  The latest position is that the works have been postponed until 2021 – and are dependent on budgets. As soon as I hear anymore will let everyone know. I will make the point however that these works are needed and must be completed at some point.

·         RBBC petition about M25 noise – Reigate & Banstead Borough Council (RBBC) recently received a petition about the noise on the M25 caused by the concrete slabs. Along with the leader at RBBC we wrote a joint letter to Highways England (HE) to address our concerns. We requested a meeting at end of March and will feedback to the committee on the outcome of this.

·         Consultation on Reigate station improvements – There are leaflets available at this meeting about the consultation. I would encourage you all to take part in consultation and provide your feedback. Please can you also let your residents know about this. The consultation is open until the beginning of April 2020.

·         Resident queries – A reminder that if a resident contacts you about an issue not in your division to share this with the correct divisional member and minimise work later down the line.