Decisions

On 10 June 2020, The Prime Minister announced a grant of £63 million for local authorities in England to help those who are struggling to afford food and other essentials due to COVID-19. The funding is a one-off contribution for the 2020-21 financial year and is made under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003. Surrey County Council has been granted an allocation of £788,015.67.

This additional funding is intended to help local authorities to continue to support those struggling to afford food and other essentials over the coming months due to COVID-19.   The government anticipates that most of the funding will be spent within 12 weeks of receipt of the funding (received end of July).

Discussions held within the Welfare Cell, unanimously concluded that the most vulnerable residents would benefit most from a partnership approach to the distribution of these funds, building on the existing relationships across the County Council, Borough & District Councils and voluntary, community & faith sector (VCFS) which have been utilised in the joint approach to the response to the pandemic. 

The SRG approved the proposal to allocate these funds in the following ways, which the Welfare Cell considers to be the best mechanism to ensure coverage across the County and that the funding is targeted at those most in need of financial assistance for food and essential items, as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic:

•the majority of the allocation (£648k) is to be distributed to the Borough and District Councils to use to target those in need and provide additional grant funding to local food banks and VCFS organisations supporting the purchase and distribution of food, medical supplies and other essential items. The approach to utilisation will be determined at a local level based on need and delivery mechanisms.

It is proposed that the allocation of these funds across the 11 Boroughs and Districts replicate the DEFRA assessment of need (based on population data weighted by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) for the authority area).

•Surrey Crisis Fund is an existing fund, run by Surrey County Council, supporting vulnerable people across the County experiencing hardship.

•Bookham food distribution centre (previously located at The Spectrum Guildford) continues to distribute food parcels to shielding residents and those self-isolating as a result of test and trace. The funding will be used to continue operation of the central food distributions centre reaching across the County and covering demand where government food banks are due to cease operation.  This additional funding will enable opportunities to expand the offer to include toiletries, sanitary items, and other essential items.  

Decision made:

It was AGREED that:

The proposed allocation of the Local Authority Emergency Assistance Grant for Food and Essential Supplies is as follows:

Following the decision by the Planning and Regulatory Committee to refuse the planning application on land south of Dunsfold Road and east of High Loxley Road, Dunsfold (ref: WA/2019/0796) at the virtual meeting on 29 June 2020, the Monitoring Officer has received in excess of 100 complaints alleging that there were procedural irregularities that invalidated the result. As a consequence, Counsel was instructed to view the recording of the meeting and, first, to consider whether there were in fact any such irregularities and, secondly, what should be done to rectify them.

Decision made:

It was AGREED that:

1.           The resolution to refuse application reference WA/2019/0796 is invalid and any notice of refusal would therefore be unlawful.

2.           A decision notice for the refusal of application reference WA/2019/0796 shall not be issued and the application will be referred back to Committee for determination afresh.

3.           There will be full entitlement for public speakers, the applicant and the local Member to make or remake their statements orally with full provision for debate by members.

Bus route 461 is a key route to St Peter’s Hospital normally running every 30min. Fare income has reduced a result of fewer passengers due to Covid-19. In order to maintain the service at a level which would support key workers accessing an NHS primary care facility, additional funding of £450 per day was agreed for three months from 1^st April to 30^th June 2020.  Patronage has not increased as hoped, and the service continues to suffer reduced fare income.  In order to maintain this essential service further support of £300 per day is required from 1^st July to 31^st August, with an expected total cost of £12,900, which will be partially funded through Covid Bus Service Support Grant.

Decision made:

It was AGREED that:

1.           Financial support of £300 per day (estimated at £12,900) be provided to Falcon Buses to support route 461 from 1^st July to 31^st August 2020.

Reasons for Decision:

To enable continuation of bus services taking key NHS workers to St Peter’s Hospital.

A Multi Agency Group (MAG) has been formed across Surrey County Council, District & Borough Councils, Surrey Police and other partner agency to review and address issues relating to homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This group is exploring ways to reduce homelessness and in doing so reduce the risk of spreading the virus in the community.

This includes securing suitable accommodation for both suitable social isolation for positive cases and cross sector coaching and care in the community for people with complex needs to help them settle into new accommodation and prevent a return to homelessness.

The initial costs of the work of the new MAG is estimated to be £200k for the period through until the end of March 2021.

It is proposed Surrey County Council makes a £100k contribution towards these costs.  This funding would be paid to local partner agencies and providers including housing, mental health and substance misuse via Public Health who are acting as the lead coordinator for the project.

Other funding for the work is expected to come from Office Police and Crime Commissioner and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government via the local collaborative bids that are currently being developed.

A longer term plan and funding for this work will be reviewed based on the outcomes of the findings of this work and pilot schemes.

Decision made:

It was agreed that SCC pay £100,000 to housing, mental health and substance misuse via the Council’s Public Health service who are acting as the lead coordinator for the delivery of the homelessness schemes being taken forwards by the new MAG.

Reasons for Decision:

To support COVID-19 infection control across Surrey and also to ensure some of Surrey’s most vulnerable residents receive critical support to help reduce homelessness in the longer term.