Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor James King, Executive Member for Corporate Policy and Resources.

Councillor Nick Harrison, Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee sent his apologies. The observations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were published as an Addendum to the Committee agenda papers.

To approve the Minutes from the meeting on 13 July 2023.

The Minutes of the previous meeting on 13 July 2023 were approved.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The Executive Member for Environment and Sustainability.

The Executive Member for Environment and Sustainability, Councillor Moses, introduced the third annual update report on progress in delivering the Council’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy. Annex 1 in the agenda pack set out the Action Plan – a detailed summary of progress during the past year. Annex 2 set out a summary of external reviews such as building energy audits and reports on emissions and transport decarbonisation.

Councillor Moses said good progress had been made on over 100 actions included in the strategy action plan and continued partnership work with other organisations. The Council’s emissions were down from the pre-pandemic levels although not unexpectedly, they had risen in 2022/23 as buildings reopened and activities locally increased as pandemic restrictions were lifted.

The covering report (paragraphs 26 to 31) set out specific projects underway, funding and carbon savings. The Council had allocated £239,000 of external UK Shared Prosperity Funding to sustainability activities and had secured over £850,000 of Strategic CIL funding to reduce energy use across the Council’s buildings.

The report and annexes had been considered and discussed at length by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their meeting the previous week (7 September 2023). This included points in the report on carbon savings, tree planting and supporting biodiversity, options on low carbon vehicles for the Council’s vehicle fleet and helping residents to recycle more. The O&S draft minute was published as an Addendum to the Executive agenda pack.

Further information on the strategy and action plans for the coming year was set out in paragraphs 32 to 34 of the report which provided more information about key workstreams that are essential to become a more sustainable borough.

Visiting Members noted that:

·        Electric vehicle charging points – electric vehicle installations being carried out by Surrey County Council’s commercial provider were important to encourage residents to switch to using electric cars. Regular checks to ensure they were working was a vital part of a maintenance contract. Officers confirmed it was understood that part of the county council installation contract included maintenance. Work has been progressing on 6 additional charging points in Horley. Legal issues on ownership however were still holding up completion of 6 charge points in Banstead car park. Councillor Moses said that a written answer could be provided on the Banstead car park issues.

·        Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery progress – phases 2 and 3 had delivered retrofit measures such as insulation on 63 of the most energy inefficient low-income households in the Borough. Officers confirmed that the focus was on the least energy efficient, leaky homes for residents on low incomes, but that support was also available for the ‘able to pay’ market via schemes such as Solar Together.

One Visiting Member commented that the strategy focused on council emissions. There was a wider scope beyond that as local councils working together can influence a third of all emissions on the bigger environmental challenges.

The Leader, Councillor Biggs, said that some elements of wider carbon emissions were out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

The Executive Member for Housing and Support, Councillor Neame.

The Executive Member for Housing and Support, Councillor Neame, introduced the report to Executive on the Local Authority Housing Fund – Round 2 -  grant funding from the  Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The Council had secured central Government funding of £824,800 through the second round of this grant funding to purchase and refurbish up to four properties in the borough. The Government scheme specifies that three of the four properties to be let as temporary accommodation to refugee families with housing needs who have arrived in the UK via recent Afghan humanitarian resettlement and relocation schemes. This grant funding was also an opportunity to increase the Council’s own small housing stock to acquire homes that can be let as temporary accommodation.

The grant would be topped up to £1.033 million from Section 106 reserves as match funding when purchasing the 4 properties, which will be retained in the Council’s ownership. The remaining property was permitted to be let under DLUHC grant funding requirements to a household owed a homelessness duty by the Council. There was also revenue grant funding of over £20,000 to help resettle each individual refugee over three years.

The Leader, Councillor Biggs, put on record his thanks for the work of Councillor Neame and the housing team to procure these properties which were a future asset for the borough. It saved money on costs incurred on temporary accommodation in bed and breakfast. There was also funding available from central Government to help towards the costs of looking after refugees.

There were no further observations from Executive Members.

Visiting Members welcomed the initiative and made the following observations:

·        They noted the recommended lists of actions to assess a property’s viability for this programme such as surveys to be undertaken.

·        Contingency – did the £35,000 forecast budget for refurbishment works contain a contingency fund in case there were increased or unknown building costs? It was confirmed that one property at a time would be purchased and then refurbished according to the budget available. This would contain any unexpected building costs during the project.

Head of Housing, Richard Robinson, said the round 1 refurbishment of homes had been delivered within budget. There had also been learning from round 1 of the funding scheme. There was more grant funding available for round 2. Councillor Neame said the enhanced budget for round 2 enabled the Council to investigate purchasing larger properties for families.

·        Ukrainian refugees – Members asked about continuing support for Ukrainian refugees. Councillor Neame confirmed that properties purchased and refurbished in Round 1 (with Raven Housing Trust and Mount Green Housing Association) did support Ukrainian families. In round 2, the Government specified support for those Afghan refugee families who needed settled accommodation. Officers clarified that the Council has no bridging hotels for Afghan refugees in the borough. There were however Home Office-funded hotels in the borough which was temporary accommodation for housing asylum seekers.

·        Environmental sustainability and retrofitting homes – it was confirmed officers are working  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

The Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, Governance and Organisation.

The Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, Governance and Organisation, Councillor Lewanski, set out the Council’s Quarter 1 2023/24 Performance Report and Annex 1 as the Executive Member for Corporate Policy and Resources, Councillor James King had sent his apologies.

Performance Management

Progress on 10 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were reported in Quarter 1 (April to June 2023).  Seven were on target. The two red-rated indicators were:

·        KPI 7 – Affordable Housing completions and KPI 10 – percentage of household waste recycled/composted. However while short of the quarterly target, the Borough Council has now delivered 1139 affordable units against an overall target of 1100 affordable units set out in the 15-year plan.

·        KPI 10 – Recycling - against a target of 60%, the borough met 51.9% of household waste recycled/composted. This was in line with performance in previous years.

It was not possible to collect data and report on KPI 8 – Local Environmental Quality Surveys due to resourcing pressures in the cleansing team.

There were no questions from Executive Members.

The Leader, Councillor Biggs, noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had met the previous week (7 September 2023) and discussed the Q1 2023/24 performance report. Their observations were published as an Addendum to the Executive agenda.

Visiting Members made the following observations and comments on the KPIs:

·        Recycling  (KPI 10 Annex 1 p83 and p84) -  Members queried household waste recycling (which was overall below target in Q1) and below target for the last two years, and about office paper waste that could be recycled in some businesses. The Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, Councillor Avery, said the recycling performance was reviewed regularly with officers and the Council did all it could to increase recycling. Waste in offices was defined as trade waste and companies negotiated individually with suppliers to take this away.  Director, Luci Mould, said as part of the financial sustainability projects, officers were looking at how services could be delivered differently in the trade waste area. Local authorities were waiting for updated Central Government guidance on proposed waste and recycling changes.

·        Homelessness prevention (KPI 5 Annex 1 p79) –  a Member asked about homeless families living in temporary emergency accommodation outside the borough with school age children at schools in the borough.  Officers confirmed all effort was made to place families with children in the borough but due to a lack of suitable accommodation this was not always possible. Those families can request transport to school via Surrey County Council, who provide education services.

Quarter 1 - 2023/24 Budget Monitoring
The Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, Governance and Organisation, Councillor Lewanski, then presented the Council’s Revenue and Capital Budget position for Q1, to 30 June 2023.

For the first time it also included the final Treasury Management Outturn Position for last year and the latest Quarter 1 update on treasury management activities to comply with the latest guidance on treasury management reporting.

In the revenue budget – at Q1 the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

The Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, Governance and Organisation.

The Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance, Governance and Organisation, Councillor Lewanski, introduced the Risk Management Quarter 1 2023/24 report on behalf of the Executive Member for Corporate Policy and Resources, Councillor James King.

The new Risk Management Strategy had been adopted in March 2023. Following feedback from Members of the Audit Committee, a number of improvements had been introduced in the Strategic Risk Register as set out in Annex 1 to the report (p128 of the agenda pack).

In Quarter 1 (April to June 2023), no new Strategic Risks had been identified. There was one red-rated operational risk which was set out in an exempt annex. The Audit Committee had considered the report on 6 September 2023 and the draft minutes circulated to Committee Members.

Members asked about Strategic Risk SR3 – Challenging economic conditions for residents and businesses which was red-rated currently due to challenging economic conditions and the continuation of the Government’s Household Support Fund which helped provide support for residents most affected by cost-of-living pressures.

Mari Roberts-Wood, Managing Director, said it was not known whether this central government fund would continue. She was happy to provide more information about the work of the Housing team and the Money Support team as part of ongoing response to the economic pressures faced by residents.

The meeting moved to Part 2 exempt business (Item 30) following a question from a Member on the Exempt Annex 2 – Q1 2023/24 red-rated operational risk item.

Following the exempt session, Executive Members,

RESOLVED that the Executive:

(i)               Notes the Q1 2023/24 update on risk management provided by the report.

To receive any statements from the Leader of the Council, Members of the Executive or the Managing Director.

There were no Statements given at the meeting.

RECOMMENDED that members of the Press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that:

(i)            it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act; and

(ii)          the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED - that members of the Press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that: (i) it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act; and (ii) the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Following the exempt session after a Member question on Risk Management Q1 2023/24 (Minute 28), Executive Members,

RESOLVED that the Executive:

(i)               Notes the Q1 2023/24 update on risk management provided by the report.

To consider any item(s) which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered as a matter of urgency – Local Government Act 1972, Section 100B(4)(b).

(Note:  Urgent business must be submitted in writing but may be supplemented by an oral report).

There was no urgent business.