Agenda item

The Leader of the Council and the Executive Member for Corporate Policy and Resources.

Councillor Mark Brunt, Leader of the Council, introduced the Reigate & Banstead 2025 Annual Report 2021/22. This provided the second annual update on progress towards delivering the Council’s Corporate Plan which sets out the objectives for delivering services to those living, working and spending time in the borough. It also highlighted how the Council had responded to the challenges of the pandemic. An update on progress on the corporate  Equalities Objectives was also set out in a report to Executive Members.

Each of the nine Executive Members summarised highlights from their portfolio’s area of work over the past year in the three areas of People, Place and Organisation. These were:

People Services

·        Community Partnerships – Councillor Ashford highlighted the extensive work to support vulnerable residents, the transformation of the Borough’s three community centres, and close working with health partners.

·        Housing and Support – Councillor Neame highlighted the team’s work supporting residents facing homelessness, the completion of new affordable housing such as Wheatley Court in Redhill and Camelia Close in Tadworth, and supporting refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

·        Leisure and Culture – Councillor Sachdeva set out the £100k Cultural Recovery Funding secured, partnership working with organisations across the Borough, return of events at the Harlequin, including the pantomime, and the work of the leisure team and developing Leisure and Culture strategy.

Place Services

·        Planning Policy and Place Delivery – the Leader highlighted work in Councillor Biggs’ portfolio area including the continued progress of regeneration of Redhill town centre, The Rise and the Light Cinema, the Place Delivery team’s work on projects in Horley and at Merstham Recreation Ground. The work of the planning team on applications  and responding to Gatwick runway proposals was summarised. The coming year will complete the Playing Pitch Strategy and consider the Community Infrastructure Levy.

·        Neighbourhood Services – Councillor Bramhall summarised the challenging work of the teams delivering services through the pandemic such as refuse and recycling, parks and greenspaces (which received 9 In Bloom awards), street cleaning, parking enforcement and environmental health and licensing. There were record levels of domestic refuse collected during the pandemic but also high levels of recycling. Sales of materials, including paper and cardboard, and the high level of garden waste customers was delivering an income of £1.69m for the Council.

·        Economic Prosperity – Councillor Humphreys highlighted the support to businesses to access government financial support in lockdowns with £800,000 awarded from Business Support Grants and Business Growth Grants. Successful partnership working with Tandridge District Council and the Department for Work and Pensions was helping young people find work through the Youth Employment Hub. Reigate & Banstead Works website was continuing to link local people to local jobs.

Organisation Services

·        Investment and Companies – Councillor Archer highlighted the framework for the Council’s investment activity set out in Part 2 of the Council’s Commercial Strategy, the property portfolio which provides a net income of around £1.5m and the comprehensive review of the Council’s assets with the Property Team.

·        Corporate Policy and Resources – Councillor Lewanski summarised the new IT Strategy and investment, work of the Communications and Customer Contact teams to give residents the latest information and answer their questions, the HR team supporting staff with hybrid working and the quality data provided by the Data and Insight team to use in the pandemic response. The work of the Environmental Sustainability work was also highlighted supporting residents to reduce their energy bills as well as carbon emissions.

·        Finance and Governance – Councillor Schofield highlighted the balanced budget agreed for the year ahead. The Council faced continued financial pressures and a new Financial Sustainability Programme of work was underway. He paid testament to the work of the Revenue and Benefits team and colleagues in finance for successfully administering the high number of Covid-19 support grants from central government. The successful delivery of the local elections and return to face to face meetings in the Chamber, supported by the Democratic Services team, was also highlighted.

The reports were considered by Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 16 June 2022. Vice-Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Walsh, commented on the positive year coming out of the pandemic and the progress of The Rise in Redhill and Camelia Close in Tadworth. He stressed the importance of a clear timetable for development of the new Local Plan up to 2027, with Member involvement in this, and the strategic review of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Visiting Members made observations and commented on the following areas: the Leisure and Culture Strategy, the impact of financial equality going forward for residents who were facing higher fuel and heating costs, Gatwick Airport runway proposals and consultation, and reallocating allotments at New Pond Farm (the site of the proposed crematorium not now being taken forward).

A written response would be given about reallocation of allotments at New Pond Farm. The Council was working with other local authorities and supported by environmental health on the Gatwick Airport consultation response.

The Leader, Councillor Brunt, said the support on progress towards the Council’s equality objectives served as a reminder of our duty to support all residents, including those with protected characteristics. There remained challenges ahead but the report and the work of the past year had demonstrated that working together to tackle these challenges had put the Council on a strong foundation for the future.

RESOLVED:

That the Executive:

1.     Agreed the Reigate & Banstead 2025 Annual Report for 2021/22 for publication, and

2.     Agreed the Equality Objectives Progress Report for 2021/22 for publication.