Decisions and Recommendations

The Leader and Executive Member of Community Development and Prosperity, Councillor Biggs, introduced the Capital Spending Proposal: Year 3 of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (2024/25). The authority has received a £1 million allocation from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund.  This three-year programme will complete in March 2025 and is being delivered according to a UKSPF Investment Plan agreed with government.

The Council has an opportunity to spend approximately £40k of the allocation on additional energy efficiency improvements at its temporary accommodation properties.  A £30k allocation in Year 2 has already provided improvements at several properties such as loft insulation, double glazing, and upgraded heating system.

The Project Manager has confirmed that an additional £40k could be spent in 2024/25 to deliver environmental benefits at more temporary accommodation properties. This would require the conversion of £40k in unspent UKSPF Revenue allocation to Capital.

Therefore, approval was sought for an additional £40k to be added to the approved Capital Programme for 2024/25.

There were no further Executive Member questions.

Visiting Member made no observations.

The Leader thanked the Head of Economic Prosperity, Simon Bland, and his team for their work on these projects.

RESOLVED – that the Executive

(i)             Note the recommendation to Council to allocate an additional £0.040m to the Capital Programme for 2024/25. This is to enable full use of the funding received via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

(ii)           Recommend that Council: Approve an addition of £0.040m to the Capital Programme for 2024/25. This is to enable full use of the funding received from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

To consider a draft corporate plan for 2025-2030.

RESOLVED – that the Executive:

(i)             Approve the Draft Corporate Plan 2025-2030 at Annex 1 for consultation in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

RESOLVED that Executive –

(i)             To note the assets that are being transferred to the ownership of the Borough Council at nominal cost under the terms of a Section 106 legal agreement and Deed of Variation relating to Westvale Park in Horley and the associated financial, operational and asset ownership implications;

(ii)           To authorise the Chief Finance Officer and Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance & Assets, to complete the conveyancing of the land and assets to the Borough Council under the terms of the Section 106 legal agreement and Deed of Variation relating to Westvale Park and to undertake all actions necessary to register the assets;

(iii)         To authorise the Chief Finance Officer to allocate Section 106 commuted sums, currently forecast to total £7 million, for the 11 Local Areas of Play, 5 Local Equipped Areas of Play, two Allotment sites and the Riverside Green Chain public open space, to fund the future revenue budget cost of their management and maintenance and future capital replacement costs;

(iv)         To authorise the Head of Leisure & Cultural Services and the Property Services Manager to make all necessary arrangements to bring the assets into operational use;

(v)           To authorise the Chief Finance Officer, Head of Place Delivery and Property Services Manager, in consultation with the Partnership, Shareholder and Trustee Executive Sub-Committee, to run a process to select an organisation(s) to enter into a lease(s) to run and/or to occupy the Neighbourhood Hall at a peppercorn rent;

(vi)         To authorise the Chief Finance Officer and Property Services Manager, in consultation with the Partnership, Shareholder and Trustee Executive Sub-Committee, to agree the terms of a disposal of the Neighbourhood Hall, including the granting of a lease(s) at a peppercorn rent.

(vii)        To authorise the Chief Finance Officer and Property Services Manager, in consultation with the Partnership, Shareholder and Trustee Executive Sub-Committee, to agree the terms of a disposal of space within the Neighbourhood Hall for the use of a General Practitioner, including the granting of a lease at a peppercorn rent.

(viii)      To authorise the Head of Place Delivery in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer and Property Services Manager to agree the specifications for the Neighbourhood Hall and to authorise the instruction and enactment of any amendments, modifications and works to the developer’s specification as necessary and to procure any further suppliers and or building adaptions in order to bring it into operational use;

(ix)         To authorise the Head of Place Delivery, the Chief Finance Officer and Property Services Manager to allocate £0.104 million Section 106 commuted sum for the installation and maintenance of a system of closed-circuit television for the neighbourhood hall and its environs.

(x)           To authorise the Head of Place Delivery, the Chief Finance Officer and Property Services Manager to allocate the Neighbourhood Hall section 106 contribution currently forecast to be £0.383 million to fund professional fees and/or other works to bring the Neighbourhood Hall into operational use and for the Chief Finance Officer and Property Services Manager to allocate the remainder of the contribution to fund future management and maintenance costs, including allocating a specific sum for future capital replacement costs;

(xi)         To authorise the Head of Place Delivery to run a procurement process to appoint an artist(s) and to provide project resources to work with the local community to create and install public art in Westvale Park to be funded from £0.354 million of Section 106 funding and for the Chief Finance Officer to allocate the remainder of the contribution to fund future management and maintenance costs, including allocating a specific sum for future capital replacement costs.

RESOLVED that Executive –

(i)             Approves the recommended criteria for awarding Strategic Grants to the voluntary, community and faith sector, as set out at Annex 1;

(ii)           Approves the proposal that the Strategic Grants fund of £0.184 million in 2024/25 remains unchanged in 2025/26, subject to final decisions on the 2025/26 budget by Council in February 2025;

(iii)         Agrees that decisions about the organisations that are awarded a grant and the amount awarded to them, against the agreed criteria, be delegated to the Community Partnerships Head of Service in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Community Development & Prosperity under with the Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution.

RESOLVED – that Executive is recommended to approve:

(i) The award of a five year contract to Nviro Limited as the provider of Cleaning & Sanitary services from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2029, at a total contract value of £1,108,622.29, as set out in the exempt report at Part 2 of the Executive agenda.

RESOLVED – that the Executive is:

(i)             Recommends to Council a revised version of Procedure Rule 8 (Procurement & Contract Procedure Rules) in anticipation of implementation of the Procurement Act 2023 in October 2024, for inclusion in the Council’s Constitution; and

(ii)           To note that procurements that commenced in advance of the Procurement Act 2023 effective date will continue to be subject to the previous version of the Procedure Rule 8 (which references the Public Contract Regulations 2015).

RESOLVED – that the Executive:

(i)             Recommends to Council to approve and adopt the review of the Reigate & Banstead local plan: Development Management Plan (DMP) policies, which concludes that the majority of the Development Management Plan policies remain “up to date” and effective for the purposes of planning determinations, and agree for the review to then be published.

(ii)           Executive is asked to endorse this recommendation.

RESOLVED – that the Executive:

(i)             Approves the retention of 22 plus public realm CCTV cameras in key town centre locations, with:

·       Upgrades to digital technology, replacing current analogue systems;

·       Upgrades to fibre technology, enabling Wi-Fi connectivity where possible;

·       Facilities for recording of images;

·       A one off feasibility study at a cost of £0.013 million; and,

·       Estimated annual running costs of £0.011 million.

(ii)           Recommends to Council the allocation of £0.130 million to fund the installation of 22 public realm CCTV cameras, funded through prudential borrowing.

(iii)         Approves the decommissioning of the remaining 43 out-of-date public realm CCTV cameras elsewhere in the Borough at a one off cost of £0.057 million.

(iv)         Subject to approval of the capital allocation by Full Council, authorises the Head of Community Partnerships, in consultation with the Deputy Chief Finance Officer and the Strategic Head of Legal & Governance, to undertake procurement and enter into contracts for the upgrade and decommissioning works and for subsequent maintenance and running costs, with any significant variation in forecast costs as a result of the procurement process being resolved in consultation with the Executive Member for Community Development & Prosperity, the Deputy Chief Finance Officer and the Executive Member for Finance & Assets.