Minutes of the Council
9 October 2025
Present:
Councillors:
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J.T.F. Doran M.M. Attewell C. Bateson S.N. Beatty M. Beecher S. Bhadye M. Bing Dong L.H. Brennan M. Buck T. Burrell |
J. Button J.P. Caplin D.C. Clarke S.M. Doran M. Gibson K.M. Grant S. Gyawali K. Howkins N. Islam M.J. Lee
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S.C. Mooney G. Neall L. E. Nichols K.E. Rutherford D. Saliagopoulos J.R. Sexton J.A. Turner H.R.D. Williams P.N. Woodward
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Apologies: |
Councillors S.A. Dunn, M. Arnold, H.S. Boparai, J.R. Boughtflower, R. Chandler, R.V. Geach, D.L. Geraci, A. Mathur and B. Weerasinghe |
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81/25 |
Minutes
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The minutes of the Council Meeting held 17 July and the Extraordinary Council meetings held on 07 August and 04 September 2025 were agreed as a correct record subject to two amendments being made.
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82/25 |
Disclosures of Interest
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Councillors Attewell, Mooney and Sexton advised they were also Surrey County Councillors.
Councillor Nichols advised that he was a Director on the Knowle Green Estates Board.
Councillor Woodward advised that he was on the Spelthorne Direct Services Board.
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83/25 |
Announcements from the Mayor
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There were no announcements made
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84/25 |
Announcements from the Leader
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There were no announcements made
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85/25 |
Announcements from the Chief Executive
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There were no announcements made
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86/25 |
Questions from members of the public
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The Mayor reported that, under Standing Order 14, one question had been received from a member of the public.
Question from Kath Sanders:
“What is the Council's official response to the previous auditor's (BDO's) Value for Money Combined Annual Audit Letters/Reports for the five years ending March 2019-2023 which were presented to the Audit Committee on Thursday, 25th September 2025”?
The Leader gave the following response:
Thank you for your question. BDO as the Council’s external auditors for the period 2018-19 to 2022-23 attended Audit Committee on 25th September and presented their combined Value for Money opinions for this period. The Audit Committee scrutinised the report and asked a number of questions of the BDO partner who attended. The report, given that it has been presented after Grant Thornton presented their Value for Money opinion for 2023-24 in January this year and was written after the Best Value Inspection report published this March, unsurprisingly was very much aligned with those reports and did not identify new issues. The report made two recommendations, which were:
· Continue to maintain and utilise the Improvement and Recovery Plan (IRP) to capture and address the recommendations made by external reviews and investigations.
· Ensure member oversight of progress against the action plan is transparent and provides opportunity for constructive challenge and scrutiny
The Council is already very much addressing these recommendations with Corporate Policy and Resources Committee on Monday and Council on 23rd October due to consider and approve the Improvement and Recovery plan which has been agreed with the Commissioners. Informed by the review of the Improvement and Recovery Board chaired by the Lead Commissioners, progress reports on the IRP will be made on a quarterly basis to CPRC and Audit Committee. “
The Audit Committee formally accepted the BDO report and that is the official response of the Council with the focus on ensuring that the issues raised are addressed through the IRP.”
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87/25 |
Thameside House
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Council considered a report that sought approval to progress with the disposal of Thameside House to the preferred bidder.
Councillor Saliagopoulos left the meeting at 19:46
A recorded vote was requested by Councillor Clarke.
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For |
Councillors J Doran, Bateson, Beatty, Beecher, Burrell, Button, Caplin, S Doran, Gibson, Grant, Gyawali, Neall, Nichols, Rutherford, Sexton, Turner, Williams – 17 Votes |
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Against |
Councillors Bing Dong, Buck, Clarke – 3 Votes |
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Abstain |
Councillors Attewell, Bhadye, Brennan, Howkins, Islam, Lee, Mooney, Woodward – 8 votes |
Council resolved to:
a) Approve the disposal of Thameside House, Staines to the preferred bidder (A) as set out in more details in the Confidential Appendix 1 attached to the report,
b) Delegate authority to the Group Head Assets in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of Business Infrastructure and Growth Committee to agree any variations to the terms for the disposal relating to Thameside House; and
c) Delegate authority to the Group Head Corporate Governance to enter into a transfer to complete the disposal and any ancillary legal documentation required in relation to the proposed disposal of Thameside House.
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88/25 |
Exclusion of Public and Press (Exempt Business)
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It was proposed by Councillor Sexton and seconded by Councillor Bateson To move the exclusion of the Press/Public for the following items, in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and by the Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006.
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89/25 |
Sunbury Site
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Council considered a report that sought approval to:
1. Agree to revise the purchase price for the sale of the Sunbury site as set out in Appendix 1; and
2. Delegate authority to Group Head of Assets in consultation with the Chair of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee to agree to any minor variations to the terms of sale as set out in Appendix 1.
A recorded vote was requested by Councillor Clarke
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For |
Councillors J Doran, Bateson, Beatty, Beecher, Brennan, Buck, Burrell, Button, Caplin, S Doran, Gibson, Grant, Gyawali, Lee, Neall, Nichols, Rutherford, Sexton, Turner, Williams – 20 votes |
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Against |
0 votes |
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Abstain |
Councillors Attewell, Bhadye, Bing Dong, Clarke, Howkins, Islam, Mooney, Woodward – 8 votes |
Council resolved to:
1. Agree to revise the purchase price for the sale of the Sunbury Site as set out in Appendix A; and
2. Delegate authority to the Group Head Assets in consultation with the Chair of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee to agree to any minor variations to the Terms of Sale as set out in Appendix 1.
The meeting went back into open session in order to consider the remaining agenda items
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90/25 |
Reports from the Committee Chairs
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The Mayor advised Council that the reports from the Committee chairs would be presented to members at the next Council meeting to be held on 23 October 2025.
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91/25 |
Motions
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The Mayor advised that there were no motions submitted for this meeting.
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92/25 |
General questions
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The Mayor advised Council that no general questions had been submitted for this meeting.
The meeting ended at 20.55