To receive any announcements from the Leader.
Minutes:
The Leader made the following announcements:
“Firstly some sad news, on Monday of this week, Emily, the 21 year old daughter of Surrey County Council Leader Tim Oliver and his wife Debbie, sadly passed away having suffered a rare brain tumour for the last 18 months. We offer our condolences to Tim and family.
More uplifting, I am delighted to announce that HRH Princess Alexandra KG GCVO visited the Embroidery Gallery in the Walled Garden Sunbury, and presented The Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service on 2 July 2019. This is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK.
Congratulations to all our finalists and winners that attended our Capture Spelthorne Awards ceremony held at Shepperton Studios. The overall winner across all categories was awarded to Elaine Wisden.
There are 13 categories in the Spelthorne Means Business Awards 2019. Nomination entry closes on 30 September and the black tie gala dinner to announce the winners is on 17 October at Shepperton Studios.
Congratulations to Parks Officer Richard Leppard, who has retired after serving Spelthorne Council for 50 years. On behalf of the Spelthorne community we thank you for your hard work and dedication.
The Council’s Community Wellbeing team have started regular visits to St Peter’s hospital wards to liaise with patients directly about services available which may help them once back home. These include handyperson grabrails, Meals on Wheels, Community alarms and social prescribing.
Spelthorne Planning Committee has granted planning permission for a new development by Berkeley Homes at 17-51 London Road, Staines-upon-Thames. This will directly provide 41 homes for affordable rent from this Council.
A Planning Application has been submitted to build a hostel for single homeless people on The White House site on Kingston Road, Ashford. The anticipation is that this will be fully manged by the Salvation Army.
Netflix recently announced that they will be establishing a production hub at Shepperton Studios. This will be within the existing establishment and not contingent upon the planned expansion. This is further evidence that Spelthorne Means Business and is indeed a great place to do business under this Conservative administration.
Free Music in the Park took place on 7 July at The Walled Garden, Lower Sunbury from 2-4pm, with a performance by Saxophany.
Last weekend there were open air film shows and airings of the sporting events in Staines, arranged by the BID team. Over 500 attended the showing of Bohemian Rhapsody on Saturday night alone.
For those who are not aware, we are carrying out work to replace the roof of the Clock Tower at the Council Offices here in Knowle Green. The works are expected to be completed by the end of July.
The only way to tackle plastic waste is to move away from the recycling of single-use plastics towards avoiding them altogether and so we are working towards zero use across our own operations and services. The recent move from plastic disposable to paper cups is a clear and tangible demonstration of this.
The Laleham Riverside clean-up took place from 10am today with the Surrey Canoe Club and teenage volunteers from the National Citizens Service followed by a community BBQ at 1pm, attended by the Mayor.
I would like to thank all the staff who helped clear over 15 tonnes of unwanted items from Viola Avenue in Stanwell during two street clean days on 29 May and 5 June.
The Heathrow Airport expansion statutory consultation is now underway. We had a very successful and informative consultation with Councillors and Residents Associations on 2nd July, which was well received. Our internal Working Group is currently assessing a very significant body of evidence in preparing the Council’s response. Notwithstanding this, in the light of the prospective cumulative impact on the Borough and its communities and businesses, I have asked the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Committee to include on the Committee’s Work Programme a review of the Council’s strategic stance on Heathrow. I can confirm that there will be an extraordinary meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 3rd September to consider this.”