Corporate Policy and Resources Committee

 

 

 

Decisions taken at the meeting held on Monday, 20 April 2026.

 

 

Meeting Time:

7.00 pm

 

Meeting Venue:

Council Chamber, Council Offices, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames TW18 1XB

 

 

 

 

PRESENT:   Councillor Joanne Sexton (Chair), Councillor Chris Bateson (Vice-Chair), Councillor Jon Button, Councillor Darren Clarke, Councillor Sue Doran, Councillor Michele Gibson, Councillor Lawrence Nichols and Councillor Howard Williams

 

<AI1>

5.            Improvement and Recovery Plan Progress Update

 

The Committee resolved to recommend to Council approval of the Improvement and Recovery Plan Progress Report for onward submission to the Commissioners.

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6.            Adoption of a Commercial Strategy for Spelthorne Borough Council

 

The Committee resolved to approve the adoption of the Commercial Strategy covering all Council commercial activity.

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7.            The Spelthorne Borough Council Off-Street Parking Places (Amendment No.3) Order 2026

 

The Committee resolved to:

1.    Retain the current one-hour nil tariff period in car parks and make no changes to the order or the tariffs

2.    Removal of Abbey Drive, Dumsey Meadow, Old Bathing Station and Green Street from Schedule 1 chargeable tariffs, and addition of same car parks to Schedule 3 with 11 hours maximum stay.

3.    Introduce a “no return within the same charging period” in all car parks listed in Appendix 2 Schedule 1

4.    Revise the Parking Order map for Spelthorne Leisure Centre, to accurately reflect the new layout, as detailed in Appendix 3.

5.    Introduce other minor amendments as detailed in Appendix 1 and 2 and schedules 1, 2 and 3.

6.    Change of the Staines-upon-Thames Short and Long Stay tariffs and introduction of reference to the charges being per parking session, as detailed in Appendix 2, Schedule 4 and Schedule 5.

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8.            Amendments to the Corporate Debt Policy and Financial Regulations

 

The Committee resolved to:

1.    Approve the amendments to the Corporate Debt Policy required following the Southern Internal Audit Partnership audit conducted in October 2025.

2.    Approve the proposed amendments to the Financial Regulations (Part 4d of the Constitution) as detailed in Appendix A; and

3.    Subject to the comments from the Committee System Working Group, to recommend to Council to adopt the revised Financial Regulations and for the Constitution to be amended accordingly.

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9.            Write-off report - Temporary Accommodation

 

The Committee resolved to approve the Sundry Debt write-off of £50,695 which relates to irrecoverable debt relating to eight Bed and Breakfast temporary accommodation cases and one emergency accommodation case.

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10.          Corporate Key Performance Indicator Report - Quarter 3 2025/26

 

The Committee resolved to agree it was informed and assured in relation to the Corporate Key Performance Indicators data for Quarter 3 2025/26.

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11.          Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

 

The Committee resolved to approve the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

</AI7>

<AI8>

12.          Solar Canopy Project Closure Report

 

The Committee resolved to agree to formally end the solar canopy project.

</AI8>

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NOTES:-

 

(1)          Members are reminded that the “call-in” procedure as set out in Part 4b of the Constitution, shall not apply to the following matters:

 

(a)         Urgent decisions as defined in Paragraph 9. of the Call-in Scrutiny Procedure Rules;

(b)         Decisions to award a contract following a lawful procurement process;

(c)          Those decisions:

                                i.          reserved to full Council

                               ii.          on regulatory matters

                              iii.          on member conduct issues.

 

(2)          Those matters to which Note (1) applies, if any, are identified with an asterisk [*] in the above Minutes.

 

(3)          Within three working days of the date on which this decision is published, not less than three members from two or more political groups by submission of the standard call-in pro-forma, may ask for that decision to be referred to a meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee for review (call-in). The completed pro-forma must be received by the Proper Officer by 5pm three working days after publication of the decision.

 

(4)          The members exercising the right of call-in must not be members of the Committee which considered the matter.

 

(5)          When calling in a decision for review the members doing so must demonstrate the following exceptional circumstances:

 

a.    Evidence which suggests that the decision maker, did not take the decision in accordance with the principles set out in Article 11 (Decision Making); or

 

b.    Evidence that the decision fails to support one or more of the Council’s Corporate Plan priorities to the detriment of the majority of the Borough’s residents; or

 

c.    Evidence that explicit Council Policy or legal requirements were disregarded.

 

(6)          Once the request for ‘call-in’ has been deemed valid by the Monitoring Officer the matter will be suspended until the call-in procedure has been exhausted.

 

(7)          The Chief Executive, in consultation with the relevant officer, will determine if the interests of the Council or Borough would be prejudiced by a delay in implementing a decision such that the call-in cannot wait until the next ordinary meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee.

 

(8)          Where the call-in cannot wait until the next ordinary meeting, the Monitoring Officer will arrange an extraordinary meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee to review the decision subject to call-in at the earliest possible opportunity.

 

(9)          In exceptional cases, where there is clear evidence that a delay to the implementation of a decision would lead to a specific and significant financial or reputational harm to the Council, a call-in request may be refused by the Chief Executive following consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair of Corporate Policy and Resources Committee.

 

(10)       In reviewing a matter referred to it under the call-in scrutiny procedure rules, the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee shall follow the procedure for dealing with call-in scrutiny at its meetings as set out in Part 4b of the Constitution.

 

(11)       The deadline of three working days for "call in" in relation to the above decisions by the Committee is the close of business on …..(Insert date).