Environment and Sustainability Committee

10 September 2026

Public Questions

Question 1 from Riverside Residents (Staines) Coalition Partners:

As leader of the 2024 independent research by Royal Holloway, University of London, into groundwater flood risk in Staines, Dr Jonathan Paul unarguably knows more than anyone about the highly complex characteristics and dynamics of what is recognised to be a critical threat from new developments to the town’s residents, its environment and sustainability. The threat is increasingly exacerbated by climate change. Several months ago we (and Dr Paul himself) were told that Dr Paul would be an integral member of the group working on the Council’s new policy directive to ensure the below-ground structures of all new developments in the town will not further increase the risk of flooding in the area around them. This has not happened, with no explanation to him or us. How and when does the Council intend to engage with Dr Paul on the content of the new policy?

Question 2 from Riverside Residents (Staines) Coalition Partners:

Staines’ Memorial Gardens is in the town’s Conservation area and is the only open green space in town for quiet reflection (the defined purpose of a Memorial Garden). The Staines Masterplan seeks to improve connectivity between the town and the riverfront, supporting the logical complementary policy that any new development at the riverfront will need to contribute to and benefit from its prized riverfront location. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Council’s public consultation survey on the proposed MUGA attracted a significant number of responses and that opposition to the MUGA, notably locating it at Memorial Gardens, is overwhelming. If this proves to be the case, and for the consultation to have meaning, do members of the Committee agree the proposal should be rejected?