Issue - meetings

To receive a presentation from Surrey County Council officers on the Surrey 2050 Place Ambition which is currently open for consultation. Relevant documents are attached.

Sue Janota, Spatial Planning and Policy Manager from Surrey County Council, gave a presentation to the Committee setting out the history, background detail, and involvement of representatives from county, borough and district authorities, and business leaders in forming this initiative to provide a strong coherent voice on a number of areas to promote good sustainable economic growth, improve business opportunities and bid for large infrastructure projects across the county.

This had led to the setting up of a Place Ambition Task Group to take the work forward.  As part of the work, strategic priorities were agreed and eight strategic opportunity areas identified as areas to support long term prosperity.  The Strategic Opportunity Area (SOA) most relevant to Spelthorne was the Longcross – Staines – Heathrow Corridor. 

Following Covid-19 it was decided to review and refresh the strategy to reflect post-pandemic challenges and prepare an implementation framework.  The updated version identified four strategic priorities:

·         Improve connectivity both within Surrey and between strategically important hubs

·         Enhance the place offer of Surrey’s towns

·         Maximise the potential of our Strategic Opportunity Areas

·         Invest in natural capital and deliver nature recovery

A detailed implementation framework had been prepared setting out how it was proposed to deliver the priorities.  A consultation was open until Friday 4 March and responses were welcomed from all.  Following that the task group would reconvene, consider the results and what adjustments should be made before the District and Borough authorities were asked to endorse the proposals.

Work on this strategy had been taking place for some time and work was well underway in other areas of the county.  Surprise and concern was expressed by Spelthorne councillors that they had not been informed of this initiative before.  The Group Head for Regeneration and Growth explained that under the Council’s previous Strong Leader and Cabinet governance arrangements, updates and briefings would have been provided to the Leader and relevant Cabinet portfolio holder at that time but could not recall that the issue had been brought to Cabinet during that time.  The strategy had evolved over a number of years, however the leadership and direction of the Council had significantly changed over that period so it was considered appropriate that it was brought to the Committee for consideration. The Group Head for Regeneration and Growth acknowledged the concern of members and apologised that they had not been informed previously.

In response to a request from a Committee member, the Group Head for Regeneration and Growth offered to provide details of the relevant past meetings held about this matter and who had attended on behalf of Spelthorne Borough Council.  The information has been attached to the minutes of this meeting.

A communications message was to be published to notify councillors and residents of the consultation and encourage responses to the proposals.

Reassurance was sought that the strategy was relevant to other areas in Spelthorne and not just Staines.  Members were advised that Staines had been identified in relation to the Strategic Opportunity Area relating to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5