Issue - meetings

To consider the proposed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in principle for the River Thames Scheme.

The River Thames Scheme, designed to reduce the risk of flooding to communities in Surrey and South West London, was progressing.   As part of the process it was necessary for the participating four authorities to agree two Service Level Agreements (SLA):

·         An SLA between the four key authorities and the applicant which covered the funding mechanisms for an independent consultant to assist the local authority planning teams in assessing the information required for the Development Consent Order (DCO).

·         An inter-authority SLA between Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) as the co-ordinating authority and the other 3 key authorities allowing RBC to act on their behalf to manage the independent consultant.

The SLAs were being drawn up, and almost complete. It was important to progress the SLAs in order to minimise any delay to the scheme and the Committee was asked to delegate authority for the sign-off of the SLAs to the Group Head Commissioning and Transformation in consultation with the Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee.

A councillors’ briefing had been held on 16 February 2022 which was modelled on the presentation given to Surrey County Council members.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

Not to sign the SLAs which would limit the Council’s influence on ensuring the scheme was developed to meet our residents’ needs.

The Committee resolved to:

1.    Agree to the River Thames Scheme Service Level Agreements in principle.

2.    Delegated the signing of the finalised Service Level Agreements to the Group Head Commissioning and Transformation in consultation with the Chairman of the Environment and Sustainability Committee.

Reason for decision:

The SLA agreements need to be signed off as soon as possible so work can progress on the DCO process to meet planned timetables.