Issue - meetings

The Leader, or his nominee, to answer any questions raised by members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 14.

Note: the deadline for questions to be considered at this meeting is 12 noon on Thursday 11 July 2019.

The following questions have been submitted by John Seaman:

1.    “To enhance equity may everyone who receives an answer to a written question at a meeting of Spelthorne Borough Council have the opportunity to ask a supplementary question?”

2.    “Is Flower Pot Green in Sunbury a registered village green?”

The Mayor reported that, under Standing Order 14, five questions had been received from members of the public.

Three of those were present to put their questions at the meeting.

Question from John Seaman:

“To enhance equity may everyone who receives an answer to a written question at a meeting of Spelthorne Borough Council have the opportunity to ask a supplementary question?”

 “Is Flower Pot Green in Sunbury a registered village green?”

Response from the Leader, Councillor Ian Harvey:

“Thank you for your questions Mr. Seaman.

The procedure for public questions and councillor questions is long-established.  There are no current plans to change the way that it works.  Whilst the opportunity to ask questions at Council is one of the rights which citizens have, it is by no means the only option that they have.  Residents who wish to engage with the Council should always speak first to their ward councillors who are the elected representatives for the area.  Your Councillors may have the answers you require or they can get the answers from officers.  On matters which relate to Cabinet issues I would also recommend residents to engage with the Portfolio Holder concerned.  In speaking with councillors directly you will find that you can ask as many supplementary questions as you like and you will most likely get the information you are seeking.

On your second point - Flower Point Green is not a village green but open spaces in Spelthorne are protected under the Local Plan so there is no particular benefit from such a designation.

In the current Local Plan, it is designated Protected Urban Open Space. We are in the process of reviewing the Plan and have proposed to remove that designation in favour of the national policy that protects all open space of public value, which will provide more protection than the current designation as we have lost some appeals for development on Protected Urban Open Space. We will also be assessing our spaces, including Flower Pot Green, for the higher level of protection offered by the Local Green Space designation that national policy also provides.” 

Following the meeting the Council became aware that the response given was inaccurate and provided Mr Seaman with the following additional response:

“Further to the questions below that you posed for the Spelthorne Council meeting last week, we were alerted to the possibility that the response you received in respect of Village Green status was incorrect. The background information to assist in the response was gathered by my team so we have investigated further.

We can now confirm that the incorrect answer was given at Council, for which we apologise. It was given in good faith but we should have checked with Surrey County Council, who are the statutory commons land authority. We have the land listed as Common Land, however the Common Registration Act 1965 allowed a separation of Common Land and Village Greens on registration so Village Greens became their own entity.  The listing as a Village  ...  view the full minutes text for item 192