Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of substitutions.

Apologies were received from Councillors Attewell, Boughtflower, Geach, Lee and Mooney.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 May 2025 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 May were agreed as a correct record.

To receive any disclosures of interest from councillors in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct for members.

Councillor Nichols declared that he sat on the Board of Directors for Knowle Green Estates.

The Chair, or their nominee, to answer any questions raised by members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 40.

At the time of publication of this agenda no questions were received.

Before the Committee received an update on any questions received from the public, Lesley Seary, the Lead Commissioner, spoke to the Committee to provide them with an update on the work the Commissioners had undertaken since they started working with the Council in May.

Lesley advised that since their arrival they had been working positively with both Officers and Group Leaders. The key priority was to agree an Improvement and Recovery Plan within the first 6 months to provide a framework by which the Council could move forward. The Improvement and Recovery Plan Report is scheduled to be brought before this Committee in early autumn and then onto Full Council for approval.

Five keys themes had been identified,

1.    Local Government Reorganisation

2.    Governance

3.    Housing and Regeneration

4.    Commercial

5.    Finance

with a Lead Commissioner, a Lead Councillor and Lead Officer for each of the key themes being agreed. Workshops had been held/scheduled for themes

2-5. The Committee were advised that the Local Government Reorganisation workshop would be held in the autumn once the Secretary of State had made  a statement in respect of the Unitary Authorities.

Lesley advised that an Improvement and Recovery Board would be set up to co-ordinate and monitor the work being undertaken for the themes and that she would be the Lead Commissioner. 

There were no questions from members of the public.

Committee is asked to consider and agree the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) annual report for 2024/25.

The Committee considered the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Annual Report for 2024/25.

The Committee were advised that the next report would be in a new format, as shown in Appendix B attached to the report. The Committee asked that the percentage data provided also be quantified to provide members with more information.

The KPI outlined in Appendix A for Election Services showed a target of 97% for the annual calculation of the % of households registered compared to the total number of households where people are eligible to vote. This target had not been met and the Committee asked if there were any measures that could be taken to increase this percentage from the 94% outlined in the table. The Committee were advised that comparisons would be sought from neighbouring authorities. The Chair requested that this be considered outside of the meeting to look at all available options.

The Committee requested that all reports/tables showed a title and a date for future reference and that when creating tables the outlined comparisons with the other Surrey Authorities, that they were placed in order eg highest to lowest to make it clearer how Spelthorne was performing.

The Committee resolved to agree the Key Performance Indicators Annual Report for 2024/25. 

Committee is asked to agree the proposed members of the Commercial Assets Sub-Committee.

The Committee resolved to agree the following nominations for the Commercial Assets Sub-Committee:

Councillor Beatty

Councillor Beecher

Councillor Chandler

Councillor Nichols

Councillor Saliagopoulos

Councillor Williams

Mr M Bunney (Independent Member)

The Committee requested that Committee Services consider how nominations could be agreed at the Annual Council Meeting to allow the sub-committee to meet sooner in the municipal year.

Committee is asked to agree the re-appointment of Daphne Harman as a Charity Trustee for a further period of four years as requested by the Charity.

The Committee resolved to approve the reappointment of Daphne Harman as a Charity Trustee for a further period of four years as nominated by the charity.

The Committee is asked to consider and agree the nominations received for member representatives on the outside bodies as outlined in Appendix A..

The Committee considered the nominations received from Group Leaders for member representatives to sit on the outside bodies as outlined in the appendix attached to the report and resolved that the following Councillors be appointed:

1.    A2Dominion Customer Insight Panel – Cllr S Doran

2.    Ashford and St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – Cllr Buck

3.    Citizens Advice Runnymede and Spelthorne – Cllr Beecher

4.    Heathrow Noise and Airspace Community Forum – Cllr Gibson

5.    Heathrow Local Community Forum – Cllrs Beatty and Bing Dong

6.    Heathrow Community Engagement Board – Cllr Beatty

7.    Local Authority Aircraft Noise Council – Cllr Gibson

8.    Management Committee of Mediation North Surrey – Cllr Bateson

9.    Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London (PATROL) adjudication Joint Committee – Cllr Bing Dong

10.Runnymede and Spelthorne SHMA – Joint Member Liaison Group – Cllr Nichols

11.South East Employers – Cllr Dunn

12.Spelthorne Mental Health Association Management Committee – Cllr Grant

13.Spelthorne Safer, Stronger Partnership Board – Cllr Beatty

14.Strategic Aviation Special Interest Group Representative – Cllr Beatty

15.Strategic Aviation Special Interest Group Deputy Rep – Cllr Woodward

16.Surrey Environment Partnership – Cllr Nichols

17.Surrey Museums Consultative Committee – Cllr Chandler

18.Surrey Traveller Community Relations Forum – Cllr Attewell

To acknowledge the minutes of the Reorganisation and Transformation Board meeting held on 14 May 2025.

The Committee queried whether any work had been undertaken to identify the cost to the Unitary Authorities of re-hiring staff due to officers leaving before the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) was completed. The Chair advised that this would not be known until later in the LGR process.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the Reorganisation and Transformation Board held on 14 May 2025.

To consider the Forward Plan for committee business.

The Committee resolved to note the contents of the Forward Plan but requested that the Q1 finance reports be added and be brought to this Committee in September 2025.

To note those urgent actions which have been taken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader since the last Corporate Policy and Resources meeting on 12 May 2025.

The Committee were advised that there had been a number of urgent actions taken since the last meeting of this Committee and that they would be reported to the next meeting of the Commercial Assets Sub-Committee in August 2025.