Agenda item

To consider the Committee’s work programme for the remainder of the Municipal year.During this session, councillors will be invited to consider and suggest suitable topics for inclusion on the Committee’s Work Programmes for 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Councillors are encouraged to speak to other Members in advance of the meeting to identify key issues for their constituents which would result in improvements for local people.

The following documents are attached to assist councillors’ consideration of this item:

·         Review of the work programme 2019-20

·         Current draft work programme for 2020-21

·         Cabinet Forward Plan (as last published)

Councillor Ian Harvey left the meeting during consideration of this item.

The Committee considered and noted the review of the work it had undertaken in the past year, subject to the inclusion of an informal briefing received on 2 June 2020 on the Council’s development programme.

The Chairman reminded the Committee of the task groups which it had set up in the previous year and asked members to confirm if they wished the work of the task groups to continue and if any new members to the Committee wished to join them.

The Task Groups and membership were confirmed as:

·         Fly tipping – Cllrs C. Barratt, T. Fidler, N. Gething and M. Gibson

·         Celebration of Life Centre - Cllrs J. Doerfel, R. Dunn and L. Nichols. The members of the group requested that Cllr B. Noble, who was no longer a member of the Committee, could continue to serve on it. It was confirmed that Cllr Noble could be co-opted to serve on the task group.

Neither of the members on the ‘free off peak parking in Staines’ task group wished to continue, so this group would not proceed. Members suggested that the Surrey Joint Committee’s Parking Task Group be asked to include consideration of this topic in its work.

A member queried whether a task group had been set up to look at ethical investments. The Chairman believed that this was covered by the remit of the Leader’s task group on climate change and that this would be confirmed by officers.

The Chairman advised the Committee that a number of outstanding items from the postponed March meeting would be included on the future work programme, as there was insufficient time to include them on the agenda for this meeting.

The Chairman invited the Committee to identify further topics of interest/concern for inclusion in the work programme for 2020/21. She referred them to the key criteria for selecting topics as identified by South East Employers:

•      Is it a Key issue for the public, likely to result in improvements?

•      Is the issue strategic and significant?

•      Is the topic within the Community or Corporate priority area?

•      Is it likely to lead to effective outcomes?

Members raised the following topics for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme:

·         Capital Budget and project accounting

·         Overview of commercial property investments

·         Service area deep dive

·         Green sustainable jobs in Spelthorne post COVID-19

The Chairman asked members to contact Committee Services with any further suggestions, on receipt of the key criteria for selecting topics issued by South East Employers.

The Chairman advised that she and the Vice-Chairman would meet with officers to review the suggestions against the standard criteria for assessing their significance for, and value to, the Council’s communities. A draft work programme would then be prepared for agreement by the Committee at its September meeting.

Resolved to:

1.    note the review of the work undertaken by the Committee in 2019-20 subject to the inclusion of an informal briefing received on 2 June 2020 on the Council’s development programme;

2.    co-opt Councillor B. Noble to the Celebration of Life Centre Task Group; 

3.    not proceed with the free off-street parking in Staines task group but to put this suggestion forward for consideration by the Surrey Joint Committee Parking Task Group; and

4.    receive a draft work programme for 2020-21 at the September meeting of the Committee.