Agenda item

The Leader, or his nominee, to answer questions from Councillors on matters affecting the Borough, in accordance with Standing Order 15.

The Mayor reported that three general questions had been received, in accordance with Standing Order 14, from Councillors R.W. Sider BEM, N Gething and R Barratt.

1.         Question from Councillor Robin Sider BEM

The South and South East in Bloom awards attract hundreds of entries each year in this prestigious competition, and once again Spelthorne has achieved gold awards for Sunbury Walled Garden in the small park category, with the judge commenting ‘ How impressed I was with by the amazing, beautiful and very attractive gardens, maintained to a very high standard ‘,  and the Staines, Ashford and Sunbury Cemeteries receiving similar accolades for their work  in their respective category.  That said, will the Leader join me in congratulating Head of Neighbourhood Services and her team for these outstanding achievements, and agree with me, that these awards demonstrate the passionate care that employees have in portraying the borough at its very best for the benefit of its residents.

Response from the Leader, Councillor L Nichols

Thank you Cllr Sider., I would certainly like to join you in congratulating the Neighbourhood Services Team for their hard work and commitment in achieving these prestigious awards, and I am sure that our fellow Councillors will wish to do the same.

I am aware that these awards are not easily achieved and when you consider that the borough achieves these year-on-year this clearly demonstrates the passionate care that employees have in presenting the borough at its very best.

The high standards seen by those judging the Sunbury Walled Garden and our Cemeteries are there for our residents and visitors to enjoy all year round and do, as you have said, improve our environment for all to enjoy.

Well done to all who have made a difference and made Spelthorne a Gold winner again in the South & South East in Bloom Awards.

2.         Question from Councillors N Gething and R Barratt

Can the leader please tell this chamber and the residents of Spelthorne, when the five Independent Disciplinary Committee members will be announced?

Can the leader also announce a date when this public committee will first meet to cover its responsibilities, although it may not have matters at this time to discuss?

Lastly can the leader inform us of how Spelthorne residents will be informed of the workings of this committee and its purpose, as it is a platform for our residents to make complaints if required.

Will the Leader agree that this should be announced in the next edition bulletin magazine?

Response from the Leader, Councillor L Nichols

In accordance with the terms of reference of the Investigations and Disciplinary Committee, as set out in the Council’s Constitution, all Councillors form a panel and are eligible to serve on the Committee. As and when a committee is required to sit a panel of five councillors will be selected by Group Leaders on a proportional basis.

As there is currently no business for this committee no selections have been made and no meeting will be called until there is business within the committee’s remit to undertake.

Residents can find full details of this committee in the terms of reference section in the Council’s Constitution. The Council’s Monitoring Officer is liaising with the Committee Service’s team to add this to the committee section of the Council’s website and to make it clear where complaints should be directed if this concerns the Chief Executive, Section 151 Officer or Monitoring Officer (Statutory Officers).

This committee is not a platform for residents to make complaints. This committee conducts initial assessments of allegations against the Statutory Officers, considers suspension of such officers and decides whether to appoint an Independent Investigator and consider their report.

If a resident wants to make a complaint about the Chief Executive, this should be made to the Monitoring Officer or Section 151 Officer. If it is a complaint about the Monitoring Officer or Section 151 Officer this should be made to the Chief Executive.

This will not be announced in the Bulletin as suitable information will be provided on the Council’s website.

3.         Question from Councillor N Gething

At the Environment and Sustainability Committee meeting when it was agreed (with some reluctance by some) to proceed with the vision alongside the existing process, I assumed it would help us make progress with our plan. I went to the last session expecting to see some positive outcomes and get an idea of what this process was going to contribute. What I got was an aimless wish list that still did not seem anywhere near completion.

Who wrote and supervised the brief for this process? Who signed it off?

Response from the Leader, Councillor L Nichols, and Deputy Leader, Councillor J Sexton

Thank you for your question.

The purpose of this exercise was to create a vision to give both context and some ownership to the objectives of the Local Plan.  In our view, the lack of any view on what we wanted would mean that we would have no way of assessing if the Local Plan would deliver what we wanted for our borough.

As it stands, the Local Plan is all about how we deliver the excessive number of homes that the Conservative government is forcing us to build in the coming years.  We all know that this level of house building is unsustainable and will entirely change the character of some parts of the borough.  We also know that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (the MHCLG as was) are not interested in recognising our unique circumstances.

In this context we sought to engage with a national expert to help us develop a view of what we might want Spelthorne to be like in future.  The brief was drafted by Leader and Deputy Leader in consultation with the Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee and refined following discussion with the consultant.