To receive any announcements from the Leader.
Minutes:
The following are the latest service updates from various Council departments.
The Benwell Centre in Sunbury-on-Thames has received £1,300 from Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant scheme which raises money from the sale of carrier bags. The Centre applied for funding to help it create a gardening club for its members and residents of Mitchison Court. The money will be used for all the essential items needed to get the garden up and running, such as tools, plants, seeds, bulbs and a greenhouse.
Following an upgrade, the council’s website and intranet forms are being rebuilt. All forms will be recreated by 31 December and comply with the new data protection regulations coming into effect in May.
A number of councillors have donated money from their Better Neighbourhood Grants to buy Christmas gifts for the council’s Meals on Wheels clients. London Irish Rugby Club is also donating gifts for these residents and will be delivering them to the Fordbridge Centre on 21 December.
Spelthorne Council has now published its Green Belt Assessment which sets out how areas of the borough are performing against Green Belt criteria. The assessment will form part of the council's evidence for the Local Plan which identifies the needs of the borough in relation to housing, the economy, community facilities and infrastructure.
Council Tax payers who claim the single person discount are being asked to confirm whether they still qualify.
Three local secondary schools were invited to the council offices to learn about parliament and take part in a Commons-style debate, chaired by Kwasi Kwarteng MP. This follows on from October’s Junior Democracy Event and quiz which was hotly contested by 11 junior school teams.
ICT is progressing with a network refresh and improving the wi-fi coverage across the council offices. This work is being done at the weekends to minimise disruption.
Procurement and Contract Management have presented a report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with recommendations on how the council can increase the amount of goods and services sourced from local businesses.
The Project team is continuing to support a range of projects including a piece of work being carried out with Housing in readiness for the Homelessness Reduction Act which comes into force next April. Work to ensure the council complies with the new data protection regulations being introduced next May is also ongoing.
The Asset team has moved to Room 101 and is helping to set up the ‘business incubator’, a work space in the council offices for local start-ups.
The national waste performance statistics for 2016/17 were published by Defra this week and show that Surrey now has the joint highest recycling rate out of the 32 two-tier areas in England, at 57.7%.
Changes to the Christmas rubbish and recycling collections have been kept to a minimum this year to reduce disruption to residents. Details have been published on the website and in the winter Bulletin.
Neighbourhood Services is reminding residents that there is still time to order a food caddy to arrive before Christmas. Food waste is collected every week and turned into fertiliser and energy. Unwanted textiles and small electrical items are also now collected weekly.
Nine Spelthorne residents have received a day’s training in hearing aid maintenance to enable them to provide a basic service for elderly people in their local area. The borough already has three Hearing Champions at the Fordbridge Centre in Ashford and All Saints Church in Laleham.
Meetings have been held to investigate the possibility of introducing Good Neighbour schemes in Laleham Village and Staines, providing help for people who need assistance with transport and day-to-day tasks.
The multi-agency approach to providing ‘early help’ for families through local hubs has developed and staff have been liaising with the local churches and community groups to progress the project which aims to give support for a range of problems before they escalate.
Shepperton became the first Dementia Friendly Community in the borough earlier in the year and discussions are now underway to use the same model in Sunbury-on-Thames.
Around 200 residents came along to Stanwell’s first lantern parade on Saturday 2 December. The parade started at St Mary the Virgin Church and ended outside the Sir John Gibson pub with Christmas carols and the lighting of the Christmas tree. The lanterns came courtesy of workshops held at Town Farm School and Stanwell Youth Centre.