To receive any announcements from the Leader.
Minutes:
The Leader paid tribute to Councillor J. Boughtflower, stating that Councillor Boughtflower was an honourable man and he had enjoyed working with him.
The Leader made several announcements as follows:
Spelthorne, along with the rest of the country, continues along the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown. From 17 May, indoor hospitality reopened, and our officers have been working with these businesses to ensure they remain COVID secure. We have been supporting the borough’s ‘non-essential’ retail businesses since they were given the green light to reopen on 12 April. As a Council, we continue to monitor developments regarding the variant originally discovered in India, as 21 June draws near.
This Council recognises how difficult and challenging the last 15 months have been for businesses and have looked to support those affected, in particular the retail, leisure, and hospitality sector. To date, more than £50 million in relief and grants have been provided to businesses in the Borough during the ongoing pandemic. The Council have held a public consultation with businesses about what support is most needed. The consultation closed on 16 May and responses are currently under review to help determine how discretionary grant funds can be best spent to boost the local economy. Businesses are also being consulted on how they can benefit from the Welcome Back Fund.
The Council ran a successful set of elections on Thursday 6 May and delivered a COVID-safe environment for voters, volunteers, and staff. On behalf of all Members, I want to thank all those who were involved. Your hard work is very much appreciated. The full results can be found on our website.
The first consultation on the Staines Town Centre Development Framework began at 9am on Tuesday 18 May and will run for six weeks until Tuesday 29 June. The Council is asking people who live, work, study, shop and spend leisure time in Staines to respond. This Objectives and Options consultation is the first stage of consultation on the Staines Development Framework and is open to all.
Nominations are open for the Spelthorne Youth Awards. These are for special young people aged between 5 and 19 years living or receiving education within Spelthorne who deserve recognition. The deadline for nominations this year is tomorrow, Friday 28 May, with the awards evening taking place in July.
A decision has been taken to implement a Borough-wide Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for psychoactive substances. A public consultation took place between 18 January and 28 February 2021 and 97.3% of respondents were in favour of adopting a PSPO. The objective of the order is to reduce the possession and use of psychoactive substances for recreational consumption, to increase public health awareness of potentially dangerous substances, to reduce dangerous littering and to help provide a safe and clean environment for all.
The Council has given approval to pursue a planning application to build the new leisure centre in Knowle Green, Staines. It is hoped that the application for this development will go to the June Planning Committee with the aim of starting construction of the new centre in December this year. As part of Spelthorne’s commitment to become a carbon neutral council, this planned new leisure facility would be the first multipurpose leisure centre in the UK, incorporating swimming pools and a large sports hall, to be designed and built to fully meet the ultra-low energy Passivhaus standard.
The Spelthorne Hub will be launching next month. This business incubator, based in Sunbury, will provide a co-working environment for new start-ups and early-stage businesses to develop their ideas by offering a choice of hot desks, permanent desks, and serviced office facilities. Open days will be held soon, and we very much look forward to welcoming new businesses to the Borough.
The Leader explained that he was looking forward to starting a new chapter for Spelthorne Borough Council as the Committee system governance model came into effect. The new structure will allow for a broader involvement of all Councillors in decision making on polices. The Leader concluded that he was eagerly anticipating working with all members to continue to make Spelthorne a great place to live and work.