Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Graham Eyre, Steven Lee and Tony Rooth.  There were no notifications of substitutions.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests.

To confirm the minutes of the Executive Advisory Board meeting held on 13 June 2022.

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive Advisory Board (EAB) held on 13 June 2022 were confirmed as a correct record, and would be signed by the Chairman at the earliest opportunity.

The Executive Forward Plan was noted without comment.

To consider the EAB’s work programme with reference to the Executive Forward Plan.

With regard to Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs), the Chairman advised that her related discussion with the Leader of the Council had revealed that much work was being undertaken in relation to the preparation of Development Management Policies.  It was anticipated that the Greenbelt SPD would be pursued next, followed by the Blue and Green Infrastructure SPDs.  The EAB looked forward to future updates in these areas and noted its Work Programme.

The Lead Councillor for Regeneration presented the mandate in respect of Tumbling Bay (Millbrook) Weir to the Executive Advisory Board (EAB) at its meeting held on 10 October 2022.

The mandate considered options relating to Millbrook Weir which had collapsed in 2019 and been replaced with a temporary weir (which had a limited lifespan of 5 – 10 years) jointly by the National Trust (NT) and the Council at a shared cost to restore water flow in the Wey Navigation.  However, the collapsed footbridge over the Weir and its feeder footpath remained closed and the Council and NT continued to face public pressure to restore public access and instal a permanent Weir.  Options offered by the mandate consisted of ‘Do Nothing’, ‘Do Minimum’, ‘Do More’, ‘Do Most’ or ‘Do Something Different’.  ‘Do Nothing’ was the recommended option.

The Lead Councillor’s presentation featured scene setting photographs and maps of the area surrounding Millbrook Weir and Millmead Bypass Weir, including local public footpaths, and suggested a short term alternative footpath option to replace public footpath 49 that was currently closed.  The area was described as an important green space in the heart of the town, access to which was highly valued by the local community.  However, access to the green space and the town was currently hampered as both Weirs were in need of repair or refurbishment causing inconvenience to residents.  The suggested alternative temporary footpath would pass through land owned by the NT to the west of the River Wey through the Council’s front car park to restore public access to the town, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and green space.

The Council had invested a substantial amount of time and resources into investigating the ownership of, and responsibility for, Millbrook Weir since its collapse and the conclusion reached was that the Council was not responsible for the maintenance or repair of Millbrook Weir, the footbridge or sluice gates as neither the river nor surrounding land were within its ownership.  Although the history of the area was complex, investigations had identified Surrey County Council (SCC), the Environment Agency (EA), the NT and Thames Water (TW) as interested and responsible parties.

Although it had been suggested that the Council may be responsible for Millbrook Weir as it owned the Mill and operated the sluice gates, there was no evidence to support this.  The NT had been found to be the owner of the land upon which Millbrook Weir, the footbridge and crossing towpath together with the sluice were located.  The EA had acknowledged ownership of Millmead Bypass Weir and had embarked upon a project to create a replacement bypass weir and fish pass.  SCC had historically operated the Wey Improvement Scheme which included installing structures and taking responsibility for maintenance and operation of assets.  The EA and TW had inherited some of the responsibility for the Scheme.  SCC, as lead local flood authority, and the EA, with its responsibility for managing flood risk associated with a main river, had respective obligations relating to preparing  ...  view the full minutes text for item SR52

The Board is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

That under Section 100A(4)of the LocalGovernment Act 1972, thepublic andpress be excludedfrom themeeting forthe considerationof thefollowing item ofbusiness on thegrounds that itinvolves thelikely disclosureof exempt informationas definedin paragraph5 of Part 1of Schedule12A tothe Act;namely, information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Such an exclusion will involve the Board members moving to a second (Part 2) meeting for the duration of their discussion of this item.

In the event, the public and press were not excluded from the meeting as councillors did not discuss the Briefing Note at Item 8 regarding the Council’s legal position at the meeting.

This matter was noted without discussion at the meeting.