Agenda and minutes

The Joint Executive Advisory Board

RESOLVED

That Councillor Adrian Chandler be elected as Chairman for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Julia McShane and Paul Spooner.  In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 23(i), Councillor Caroline Reeves acted as substitute for Councillor Julia McShane.

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.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest.

To confirm the minutes of the Joint Executive Advisory Board meeting held on 8 January 2018.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Executive Advisory Board held on 8 January 2018 were agreed as a correct record, and signed by the Chairman.

To consider the draft new Corporate Plan and identify potential items for the Executive Advisory Board Work Programme.

Councillor Matt Furniss introduced the draft new Corporate Plan by advising that the Council had invited the Local Government Association (LGA) to undertake a corporate peer challenge of the Council in December 2017.  The final report on the outcome of this review was very positive and was well received by the Executive and Management Team.  A number of useful recommendations were also made in respect of suggested improvements, with one key area for consideration being prioritisation within the Corporate Plan.

Since the peer challenge, the Council had undertaken consultation with residents, partners and other interested parties to assist with informing its future priorities.  The Council had also held workshops for Councillors and senior officers to help shape the content of the new Corporate Plan.  Following this consultation and a review of existing activities and future challenges, the new Corporate Plan had been prepared for adoption by the Council.

The Corporate Plan set out the Council’s strategic framework and priorities for the next five years.  The priorities and associated projects were fundamental to ensuring that the Council managed its business and resources effectively.  They would also ensure that Council activities continued to be aligned to the issues that mattered most to local people.  The Corporate Plan had been streamlined to focus on the three strategic themes of Place-making, Community and Innovation and referred to the Council’s recent key achievements.  The Board was invited to comment on the draft Corporate Plan before its consideration by the Executive.

Arising from consideration of the Corporate Plan and in response to related questions, the following points and suggested amendments to the draft Plan were made:

·                  In addition to work with Network Rail to progress the planning and delivery of new stations at Guildford West (Park Barn) and Guildford East (Merrow), further work on the redevelopment of Guildford Railway Station, including a capacity study, was being undertaken with Network Rail.

·                  Discussions would be held with Guildford City Football Club concerning its proposed improvements and the Board’s expressed view that the new football pitch should be constructed to Football Association standards would be passed on.

·                  Guildford had strong innovative core clusters which included electronic gaming and related technologies which were extending into other areas such as three dimensional (3D) architecture.  It was suggested that the term ‘gamification’ and the word ‘communications’ be added to the Innovation section of the Plan together with the wording ‘and other new technologies’ following the reference to projects exploiting the opportunities provided by 5G.

·                  The paragraph concerning the encouragement of local entrepreneurs through incubators and accelerators should be expanded to include business networks, workshops and other support.

·                  The redevelopment of North Street was advancing and action would soon become evident.

·                  Reference should be made in the Plan to protecting the character of the Borough’s villages and assisting the rural economy.

·                  Reducing the number of priorities, possibly by marrying together aspirational and practical elements of the Plan, would sharpen its focus.

·                  Review of Action Plan target dates was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.