Agenda and decisions

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 also 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.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 28 November 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2024 were agreed as correct. The Chairman signed the minutes.

The Leader of the Council made the following announcements:

The Spring round of Crowdfund Guildford funding is now open

We’re starting the next round of Crowdfund Guildford funding for community projects. As well as charities and community groups, we’re also encouraging schools and Parish Councils to apply for funding to help bring their community centred ideas come to life. 

There are funding options available for standard and large capital projects. We want to help fund projects that:

·               help vulnerable groups

·               make rural areas better

·               improve green spaces

·               encourage people to enjoy nature

·               improve wellbeing.

Fundraisers can get the know-how, tools, and confidence they need to start their crowdfunding campaign at a free online workshop on Tuesday 28 January, from 12noon to 1pm. You can register for a place at the free online workshop at www.eventbrite.co.ukand searching for ‘Crowdfund Guildford’.

The deadline for project submissions is Wednesday 12 March. 

Find out more about Crowdfund Guildford and the projects supported so far at www.spacehive.com.

About Guildford goes monthly

The Council’s digital newsletter, About Guildford, will be published monthly from January 2025.

The newsletter features the latest Council news, events and opportunities for local people to get involved.

To subscribe to our digital newsletter visit www.guildford.gov.uk/aboutguildford. You’ll then receive future editions of About Guildford by email.

The Joint Chief Executive explained that the Government had published a White Paper concerning the devolution of local authorities in England on 16 December. The White Paper set out a vision for the future including a new structure. It was proposed that the new structure include a strategic mayoral authority and a number of principal unitary authorities. The aim was to make improved efficiencies and make local authorities more financially robust. Surrey County Council was to submit a request to Government for a priority devolution programme by the deadline of 10 January 2025. There would also be a request to postpone the County Council elections in May.

The Leader had attended a meeting of the leaders of all of the Surrey district and borough councils on Thursday of this week. The leaders acknowledged the need for reorganisation and were in support of working together. The leaders were not in support of postponing the County Council elections in May and would be making a separate submission to Government in this regard.

Decision:

1.        To approve the sale, subject to planning permission being granted, of part of the Bright Hill Car Park and the Robin Hood car park to AMA Buchanan Investments Ltd, as set out in the Heads of Terms at (exempt) Appendix 2 to the report submitted to the Executive;

2.        To approve the allocation of up to £250,000 of the capital receipt from the sale to be spent on ground stabilisation works to bring all the car park retained by the Council back into operation.

3.        To approve £50,000 capital expenditure to cover the Council’s costs associated with the sale, to be recovered from the Purchaser upon exchange of contracts.

4.        To delegate to the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, in consultation with the Strategic Director of Democracy, Law and People and the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Assets, authority to procure, award and enter into all relevant contracts relating to the ground stabilisation works.

Reasons:

1.        The proposed transaction will deliver a capital receipt to the Council’s Housing Revenue Account, whilst enabling the delivery of housing (including a percentage of affordable).

2.        The transaction requires the construction of a retaining wall by the Purchaser, within their ownership, that will bring 24 car parking spaces back into operation and therefore deliver an uplift in income to the Council. The proposed investment of part of the capital receipt into ground stabilisation works will further increase the number of operational car parking spaces across the remaining site.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

1.        Do nothing - The Council would retain the sites for car parking. The Robin Hood Car Park & Bright Hill Car Park currently provide c.79 operational car parking spaces. Some spaces are not operational because of structural issues relating to the terracing of the car park. Income in 2023/24 was £205,300 and the forecast for 2024/25 is £246,273. The Council is also liable to pay business rates of c.£55,000 per annum.  This option does not make good use of a Council asset.

2.        The income and Capital Value could be increased by bringing a further 60 spaces back into use at Bright Hill and two at Robin Hood. However, capital works would need to be undertaken to bring the site back into full operational use to achieve this level of income (previously estimated at c.£100k-150k). This option was previously discounted due to cost.

3.        Do minimum - The Council could decide to sell the bottom section of Bright Hill (29 spaces) and Robin Hood car parks (23 spaces), with the sales condition that the developer implement edge protection remedials in the middle tier only. This would provide a capital receipt and 55 car parking spaces producing an estimated income of £171,456 p.a. This option, however, does not optimise the income potential of the retained Council car park asset.

4.        Do most – The Council could decide to sell the Robin Hood car park and the entire Bright Hill car park to ABI Ltd. or another  ...  view the full decision text for item 5.

Decision:

1.        To approve the procurement procedures listed in Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Executive.

2.        To delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources to proceed to procurement in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Finance and Property where there have been minor financial adjustments to the anticipated costs, or proposed minor changes to the timescales, as set out in Appendices 1 and 2.

3.        To delegate authority to award the contracts as listed in the final column of the table in Appendix 2 to the report.

Reasons:

1.        Executive authority is required to approve all key decisions with financial consequences of £200,000 or more. It is good governance therefore to provide Executive with a summary of all proposed forthcoming procurements, that individually are estimated to amount to a total value of £200,000 or more, prior to procurement procedures formally commencing.

2.        Planning procurement activity ensures:

·      effective stakeholder management

·      effective procurement and sourcing

·      compliance with relevant procurement legislation and the Council’s own Contract Procedure Rules

·      how best value is to be achieved is clearly defined including how contract management will ensure that the Council attains best value during the life of the contract.

3.        As Executive authority is required in respect of the award of any contract above £200,000, Appendix 2 to the report recommends three approaches to signing off such contracts:

·      Executive

·      Delegation to Portfolio Holder and S151 Officer

·      Delegation to S151 Officer

4.        The proposals in the report will avoid the need to submit multiple individual requests for approval to procure and award contracts, therefore being more agile in the approval process in relation to procurement activity.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

Decision:

To authorise the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Finance and Property, to enter into a contract with Comensura via the ESPO MSTAR4 framework to supply temporary agency staff (temporary contractors, interims, agency workers for a period of up to two years with a contract value of up to £8,000,000.

Reasons:

1.        The council is currently reviewing its temporary staff spend and is taking a number of actions to reduce the cost of temporary staff, notably, interims/contractors and how we source them.

2.        These actions include consolidating spend at the council, so that we have more of the council’s required external workforce appointed via Comensura, which will give the council lower margins, and a single point of all information on external staff therefore helping to manage costs better.

3.        Additionally, the costs for changing the existing supplier via a tender, may deliver a small benefit of a reduction in costs (less than £36,000) over the next 18 months. The cost of this change is considered greater than the savings along with the disruption. In addition, tendering now would rule out any collaboration with WBC.

4.        The contract rates will be the same rates as the council currently pays now with Comensura.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

1.        Re-tender – taking 6 months, plus considerable HR and Procurement resources.

2.        Do nothing – the council would continue to be in a non-contracted spend position and therefore have spend non-compliant as not procured under contract in accordance with Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR15).

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

Decision:

1.        To approve the creation of a permanent new role of Joint Assistant Director of People effective from 1 April 2025, subject to budget approval by full Council.

2.        To delegate authority to the Strategic Director for Democracy, Law and People to make any changes to the role, following the outcome of consultation with staff and the Union.

3.        To agree that the post of Joint Assistant Director of People will be a shared post with Waverley Borough Council which will be governed by the existing principles of the Inter-Authority Agreement.

Reasons:

1.     In December 2024, the Head of Paid Service made a change to the Senior Officer structure by moving the responsibility of the Council’s HR & OD function from Strategy & Corporate Services to the Legal & Democratic Services Directorate. The Directorate will become known as the Democracy, Law & People Directorate from 6 January 2025 and the Strategic Director will be known as the Strategic Director for Democracy, Law & People. There will be a gap in the HR & OD structure between Guildford’s Lead Human Resources Specialist and the Strategic Director and this is unmanageable; the support service is critical to service delivery of all functions across the Council and greater capacity in the team is required. Further, specialist knowledge is required at a more senior level; there is a need for an HR professional at Assistant Director level, to be a member of the Joint Leadership Team (JLT).

2.     To respond to the concerns raised by Statutory Officers in relation to the robustness of governance arrangements for both Waverley Borough Council and Guildford Borough Council which has resulted in the need for an improvement plan, and continuous improvement thereafter to ensure good governance, and compliance with the Council’s statutory duties relating to best value.

3.     To undertake a comprehensive review of the service delivery, systems, processes and procedures in the HR & OD function and to develop and implement a service improvement plan.

4.     To deliver the capacity and capability needed to embed success in ongoing collaboration efforts and enhance the pace of future collaboration, transition to shared services and realisation of cashable and non-cashable savings.

5.     To lead the restructure of the HR & OD service which will reduce dependency on expensive interim staff, drive alignment of the systems, policies and procedures of the two functions and implement succession planning and career development opportunities and provide resilience for the two functions.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

Options 1 (Do nothing) and 2 (Create a post for each council).

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

Decision:

1.        To approve the creation of a permanent new role of Joint Assistant Director of Finance effective from 20 January 2025.

2.        To delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Finance & Resources to make any changes to the role, following the outcome of consultation with staff and the Union.

3.        To agree that the post of Joint Assistant Director of Finance will be a shared post with Waverley Borough Council which will be governed by the existing principles of the Inter-Authority Agreement.

Reasons:

1.        To respond to the unsustainable gap created at the Assistant Director level arising from the restructure of the former Executive Head of Finance to the Strategic Director.

2.        To ensure there is sufficient capacity to achieve successful implementation of the Guildford Borough Council improvement plan.

3.        To deliver the capacity and capability to enable timely, effective, transparent and consistent decision making at all levels of both organisations, including at the most senior leadership levels.

4.        To deliver the capacity and capability needed to embed successes in ongoing collaboration efforts and enhance the pace of future collaboration, transition to shared services and continuous improvement in service delivery and realisation of cashable and non-cashable savings.

5.        To lead the restructure of the Finance Services which will reduce dependency on expensive interim staff, drive alignment of the systems, policies and procedures of the two functions and implement succession planning and career development opportunities and provide resilience for the two functions.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

1.        Options 1 (Do nothing) and 2 (Create a post for both councils).

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

Decision:

1.        To approve the creation of a permanent new role of Joint Chief of Staff reporting directly to the Joint Chief Executive, subject to budget approval by full Council, and subject to the deletion of the Head of Business Improvement post.

2.        To delegate authority to the Joint Chief Executive to make any changes to the role, following the outcome of consultation with staff and the Union.

3.        To agree that the post of Joint Chief of Staff will be a shared post with Waverley Borough Council and will be governed by the existing principles of the Inter-Authority Agreement.

Reasons:

1.        To respond to the need to better align the current role of GBC Head of Business Improvement created in May 2024, which reports directly to the Joint Chief Executive, with the work that Waverley will need to do as we move towards a review of their business by SOLACE, and to support wider improvement between both Councils.

2.        To recognise that the current GBC Head of Business Improvement postholder is already undertaking tasks more aligned to a Chief of Staff post and this will clarify responsibilities for postholders and the Council as a whole. This would mean the current GBC Head of Business Improvement post would be deleted in the light of this new joint post being created.

3.        To ensure that the Joint Chief Executive has additional capacity in liaison with the Corporate Leadership Board and Joint Leadership Team given the additional work associated with undertaking Head of Paid Services responsibilities for two sovereign councils.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

Option 1 – do nothing.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

Decision:

1.        To approve the creation of a Joint Assistant Director post, on a 2-year fixed term basis, effective from 1 February 2025, subject to budget approval by full Council.

2.        To delegate authority to the Head of Paid Service to make any changes to the role, following the outcome of consultation with staff and the Union.

3.        To agree that the post of Joint Assistant Director of Transformation will be a shared post with Waverley Borough Council and will be governed by the existing principles of the Inter-Authority Agreement.

Reason(s):

1.        To respond to changes in resources within the Strategy and Corporate Services team which provides an opportunity to further consider the structure of that service and whether it has the capacity and capability to deliver the next stage of the Transformation and Collaboration programme and other transformation opportunities.

2.        To ensure that the Transformation and Collaboration programme is appropriately represented at Joint Leadership Team level, thereby delivering consistent visibility of the programme at senior officer level; and leadership focus on delivering programme objectives and ensuring sustainable improvements in services for the residents of Guildford and Waverley and improvement in value for money across both Councils at a time of stress on local government finances.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

Option 1 (Do nothing) and Option 2 (Create a permanent Joint Assistant Director post directly reporting to JCEX).

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.