Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Christopher Barrass, Steven Lee and Jo Randall.  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 (EAB) meeting held on 10 October 2022.

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive Advisory Board (EAB) held on 10 October 2022 were confirmed as a correct record, and would be signed by the Chairman at the earliest opportunity.

The Strategy and Resources Executive Advisory Board (EAB) considered the Council’s Corporate Safeguarding Policy and Procedure together with a supporting paper in the format of a policy mandate, which were presented by the Senior Policy Officer - Strategy, Performance and Events.  The Safeguarding Policy and Procedure consisted of two parts, namely, Part 1: Procedure on how to respond if you have a safeguarding concern; and Part 2: Safeguarding Policy.

The policy mandate addressed the following areas:

·             Policy Overview

·             Ownership

·             Case for Change

·             Key Deliverables

·             Success Criteria

·             Strategic Objectives

·             Scope

·             Organisational Impact

·             Collaboration Considerations

·             Strategic Assumptions, Issues and Risks

·             Strategic Dependencies, Constraints and Opportunities

·             IT Project Requirements

·             Resources

·             Governance and Approvals

·             Updates and Review

·             Recommendations / Comments to / from the Corporate Management Board (CMB) and the EAB

·             Recommendations to the Executive

The policy mandate recommended that the EAB:

(i)           Reviewed the policy mandate for the draft Safeguarding Policy and Procedure; and

(ii)         Commented on the appropriateness of the draft Safeguarding Procedure (Part 1) and Policy (Part 2) as set out in Appendix 1 and 2 to the mandate, respectively, with specific reference to:

o      The Council’s commitment to safeguarding people it interacted with and provided services for.

o      The accessibility of the documents for all staff and councillors.

o      The Council’s statutory safeguarding duties.

o      The local authority’s roles and responsibilities.

o      The organisation’s training needs.

The principles behind the policy mandate and approach were two-fold.  Firstly, it was felt that this approach would standardise the method by which officers developed new policies acting as a checklist to some extent to support the development of sound and well considered policies to meet objectives.  Ideally, the mandate would be a living document utilised throughout the policy development process to support the process and bring clarity to the purpose of the policy and identify how it linked with wider Council goals, taking account of whether the policy had resource requirements for implementation, provided clear governance for approval gateways and included future updates.

Secondly, it was deemed that this methodology would standardise the manner in which policies were presented to committees / the Executive in the future to provide clarity with regard to the purpose and scope of emerging policies and to ensure that they were of a consistent quality with a clear purpose facilitating effective implementation.  Feedback from the EAB in respect of the policy mandate approach was welcomed.

Concerning the Safeguarding Policy and Procedure, the Board was advised that this document was a new draft Policy and Procedure which would replace the current policy written in 2018.  Since that time, the existing policy had been updated to reflect some legislative changes, updates to guidance and learning from best practice which had influenced how the Council managed its safeguarding responsibilities.  There had also been some changes in the way that Surrey County Council (SCC), as the local authority with the remit for safeguarding arrangements in Surrey, responded to referrals and assessments.  In comparison with the current policy, the new draft Policy  ...  view the full minutes text for item SR58

The Strategy and Resources Executive Advisory Board (EAB) was invited to consider a report in respect of the interventions proposed in relation to the Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) Government grants.  The report outlined any proposed changes to projects and project spend since the submission of Guildford’s UKSPF Investment Plan in August 2022.  The paper was introduced by the Lead Councillor for Finance and Planning Policy and was presented by the Head of Regeneration and Corporate Programmes.

The EAB was advised that the Council had been awarded £1 million from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC’) UKSPF to spend on capital and revenue activities between the financial years 2022-23 to 2024-25, with the aim of building pride in places and increasing life chances through investing in three investment priorities: Communities, Local Businesses, and People and Skills.

The UKSPF grant was then followed by the launch of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ REPF, which allocated the Council £400,000 to spend on capital grants to support rural businesses and communities from 2023-24 to 2024-25.

In order to access its UKSPF and REPF allocations, the Council had submitted an Investment Plan and Addendum, respectively, outlining the opportunities and challenges facing the Borough, in addition to its investment priorities.  Both the UKSPF Investment Plan and REPF Addendum had been informed by feedback from, and discussions with, a range of stakeholders.  Since the submission of the UKSPF Investment Plan, further discussions with Council officers, external stakeholders and partners had been conducted to develop the projects put forward in Guildford’s Investment Plan.  In addition, there had been changes to some of the projects outlined, which would require approval from the DLUHC should the Council decide to pursue the changes.

On 5 December 2022, DLUHC confirmed the validation of Guildford’s UKSPF Investment Plan.  Having now received its first year of UKSPF allocation, the Council needed to decide if and how it should progress the projects it had proposed in its Investment Plan.

Following the consultations involving councillors, officers and local stakeholders, the following projects totalling £1 million had been put forward for inclusion in Guildford’s UKSPF Investment Plan:

·             Town Centre Improvements - £60,000

·             Community and Neighbourhood Improvements (including Hostile Vehicle Mitigation proposal) - £300,000

·             E-Bike Hire Scheme with Surrey County Council and University of Surrey - £200,000

·             Marketing and Events - £19,500

·             Community Grants - £300,000

·             Visitor Economy - £20,500

·             Business Support - £30,000

·             Feasibility Study - £20,000

·             Business Decarbonisation Scheme with Surrey County Council and other Surrey Districts and Boroughs - £50,000

The presentation given by the Head of Regeneration and Corporate Programmes provided an overview of the two Prosperity Funds and outlined the UKSPF proposed interventions, the proposed Joint Rural Grant Programme, the proposed change to the UPSPF profile spend, the proposed Local Delivery Board and the next steps.

The following points arose from ensuing questions, comments and discussion for forwarding to the Executive:

1.           Although some of the intervention schemes  ...  view the full minutes text for item SR59

A report regarding the above was before the Executive Advisory Board (EAB) for consideration.  The purpose of the report was to obtain the views and comments of the EAB in respect of the Economic Development Strategy 2023-2040 and the associated draft Action Plan, supported by an Evidence Base document, which would be subject to further consultation with strategic partners.

The Council had appointed property consultants Avison Young to advise in relation to the Strategy and Action Plan and representatives of the consultancy were in attendance at the meeting.  The Company benefited from considerable experience in respect of working with local authorities and local enterprise partnerships etc to create local economic development strategies.

The Lead Councillor for Customer and Commercial Services introduced the report and advised that a number of the Council’s economic strategies had now reached their expiration and were in need of updating.  In addition, the Borough had experienced the impact of considerable economic shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis, which had brought changes and uncertainties to the local economic landscape requiring a reassessment of the Council’s challenges, opportunities and priorities.

The Borough had strong economic foundations linked to its location and transport connections rendering it accessible to other important national and international economic nodes.  It also benefitted from a highly skilled local workforce and was home to strong economic clusters such as the visitor economy, the vibrant gaming industry and the innovative rural economy.  However, the Borough was currently experiencing relatively weak economic performance compared to other areas, which was a trend preceding the pandemic.  Therefore, there was an impetus in line with the Council’s Corporate Plan 2021 – 2025 to set out a refreshed Strategy and Action Plan to reinvigorate Guildford’s economy and outline a renewed vision and priorities to support the local economy to ensure it was a place where businesses and residents could continue to thrive.  Extensive research and consultation exercises had been conducted to produce the documents and shape the new vision, which featured innovative, progressive, productive, inclusive and green economy aspects.  These were characterised by unique clusters of high growth, knowledge and production-based economic activity, benefiting from the involvement of partners and stakeholders to ensure delivery of the vision.

Representatives of Avison Young gave a presentation which outlined the introduction, purpose, process, outputs, findings, vision, themes and recommendations associated with the Strategy and Action Plan.

In terms of purpose, the consultancy had been commissioned to produce the documents which defined a ten year ambition for Guildford’s economy and identified actions which the Council and its partners needed to undertake to achieve the ambition.  The Strategy was underpinned by evidence, informed by extensive engagement and shaped by the existing strategy and policy.  Whilst the Strategy was ambitious, influenced by best practice and concise to appeal to different audiences, and for sharing between the various organisations responsible for economic development, it was tailored to the current financial landscape of constraints.

The process consisted of four phases, namely, evidence gathering, stakeholder  ...  view the full minutes text for item SR60

The Chairman drew attention to the Council’s Community Asset Transfer Policy.  As the Service Delivery EAB was proposing to discuss the Policy at its next meeting, the date of its determination by the Executive would be postponed to accommodate that discussion.

To consider and approve the EAB’s draft work programme with reference to the above Executive Forward Plan. 

The EAB was advised that the Local Plan Panel had met earlier in the day to consider the Green Belt Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).  The meeting had been constructive and the document found to be clear and thorough requiring few amendments prior to public consultation.  As this and other SPDs appeared unscheduled on the Work Programme, it was hoped that they would become available for the Board’s consideration in the future.