Agenda item

To receive an update on the development of a new Five Year Strategy for the borough including an update on the outcomes of recent consultation exercises.

The Committee received a report providing an update on the work to develop a new Five Year Strategy for Surrey Heath Borough Council.

The Committee was informed that the Strategy’s development had been guided by a cross party task and finish group which had, to date, met five times and agreed that the strategy would be focused around the following four overarching priorities:

·         Environment

·         Health and Quality of Life

·         Economy

·         Effective and Responsive Council

Following early engagement with key partners, an extensive public consultation programme had been launched in July to gather the views and opinions of residents, visitors businesses and partner groups and organisations on the aspects of the Borough that they loved and valued, what they thought needed to be improved and the issues that they considered to be important factors for the futureof the Borough.

The consultation had taken place across a number of different channels including general and targeted promotion on a range of social media platforms, articles in Heathscene, promotion of the survey through the Surrey Heath Youth Council, Meals at Home, residents’ associations and neighbourhood watch schemes and the Borough Boards.  Officers had also attended public events across the Borough.  By the end of the consultation period, on 27^th August 2021, a total of 703 full surveys had been completed and a significant amount of feedback had been received via social media and more detailed conversations at focus groups and feedback from local groups. 

It was noted that work to analyse all the feedback received was still underway, and emerging headlines had been included in the report.  It was reported that the aspects of Surrey Heath that respondents valued had included its green and open spaces and the rural feel of the borough, transport links, local facilities and amenities and the local community.  Respondents also felt that Surrey Heath was a safe area.  Areas which were considered to need improving had included: roads and traffic levels, public transport, facilities and services, levels of development, town and village centres and shopping facilities.

The draft strategy had been written to reflect not only feedback from members, partners and the public but also those priorities previously agreed by the Council including alleviating poverty and climate change.  Efforts had also been made to link targets in the draft Strategy with existing policies and work with key partners and delineate between those aspirations which the Council could facilitate or deliver and those aspirations where the Council could act as a community leader seeking change through lobbying on behalf of residents.

Arising from the subsequent discussion of the draft Strategy the following points were noted for each of the agreed priorities:

Priority: Environment

·         Consideration needed to be given to tackling air inequality and pollution across the Borough and not simply focusing on air quality.

·         A balance needed to be struck between preserving the green nature of the Borough and ensuring that people’s quality of life was not unduly impacted by policies restricting the removal of trees.

Priority: Health and Quality of Life

·         Reference needed to be included to both the Clinical Commissioning Groups which covered Surrey Heath.

·         Support for older and vulnerable residents needed to be incorporated into the Strategy.

·         Housing must be fit for habitation and partners should be held to account where problems arose.

·         Affordable housing encompassed more than Registered Social Landlords and reference should be made to the actions that the Council would take to work with developers to deliver affordable housing through the Local Plan and planning process.

·         Consideration should be given to the possibility of the Council developing its own affordable housing stock.

·         Specifics over the types of affordable housing needed to be given.

·         The action “Improve transport accessibility for villages” needed to be clarified.

Priority: Economy

·         Our communities were more diverse that just ‘towns and villages’ and plans to invest in town and village communities should reflect this.

·         The section needed to be expanded to take into account both the green economy and how the local economy worked for residents.

·         Consideration should be given to how the Council might utilise the green economy in a post pandemic world.

·         Reference needed to be made to the number of people who travelled into and out of the Borough each day for work and the impacts that these movements had on all aspects of life including the economy, health and the environment.

The Committee expressed disappointment that the substantive comments provided by many residents in response to the consultation appeared not to have been taken into account in the Strategy’s development.  It was stressed that the substantive comments were still being analysed and categorised and would be shared with the Task and Finish Group once this work was completed.  Details of the substantive responses would also be included in the report that would be taken to the Executive in October. 

It was considered that a number of the proposed targets needed to be reworded to ensure that they were specific and achievable and it was suggested that the Task and Finish Group review these. Target implementation years for the priorities would be included in the final strategy.

The Committee was informed that the feedback provided would be combined with any feedback received from the Surrey Heath Partnership at their meeting on the 22^nd September 2021 and taken to the Task and Finish Group for discussion on the 29^th September 2021.  The final draft would be presented to the Executive in October before it was taken to Full Council for adoption.

The Committee commended the officers involved in developing and delivering the comprehensive consultation.