Agenda item

To receive an update from Councillor Craig Fennell on his work during 2018/19 in his capacity as Portfolio Holder for Places and Strategy.

Councillor Craig Fennell presented an update on the work carried out to date during the 2018/19 municipal year in his capacity as Executive Portfolio Holder for Places and Strategy.

It was noted that the new portfolio covered the following key areas: car parking, heritage services, public and open spaces, sports and leisure and strategic infrastructure and the public realm.  Arising from the Committee’s questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         Officers were working with the IT providers to try to identify a solution so that 3 and 6 month parking permits could be administered online. Once this work was complete the price of the three and six month permits would be reviewed.

·         Relocating the car wash in Main Square car park would improve accessibility around the main stair well on level 3.

·         Multiple payment providers were being used to collect car parking payments because the Ring Go system was not compatible was the automatic number plate recognition system used in a number of the car parks.

·         Income received from the town centre car parks was used to subsidise the ongoing maintenance costs of the out of town car parks and any investment in the out of town car parks was linked to the income levels received by the Council.

·         The Rugby Fans in Training project had been limited to 15 places per club.

·         It was confirmed that the whole Council would have the opportunity to consider and debate the proposals for the Arena Leisure Centre replacement.

·         The Walks in Surrey Heath Programme was a well-established programme, which continued to be well supported.

·         Ice Skate Camberley would not be taking place in 2018 however, an extensive programme of events had been planned for the weeks leading up to Christmas.

·         The electricity points installed in Southwell Park Road for the 2016 ice rink were used for events held in the London Road Recreation Ground.  It was agreed that information relating to the cost of installing the points would be circulated.

·         An extensive playground refurbishment programme was in place and clarification would be given as to whether the Orchard Way Play Area had been included.

·         It was clarified that 15% of any Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments would be allocated for local capital schemes in those wards that were not part of a parish council to ensure all the borough’s wards had parity.

·         Installing charging points for electric cars on the roads fell within the remit of the County Council. The possibility of utilising Rapid Electric Charging schemes would be explored.

·         It was acknowledged that transient traveller encampments were an ongoing issue for which there was no simple solution and a County wide working group had been set up to examine the issue.  Injunctions taken out by other local authorities had been focused on named individuals and named locations and it was considered unlikely that they would become a widespread method of managing the issues.

·         The new Heritage Space in the Square was seeing an increase in visitor numbers.  The Committee asked that their thanks be passed on to all the volunteers and staff for their work and commitment to raising the profile of Surrey Heath’s heritage amongst its residents.

The Committee thanked Councillor Fennell for his update.