For the past year Waverley Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee business meetings, have, in our humble opinion, produced more debate, more scrutiny, and more examination than ever before.
For the first time these O & S committees are doing what it says on the tin, enabling ‘backbench’ councillors to work as they should – in public and in the public interest.
There is a sea change at Your Waverley – because now, for the first time for many years, councillors are beginning… don’t hold your breath, we only said… beginning to hold the powerful EXECUTIVE to account.
There’s an easy way to judge whether the decisions of the Executive have been made long before a debate in public, in other words in secret. If it’s over in less than an hour, with no real discussion, then the chances are the real decisions were made beforehand in secret.
We have viewed a few Executive meetings – 30mins, 40 mins, and the most recent Special Executive, 6 mins 48 seconds! Hardly time for the public to get their bums on seats?
VIEW IT HERE.
By the way, no doubt the excuse will be – that it is in the public interest for us NOT to hear. The favourite catch-all phrase for denying information is that it is commercially sensitive and then the doors are slammed shut. And of course, they can discuss any other matters they wish away from our prying eyes … like why Godalming Town Mayor and WBC Councillor Simon Thornton has resigned? Has sleaze found its way in Your Waverley’s ranks, we wonder?
If only ten people – all from the same party – hold the real power – then let’s just have an EXECUTIVE and save all the money spent on the other 47 councillors. That would go some way towards helping to save that £2.8m ‘Your Waverley’ needs to balance the books!
So let’s see tonight if our scrutineers are able to properly scrutinise?
Because some of the subjects included are:
- The Farnham Air Quality Scam Investigation up-date.
- The Local Plan
- The introduction of and charging structure for – CIL – Community Infrastructure Levy which developers will have to pay once the Local Plan has been adopted.
When the Community Infrastructure Level was introduced in 2010, why is Waverley BC still not charging 7 years later? Is this why Farnham is crumbling?
“The Community Infrastructure Levy is a planning charge, introduced by the Planning Act 2008 as a tool for local authorities in England and Wales to help deliver infrastructure to support the development of their area. It came into force on 6 April 2010 through the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010. Development may be liable for a charge under the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), if your local planning authority has chosen to set a charge in its area.”
You need to have an adopted Local Plan to charge CIL. Think how many millions Waverley is missing out on!
By the time the Community Infrastructure Levy is introduced most of the development will have been completed, and some, certainly not all, the developers will be laughing all the way to the bank. Waverley has already lost a huge amount of money because it has been so dilatory in getting its Local Plan adopted.