The Waverley Borough Council Executive met to discuss a range of issues, including a proposal for shared regulatory services with Guildford Borough Council, the purchase of additional housing using the Local Authority Housing Fund, the financial outturn for 2024/25, the first quarter financial monitoring report for 2025/26, and a consultation response regarding voluntary contributions to council tax from Band H properties. The Executive agreed to delegate authority to the Assistant Director of Housing to purchase additional property using the Local Authority Housing Fund Round 1 grant, accepted the request from Guildford Borough Council for Waverley to discharge its regulatory services functions, noted the outcome of the Band H council tax voluntary contribution scheme consultation, and noted the financial outturn report for 2024/25 and the Quarter 1 Financial Monitoring Report.

Shared Regulatory Services for Guildford and Waverley

The Executive agreed to accept the request from Guildford Borough Council that Waverley Borough Council discharge on its behalf such of its Regulatory Services functions which are Executive functions, with effect from 1 January 2026. They also agreed to the creation of new joint posts to deliver Regulatory Services to both Waverley Borough Council and Guildford Borough Council and delegated authority to the Joint Assistant Director for Regulatory Services to implement a joint staffing structure within the approved budget. The Executive recommended that the Council also accept the request from Guildford Borough Council that Waverley Borough Council discharge on its behalf such of its Regulatory Services functions which are Council functions as set out in appendix 4 of the Shared Regulatory Services report with effect from 1 January 2026.

The report noted that the joint staffing structure for delivery of the Regulatory Services functions will consist of staff transferred from Guildford Borough Council on 1 January 2026 and Waverley Borough Council staff. It also authorised the Strategic Director of Democracy, Law and People, in consultation with the Chairs of the Joint Governance Committee, to update the Inter-Authority Agreement to include provisions that ensure all decisions in relation to the arrangements are made by both Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council.

The report recommending the changes said that a shared service will provide greater resilience, capacity and capability for both authorities and will fully support the authorities' strategic priorities, offering best value for residents and furthering the collaboration between the councils. The report also stated that the new structure is likely to be 1.9 full-time equivalent posts fewer than the current two structures. The combined budget for the internal staff costs, with oncosts for the two councils is £4,053,870, while the estimated internal staff costs with on costs for the shared service is £3,961,370.

The report also noted that both authorities currently have separate contracts in place for a number of services, and having single contracts in place for these functions will enable the authorities to attract better rates, creating savings.

The report set out the scope of services provided by the two teams, including:

• Food Safety & Health and Safety Enforcement
• Licensing
• Corporate Health and Safety
• Emergency Planning
• Private Sector Housing
• Environmental Protection
• Environmental Enforcement and Compliance

The report considered two routes to creating a joint service: a statutory arrangement under Section 113 of the Local Government Act 1972, and The Local Authority (Arrangement for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulation 2012 made under section 9EA of the Local Government Act 2000. The latter route, which involves one authority requesting its regulatory services function be discharged by the other authority, with staff transferring under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ('TUPE')¹, was recommended in the report.

The report stated that the authorities have amended their Inter-Authority Agreement to provide that staff in joint roles should usually be employed by Waverley Borough Council on behalf of both authorities, and so transferring the team employed by Guildford Borough Council to Waverley Borough Council is consistent with this approach.

The report stated that a joint function will create a salary saving in the region of £93,000 per annum, including on-costs. It also anticipated that further savings will also be delivered through single contracts for services currently provided separately to each authority, further economies of scale, and systems improvements.

The report included an Equalities Impact Assessment, which concluded that while there are some potential impacts to groups with special characteristics, particularly in relation to disability and age, these have been mitigated so far as possible to enable individuals to be treated fairly throughout the collaboration process.

Local Authority Housing Fund Round 1 - Purchase of Additional Property

The Executive agreed to delegate to the Assistant Director of Housing, in consultation with the Co-Portfolio Holder for Housing (Operations), authority to purchase additional property using the Local Authority Housing Fund Round 1 (LAHF) grant.

The report stated that the former Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) introduced the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) Round 1 for local authorities in England to provide accommodation to families with housing needs who have arrived in the UK via Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement and relocation schemes.

Waverley Council was allocated a total of £2,039,531 LAHF Round 1 funding to provide 11 additional homes. As of the meeting date, eleven properties have now been either purchased or are currently under offer, with conveyancing underway. An underspend of £270,133 in grant funding remains, which must be returned to the Government if it is not used. The MHCLG has confirmed that the Council may use the remaining grant to acquire an additional property, so long as contracts are exchanged by 31 December 2025.

The report stated that the recommendation aligns with the council's strategic priorities of Decent and affordable homes and a resilient and well-managed council .

Financial Monitoring 2024/25 - Outturn

The Executive noted the financial outturn report for 2024/25.

The report summarised the outturn for General Fund revenue, Housing Revenue Account² (HRA) and Capital for the 2024/25 financial year, highlighting key variances and their reasons. For the financial year 2024/25, the general fund underspent by £1.6m, with £291k approved to be carried forward to the 2025/26 budget. There were £50k of savings against the inflation provision and £19k of savings on the impairment (bad debt) allowance. There was a £907k overspend on the allocation of interest receipts to HRA and trusts, offset against an overachievement of treasury management income.

The report noted that staffing budgets made up the majority of the total saving of £1.6m, with a total saving in the general fund within this area of £1.4m. Income exceeded the target by £188k, primarily driven by higher occupancy than initially anticipated in car parks. Building Control income was £62k below target, while Waverley Training Services income under achieved by £382k. Careline income was £44k below target, and Green Waste income was £59k lower than the target. The Treasury Management team secured favourable deals at high rates, achieving an overachievement of income. Planning Fee income was £305k below the target.

The total general fund capital budget for 2024/25 was £22m, with £12.2m saved due to delays. The vast majority of this (£12m) will be carried forward to 2025/26 to continue the approved scheme works.

The Housing Revenue Account has total savings of £1m for 2024/25 against approved budget, £151k of which will be carried forward to 2025/26 to spend. The inflation provision has £239k of savings against the original allowance due to fluctuating interest rates versus the budget assumptions.

The report stated that for the 2024/25 business plan, it was assumed that £2.3m of the planned principal repayment against the PWLB loan would be rescheduled as the level of repayment was not affordable. However, as a result of savings on the capital programme and the HRA service, the full PWLB loan repayment of £9.5m was able to be made.

The total new development budget for 2024/25 was £22m, with £12.8m saved due to delays within the projects. The vast majority of this (£12.5m) will be carried forward to 2025/26 to continue the approved scheme works. The total capital programme for planned works for 2024/25 was £10.6m, with savings of £3.3m achieved, £1.6m of which will be carried forward to 2025/26 to continue works.

Q1 2025/26 Finance Report

The Executive noted the Quarter 1 Financial Monitoring Report.

The report summarised the forecast outturn for General Fund revenue, HRA and Capital for the 2025/56 financial year, including the quarter 1 position. As shown in Appendix 1 of the 2025-26 Qtr1 Financial Monitoring report, there is currently a saving on £525k forecast within the general fund.

The key variances forecasts are as follows:

• Establishment savings: £445k of additional vacancy savings is being forecast on staffing budgets for 2025/26.
• Building control income: Overachievement of building control income totalling £66k is being forecast for 2025/26.
• Waverley Training Services: Forecasting and underachievement of income of £84k.
• Planning fee income: Is forecast to overachieve by £71k based on the first quarter's performance.
• Land charges income: Is forecast to underachieve by £27k based on the first quarter's performance.

The Housing Revenue Account has total savings of £152k forecast for 2025/26 against approved budget. £170k of this relates to overachievement of vacancy savings on the HRA staffing budgets. The other variance forecast in an underachievement of dwelling rent income of £15k.

Within the HRA new development budget £2.5m of savings have been forecast, which will need to be carried forward to future years, due to delays in contract and project planning.

Consultation Response for Band H Council Tax Voluntary Contributions

The Executive noted the outcome of the Band H Council Tax voluntary contribution scheme consultation and confirmed that officers should proceed with work in preparing a report to members to propose the setting up of a new charity to administer this scheme.

The report stated that on 16 September 2024, full Council approved the recommendation for officers to progress with a consultation with all Band H Council Tax paying properties, in order to gauge support for the establishment of a Waverley Borough Council Voluntary Council Tax Initiative. Letters were sent to 2,067 properties, and 180 contributions were received, a response rate of almost 9%. Of those 180 responses, 26.3% were supportive of the proposal, 14.9% neutral, 10.3% dissatisfied and 48.6% unhappy. 14.5% of respondents stated they would be willing to make an additional voluntary contribution, with 21.2% undecided, and 64.2% indicating they would be unwilling to make a contribution.

The report estimated that if a charity were set up it would receive an estimated £10,276 per year, or £25,299 if all of those that were not sure yet then decided to contribute as well as those 'willing to'. The charity could also be open to wider donations from other WBC council tax bands and may receive additional donations from this.

The report stated that there would be costs involved in the administration of the scheme by officers, estimated at around 2-5 hours per month, as well as an administrative cost to the Council involved in oversight and reporting of an additional charity through the Executive Shareholder & Trustee Committee and the Audit & Risk Committee.

Other Matters

• Questions from the Public: The Executive addressed questions from the public regarding the discretionary review process for Community Infrastructure Levy³ (CIL) charges. Councillor Liz Townsend, Executive Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development, clarified that the review is open to anyone who has undertaken a residential extension, annex or self-build who thinks they have been incorrectly charged CIL. She also confirmed that the wording of the terms of reference enables anyone to apply for a discretionary review, including cases where they or their agent have made an error, and that the website will be reviewed to ensure that this is made clear. Councillor Townsend confirmed that in the event of a council error, CIL liability notices can be withdrawn. Councillor Paul Follows, Leader of Waverley Borough Council, stressed that there had been no applications to the discretionary review at the time of the meeting. Councillor Townsend confirmed that the first meeting of the CIL Reform and Review Group had taken place and that the first item of business was to look at the Enforcement Policy and also the wording of liability notices.
• Questions from Councillors: Councillor Kika Mirylees, Executive Portfolio Holder for Community Services, Leisure and EDI, responded to a question about Waverley Borough Council participating in the Low Income Family Tracker (LIFT) scheme, stating that both Guildford and Waverley Councils are currently not part of the scheme due to capacity issues and concerns about data governance and cyber security. Councillor Paul Follows responded to a question about the loan of one of Guildford Borough Council's Glutton pavement cleaning machines to Farnham, stating that the answer that had originally been provided and published as a supplement to the agenda was not believed to be factually correct. Councillor Mark Merryweather responded to a question about the new lease for Farnham Town Football Club, stating that discussions with the football club continue and that the club are exploring feasibility in terms of what works are required to make the land playable and the costs involved.
• Leader's and Portfolio Holders' Updates: Councillor Paul Follows announced that the final consultation response from Guildford and Waverley Councils had been submitted in regards to the Local Government Review and a structural change order process would take place over the next six months. Councillor Tony Fairclough announced that new car park ticket machines were scheduled for installation in September and operation in October. Councillor Mark Merryweather announced that the 2024-25 draft accounts had been published on time. Councillor Liz Townsend announced that there was Business Rate Relief for Farnham businesses and temporary relief may be available due to the Farnham Infrastructure project. Councillor Paul Rivers explained that he had visited Farnham Museum and would be visiting again to re see the progress in September.
• Sandy Hill Pump Track: The Executive approved a supplementary budget of £110,000, to be funded from Strategic CIL for the purpose of progressing the Sandy Hill Pump Track project.
• Farnham Trading Estate: The Executive agreed to the surrender of the existing lease and re-grant of two leases to the current lessee at Unit 6, Farnham Trading Estate.
• Farnham Park Golf Club and Cafe: The Executive agreed to the granting of a new lease to SQ Leasing Ltd. for Farnham Park Golf Club and Cafe.