Victor Lewanski

Extraordinary Meeting, Council - Wednesday, 8 January 2025 10.00 am

Surrey Council agreed to respond to the Government's request to participate in a joint devolution and local government reorganisation programme. This acceptance will likely mean that the 2025 County Council elections will be postponed. The Council also noted that the decision to respond to the government's letter was an executive decision for the Leader of the Council to make.

Planning and Regulatory Committee - Wednesday, 18 December 2024 10.30 am

The meeting considered two applications, the first for a new Special Educational Needs building at St. John the Baptist School, Woking, and the second for an application for Town or Village Green (TVG) status for Leach Grove Wood in Leatherhead. The committee approved the application to build a new Special Educational Needs building, and rejected the application for TVG status for Leach Grove Wood.

Council - Tuesday, 10 December 2024 10.00 am

The Council voted to approve the scheme for admitting students to schools in 2026. It also agreed to close the Bagshot Community Recycling Centre, and to extend the opening hours of the Camberley Community Recycling Centre. It voted to adopt the reports from the Cabinet meetings that took place on 29 October and 26 November 2024, approved a motion on climate change and net zero targets, and referred motions on inheritance tax, farming and the rural economy, and the preventative approach to children's services to the Cabinet. A motion to allow parents to attend SEND panels was also referred to the Cabinet.

Planning and Regulatory Committee - Wednesday, 27 November 2024 10.30 am

At this meeting of the Planning and Regulatory Committee, the Committee considered two planning applications for schools: the first for a new AP school on the site of a former care home, and the second for the extension of an infant school. The committee also considered an application to register some land as a Town & Village Green and a referral of a public footpath. The committee accepted the withdrawal of the application for village green status. The committee agreed to take a neutral stance in regard to the public footpath. The applications for the two schools were discussed at length, with arguments being made both for and against them. Ultimately, the committee agreed to permit the application for the infant school, but decided to refer the application for the AP school back to Surrey County Council for reconsideration.

the Audit and Governance Committee of Surrey Council

The Committee concluded the action plan created in response to the 2022 Centre for Governance and Scrutiny's review of Council Governance, subject to an external review to take place after the May 2025 election. The Committee also received the six month complaints update report for 2024-25 and, following a lengthy discussion, asked the Chairman to write to the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) to express its concern about the lack of progress in reducing complaints and particularly communication complaints. It also asked him to invite a member of the CLT to a future meeting to discuss what they were doing to improve complaints handling. During its consideration of the Annual Governance Statement half year update the Committee asked for a more detailed update report on the progress being made by the MySurrey Stabilisation Board to be provided in January. During its consideration of the Internal Audit Progress Report, the Committee asked for a report on the actions taken in response to the follow up audits on Tree Management and Social Value In Procurement.