The Senior Staff Panel of Kingston upon Thames Council was scheduled to meet on Monday 20 July 2026. The primary item on the agenda was anticipated to be the interview process for the appointment of a new Director of Planning and Infrastructure. The meeting was scheduled to begin with standard procedural items before moving to this key appointment.

Appointment of Director of Planning and Infrastructure - Interviews

The main focus of the meeting was scheduled to be the interview of candidates who had been shortlisted for the significant role of Director of Planning and Infrastructure. The report pack indicated that members of the Panel would be provided with details of the interview schedule and supporting information to aid them in this process. The outcome of these interviews, and any subsequent decisions regarding the appointment, were not detailed in the publicly available documents.

The agenda also included standard procedural items such as apologies for absence, declarations of interest, and the approval of minutes from a previous meeting held on 16 December 2025. A section was also allocated for the consideration of urgent items, as authorised by the Chair.

Additionally, the Panel was scheduled to consider the exclusion of the press and public from a portion of the meeting. This was to be done under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, on the grounds that it was likely that exempt information would be disclosed. The report pack stated that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. The specific nature of this exempt information was not detailed in the public documents.