The Corporate Policy and Resources Committee of Spelthorne Borough Council met on 8 September 2025 to discuss corporate risk management, Q1 capital and revenue monitoring reports, and a nomination to an outside body. The committee was also scheduled to consider the forward plan and urgent actions taken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader since the last meeting. Councillors were also scheduled to move to exclude the public and press to discuss a report regarding Sunbury Site.

It is important to note that this is only a summary of the topics that were scheduled to be discussed, and there is no information available about what was actually discussed or decided at the meeting.

Q1 Revenue Monitoring Report

The committee was asked to consider the forecast revenue budget overspend of £1.9 million for the financial year 2025-26, based on expenditure up to 30 June 2025. According to the Q1 Revenue Monitoring Report 0109, the council's budget requirement was £17.1 million, but the projected outturn was £19.028 million. The bulk of the overspend related to lower than anticipated investment property income of £2.1 million.

Immediate mitigation measures being considered included:

• Freezing non-essential spending
• Reviewing vacant posts
• Accelerating income collection initiatives
• Exploring grant opportunities
• Reviewing high-cost services for potential redesign or efficiencies
• Reviewing the need for refurbishment spend on 3 Roundwood Avenue, Stockley Park
• Reprioritising the savings programme.

The report also provided a breakdown of variances by service. Appendix B - H Revenue Monitoring Q1 contained a more detailed analysis of these variances. Some of the most significant variances included:

• Asset Management: An overspend of £598k, with £431k due to unbudgeted holding costs associated with development properties such as Hanover House, Thameside House, Oast House and Victory Place, Ashford Hospital.
• Commissioning & Transformation: An underspend of £165k, mainly due to vacant posts.
• Community Wellbeing & Housing: An overspend of £114k, with increased staffing costs at Assets Homelessness (Whitehouse and Harper House) partly offset by underspending in Housing Benefits Payments due to the transfer of working-age claimants to Universal Credit¹.
• Finance & Corporate Services: An overspend of £498k, primarily due to additional payments to interim specialists and the costs of the Commissioners[^1].
• Legal & Elections: An underspend of £180k, mainly from anticipated savings on vacancies in Committee Services.
• Neighbourhood Services: An underspend of £948k, largely due to an additional Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) allocation of £593k in packaging grant.
• Place, Protection & Prosperity: A net underspend of £67k, due to staff vacancies and a recent restructuring.

The report also noted that the council was on track to achieve its full-year vacancy savings target of £1 million, and that underlying savings achieved at the end of Q1 that will have a continuing impact in 2026/27 amounted to £421k. Appendix I - Corporate Savings provided further details on these savings.

The report set out options for addressing the projected outturn, including using reserves, and highlighted the risk implications of vacancy savings and the potential for outturn figures to change over the course of the year.

Q1 Capital Monitoring Report

The committee was asked to recommend to full council that it approves increases to the approved Capital Programme for 2025/26 of £1.1 million, the project cancellation of the solar canopy project (£1.3 million), removal of capital resources that are no longer required of £1.0 million, a net overspend of £0.3 million, and a supplementary capital estimate for the Eclipse Leisure Centre Phase 2 of £50k for walkways.

According to the Q1 Capital Programme Monitoring 2025-26 final report, the council was projecting a reduced requirement for capital spend of £2.1 million relating to project cancellations and net underspends.

The main movements in the programme related to the reprofiling and deferral of budgets into future years. The report noted that additional reductions and/or deferrals were expected to occur in subsequent quarters, which would reduce borrowing costs for the 2025/26 financial year and delay associated Minimum Revenue Provision² charges into future years.

The report provided explanations for the resources no longer required, including:

• Solar Canopies project (£1,320k): The project was no longer viable due to unsubstantiated revenue and payback calculations, and the design not taking into account the presence of attenuation tanks located beneath the car park.
• Replacement machinery for parks maintenance (£248k): No longer required.
• Parking management system (£58k): Expected to be installed and delivered within the current financial year at a lower cost than budgeted.
• Lammas Recreation Ground (£200k): This budget is no longer required.
• Demolition of Thameside House (£600k): The site is now being considered for disposal without demolition.

Project overspends of £334k related to the River Ash Broad Walk, Spelthorne Leisure Centre (SLC) Phase 2, and Sunbury MEP / Decarbonisation.

Appendix A - Capital Monitoring Q1 r provided a detailed breakdown of the projects, including cumulative expenditure to date, cumulative budget, actual expenditure in the year, revised budget, projected outturn, and variance between revised budget and projected outturn.

The report also outlined the risk implications of rising costs in the construction industry and challenges around funding high-value long-term projects, and the financial implications of the forecast outturn and progress against the Capital Programme.

Corporate Risk Management

The committee was scheduled to consider the significant strategic risks and issues highlighted in the Corporate Risk Register report and present these to the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee, ensuring continued wider reporting of the Corporate Risk Register and actions across other committees.

The Cover Sheet- Audit Committee noted that the Audit Committee had considered this report on 10 July 2025.

The AppendixA Corp Risk Register identified a number of key risks to the council, including:

• Housing: Increasing demand for affordable units, reliance on 3rd party developers, and delays in adopting the Local Plan.
• Economy: Risk of shrinkage of local economy, increased local unemployment, and reduction in Business Rates and Council Tax income.
• Financial Resilience and Commercial Assets: Loss of rental income and increased costs, and the need to significantly reduce net subsidy from asset income.
• Financial Resilience and Supporting Communities: Increased revenue costs due to external factors, and the risk of not achieving planned savings targets.
• Treasury Management: Risk that the scale of disposals of regeneration assets does not deliver the level of capital receipts anticipated.
• Climate Change: Threat of more extreme heat and increased flooding, and a lack of preparedness for impacts of climate change.
• Corporate Capacity, Resources, Recruitment and Retention: Increased workloads, unsuccessful recruitment, and the Government's plans for Local Government Reorganisation.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity: Failure to effectively adhere to the Equality Act 2010.
• Local Government Reorganisation: Limited ability to influence the future shaping of any new unitary authorities.
• Response to External Audit/Best Value Inspection Recommendations: Failure to respond effectively to address the recommendations in the External Audit Reports.

AppendixB Updated Corporate Risk Categories and scores outlined the current and previous risk scores and how they have been calculated from the assessment of the likelihood of a risk occurring against the impact this could have.

Nomination to Outside Body

The committee was asked to approve the nomination for a member representative for the Thames Landscape Strategy Partnership Executive Review Board for the 2025-26 municipal year. Appendix A - Capital Monitoring Q1 r contained the nomination from Group Leaders.

Forward Plan

The committee was scheduled to consider the Forward Plan for committee business. The forward plan set out the decisions which the service committees expected to take over the forthcoming months, and included items such as corporate risk management, nomination to outside body, Q1 revenue and capital monitoring reports, and the draft improvement and recovery plan.

Questions from Members of the Public

The agenda included questions from the public.

Nigel Rowe from the Riverside Residents (Staines) Coalition asked whether the committee agreed that the council should have clear, robust and enforceable policy directives and processes in place that would get as close as possible to a guarantee that no new development in Staines would increase flood risk for other properties and public spaces.

Kath Sanders asked two questions regarding transparency. The first was whether the chair of the committee would undertake to show on relevant meeting details which officers were in attendance, including those from the Commissioners' Team, either in person or online. The second was whether the chair of the committee would undertake for council reports to make clear the full cost of the Best Value Intervention on a quarterly basis.

Urgent Actions

The committee was scheduled to note those urgent actions which had been taken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader since the last Corporate Policy and Resources meeting on 07 July 2025.

Exclusion of Public & Press (Exempt Business)

The committee was scheduled to move the exclusion of the Press/Public for the following items, in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and by the Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006.

Sunbury Site

The committee was asked to consider the exempt report and make a recommendation to Council.