The lead up to the school holidays is always busy as it’s likely to be some time in September before we can get all Members together again – however, this year’s been particularly full on with two key projects (one associated with entering into a joint venture with Keir to take forward Transform Leatherhead and the other to agree the new leisure contract) needing to go to Members for decisions.
The amount of work associated with getting both projects to this point has been significant and I want to thank all involved for their dedication, creativity and perseverance. I know many of you will understand the importance of TL to the future of the district but perhaps fewer will be aware of the potential impact the result of the leisure contracting process could have had on our own financial position – so it’s great to be able to confirm that the outcome will be positive in relation to reducing the budget shortfall outlined in our Medium Term Financial Position over the 4 years.
A key area of work for me has been working on the new Council Strategy which will come into effect in April 2024. This key document will outline our vision for Mole Valley and explain the objectives of the Council over coming years. Having this clarity will be particularly important given the difficult financial context we are working in – it will help to guide and focus our work.
Given its significance I was particularly pleased that so many of you agreed to attend the workshop in Dorking Halls last week and share your views so readily. This was followed in the evening by a separate Members session. We are so lucky in having Dorking Halls available to us – between the team there, enthusiastic participants, a lot of hard work from Lindsay in our Corporate Governance and Strategy team, very informative and attractive information produced by our comms team and some great facilitation skills from my SLT/CGS colleagues the whole thing went really well. I wanted to share some lovely feedback from a Member – “Thank you all very much for the excellent seminar on Thursday. It was so professional but also was like a giant hug for everyone, knowing that officers are working so hard for the good of the community”.
Lindsay and I are now working through the feedback and will be working with Cabinet over the summer with a view to getting a draft strategy out to consultation in the autumn. Nearer the time I will let you know how you can get involved.
Last week Seonaid shared a picture of her at the Grundon Recycling facility – this afternoon Emma and I will be out and about with the Leader and Cllr Wellman at Bucher Municipal (used to be Johnston sweepers). This company has been manufacturing road sweepers in Dorking for more than 75 years and their vehicles can be found in more than 80 different countries. I’m particularly looking forward to hearing about the work they are doing to develop electric vehicles.
Meanwhile in the Brimacombe house I’m another year older and we are recovering from Nial’s graduation (where I was instructed not to say anything embarrassing!!). I hope you all have a lovely weekend and, for those of you with leave coming up, a well-deserved rest.
Best Wishes
Karen