About the Council

The Council structure

The Council is made up of 36 councillors who are elected by local residents and represent 17 wards. The whole Council agrees overall policies. Day-to-day decisions are then made by the Executive comprising a leader and six councillors who are appointed by the Council.

The Executive's work is reviewed by a single Overview and Scrutiny Committee which considers a range of social, environmental and economic matters. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is responsible for setting up task groups to look at different aspects of our work and can `call-in' (or stall) the Executive's decisions for further consideration.

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Our vision

The Council's vision is 'towards tomorrow today'.

It means:

  • achieving things and looking to improve

  • having a forward-thinking attitude

  • building on what is good today, and

  • planning and working for the future.

More information about our vision and values is available elsewhere on this site.

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Our priorities

We provide a wide range of services and facilities and to help us to use our resources in the most effective way, we have to set priorities. We continue to focus on three key priority areas for the coming year, as follows.

  • decent and affordable housing

  • the environment

  • health and well-being.

Decent and affordable housing

One of the most important issues identified by our residents is the need to provide good-quality housing at affordable prices for local people and key workers and we continue to make good progress in important areas:

  • Introducing new computer systems, for example the Hometrak system, which in its first year of operation, enabled 400 households to choose where they would like to live, either in Council properties or through other registered Social Landlords.

  • Although tackling homelessness remains a challenge, given the shortage of affordable homes in Woking, the number of households needing temporary accommodation remained low at an average of 14 in 2007 and we successfully prevented some 200 cases of homelessness.

  • Good progress was maintained towards achieving the `Decent Homes Standard' through the `Pride Project', a partnership with a private company for maintaining and repairing Council houses.

  • Increasing affordable family housing on larger developments to 40%, from 35%, through planning policies.

The environment

To improve the quality of life for people who live in, work in and visit the Borough, we must protect and improve the environment in ways which can be maintained without using up natural resources and are sustainable in the future. This includes working on reducing greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change.

We are working to maintain a clean, healthy and safe environment and keep the amount of waste sent to landfill as low as possible and increase recycling.

Our priorities include the following.

  • Continuing to divert waste from landfill through the wheeled bin scheme, garden waste collection and recycling centres. Following a successful trial in 2007, all households with a blue-lidded wheeled bin can now recycle glass bottles and jars.

  • Working with our partners, Serco, performance on street cleaning and grounds maintenance has seen a steady improvement. More needs to be done and changes have been made that should ensure improvements continue in future years.

  • Our Climate Change Strategy is being revised in 2008, recognising what has been achieved to date and setting new objectives for the Council and our partners.

Health and well-being

We contribute to the health and well-being of our residents through the work we do to make sure that buildings, businesses and the environment are not causing harm. We also work to encourage people to take part in leisure and cultural activities that are available to everyone.

Our priorities include the following.

  • Progressing the aims of the cultural strategy and meet the community's needs, including bringing our development plans relating to arts, sports, health and well-being and green spaces into force.

  • The Lightbox, a new gallery and museum for Woking, opened in 2007 and we will continue to work with and support this prestigious project as a valuable community facility.

  • Increasing the number of people, from all sections of the community, taking part in sports and cultural activities and target programmes at under-represented groups.

  • Working with the Safer Woking Partnership to reduce crime, improve safety, and tackle anti-social behaviour.

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Beacon Council

Beacon status recognises local councils which are delivering excellent public services. Winners are invited to share their experience and expertise to help other councils.

The Council has been successful in three categories:

  • Sustainable Energy, recognising our work developing innovative energy projects
  • Promoting Sustainable Communities through the Planning Process, in recognition of our work on developing affordable housing, energy efficient developments and better access to both local facilities and open spaces
  • Climate Change.