Agenda and minutes

Any substitute members should declare their substitution.

Councillor Gabe Crisp substituted for Councillor Julian Shinn

Councillor Jude Harvey substituted for Councillor Dan Flower

Members and Officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda.  Declarations should also be made at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

Members and Officers may seek advice upon any relevant interest from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting.

Councillor Mandy Buxton declared that with regards to application AWDM/0118/23, this had previously been brought before Lancing Parish Council, of which she was Chair.

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by midday on Thursday 29 March 2023.

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services –

democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note:  Public Question Time will last for a maximum of 30 minutes)

There was one question raised under Public Question Time -

Question –

The Waterfront Residents' and Tenants' Association (WRTA) has made the Council aware, on several occasions, of the health and safety risk presented by Waterfront Estate River Defence Wall.  Action is urgently required to deter children and others jumping onto the wall from the adjoining riverside walk and creating an increasing nuisance to residents, unaware of the 2.4 metre dangerous fall into private gardens.

The Environment Agency and Hyde Housing Association, who manage the estate, deny that they own the wall or hold responsibility for its management.

A Land Registry search shows that the river defence wall is held with the riverside walk and is in the Council’s ownership.

So, the WRTA question for the Committee is, can the Council confirm that it holds responsibility for maintaining and managing the wall in line with the S106 agreement for the estate and what action will be taken to make the wall safe?

Response –

Firstly it is surprising that HM Land Registry suggests that the Council owns any land here.  I have contacted our Estates Manager and he has confirmed that according to our records the Council owns no land along the river frontage or the flood wall.

As you are aware the Environment Agency (EA) built the wall as part of the Adur Tidal Walls project.  The EA has the power to build flood defences on private land but the future maintenance responsibility falls on the landowner.  In this case the EA has passed responsibility of the wall onto the landowner Hyde Housing.  I have spoken to John Martin from Hyde who has confirmed that this is the case.  You will be aware that Hyde worked with the EA to coordinate access from the development through the wall to gain access to the riverside path.

The Estates Manager is double checking the land ownership issue but I wonder whether the WRTA believes the Council owns land here because of the public footpath alongside the river?  This in itself is not straightforward as the WSCC Interactive Map indicates (see extract below):

The brown land is the South Downs Link and the dotted line is known as an Easy Access Trail.  I have written to WSCC Rights of Way team to clarify the status of Easy Access Trails and the status of the rest of the footpath along the river frontage.  I have also raised with WSCC the safety concerns of residents and spoken to Hyde who would be more than willing to work with WSCC to erect some warning signs along the footpath to stop access to the wall and highlighting the risk of falling. 

As you know the EA was not prepared to add guard rails to the wall and Hyde cannot alter the wall without the agreement of the EA and therefore there appears to be somewhat of an impasse.  Ultimately it is the responsibility of the landowner but I could not comment on liability as the EA  ...  view the full minutes text for item ADC-PC/93/22-23

Pre-submitted Members questions are pursuant to rule 12 of the Council & Committee Procedure Rules.

Questions should be submitted by midday on Thursday 29 March 2023 to Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk   

(Note: Member Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no pre-submitted Members Questions.

To approve the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting of the Committee held on 20 March 2023, which have been emailed to Members.

RESOLVED, that the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 20 March 2023 be confirmed as a correct record and that they be signed by the Chair.

To consider any items the Chair of the meeting considers urgent.

There were no items raised under urgency provisions.

To consider the reports by the Director for the Economy, attached as Item 7.

The planning applications were considered, see attached appendix.