Agenda and minutes

The Mayor received apologies for absence from Councillors Heather Mercer, Richard Mulholland, Dale Overton and Steve Waight.

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.

Councillor Richard Nowak declared an interest in relation to agenda item 7A as the Vice-Chair of Worthing Community Chest as the organisation holds a small charities lottery licence. 

Councillor Kevin Jenkins declared an interest as a Director of Worthing Town Football Club as the organisation also held a small charity licence.          

Councillor Hazel Thorpe declared an interest as a member of Worthing Community Chest as the organisation holds a small charities lottery licence.

Councillors Caroline Baxter, Noel Atkins, John Turley, Dawn Smith and Henna Chowdhury all declared interests as Members of West Sussex County Council.

To approve the minutes of the Council Meeting held on Tuesday 17 October 2023, copies of which have been previously circulated. 

A copy is available to view at

https://democracy.adur-worthing.gov.uk/documents/g1920/Printed%20minutes%2017th-Oct-2023%2018.30%20Worthing%20Council.pdf?T=1

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 17th October 2023 be approved as a correct record and that they be signed by the Mayor.

To receive any questions from members of the public addressed to Members of the Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.  There is up to 5 minutes for each question, one supplementary question may be asked arising from the original question.

Questions must relate to any matter the Council has power or which affects the Borough, except no questions may be asked in relation to

a)     A specific planning or licensing application

b)     A specific staffing appointment or appeal, or Standards determination

Public question time will last up to 30 minutes; questions will be taken in the order of receipt.

The deadline for submission of questions is 7th December 2023 at 12 noon. Questions to be submitted to democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

1.   Question submitted by Ian Davey, a Worthing Resident, to the Leader 

West Sussex County Council recently consulted on their Active Travel Strategy. This included a route from Littlehampton to Worthing.

The Goring, Sea Lane to Worthing West Parade section included an option to build a segregated cycle track "across Goring Greensward". This has understandably caused some concern among local residents. 

I know that you have been working on the George V Avenue to Sea Lane section for some time. My understanding was that you were drawing up plans. As I understood it these would be for a widened promenade route from George V Ave to Sea Lane cafe.

Could you please provide an update on how those plans are progressing and indicate whether or not Worthing Borough council would support a segregated cycle track across the Goring Greensward.

The Leader replied that the Council was committed to exploring the George V Avenue to Sea Lane Cafe scheme and Officers were currently pooling resources together (via Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 contributions) to start feasibility work. This would look at the possibility of extending the promenade. 

In terms of the Goring Greensward, the Council hadn’t seen any details from WSCC regarding these proposals, and whether this was even feasible, however the Council believed in maintaining and improving its greenspaces for residents to enjoy, hence why it was looking at the options around extending the promenade area rather than across the Greensward.

2.      Question submitted by Bryan Turner, a Worthing Resident, to the Cabinet Member for the Environment 

"How many trees have been planted in Worthing due to the Trees for Streets Scheme?" 

The Cabinet Member for the Environment advised that the tree planting season for Trees for Street - Year 1 in Worthing would take place between January and March 2024. There were 26 new street trees ordered for Spring planting, with a further 15 being processed. A total of 41 for the first year of this urban tree planting scheme. 

Trees for Streets had confirmed that the average net trees per local authority for 2023 was likely to be 100. In comparison to other authorities Worthing compared very favourably with almost 50 requests in a 6 month period given that Worthing had around half to a third less population than most authorities that Trees for Streets worked with.

West Sussex County Council had confirmed that they had planted 30 trees to date in 2023/24 in Worthing with 2 of those trees being through their 'Donate a Tree' scheme.

The number of park trees planted in Worthing this year was 29 with an additional 275 trees planted as part of the Ash Die Back Whip with another 30 trees to be planted in January.

The Mayor informed Council that he had attended a number of events since the October Council Meeting.  

“A large part of the past month or so has had a theme of remembrance from unveiling the Memorial stone dedicated to the late Queen in Beach House Park, the Remembrance week services outside the Town Hall and up to and including the Pigeon Memorial, again in Beach House Park and the lighting of the Menorah last Thursday for Jewish Hanukkah! 

All of which made me think that we are fortunate to live in times when we do not have to send our young people, not much older than some of the Cadets, Scouts and guides I have met recently, to fight for the freedoms we might take for granted.

One highlight was a visit to the Town Hall by a group of cubs from the 1st Worthing troop who were full of enthusiasm and questions, especially whether or not there are secret rooms in the Town Hall and who we kept in the dungeons. I assured them that no one is locked up in the basement nowadays!

We also held the first of my Mayor’s Charity Events which was very successful and raised about £800.  There will be more events in the New Year.

To finish I would like to take this opportunity to wish all councillors, officers and members of the public a Happy Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year!”

The Leader provided the following update on the financial position of the Council:-

“Like every other local authority in the country, we continue to face tight financial restrictions caused by a reduction in central government funding and increasing pressure outside of our control from inflation and cost of living challenges. However, thanks to savings in year, our budgetary position has improved in recent months, so that we will now only need to use some of our financial reserves this year. Thanks again to these savings, our invest to save programme and further savings we will make in 2024/25, we predict a balanced budget next financial year.  It has been reported in the press recently that we could have to issue a section 114 notice soon because of our financial position.

That is entirely untrue. 

Furthermore, current budget plans for next year are very much still subject to further financial information, not least the increasingly late settlement decision for Local Authorities from the National Government. It would be irresponsible of us to put out figures when there is so much flux - we trust that Members understand their responsibility as Councillors under the code of conduct and will remember that we serve our residents. As the administration, we set the priorities for our Council, work with our senior officer team to ensure that they are understood and that we are all aware of the resources available to achieve our aims, and officers are then tasked with operationalising these strategic directives with their excellent officer teams. Decisions we make not only  ...  view the full minutes text for item C/47/23-24

To consider any items the Mayor has agreed are urgent.

There were no urgent items.

To consider recommendations to the Council, details of which are set out in the attached items as 7A, 7B and 7C. 

Reports are available on the website as listed below:

Council had, before it, recommendations from the Worthing Licensing & Control Committee, Joint Overview & Scrutiny Committee and the Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee.

Extracts of these minutes had been circulated as items 7A, 7B and 7C.

Item 7A           Worthing Licensing & Control Committee - 18 September 2023

Licensing Act 2003 - Review of Statement of Licensing Policy

The Chair of the Licensing & Control Committee, Councillor Henna Chowdhury, proposed the recommendations from the Worthing Licensing & Control Committee meeting held on 18 September 2023. 

The proposal was seconded by Councillor Cathy Glynn-Davies and unanimously supported following a vote.

Resolved: That Worthing Borough Council approved the adoption of the Statement of Licensing Policy.

Item 7B           Joint Overview & Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) - 30 November 2023 

Review of JOSC Work Programme

The Vice-Chair of JOSC, Councillor Elizabeth Sparkes, proposed the recommendation from the meeting held on 30 November 2023. 

The proposal was seconded by Councillor Daniel Humphreys and noted by the Council.

Members wished to place on record their extreme disappointment with Southern Water for their lack of willingness to engage with the Joint Overview & Scrutiny Committee (JOSC). It was noted that Southern Water had been invited to attend the JOSC meeting in January 2024 but had refused to answer questions in an open meeting.  

Resolved:       That Worthing Borough Council noted the changes made to the JOSC Work Programme since it was agreed by both Councils in April 2023.

Item 7C           Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee - 5 December 2023

Council Tax Support Scheme for Worthing Borough Council in respect of 2024/25

The Leader and Chair of the Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee, Cllr Beccy Cooper, proposed the recommendations from the Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee meeting held on 5 December 2023. 

The proposal was seconded by Councillor Emma Taylor-Beal and supported by the Council.

Resolved: That Worthing Borough Council approved the Council Tax Support scheme for Worthing Borough Council in respect of working age customers for 2024/25 which would

a)    Be based upon the current Council Tax Support scheme for 2023/24 with no restrictions; and

b)    Not be further altered with any other changes beyond necessary technical amendments required to keep the scheme consistent with the national rules in respect of Housing Benefit. 

To receive a report from the Leader as item 8. The report contains decisions taken by the Cabinet, Cabinet Members, the Joint Strategic Committee and the Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee since the last Council meeting.

There will be up to 15 minutes for Cabinet Members to make any statements on the report. There will also be up to 15 minutes for Executive Members to respond to questions on the report. These questions will not be the same as any to be asked under Item 9.

The Leader of the Council presented their report on decisions taken by the Cabinet since the last meeting of the Council, which were detailed in Item 8.

Questions were received in relation to proposed budget savings; implementation of the plastic free working group study and carbon emissions.

Members’ question time will last up to 30 minutes, with questions being taken in the order of receipt and in rotation from each political group on the Council. The deadline for submission of questions is 7^th December 2023 at 12 noon. Questions should be submitted to democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Questions can be asked of the following:

a)     The Mayor

b)     A Member of the Executive

c)     The Chairman of any Committee

d)     The Council’s representative on any outside body

Questions cannot be asked in relation to the following:

a)     A specific planning or licensing application

b)     A specific staffing appointment, appeal or Standards determination

The Mayor announced that the Proper Officer had received 5 questions from Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12. He advised that one supplementary question could be asked which must arise out of the original question, or, the reply.  

It was noted that there were 30 minutes allowed for questions with 2 rotations of speakers possible. At the end of 30 minutes the Mayor explained that he would extend the time to conclude the current rotation of questions.

The Mayor advised that the following Councillors had submitted questions:

Councillors Hunt, Jenkins and Thorpe.

Rotation 1 

Question 1 from Councillor Kevin Jenkins to the Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing

Councillor Whorlow you were unable to make the recent JOSC meeting that reviewed the work of the Safer Communities Team. Can you please give us an update on your team's work with the night time economy and support measures that you have put in place to support the most vulnerable.

The Cabinet Member replied that the Councils continued to work closely with both the Business Improvement District Team and Pubwatch to promote safety in the night time economy. 

This had recently included support to apply for Safer Streets funding, the use of Safer Streets funding to employ taxi marshalls for key dates, targeted work with children known to offend in the town centre and promotion of the Safe Spaces app to identify hot spots where people report feeling less safe. We have also funded Bystander Intervention training for 17 late night businesses to ensure premises are equipped to identify and intervene where situations appear unsafe. We continue to work with the community and businesses to identify opportunities to promote safety in the night time economy and our town centre in general.

Question 2 from Councillor Hazel Thorpe to the Cabinet Member for the Environment 

I have listened to a representative of the Waste collection industry and noted the high percentage of spend of taxpayers money on the environment and waste. 

A) Can you clarify why this council continues to support expensive maintenance of a fleet of vehicles that are rapidly out of date and not fit for purpose B) Have you considered leasing more modern vehicles with new technologies to save ongoing and escalating costs C) Have you reviewed this  area of the budget, if not, when will this happen and when will backbencher councillors and the public get the information?

The Cabinet Member replied that the Council’s waste, recycling and cleansing services were amongst the most visible of all the services provided.  The Council collect refuse and recycling from every single household, and garden waste from households on a subscription basis.  Like all councils, Worthing had to rely on a specialised fleet to provide these services.  Most of these vehicles were currently fueled by diesel, accounting for approximately 45% of the Council’s carbon emissions.  The Council had started to replace some of its smaller vehicles with EVs, expecting four transit type vehicles in the next few months to replace some  ...  view the full minutes text for item C/51/23-24

To consider a Motion on Notice, submitted by the Proper Officer on behalf of Councillor Claire Hunt, detailed as item 10.

Council received a motion on notice proposed by Councillor Claire Hunt and seconded by Councillor Sophie Cox.

In accordance with the constitution, the motion was debated and then referred to the Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee for consideration and determination. 

Resolved:

That the Council referred the motion on notice to the Worthing Joint Strategic Sub-Committee for consideration and determination.