Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Worthing Town Hall

Contact: Neil Terry
Democratic Services Lead
01903 221073  Email: neil.terry@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Note: There will be limited public access to the meeting. Admission is by prior arrangement only, bookable via democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk. The meeting will also be available to watch live via the media link below. 

Items
No. Item

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Declarations of Interests

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.

Minutes:

Councillors Carson Albury, Kevin Boram, Angus Dunn, Emma Evans, Sean McDonald and Elizabeth Sparkes declared interests as Members of West Sussex County Council.

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Minutes

To approve the minutes of the Joint Strategic Committee meeting held on 30 March 2021, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Minutes:

Resolved that the minutes from the Joint Strategic Committee meeting held on 30 March 2021, be approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

 

 

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Public Question Time

To receive any questions from members of the public.

 

Questions should be submitted by noon on Friday 4th June 2021 to Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk   

 

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

Minutes:

There were no public questions received in advance of the meeting. 

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Items Raised under Urgency Provisions

To consider any items the Chairman of the meeting considers to be urgent.

Minutes:

There were no items raised under urgency provisions.

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Covid Funding and use of the Chief Executive’s Urgency Powers pdf icon PDF 270 KB

To consider a report from the Director for Communities, a copy is attached as item 5.

Minutes:

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Communities, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 5.

 

The report outlined how Adur and Worthing Councils had applied for and subsequently been awarded a very significant grant allocation from the Contain Outbreak Management Fund (COMF). This was a ring-fenced fund focusing on delivering extensive and much needed public health outcomes for Adur and Worthing Residents in relation to Covid-19. In addition, the councils applied for Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI) and had been awarded further funds that were ring fenced for delivery of rough sleeper services, support and accommodation with an allocation to support any surges in accommodation demand.

 

The report reflected the necessity for responsive and fast moving public service responses during the pandemic the funding awarded had to be fully spent by 31st March 2022. To ensure that the Councils could meet this challenging timescale, the Chief Executive had been called upon to use his powers to make an urgent decision and this report advised Members of the Executive of the executive decisions made, and asked for their endorsement of the decision.

 

Members welcomed the funding and wished to place on record the Committee’s thanks to Officers for the programme of work outlined.  

 

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Daniel Humphreys, seconded by Councillor Neil Parkin and unanimously supported.

 

Decision

 

The Joint Strategic Committee noted the contents of the report and endorsed the decisions made by the Chief Executive.

 

Call In:

 

The call-in deadline for decision will be 5.00pm on 18 June 2021.

 

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Sussex Bay: Restoring our marine and estuarine habitats, supporting our coastal communities pdf icon PDF 157 KB

To consider a report from the Director for Digital, Sustainability & Resources, a copy is attached as item 6.

Minutes:

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Digital, Sustainability and Resources copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 6.

 

The report set out a long term vision for estuarine, coastal and marine nature restoration at scale in Sussex, aimed at attracting investment into various “blue” habitats, and supporting revitalised, and sustainable coastal industries, enhanced recreation opportunities and ecotourism.

 

The report also sought support for the Sussex Bay concept and the next stage of development work.

 

The Committee noted that a report would be presented at it’s July meeting providing a progress update across the whole SustainableAW programme. This would include an update on the Shepherds Mead restoration project, the Worthing Heat Network and the many smaller projects led by the councils and also communities, that demonstrated a wide ranging response to the climate and biodiversity crisis in its neighbourhoods.

 

Consideration was given to the funding of the project, kelp certification, measuring biomass in the local area and the prevention of seaweed deposits on the beach.

 

Members welcomed the report and expressed their support for the innovative proposals.

 

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Daniel Humphreys, seconded by Councillor Emma Evans and unanimously supported.

 

Decision 

 

The Joint Strategic Committee :

 

2.1.      Endorsed the Sussex Bay approach to build a delivery model for marine,

coastal and estuarine habitat restoration at scale, creating the exciting prospect of Sussex Bay as a “destination” and new economic opportunity.

 

2.2.      Noted that by developing Sussex Bay, Adur & Worthing Councils had an

opportunity to create local carbon offsetting opportunities for multiple organisations, while meeting its own carbon neutral 2030 target through blue carbon offsetting.

 

2.3.      Noted the excellent progress on a natural capital seabed lease with The

Crown Estate, the first of its kind in the UK, and agreed to the release of £50k of project development funds (from existing budgets) to commence the legal and financial work to set up a trial kelp blue carbon investment product.

 

2.4.      Noted the £75k of funds already offered by a local organisation seeking carbon offsetting options (agreement in process), and the financial support committed by the Blue Marine Foundation for the September launch event, circa £10k.

 

2.5.      Approved a budget virement of £85,000 to create funding for the project part funded from within existing budgets and part funded from external funding

 

2.6.      Requested, subject to progress, a report as early as the July JSC, recommending approval for incorporation of a new legal entity, Sussex Bay.

 

Call In:

 

The call-in deadline for this decision will be 5.00pm on 18 June 2021.

* At 7.22pm Adur Councillors Parkin, Boram and Evans left the meeting in accordance with the Joint Committee Agreement

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Worthing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To consider a report from the Director for the Economy, a copy is attached as item 7.

Minutes:

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for the Economy, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 7.

 

The report informed members that Worthing Borough Council had introduced a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to allow funds to be raised from developers to pay for infrastructure that was needed to support growth. The Council adopted the Charging Schedule for CIL in February 2015 and implementation of the levy commenced on 1st October 2015.

 

The report outlined that given the time that had lapsed and the change in market conditions, a review of the CIL Charging Schedule was needed. The Council’s consultants undertook a review of the current charging schedule and their recommendations formed the revised CIL draft Charging Schedule. The draft Charging Schedule was consulted on for 8 weeks between June and August 2020. This was then submitted to the Planning Inspectorate with the Examination in Public taking place ‘virtually’ on Thursday 28th January 2021. The draft Inspector’s report was received on 14th May 2021 (for fact checking), with the final report received on 27th May 2021. The report recommended that the charging schedule should be approved in its published form, without changes. This report provided an update on the revised CIL draft Charging Schedule (DCS) and proposed that this be formally approved.

 

The recommendations set out in the report were proposed by Councillor Kevin Jenkins seconded by Councillor Edward Crouch and unanimously supported.

 

Decision

 

The Joint Strategic Committee:

 

                        I.         Noted the findings from the Inspector’s report on the revised CIL draft Charging Schedule;

 

                       II.         Noted the revised Worthing CIL draft Charging Schedule - 2021 included in Appendix B; and

 

                     III.         Recommended that Worthing Full Council approve the adoption of the revised draft CIL Charging Schedule for implementation on 1st August 2021.

 

Call In:

 

There is no call-in for recommendations to Council.