Agenda and minutes

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.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To approve the minutes of the Joint Strategic Committee meeting held on 11 July 2023, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Resolved: that the minutes from the Joint Strategic Committee meeting held on 11 July 2023, were approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions from members of the public.

Questions should be submitted by noon on Thursday 28 September 2023 to Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk   

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

There were no questions from the public

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

Questions should be submitted by noon on Thursday 28 September 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 questions from members

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

There were no urgent items

To consider a report by the Director for Place, copy attached as item 6

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Place, 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 informed members that HM Land Registry was combining each Local Authority’s Land Charges Register into a single standardised digital and geospatial dataset. Under the Infrastructure Act 2015, responsibility for the 331 registers was transferred to HM Land Registry (HMLR) to be rolled out in a phased approach. The target was for all 331 local authorities in England and Wales to be migrated by 2025.

At the  time of the meeting only 75 authorities had migrated to the HMLR. The target for Adur and Worthing is to carry out the migration during the financial year 2023-24. However, as with other migrations this timetable is very likely to slip into 2024-2025.The report provided further background to the HMLR project and highlighted some of the financial and resource implications for the Councils. The report sought approval to enter into a Collaboration Agreement with the HMLR. To assist with the migration the Government would provide initial funding (transitional payments) and post migration an ‘additional burdens’ payment.

Members were asked for the authority to use some of the transitional payment to fund additional staff resources to enable the Council to progress the migration of the Council’s Local Land Charges Service to HMLR.

Questions were asked about implementation time and the status of resources currently used within the department

Decision

That the Joint Strategic Committee

1)     Authorises the Director for Place in Consultation with the Assistant Director Legal and Monitoring Officer, to enter into a Collaboration Agreement and agree a Delivery Plan with HMLR.

2)     Authorises the Director for Place to enter into any other agreements necessary to facilitate the migration of the Council’s Local Land Charges service to HMLR.

3)     Agrees to allocate up to £40.5k of the Part 1 HMLR Transitional Payment to fund additional staff resources to enable the migration process to be delivered within agreed timescales.

Call In:

The call-in deadline for the decision will be 5.00pm on 12 October 2023.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources, copy attached as item 7

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Sustainability & 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 7

The purpose of Treasury management reports that were submitted during the year was to ensure that proper scrutiny was undertaken of the treasury and capital expenditure activities of the Councils and that the activities were conducted in a prudent manner in order to safeguard the financial position of the Councils. Councils were required by regulations issued under the Local Government Act 2003 to produce an annual treasury management review of activities; and a review of performance against the prudential and treasury indicators for the year.

The key message arising from the report before members was that both Adur and Worthing Councils had complied with the approved policies and the indicators agreed prior to the start of the financial year. The report asked Members to note the Treasury Management performance for Adur and Worthing Councils for 2022/23 as required by regulations issued under the Local Government Act 2003.

Decision 

That the Joint Strategic Committee notes the annual treasury management report for 2022/23.

Call In:

The call-in deadline for the decision will be 5.00pm on 12 October 2023.