Agenda and minutes

The Chairman wished to place on record the Executive’s thanks to Mary D’Arcy, Director for Communities, for her work across both Councils and wished Mary well in her new role.

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 Elizabeth Sparkes declared interests in items 6 and 7 as a member of West Sussex County Council.

To approve the minutes of the Joint Strategic Committee meeting held on 11 February 2020,  the Worthing Executive meeting held on the 3 February 2020 and the Adur Executive meeting held on the 4 February 2020, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Resolved that the minutes from the Worthing Executive meeting held on 3 February, the Adur Executive meeting held on 4 February and the Joint Strategic Committee meeting held on 11 February 2020, be approved as accurate records and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions from members of the public.

In order for the Committee to provide the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by noon on Friday 6 March 2020.

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 operate for a maximum of 30 minutes)

There were no questions from the public.

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

There were no items raised under urgency provisions.

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

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 the impact of the Housing Strategy “Housing Matters 2017-2020” and introduced the new Adur and Worthing Housing Strategy for 2020-2023 ‘Enabling communities to thrive in their own home’.

The Committee noted that the ‘opening doors’ scheme recently won an award at the public sector transformation awards.

Members acknowledged the positive direction of travel of the service and expressed support for the proposed strategy.

Decision: 

The Joint Strategic Committee:

1.    noted the progress made during the life of the previous Housing Strategy; and

2.    recommended that the new Adur and Worthing Housing Strategy for 2020-2023 be adopted by Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council.

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

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Digital & 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 updated the Joint Strategic Committee with the latest expenditure and income projections for each Council in the current financial year 2019/20, compared to the Revenue Budget approved by both Councils in February.  Whilst the 'spend to date' would be the position as at 31 December 2019, the forecast position reflected the latest information available to ensure an up-to-date forecast was presented.

The Councils had positioned themselves to manage risk and contribute to reserves for the future. After allowing for the initiatives undertaken to enable this and for the revision of project delivery into the future, the operational over/underspends were projected to be an underspend of £96,000 in Adur and an overspend of £94,000 in Worthing.

During consideration of the item, Members sought clarification regarding utilities billing, the income from Worthing Car Parks, contaminated waste costs and fleet maintenance. Officers advised that utilities usage was looked at in detail with all relevant budget holders and that the Councils had mitigated risks associated with gas & electricity. Worthing Car Parks were under budget as Officers had been expecting the Teville Gate surface car park would open earlier in the year. The amount of recycling credit income per tonne from WSCC was estimated to be lower than budgeted in part due to an uncommunicated WSCC deduction for contamination of £80k. The deduction was being queried with the County Council.

Officers agreed to investigate the overspend associated with fleet maintenance and report back following the meeting.

Decision: 

The Joint Strategic Committee noted the report and projected outturn position for the Joint Committee, Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council against the approved revenue budgets and proposed use of reserves (Appendix 1b and 2b).

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

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Digital & 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 report updated the Joint Strategic Committee on the progress made on the 2019/20 Capital Investment Programmes for Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council. The programmes included schemes which supported the delivery of services by the Joint Strategic Committee.

Decision: 

The Joint Strategic Committee:-

(a)  with respect to the Capital Investment Programme of Adur District Council

      i.        noted the reprofiling of the Adur District Council capital schemes as advised in paragraphs 7.2.1 and Appendix 3;

     ii.        approved the use of ring-fenced capital receipts to fund the overspend of £23,134 on the Shoreham Air Crash Memorial Project as detailed in paragraph 7.2.3;

    iii.        agreed to increase the budget for the Extended Ultrafast Network Fibre Network by £800,000 to £3.3m, funded by a combination of the Local Growth Fund Grant funding of £676,500 and a contribution from the WSCC Business Rate Pool of £1,250,000 as detailed in paragraph 7.1.3. The Adur District Council share of this scheme was £376,000;

   iv.        approved the virement to fund the overspend on the purchase of wheeled bins for the new alternate weekly collection service and approve the funding as detailed in paragraph 7.1.2;

    v.        approved the increase in the Disabled Facilities Grant Budget by £64,790 funded by Better Care Fund Grant as detailed in paragraph 7.2.4.

(b)       with respect to the Capital Investment Programme of Worthing Borough Council

      i.        noted the reprofiling of the Worthing Borough Council capital schemes as advised in paragraphs 7.3.1 and Appendix 4;

     ii.        approved the virement to fund the overspend on the purchase of wheeled bins for the new alternate weekly collection service and approve the funding as detailed in paragraph 7.1.2;

    iii.        agreed to increase the budget for the Extended Ultrafast Network Fibre Network by £800,000 to £3.3m funded by a combination of the Local Growth Fund Grant funding of £676,500 and a contribution from the WSCC Business Rate Pool of £1,250,000 as detailed in paragraph 7.1.3. The Worthing Borough Council share of this scheme was £424,000;

   iv.        approved the increase in the Disabled Facilities Grant Budget by £204,240 funded by Better Care Fund Grant as detailed in paragraph 7.3.2.

To consider a report from the Director for the Economy, a copy is attached as item 8.

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 8.

The report updated and confirmed the Councils’ robust Commercial Property Investment Strategy (CPIS) to support the Councils’ strategic income generation objective.

The Committee was informed that there was a statutory obligation to prepare an annual investment strategy to be approved in advance of the relevant financial year by Full Council.

The report supported the Councils’ medium term financial strategy and sought to renew and refresh the current investment strategy in relation to the investment funds providing details on:

·         Robust parameters to guide and support the development of an income generating property portfolio that seeks to manage and provide a financially resilient income stream for the Councils

·         Update governance criteria to ensure diligent analysis and transparency to support the transparent decision making process

It was noted that the Joint Governance Committee gave a strong challenge to the position of risk at its meeting on 28 January 2020.

Members welcomed the report whilst acknowledging the significant contribution commercial property investment had made to Adur and Worthing Councils financial positions.

Decision: 

The Joint Strategic Committee:

      i.        agreed the suggested delivery and governance model as set out in the report which was to be approved by full Council as part of the overall Commercial Property Investment Strategy;

     ii.        noted that at the end of the 2019-2020 financial year a Commercial Property Investment Fund Annual Asset Review was to be undertaken to detail specific performance of assets and potential future risks and opportunities along with proposals to manage these individual sites moving forward. This would be reported to JSC by the end of September.

    iii.        noted that as part of the 2020/21 capital strategy, consideration be given to increasing the overall investment size from £125m to £175m per Council which will be funded from borrowing;

   iv.        approved that the average lot size be increased from £5m - £15m, to £10m - £20m;

    v.        recommended that Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council adopt the Commercial Property Investment Strategy for 2020-2021;

   vi.        approved that the budget for future years may be brought forward with the approval of the relevant Executive Members for Resources, following their consideration of a business case.

* At 7.15pm Adur Councillors Dunn, Evans and Simmons left the meeting in accordance with the Joint Committee Agreement.

To consider a report from the Director for Communities, a copy is attached as item 9.

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 9.

The report updated members of the Joint Strategic Committee on the progress and performance of South Downs Leisure which was formed in 2015 following agreement to spin out a separate trust from Worthing Borough Council to manage the Council owned leisure assets and provide a comprehensive, cost effective, community based leisure offer for the residents and visitors to Worthing.

The report also provided information on the new five year business strategy which had been agreed as part of the Council’s ongoing relationship with South Downs Leisure.

The Committee commended South Downs Leisure for the progress made over the last 5 years in a number of areas which vindicated the approach taken by Worthing Borough Council. 

A Member requested that childhood obesity be a priority target with more work being done with schools. It was noted that a lot had already been done in this direction and it was very much on the agenda moving forwards.

Decision: 

That the Joint Strategic Committee;

a)    granted authority to the Director for the Economy to manage all aspects of the relationship between Worthing Borough Council and South Down Leisure on the terms set out in the existing Funding and Management Agreement between SDL and the Council dated 1st May 2015, and to negotiate the additional terms for managing the football pitch at Durrington Community Centre;

b)    granted authority to the Director for the Economy to vary the terms of the Funding and Management Agreement to incorporate the agreed additional terms; and

c)    noted the contents of the report and requested an update at a future date.

To consider a report from the Director for Communities, a copy is attached as item 10.

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 10.

The report sought approval of the developed Masterplan produced for Brooklands Park, to create a destination that would be a valued community asset for local residents.

A recommendation was presented for approval of deliverables and corresponding financial implications and the report also outlined the proposed next steps for the delivery of the masterplan.

Members welcomed this important piece of work, recognising that a resident campaign to dredge the lake was at the heart of the proposed transformation. Members acknowledged the quality of the play equipment included within the design and believed that the project would really put the area on the map.

A Member raised the issue of cost and sought clarification regarding the Council’s success in attracting external funding, sponsorships or grant funding. Officers advised that they continued to explore a number and range of opportunities and that there were a number of active funding applications in train.

Decision: 

The Joint Strategic Committee:

      i.        approved the developed design of the Masterplan produced for Brooklands Park;

     ii.        recommended that Worthing Borough Council approve an additional budget of £2.35m funded by :

·         External and S106 funding of £250,000

·         Virement from the public convenience budget of £83,000

·         Prudential borrowing of £2.012m

The revenue implications of which were to be funded from the Major Projects budget set aside to fund projects arising from ‘Platforms’.

    iii.        recommended that Worthing Borough Council increase the prudential limits to allow for the increased capital spend and borrowing requirements;

   iv.        delegated authority to the Acting Director for Communities in consultation with the Executive Member for the Environment for a technical design to be drawn up (RIBA work stage 4) to enable the construction to be tendered, and to award the contract following the tender process;

    v.        approved the continued sourcing of external financial contributions that would reduce the Council’s costs for the project;

   vi.        approved the continued engagement with the public to ensure the local community was kept fully engaged with the project.