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.

Councillor Ann Bridges declared her substitution for Councillor Carol Albury

To approve the minutes of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting of

held on 20 June 2019, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of the 20 June 2019 be signed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman 

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 12.00pm Tuesday 23 July 2019

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 urgent items

There have been no call-ins at the time this Agenda was published

There had been no call-ins received at the time of the publication of the agenda

To consider a report by the Director of Digital and Resources, copy attached as item 8

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Communities, a copy of which had been circulated to all Members, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as item 6. This report outlined progress with the work contained in the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) Work Programme for 2019/20 and detailed of four  public Scrutiny requests.  

Members discussed two requests in relation to fortnightly bin collections and recycling and agreed to refer the requests to the Working Group reviewing recycling to take into consideration as part of its work. 

Members discussed a request to review parking on pavements and it was agreed that the matter be referred to West Sussex County Council as the responsible authority. 

Members discussed a request in relation to the Council’s Cultural Services and a recent Executive decision in that regard. Members agreed to set up a working group consisting of Councillors Margaret Howard, Carl Walker, Paul Mansfield and Jane Sim

Members discussed the recent declaration of climate change emergency and were informed of motions being referred to the Committee at its next meeting.  

Resolved: that the progress of the work programme be noted with the amendments made at the meeting.  .

To consider a report by the Director of Digital and Resources, copy attached as item 6

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Digital and Resources, a copy of which had been circulated to all Members, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as item 7. The report outlined the revenue financial monitoring position for the end of the 2018/19 financial year for Joint Strategic Committee, Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils.

The Head of Financial Services introduced the report to the Committee.

The following question was asked: It is encouraging to see that parking income has increased across Adur. Is it possible to have a further break down - ie which car parks are performing well and which, if any, are under-used? What is being done to encourage use of car parks generally, to ease pressure on congested areas such as beach-front roads on Shoreham Beach and in our town/village centres where on-road parking is prevalent and inconveniences residents? The tariff for Beach car parks is £4 per day on Sundays - significantly more than the £1 charged on Sundays in the town. Are Beach car parks well used at weekends? Why is the tariff so substantially different? The Adur Executive Member for Resources told the Committee that more detailed figures on usage could be sent on after the meeting. However the car parks were well used, some had been closed for a period of time. Work had been undertaken with West Sussex County Council about extending TRO’s. 

The following question was asked:  Is it possible to know why Adur cemeteries are under achieving against their income? Is this due to a drop in burials or other factors? If the latter, what are they please?The Executive Member told the Committee that there had been a downturn in death rate 

The following question was asked:  Again it is encouraging to see that markets and bus shelter advertising income in Adur exceeded the budget. Congratulations to John Kerr and the team. With relation to the bus shelter advertising, there has been criticism that prominent High Street slots are often given over to Worthing Theatres' and general Worthing events. Is it possible to know the percentage of Worthing adverts compared with Adur events in the past 12 months?  Is priority given to Adur advertisers in the event of competition for key spots? If not, why not? The Exec Member told the Committee that there was 25 percent reserved for Adur community, business or social enterprises group and Adur District Council activities. Worthing Theatres had paid for 25% of the advertising upfront. Income from bus shelters was needed to pay the rates that the bus shelters incurred.

The following question was asked: As 72% of the income received by WBC already comes from Council Tax, are there plans to protect those on lower incomes as we move from central government funding to Council Tax, business rates and commercial activity? The Head of Financial Services told the Committee that the Councils were in an extended period of falling Government  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

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

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Digital and Resources, a copy of which had been circulated to all Members, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as item 8. The report before members set out the Councils’ budget strategy for 2020/21

A Member asked the following question: Is it anticipated that the business rate income from forthcoming developments will be impacted by our declaration of a climate emergency (for instance, the climate emergency may have potentially reduced business rate income if it impacted the likelihood of a high-traffic project like New Monks Farm.Members were told that speculative increases were not built into the budget.  The Councils had committed to work towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030, the commitment involved the shift away from fossil fuels and virtually eliminating carbon emissions.  

A Member asked the following question: As the Council will need to meet the 50% recycling target by 2020, and the alternate weekly collection will only manage a rate of over 40% (paragraph below), are there cost implications of meeting this 2020 target (beyond the saving of £400k) since it is noted that there is provision of £200k per year from 2021/22 onward? Members were told that The 50% target relates to the County as a whole and the recycling rate for West Sussex is already presently in excess of this at 51.3% (2018).  The Councils would continue exploring other potential waste minimisation and recycling initiatives as part of the West Sussex Waste Partnership.

Resolved: that the report be noted