Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Gordon Room, Town Hall, Chapel Road, Worthing

Contact: Simon Filler
Democratic Services Officer
01903 221364  Email: simon.filler@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

JOSC/73/23-24

Declaration 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:

There were no declarations of interest made

JOSC/74/23-24

Substitute Members

Minutes:

There were no substitutions

JOSC/75/23-24

Confirmation of Minutes

To approve the minutes of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 30 January 2024, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the 30 January 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

JOSC/76/23-24

Public Question Time

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 12.00 noon on Monday 4th of March 2023.

 

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.)

Minutes:

A resident asked the following question; “I welcome the progress made on net zero for the council, even if I understand that you still need to do more to reach your targets for 2030, and that it is only aimed at the council itself. My question is, what are you doing to encourage ordinary citizens to transition away from fossil fuels? After all, it will help with energy costs, energy security, the cost of living crisis and the net zero targets of the UK as a whole.”

The resident was informed that Worthing Borough Council was committed to becoming a net zero borough by 2045. The timeframe for achieving this was considerably longer than the deadline they had set for their own emissions - albeit 5 years ahead of the UK as a whole - due to the lack of control the council had over significant areas of the economy, such as power generation and transport that contributed to carbon emissions within the area. 

That said, they were already working to improve home energy efficiency, offering financial support to eligible residents through the Warmer Homes scheme, giving residents the opportunity to participate in group-buying of solar panels through Solar Together Sussex and supporting West Sussex County Council in the rollout of electric vehicle charging points for residents and visitors. Worthing Borough Council was also leading on developing the Worthing Heat Network, which would enable all businesses and residences within Worthing town centre and, potentially, a much wider area, to decarbonise their home heating without the need to install a heat pump. 

In addition to the points mentioned above, achieving net zero across Worthing would rely on strong collaboration between the council, the community sector, businesses and other stakeholders, including the county council, educational establishments etc. Work would start to establish this partnership over the next 12 months.

 

JOSC/77/23-24

Members Questions

Councillors who are not members of this committee can ask questions under CPR 12  Questions should be relevant to the committee where the question is being asked and also relevant to an item on the agenda. Please contact Democratic Services for more information

 

Members question time is 30 minutes and questions should be submitted no later than 12.00 noon on Monday 4th of March 2023.

 

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Members’ Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

Minutes:

A Member asked, “The Carbon Management Plan says that the council can’t produce an action plan to reach the area-wide net zero target of 2045 unless it finds external support or additional budget. The funding and policy support from central Government that we should expect for this is unlikely, even with a change of government. But other councils have produced area-wide action plans, and we’re a member of UK100 who advise and support councils to learn from each other and accelerate action. So can the Committee tell us what progress will be made this year on creating an action plan for net zero across the town, which stakeholders will be involved and what will be the key areas of focus?”

 

The Member was informed thatfunding remained a significant challenge for the Councils and the decision had been taken to demonstrate the Councils' ability to 'walk the walk' by focusing on its own estate. This would continue that year, with the development of a fleet strategy that would highlight the importance of decarbonising the fleet. 

Work would continue to develop a wider 2045 strategy which would, of course, include identifying appropriate stakeholders.

The Councils had not defined a final list of stakeholders yet. They knew they wanted to work with residents and the community sector, businesses, and other public sector bodies including the county council, the NHS, the Environment Agency and educational establishments.

There would also be organisations and individuals who had an important role to play in this area who the Councils were not aware of yet, but through effective communication they hoped to identify them and engage with them in the process.  New groups and organisations were also likely to establish as this agenda became more important locally, regionally and nationally.  

It would also build on work previously done by the Climate Assembly and SCATTER analysis in identifying key areas on which more could be done in terms of project delivery, acknowledging that the council would, to a much greater extent, only be able to play a facilitatory role in this.

 

A number of other questions were submitted by a Member who could not be present, their questions would receive a written response.

JOSC/78/23-24

Items Raised Under Urgency Provisions

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

Minutes:

There were no urgent items

JOSC/79/23-24

Consideration of any matter referred to the Committee in relation to a call-in of a decision

At the time of publication of this agenda there have been no call-in’s received

Minutes:

There were no call-ins

JOSC/80/23-24

Review of Progress of the Housing Strategy 2020 - 2023 pdf icon PDF 854 KB

To consider a report by the Director for Housing and Communities copy attached as item 8

Minutes:

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 8, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. The purpose of the report was to update the Joint Overview & Scrutiny Committee on progress

made against the commitments in the Housing Strategy 2020-2023 ‘Enabling communities to thrive in their own home’

 

A Member asked, “What data, if any, do we hold on the number of care leavers requiring temporary and emergency accommodation and what support is in place for these young people?”

 

Members were informed that between 1/1/23 and 31/12/23, 24 care leavers presented as homeless to Worthing Borough Council, 18 of whom were placed in temporary accommodation.   

  

They were supported by WSCC Leaving Care Team and depending on need, may receive further support from support roles within the wider partnerships working with single homeless households. 

 

A Member asked, “The Council’s Housing Strategy: Enabling People to Thrive in their Own Homes strives to provide 'secure and appropriate housing for the residents of Adur'. How many of our suite of housing policies are still considerably out of date and what progress has been made?”

 

Members were informed it was anticipated that 2024 would see the implementation of a new Housing Strategy. This would not stand alone and most of the priorities and actions within it would operate alongside and support existing strategies, delivery plans and policies. In particular it would be guided by and contribute to policies and priorities outlined in both Adur and Worthing Local Plans and the corporate plan, Our Plan. 

 

As part of this implementation, all associated policies would be reviewed and aligned. These included Temporary Accommodation Placement and Procurement Policy and Community Homelessness Strategy. A number of changes within the service and wider council had impacted the ability to implement a revised set of strategies and policies as previously intended. They were now working through consultation planning in respect of the new strategy and associated policies. 

 

This would include extensive participation with key stakeholders, including those that supported priority groups. As part of this approach they would involve tenants and people with lived experience of homelessness plus other specific groups including: older people, young people, care leavers, carers, minority groups.

 

A Member asked, “Paragraph 6.0 "The number of individuals sleeping rough is rising. In part this is due to the Homeless Reduction Act." Interested to hear how this change in legislation is causing a rise in homelessness?”

 

Members were informed the Homeless Reduction Act reinforced a statutory duty on local authorities to take steps to relieve homelessness for all eligible households. The threshold to trigger a homeless application and consideration around priority need was reduced and moved the requirement for a local authority to accommodate if they have reason to believe a household “may '' be homeless and “may '' be in priority need. The previous threshold was far more evidence based. 

 

The Act added duties to prevent and relieve homelessness and previously many single person households  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/80/23-24

JOSC/81/23-24

Annual Feedback Report from HASC pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources copy attached as item 9

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 9, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes.

This report provided the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee with background information on the West Sussex Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee (HASC) and a summary of the recent work undertaken by the HASC. This information would enable JOSC to question the Councils’ representatives on the HASC, Councillors Andy McGregor (Adur) and Cathy Glynn-Davies (Worthing), about the work of the HASC and issues affecting Adur and Worthing.

 

Members asked about stroke services, the implementation of a culture change and virtual wards. Members were informed that a new stroke center was going ahead in Chichester and that a change in emergency service categories would free up ambulances to attend more emergency calls. Members were also informed that the change in culture implementation was to address questions of bullying and harassment as well as offering full time contracts to all staff. Members were also informed that virtual wards were being used as an alternative to residential care/nursing homes.

JOSC/82/23-24

Update on Climate Change Delivery - Carbon Management Plan pdf icon PDF 137 KB

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources copy attached as item 10

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 10, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes.

 

A Member asked, “At paragraph 5.4 of the report, it says that due to resource constraints, no scope 3 analysis has been conducted. What is the timeline on this analysis taking place and how can the council effectively plan for the 2045 target without this information?”

 

Members were informed that the focus since 2019 had been on scope 1 and scope 2 emissions over which the Council had greater control.  They wanted to lead by example and deliver tangible reductions in carbon emissions. They now had plans to address the vast majority of these emissions through the worthing heat network, the fleet strategy and the Hycrem project which was a significant achievement.

There was no definitive timetable to analyse scope 3 emissions, as this was funding dependent in light of the current financial situation. They had been extremely successful in securing funding for the delivery of the carbon reduction work, and would continue to look for opportunities in the year ahead.

In the absence of that detailed data they were able to make a meaningful start on the approach to the 2045 target, which was a long term piece of work.  Whilst they did not have granular detail, they knew from previous high level analysis what the main sources of emissions were - those from residences, transport and businesses. 

The first stages were to develop the partnership with stakeholders, and co-create an action plan. The partnership itself may identify further opportunities to help deliver the research and analysis work that would be required over the next 20 years.

 

A Member asked, “This summer will see the report of developing a fleet strategy that will tackle a large proportion of our emissions. The publication of the Carbon Neutral Plan was in 2019. Considering this is one of the key areas of the plan, what has taken the report five years to be produced, was it always intended to take this time and what barriers were faced during this?”

Members were informed the 2019 Carbon Neutral Plan noted that ultra-low emission HGVs were not expected to become widely commercially available in the next decade and that the councils would need to “undertake a review when the existing fleet is due for renewal”. Fortunately, technology was developed more rapidly than anticipated and there were a number of low carbon options to consider. 

Given the refuse fleet accounted for 75% of the councils' total emissions from its fleet, the councils had been focused on the delivery of smaller low carbon vehicles in the intervening period, with a number of electric vans already in use across the fleet with more on order. As that low carbon technology existed for heavy vehicles and the councils were beginning to think about the forthcoming replacement of the refuse fleet, it was an appropriate time to develop a full low carbon  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/82/23-24

JOSC/83/23-24

Interview with Worthing Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency pdf icon PDF 129 KB

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources, copy attached as item 11

Minutes:

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 11, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report set out background information on the Portfolio of the Worthing Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency to enable the Committee to consider and question the Cabinet Member on issues within their portfolio and any other issues which the Cabinet Member was involved in connected with the work of the Council and the Worthing communities.

 

A Member asked, “What have been the pros and cons of having a dedicated Cabinet post for the Climate Emergency? Do you think it is the most effective way to ensure that the climate is, as you say, a golden thread, through council policy?”

 

Members were informed that the best parts had been looking at the best practices of other local authorities and working with the rest of the Cabinet to make sure net zero targets and carbon reduction were always priorities. The downside was some inevitable overlap with other Cabinet Members but the Cabinet Member was confident they all worked well as a team.

 

A Member asked, “In the briefing note of your portfolio you have a section on the challenges. You’ve identified that a lot of this is outside of direct control, reliance on government funding and engaging with external stakeholders. In the expected absence, and evidence of gaps, in funding - who are the external stakeholders this area of work will be reliant on and what engagement strategies are used to ensure year on year achievement towards net zero targets?”

 

Members were informed that a final list of stakeholders had not been defined yet, establishing that group would be the priority for the next 12 months.  

They wanted to work with residents and communities, businesses, and other public sector bodies including the county council, the NHS, the Environment Agency and educational establishments to name a few.  There would also be organisations and individuals in the communities that they were not yet aware of who would be able to make a valuable contribution to this work.  They also expected new organisations to be created who they would want to engage with as this agenda gained momentum locally and nationally.

The Cabinet Member expected to be using a range of engagement approaches, which would vary depending on the audience, and the nature of the work, which would vary over time as they progressed towards 2045.  The key partners, e.g. in the business and community sector would also have meaningful insights as to how to engage with their particular sectors and the Cabinet Member would be building this into the approach. 

 

A Member asked, “If councils like ourselves are to achieve 2045 targets, it requires cultural change across both the organisation and partners but also across our communities too. How do you plan to take the climate emergency discussion to the residents of this borough to activate individual and collective progress in this area?”

 

Members were informed  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/83/23-24

JOSC/84/23-24

Review of the JOSC Work Programme pdf icon PDF 133 KB

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources, copy attached as item 12

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 12, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report outlined progress in implementing the work contained in the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) Work Programme for 2023/24.

 

Members discussed the various options for holding a workshop to review the findings of the work programme working group.

 

Resolved:

 

The Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

 

  • Noted the progress made in delivering the JOSC Work Programme for 2023/24
  • Considered and confirmed a draft Work Programme for 2024/25 whilst

noting that proposals from the Working Group Report in June may affect

further changes to the Work Programme

  • Approved the referral of the confirmed draft JOSC Work Programme for 2024/25 for reporting to the Full Council meetings in March 2024 for approval
  • Agreed a set of pre-June workshops would be best held over two sessions in the evenings, one in Adur and one in Worthing, to enable the Joint Chairs to ensure best attendance for the review, the outcomes of which will be reported back to the Committee in June.

JOSC/85/23-24

Interview with Adur Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning pdf icon PDF 130 KB

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources, copy attached as item 13

Minutes:

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 13, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report set out background information on the portfolio of the Adur Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategic Planning to enable the Committee to consider and question the Cabinet Member on issues within their portfolio and any other issues which the Cabinet Member was involved in connected with the work of the Council and the Adur communities.

 

A Member asked “Whilst acknowledging the worthwhile work done in the participation groups and its value both as a collegiate experience and the (now limited) outcomes (even with WSCC Growth Deal funding) we should acknowledge that the outcomes do not match the ambitious outcomes we had hoped for. This is due to a lack of clarity over the third phase of funding. Given the resources spent in officer time; community resources time; council, group and individual research etc is there a way to be clearer about what funding is available to us as a council before we invest this heavily in the future, in order to regulate and redirect our resources with more efficiency?”

 

Members were informed that when they entered into the ‘Now and into the Future’ work the Council was very clear that this was an exercise of setting up Lancing to be in the frame for future funding but also to instigate local work, through local communities and organisations, to help build Lancing into a place that everyone could be proud of. Funding opportunities came in and out of focus, and did change, therefore as work was started they were under the impression that a Levelling Up bid was realistic and they needed to act to put the Council (as Lancing) in the best possible position to bid for these funds. This didn’t materialise, which was extremely frustrating for the amount of work everyone had put in, however this wouldn’t be lost work as this could be and would be used for future applications, regardless of who the funder might be. They did have an in principle commitment from WSCC regarding the Growth Deal funding and this was the next focus. 

The Cabinet Member emphasised that no place was built overnight but what they did achieve through the initial participation process was to build a sense of what local people were most interested in, what the ambitions were (which were important) and how the Council, as a partner in the whole system, could help facilitate some of those aims through the work done. To ensure this local work continued, the Council was going through a reorganisation and the Neighbourhood Model was being established which would mean they could work even closer to the communities, including those in Lancing. 

 

A Member asked “The Old Police Station: Three options have been presented to cabinet and further work will be done on those options. What are these three options and the primary influencing factors and  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/85/23-24

JOSC/86/23-24

Interview with Worthing Cabinet Member for Regeneration pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources, copy attached as item 14

Minutes:

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 14, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report set out background information on the portfolio of the Worthing Cabinet Member for Regeneration to enable the Committee to consider and question the Cabinet Member on issues within their portfolio and any other issues which the Cabinet Member was involved in connected with the work of the Council and the Worthing communities.

 

A Member asked, “There has been a lot of public concern about the development of Grafton Road car park and uncertainty for local residents and business owners is clearly a factor in that. How do you plan to ensure public engagement in the decisions around development of that site and to secure buy in from those directly affected?”

 

Members were informed that the Cabinet Member and council officers had a really positive meeting with affected residents and business who were invited into the town hall on 13 February. Engagement would continue with affected parties as they progressed through the development of this critical, town centre site. 

Those stakeholders were told it was just the beginning of a long journey to redevelopment and town centre/seafront regeneration at Grafton, and that the council and then the developer would continue to work with partners throughout the process.

This included, for example, through the planning process, where once an application was submitted the planning authority would consult with all residents and businesses giving the opportunity to speak at any Planning Committee considering proposals for the redevelopment of the site.

 

A Member asked, “What is a consumer led buzz of change?”

 

Members were informed that it meant consumer driven work. That a lot was being done with the business community, with a large focus on adapting to changing consumer needs. 

 

A Member asked, “As you look to the future, how have you planned to overcome the challenges of Grafton Car Park and are these strategies transferable when analysing other car parks across the borough?”

 

Members were informed that there were a number of complex issues affecting the Grafton multi-storey car park which were unique to the car park, such as the various rights of way across the site to Marks and Spencers and the car park serving Knightsbridge House. Whilst it was unlikely therefore that there was any particular learning from this site that would be directly applicable to other car parks, clarity over ownership; rights of access and site constraints were important considerations whenever redevelopment is being considered.

 

At a wider level, the Cabinet Member wanted to look at parking in the context of a strategic approach for travel in Worthing that looked at making the most of opportunities to promote active travel and public transport, as well as ensuring that the facilities that were provided for parking were to a decent standard. The Cabinet Member wanted to engage with transport operators and the relevant statutory agencies to ensure that they could  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/86/23-24