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 Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 5th September 2024, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Resolved:

The minutes of the meeting of the 05.09.2024 were approved 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 12.00 noon on Monday 4th November 2024.

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.)

A resident asked the following question; “In general the Housing Strategy is very welcome and covers most of the issues but I would like to ask if thought had been given to those homeless who have addiction and mental health problems?

The help that the Council and Turning Tides give does not seem to be suitable for this more needy part of the population. Simply giving them a room, although necessary, is not likely to lead to a long term improvement as often these people have come from chaotic families and their only peers are also the homeless.”

The resident was informed that for the majority, support for addiction and mental health was provided separately to housing and delivered to the person irrespective of where they live.

There was mental health housing provision that sat outside of the council and Turning Tides stock and the homeless team worked closely with mental health services to refer into it for those who were homeless/threatened with homelessness, there was also an Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust funded Mental Health Housing Advisor co-locating with the team. Adur & Worthing Council Housing Needs Team sat on mental health and housing strategic groups and as well as mental health workers being part of the Rough Sleepers Team so that housing and support available could be targeted to those most in need, but services across the partnership were experiencing increased demand against limited resources.

For those with additional needs, as well as support in the community, there was also rehab options in addition to the Turning Tides recovery project, funding for these was awarded on a case by case basis.

Changing Futures programme was also piloting work and collating data across the county for those with multiple complex needs and the information was being considered by WSCC / Health and mental health partners to inform future commissioning and strategy work.

A Member of the public also asked if the Council would make land available for the Adur Collective Community Land Trust, in a bid to provide more affordable housing.

The member was told their question would be taken into consideration as part of the wider consultation and a written response would be provided.

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 November 2024.

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.)

There were no questions from Members

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

There were no urgent items

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

There were no call-ins

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

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. A brief overview was provided with comments from the assistant director for housing and homelessness prevention, the Performance, Policy and Strategy Lead, the Adur Cabinet Member for Housing and Citizen Services, the Worthing Cabinet Member for Housing and Citizen Services, the Head of Property Services and the Senior Environmental Health Officer.

A Member asked “The first mission states: ‘Making sure all our existing homes are safe, of good quality and are sustainable (they are affordable to run and have a low carbon footprint)” What would this look like in practice?”

Members were informed this looks different in different spaces, for example, for Adur Homes this aligned with work with the Regulator of Social Housing and the significant improvements being made in areas surrounding compliance and property safety. Adur Homes was also undertaking stock condition surveys, the data of which would inform the capital works for years ahead to ensure the right level of investment to ensure the quality of the homes. In respect of new developments for Adur Homes the Council had been installing air source heat pumps to support the energy efficiency and the longer term running costs. 

As Worthing’s stock of temporary accommodation increased the Council needed to ensure they were developing the most sustainable homes wherever possible, Victoria Road was a great example of this that would be delivered to PassiveHaus standards which had a reduced carbon footprint and had reduced ongoing utility costs for residents. Across both areas they needed to explore options to retrofit energy efficient options and ensure new developments were using the latest energy efficient solutions where viable. They would also look at how they worked with partners to ensure they could benefit from options that come with larger scale opportunities that we might otherwise miss if we do things alone.  

Beyond council owned accommodation the Private Sector Housing Team routinely used their regulatory powers to improve accommodation in the private sector (including owner-occupied properties where needed). This work was primarily reactive and driven by complaints, but the proposed introduction of a selective licensing area in three wards in Worthing, where around 50% of all the Borough’s privately rented accommodation was located, would enable for the team to be resourced to proactively inspect and license properties to improve standards in these areas. This would in turn free up existing staff to monitor accommodation in those areas outside of selective licensing.

A Member asked “Mission 2 seeks to ensure that there is “enough genuinely affordable housing” Does the term affordable relate to a percentage of the market value or to local income Levels?

Members were informed that this related to rented homes capped at a percentage of local market rent levels (80%) and not exceeding Local Housing Allowance rates. This ensured that households requiring support with housing costs were able to have the rent met through  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/27/24-25

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

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 set out a summary of the work of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) Budget Scrutiny Working Group which was set up as part of the 2024/25 JOSC Work Programme. The Working Group would provide further reports to JOSC as the budget was developed and reported to JOSC.

Members were informed that the working group had met twice so far and felt good, informed progress was being made with officers.

Resolved: 

The Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the report

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

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

Members discussed current public involvement in the planning process and the scrutiny request submitted regarding the maintenance of Worthing Pier. Members discussed the appropriate time to scrutinise, the information that had already been communicated to the public, the level of public interest and expanding the scrutiny to include other grade II listed buildings such as Worthing Lido. Members also discussed which officer should attend the next meeting regarding Worthing Council’s motion asking to review the decision on new equipment in car parks.

Resolved: 

The Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee delegated the decision of when to bring the scrutiny of Worthing Pier and other Grade II listed buildings to a meeting of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to the chairs