Agenda and minutes

Venue: QEII Room, Shoreham Centre

Contact: Chris Cadman-Dando
Democratic Services Officer
01903 221364  Email: chris.cadman-dando@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

JOSC/33/22-23

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:

Joss Loader declared an interest as a trustee of the Shoreham and Adur food bank.

JOSC/34/22-23

Substitute Members

Minutes:

Cllr. Andy McGregor substituted for Carol Albury

JOSC/35/22-23

Confirmation of Minutes

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

held on 22 September 2022, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Minutes:

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of the 22 September 2022 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman

JOSC/36/22-23

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 12.00pm Tuesday 11 October 2022

 

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 member of the public asked: “I would like to ask how many Adur Homes properties are currently in breach of the new tenancy act in respect of carbon monoxide detectors and when we can expect 100% compliance?

 

Response - The chairman read a response from the Head of Housing Officer, explaining they do not currently have data on the number of properties that are in breach of the new legislation which came into force on 1st of October 2022.

 

Due to previous issues with the delivery of a planned program of EICR/Smoke installation, the contract was terminated and they have been going through a process of re-tendering, and establishing what works were or were not carried out. However all void properties would have smoke detection done before they were re-let.

 

They said they are in the process of evaluating tenders for the new contract which would deliver the installation of smoke/heat and Carbon Monoxide through a hard wired installation. Majority of customers have battery installed smoke/heat, but no Carbon monoxide detection. These are tested annually through the Gas contract. The new contract would ensure that electric properties are also tested.

 

The program for delivery was estimated to take place between a 3-4 year period.

As an interim solution those properties not listed on the 1st years program would be issued a battery operated Carbon monoxide detector during the gas safety inspection.

JOSC/37/22-23

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/38/22-23

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

Minutes:

There were no call-ins

JOSC/39/22-23

Interview with Chief Executive - New Corporate Plan for Adur & Worthing Councils pdf icon PDF 122 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Digital, Sustainability and Resources which had been circulated to all members, a copy of which is attached to a signed copy of these minutes as item 7.

 

A Member asked: What immediate steps will the Council take to listen to underrepresented voices when providing truly inclusive services to meet its equality duties?

 

Response - Engagement and participation sit at the heart of Our Plan and as part of this the authority would work to meet their equality duties and listen to underrepresented voices. They had learnt a lot through the pandemic and they have been actively building on this over the past few years. They have revised their Equality Impact Assessment process to help them consider how changes to a policy, service or process might impact differently on different groups protected by the Equality Act 2010. This would enable them to develop an approach to planning, delivering and evaluating their services so they are both accessible and actively address inequality.

 

In addition, they had a number of work streams progressing that were seeking to listen to and engage particular communities, for example: 1)  through their Cost of Living actions plans where they would seek to listen and target support at potentially vulnerable groups (older people, mental health, minoritised ethnic communities and communities experiencing multiple deprivation) 2) Proactive project where they were using benefits data and customer contact information to target support at those most in need, often those groups who experienced disadvantage 3) Minoritised ethic community engagement project where they had been engaging with their ethnic communities to help them to better understand need, barriers and identify areas where they could improve engagement going forward. 4) Through Fabric, Big Listen, Wellbeing work, Community safety and other projects and service areas they were actively working to ensure everyone was engaged, not just the usual voices but those often excluded or who faced additional barriers.   5) Through their newly appointed data lead they would be using the community census data (to be released in the next few months) to better understand their communities (then, and using projections, into the future) and through collaboration with communities who were often underrepresented, they would seek to further improve and shape their services.

 

A Member asked: What will be your first priority to achieve a fair transition to Net Zero Carbon by 2045?

 

Response - As part of the delivery of Our Plan they would develop a roadmap to set out their priorities for delivering Net Zero Carbon by 2045 (for the area). There was already extensive work being undertaken to decarbonise Council buildings and operations and significant progress had been made in this area. The roadmap would use baseline data from the Scatter report on area-wide carbon emissions to set out key areas for action by the Council working with the wider community, businesses and key partners.

 

The Cost of Living plans for Adur and for Worthing had been designed to deliver a balance of  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/39/22-23

JOSC/40/22-23

Interview with the Worthing Cabinet Member for Citizens Services pdf icon PDF 124 KB

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

Minutes:

This report set out background information on the Portfolio of the Worthing Cabinet Member for Citizens Services 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.

 

That the Committee consider any representations from the Cabinet Member on the work within their Portfolio and other issues which the Cabinet Member was involved in and question the Cabinet Member on this and recommend any suggested action or make appropriate comments to the Cabinet Member for their consideration.

 

 

 

A Member asked: Given the ongoing Cost of Living Emergency and the likelihood that it will lead to an increase in people needing emergency housing, what steps are being taken to find appropriate accommodation?

 

Response - The Council was in discussion with a number of providers to secure both permanent and temporary accommodation locally.

 

The Council was working on increasing the number of temporary accommodation units it owned and also considering leased accommodation. The Council was also in discussions with proprietors to provide leased accommodation for use as temporary accommodation.

 

A landlord’s roundtable with private and social landlords was scheduled for November to look at opportunities for settled and temporary accommodation.

 

The New Homes Team would work with the Housing Needs Team to establish a strategy for purchasing new or existing properties for use as EA/TA. This approach would require expertise in dealing with developers, agents, managing refurbishment and improvement projects (e.g. getting them to EPC C) and dealing with Homes England to secure a grant which the New Homes Team could offer.

 

They planned to hold a workshop with various providers of accommodation, including registered providers, to discuss and explore opportunities to increase the number of affordable accommodation across all tenures (i.e. both temporary and permanent accommodation).

 

With regards to permanent accommodation, they were exploring various models which could result in long leases and buying suitable units.

 

A Member asked: Can you give us a breakdown of currently available accommodation i.e one bed, two bed etc properties? What is being done to address any shortfall in any of these?

 

Response - As a result of significant demand all temporary and permanent accommodation were taken up immediately as they became available. Demand for affordable and suitable accommodation was more than what was available.

 

Current Worthing households in TA:

308

183 Singles

125 Families

 

A detailed breakdown was provided to members displaying demand for bedroom entitlement across different bands.

 

Actions being taken to increase supply of all types of affordable accommodation had been discussed above.

 

Further questions were raised regarding plans in place for emergency purchases, available grants and other available funding. The response conveyed that the council was looking at available venues and would provide written responses with regards to what funding was available for certain areas.

JOSC/41/22-23

Interview with Adur Cabinet Member for Communities and Wellbeing pdf icon PDF 123 KB

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

Minutes:

This item will be discussed at a future meeting

JOSC/42/22-23

Crime and Disorder Scrutiny - Interview with the Chairman of the Adur and Worthing Safer Communities Partnership pdf icon PDF 123 KB

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

Minutes:

This item will be discussed at a future meeting

JOSC/43/22-23

Annual Summary of Customer Feedback (Complaints and Compliments) pdf icon PDF 335 KB

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

Minutes:

This item will be discussed at a future meeting

JOSC/44/22-23

Scrutiny review of the Adur & Worthing evening and night time economy pdf icon PDF 127 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This report set out the revised discussions and recommendations from the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) Working Group which was created as part of the JOSC Work Programme to review the previous JOSC reports and  recommendations on the Adur and Worthing evening and night time economy (ENTE) from 2020 and earlier in 2022

 

Members asked for clarity with regards to priority 6 and if strategies would be applied to businesses operating in the evenings. Members were told that this strategy was first contingent on legislation approving these new powers and then if Cabinet decided to use them. Should those things happen then it would be looking at underused or vacant shops.

 

Resolved: The committee reviewed and agreed to the recommendations of the report.

JOSC/45/22-23

JOSC Work Programme review pdf icon PDF 123 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This item will be discussed at a future meeting