Agenda item

Members question time will last up to 30 minutes, with questions being taken in the order of receipt and in rotation from each political group on the Council. The deadline for submission of questions is Thursday 21 May 2020 at 12 noon. Questions to be submitted to democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

 

Questions can be asked of the following:

a) The Mayor

b) A Member of the Executive

c) The Chairman of any Committee

d) The Council’s representative on any outside body

 

Questions cannot be asked in relation to the following:

a) A specific planning or licensing application

b) A specific staffing appointment, appeal or Standards determination

The Mayor announced that the Proper Officer had received 6 questions from Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12. He advised that one supplementary question could be asked which must arise out of the original question, or, the reply.  

 

Questions would be asked in rotation of the Groups represented in the Chamber and there was 30 minutes allowed for questions with 4 rotations of speakers possible. At the end of 30 minutes the Mayor explained that he would extend the time to conclude the current rotation of questions.

 

The Mayor announced that the following Councillors had submitted questions:

 

Councillors Jim Deen, Henna Chowdhury, Martin McCabe, Helen Silman, Bob Smytherman and Sally Smith

 

The order would be 

 

First rotation:  Councillors Sally Smith and Martin McCabe

Second rotation: Councillors Henna Chowdhury and Bob Smytherman

Third rotation: Councillor Helen Silman

Fourth rotation: Councillor Jim Deen 

 

First rotation: 

 

Question from Councillor Sally Smith to the Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing

 

What assessment will there be of the impact of the coronavirus on the well being of the community, given the well documented rise in issues such as domestic violence and mental health difficulties?

 

The Executive Member replied that throughout the Covid crisis the Council had continued to develop the community response and as part of that, had been dynamically assessing a range of issues facing our community including domestic abuse, mental health, food poverty, digital exclusion and debt. The Council had also been working with partners such as Safe in Sussex, West Sussex County Council, Sussex Police, Mind and Citizens Advice to understand levels of reporting, emerging issues and identify opportunities to co-ordinate support and resources. The Council had been facilitating and participating in a range of multi agency meetings to understand the level of current and emerging needs in our communities.

 

The assessment process was ongoing and would allow the Council to reorient services and resources moving forward. It was anticipated - in line with other areas - that there would be a peak in demand for domestic abuse and mental health support as lockdown restrictions were eased. Whilst West Sussex had the responsibility for domestic abuse services, the Council was in the process of ensuring that our Housing and Wellbeing team were equipped to respond to this demand. 

 

The Council had a great deal of expertise in the Communities and Wellbeing Team to support our residents, including One Junction, Wellbeing Advisors and Social Prescribers. The Council would also continue working alongside GPs, Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, Mind and other services to understand how Adur and Worthing Councils could best support residents to access the appropriate services.  The Council would be reviewing its community response work and the impact on those that had been supported.

 

Councillor Sally Smith asked a supplementary question regarding how such services would be funded in the long term. 

 

The Executive Member replied that these were considerations for West Sussex County Council and other partner agencies. 

 

Question from Councillor Martin McCabe to the Leader

 

Can the Leader tell us what proposals the Councils have to take advantage of the reduced traffic on our roads to provide a long term, sustainable solution to tackling the climate emergency?

 

The Leader replied that Worthing Borough Council was in a strong position to work on introducing lasting changes to support the greater use of active travel because of the work it had been doing on the Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan. This Plan would be brought to the Joint Strategic Committee for final approval on the 9th June.

 

Transport emissions contributed to 27% of carbon emissions in Worthing, so reducing this was crucial in the effort to become carbon neutral.

 

Data from West Sussex County Council during the first weeks of lockdown identified significantly reduced traffic flows. West Sussex count sites showed reductions of up to 59% for 7-day traffic during this period.

 

The Covid19 crisis had seen reduced levels of NOx air pollution and carbon emissions relating to transport. It would take a while to get data on exactly how much carbon emissions from transport had reduced, but estimates indicated a reduction in daily global carbon emissions of as much as 17%.  

 

In some places across the UK, there’d been a 70% rise in the number of people on bikes - for exercise, or for safe, socially distanced travel.

 

This had resulted in major improvements in air quality particularly in relation to Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions. National analysis during the lockdown found NOx emissions had been cut by over 50%. These were levels last seen in the early 1900’s in terms of air quality.

 

Car use was starting to creep up now that lockdown was easing, so it was crucial that the Council take advantage of recent government incentives to install, at speed, changes to support the increased use of cycling and walking, combined with safe distancing. In early May the Government announced £250 million would be distributed to Local Authorities for pop up cycle routes and similar interventions. Government also announced new guidance on Traffic Regulation Orders.

 

The government expected local authorities to make significant changes to their road layouts to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians. West Sussex County Council, as the Highways Authority, had the powers to make these changes, so Worthing Borough Council had been lobbying West Sussex County Council hard to access this support and deliver changes. 

 

Last week the County advised officers that they would make resources available and would begin work with Districts and Boroughs to follow the government guidance. They had begun with immediately exploring a small number of schemes - 3 or 4 - to initiate this work. The week starting 25th May, the county were exploring two major interventions in Worthing developing traffic management plans in advance of defining what types of TROs were needed and they would work with the Borough on the fast implementation of those.

 

It’s worth noting that the only other areas being explored in detail in this first tranche of interventions, were in Chichester and Adur, and this prioritised position was due to the political pressure that had been applied, coupled with the advanced stage of the Worthing LCWIP. More news on this would be made public as soon as plans were advanced to a stage when the interventions had been found to be practically, legally and safely deliverable.

 

The council was also drawing up a longer list of interventions, evidenced by the LCWIP data gathering and  public consultation processes, and pressure would be maintained to pursue further options in Worthing. 

 

Meanwhile, the council had acted extremely fast to facilitate home working using online platforms, communications and meetings. For the council’s own practice, these positive changes were likely to be promoted and maintained where possible. Emissions from council offices had reduced significantly during the last months, and this would contribute to the achievement of the Carbon Neutral Plan and the commitment to becoming a carbon neutral council by 2030.

 

Councillor McCabe asked the following supplementary question; ‘had the Council already missed the boat in regards to sustainable transport’?

 

The Leader replied that these were longer term considerations and that the boat had not been missed.

 

Second rotation:

 

Councillor Henna Chowdhury had already asked her submitted question during consideration of the Leaders report. She asked a supplementary question which sought clarification regarding the amount of money that had been invested in the Worthing Integrated Care Centre project by the Council and the associated risks. 

 

The Executive Member for Regeneration replied that he would provide the details following the meeting. 

 

Councillor Bob Smytherman to the Executive Member for Digital & Environmental Services

 

Can I ask the Executive Member what financial support has been put in place for those businesses & Charities with commercial waste accounts who were forced to close during the Coronavirus pandemic and what additional measures are planned to support them during the remainder of the time they are unable to trade?

 

The Executive Member for Digital & Environmental Services replied that Adur & Worthing Council's Commercial Waste Team had been supporting local businesses and charities during the Coronavirus pandemic, in a number of several ways, including: 

• no additional charge - local business and charity accounts had been suspended, allowing for a penalty-free service and payment holiday;
• the service and fees had been 'flexed' to suit changing needs, during the crisis, as businesses adapted to the circumstances (e.g. restaurants changing to takeaways);
• businesses and charities had been signposted to local business grant/ support application assistance;
• businesses and charities that had suspended, several weeks after the start of lockdown, had their payment holiday backdated to the 1st April (all accounts had therefore been treated fairly);
• the Council had maintained regular communications with all customers proactively about the status of the service via the website and email; and
• the Council planned to proactively engage with affected customers post lockdown, to retain their business.

 

Third rotation: 

 

Question from Councillor Helen Silman to the Executive Member for Customer Services

 

How much has the Council spent to date on the provision of accommodation and services to Rough Sleepers and to those at risk of Rough Sleeping since March 17^th 2020 when the Ministry of Communities, Housing and Local Government set up the 3.2 million pound Covid 19 emergency fund scheme to reimburse Local Authorities for the cost of such provision?

 

The scheme states that the Local Authority will be notified as to the provisional maximum amount it would be entitled to claim back calculated on the number of rough sleepers reported in the Autumn 2019 snapshot.

 

How much has the Council claimed to reimburse it for the cost of providing accommodation and services to Rough Sleepers and to those at risk of  Rough Sleeping and how much has the Council received?

 

The Executive Member replied that £3.2m of funding had been made available nationally for homelessness. Local authorities would claim costs incurred from the government. Each local authority would be notified as to the provisional maximum amount it was entitled to claim back, which was calculated based on the number of rough sleepers reported in the Autumn 2019 snapshot. On this basis, the maximum grant available for Adur was £1,500 and for Worthing was £9,750 which would be insufficient to cover the cost of the Emergency Accommodation provided.

 

The claim for this fund had a deadline of 1 June 2020 and no award had yet been made.

 

Worthing Borough Councils had spent on average £13,000 per week net on provision for those who were rough sleeping at the time Covid19 guidance to isolate was issued and on provision for those who were at risk of rough sleeping and became homeless during the Covid19 isolation period. 

 

In addition to the specific funding for homelessness, the Council had received further funding towards all costs and loss of income due to the Covid 19 emergency. This was part of a £1.6bn national fund from which Worthing Borough Council received £1.1m.

 

Councillor Silman asked whether the Council had drawn up an outbreak plan in case of a second spike of cases as her supplementary question.

 

The Executive Member for Customer Services replied that a plan had been prepared in conjunction with the Council’s partners.

 

Fourth rotation: 

 

Question from Councillor Jim Deen to the Leader

 

I am assuming that a recovery plan is in preparation, to deal with the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on Worthing and its residents and that we will have heard details about this earlier in this meeting.

 

In view of the wide-ranging and all-embracing impact of the virus pandemic on individuals, communities, businesses and organisations in the town, does the leader agree with me that it would be desirable for the executive to work closely with all members of the Council, across all parties, in the development and execution of such a plan.

 

Would he further agree that formal arrangements should be made with the opposition parties to ensure that the objectives of such cross-party working are met in full.

 

The Leader replied that the Council was working closely with its partners in the Borough and that there were good arrangements in place.