Agenda item

Public Question Time

To receive any questions from members of the public.

 

Questions should be submitted by noon on Friday 8 January 2021 to Democratic Services,

democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk  

 

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

Minutes:

There were two public questions received in advance of the meeting. 

 

1.         Question from Gabrielle Crisp

 

With the built environment contributing 15% of carbon emissions (1), retrofitting the existing housing stock represents a key step in reaching carbon zero. Whilst supporting the “talk of appointing a lead for Adur Homes retrofitting” (2), will the council seize the opportunity to enable the growth of a local retrofitting industry through skills development, training and apprenticeship opportunities and business leader engagement, working in partnership with further education and other agencies?

 

(1)     https://www.carbonbrief.org/uk-homes-shockingly-unprepared-for-climate-change-says-ccc

(2)     Item 6:  Section 4.8 of Response to the Joint Overview and Scrutiny review of Climate Change Report by the Director for Digital Sustainability & Resources(2)

   

 

The Leader of Worthing Borough Council replied that this was a pertinent question identifying the urgent need to develop skills, training and apprenticeship opportunities in the retrofitting sector, which the Committee on Climate Change has said needs “urgent funding”, including from the Treasury.

 

The councils were involved in several consortium programmes to support retrofit of housing. These included the West Sussex Affordable Warmth Partnership which was a countywide strategic group supporting the development of retrofit programmes for householders such as

 

·       LEAP, the very successful energy and money saving advice service, and

·       the Warmer Homes programme (Local Authority Delivery) through which residents on low incomes can access free installations of heat decarbonisation measures such as air source heat pumps and solid wall insulation.

 

Adur & Worthing Councils were also working with Warmer Sussex and Retrofitworks who aimed to build capacity and delivery in the Retrofit sector and were collaborating with other housing providers across Greater Brighton Economic Region to deliver retrofit measures at scale.

 

Adur Homes would be developing a comprehensive Asset Management Strategy and action plan, which would include actions towards achieving better energy efficiency and reaching Carbon Zero. The plan would align with ongoing actions in this regard within the Council and included actions to ensure that the right expertise was available to achieve this ambition.

 

Following the Climate Assembly, a programme of engagement was planned. One area of focus was with businesses, organisations and education providers to support decarbonisation across the area. This would include promotion of housing and commercial retrofit and would include championing the development of skills and capacity across all sectors as well as the delivery of programmes and projects for decarbonisation.

 

Ms Crisp asked a supplementary question regarding upskilling and retraining and how this could be put in place by September 2021.

 

The Leader recognised that there was a skills gap for people coming in to do this work and the need for upskilling and / or retraining. He also advised that the LEP was looking at this issue and was working with partners to move this forward.  

 

2.         Question from Kirsten Wild

 

We commend the council’s decision in July 2019 to declare a climate emergency, making maintaining community green spaces and increasing biodiversity top goals. Yet the Council is currently consulting to change the designated use of an open access green space in Shoreham to a fee-paying facility made of a plastic 3G surface with toxic rubber infill. The council’s own expert commissioned Feasibility Study says professionally re-laid grass will meet all curricula and club needs of the nearby Primary school and grass also maintains open access to the whole park for the town’s fast-expanding population.

 

Please can you confirm how the change to a plastic 3G surface with toxic rubber infill and resulting 50% reduction of open access to parkland supports the council’s stated green space goals? We ask that proposals are urgently reconsidered to avoid loss of rare townland green space, forever.

 

The Leader of Worthing Borough Council replied on behalf of the Adur Executive Member for the Environment;

 

The consultation related to options available to improve the current surface at the meads. It was not a proposal for a “fee paying 3g pitch”. Adur Council was not pushing a preferred option for the area demised under lease to Swiss Gardens School via WSCC. The Council appreciated that there are conflicting wants and needs for this space, which in its current state was not fit for its intended purpose. The Council appreciated that it was an emotive matter, and as such had devoted a lot of time and resource into getting engagement on this matter right.

 

Options other than artificial surfaces - not just 3g - were being considered. Improved drainage with new grass was one of the potential options. As outlined in the consultation, the Council had to set that against the needs of the school within their demised area, which was daily use, several times a day, and the Council accepted that only an artificial surface would be able to withstand that high impact use. The Council also accepted that there was a mobilised community presence that believed that the meads should remain as grass.

 

To be clear, the current consultation was a user/stakeholder engagement piece to balance public feeling with community need on i) better drained grass, or ii) an artificial surface. The Council knows what is possible for the space, and wanted to know what people thought about these options.

 

In terms of the Council’s green space goals - these did not just relate to The Meads only, it was a holistic approach to the District. The Council had taken steps to secure large acreages of land to safeguard them for future generations, sequester carbon, and provide valuable habitats. This did not mean that central green spaces were less important, and indeed where the Council made any changes to landscapes, it would endeavour to create a net biodiversity increase. This would be the case with any development of the meads regardless of whether the ultimate decision was to go with grass, or an artificial pitch. But to be clear, any decision made would be based upon public feeling set against user need in a “greater good” context.

 

Ms Wild asked a supplementary question regarding the s106 money being used to deliver the project. In the words of West Sussex County Council, S106 is normally a capital fund, which suggests that there is some wiggle room and the ability for it to be delivered as revenue funding which would enable the maintenance of this space. Will anybody, even named individuals, commit to pursuing / talking to WSCC about delivering this s106 money, not just as a capital fund but delivering part of it as a maintenance fund. There is precedence for this in other forward looking Councils like South Gloucestershire, who say that you can have a capital fund and a revenue fund alongside to look after the capital project and the delivery. That would enable the grass to be delivered and leave a huge pot available as a revenue fund for maintenance and groundskeeping, which is what the school say, will be needed to make the grass work. At the moment this is not on the table at all. When the consultation ends, Ms Wild would like there to be a realistic proposal for the use of grass on the table.