Agenda item

To consider a report from the Chief Executive, a copy is attached as item 5.

Before the Committee was a report by the Chief Executive, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 5.

“Platforms for our Places: Going Further” was the Councils' ambitious strategic programme designed to help create the healthy, prosperous and well connected communities Adur and Worthing residents and businesses had told the Councils they wanted to see.

The report updated the Joint Strategic Committee, describing the ongoing strong progress made by the Councils in achieving these commitments over the past 6 months.

The report reflected the Councils’ shift from pandemic ‘response’ to ‘Autumn and Winter recovery’ and described the continuing impact of the pandemic on local communities.  Whilst progress against some of the commitments had slowed because of the pandemic, most were on track and some had accelerated.

The Councils continued to embed the lessons they had learned from the pandemic, using these to better support local communities and advance the Councils strategic ambitions.

Moving forward, the Councils would be gathering learning from the Platforms activity in order to feed into the next strategy cycle.

A Member asked the following questions in relation to Platform 3.Officers agreed to provide written responses following the meeting which would also be shared with the Committee membership:-

·       Solar Together :- during the second round over 400 households in Adur and Worthing registered an interest to have PV and/or battery storage installed in their homes. How many households had taken it up?

·       LAD Grant Programme :- 900 homes across the South East had benefited. How many of these were in Worthing?

·       Nature Restoration and Protection :- The bullet point at the bottom of page 37 of the agenda pack stated ‘The Councils were also part of a wider project across West and East Sussex.The locations selected to be a part of this project includes Steyne Gardens, Kingston Beach and Buckingham Park with links to the Local Nature Partnership and Health objectives across the region. All aspects of these projects are connected with the local communities and key stakeholders and will define a baseline assessment of the natural conditions of these locations and then work alongside the local community to create a set of recommendations that will include how to fund them’. What was this project and was the Council going to fund it?

Officers agreed to provide written responses to the questions following the meeting. The Leader of Adur District Council requested that the responses also be shared with the Committee membership. 

Another Member asked the following questions in relation to the report;

·       Paragraph 6.25 of the report considered recycling rates across Adur and Worthing. What were the actual figures and how did the Councils compare with other authorities?

·       Paragraph 6.28 of the report considered leadership support for senior managers. Was there any information on the outcomes for those managers in terms of progression, promotion etc?

Officers agreed to provide written responses to the questions following the meeting. The Leader of Adur District Council requested that the responses also be shared with the Committee membership.

The Committee welcomed the report and congratulated Officers for all of the work undertaken over the last 18 months in particularly difficult circumstances.

The recommendation, as set out in the report, was unanimously supported by the Committee.

Decision

The Joint Strategic Committee noted and considered the “Platforms for our Places: Going Further” 6 months progress report (July to December 2021) and agreed to refer the report to the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee for its consideration.

Call In:

The call-in deadline for the decision will be 5.00pm on the 21st January 2022.