Agenda item

Members question time will last up to 30 minutes, questions will be taken in order of receipt and in rotation from each political group on the Council. The deadline for submission of questions is 17^th April 2023 at 12 noon. Questions to be submitted via democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Questions received can be asked of the following:

a)    The Chairman

b)    A Member of the Cabinet

c)    The Chairman of any Committee

d)    The Councils representative on any outside body

Questions cannot be asked on the following

a)    A specific planning or licensing application

b)    A specific staffing appointment, appeal or Standards determination

Rotation One

Cllr Arnold asked the following question:

In your outside interest role on Greater Brighton Economic Board (Adur). Can you tell us how you feel about the scrapping of Local Enterprise Boards (Spring Budget) and when you expect this to take place and how we can gain as much joint value out of the relationship before this council's exit?

The Leader replied that the Council hadn’t had the opportunity to truly reflect on the news about LEP’s in the Spring Budget, however the Council welcomed the support from the Coast to Capital LEP over the years, especially with Local Growth Fund investment in Adur.

In partnership with other authorities across West Sussex, especially those coastal authorities that shared similar challenges and opportunities, the Council would be contributing and providing a coordinated response regarding this news. This would be complementary to other responses across the region, including the business community via Adur & Worthing Business Partnership and Coastal West Sussex. 

The Council would continue to have active dialogue with Coast to Capital as they continued to support community-led work in Lancing, whilst also supporting a number of businesses via their Growth Hub services. The Council would continue to monitor the LEP over the course of the next 12 months as the services from Coast to Capital may change within that period. 

Cllr Crisp asked the following question

This question relates to the tidal wall from the railway bridge north along the boundary with the Waterfront development.

It has been widely reported that since the removal of the unsightly chain link fencing many people have been walking along the top of the tidal defence wall. There is a 2.4 m / 8' drop from the top of the wall down into the residents gardens. This is a significant risk which the public walking past are not aware of. The residents have no redress to prevent accidents and protect their own property from damage. The Chair of the Waterfront Residents Association, John Burrows, asked a public question at the April planning meeting. Since then the issue has been passed to WSCC, Hyde homes and the Environment agency. However, there is still no signage and no identified process for resolving this. As the weather continues to improve and the river path is used more and more frequently the risk increases. It was shocking to see film (posted on facebook on Sunday) of a woman allowing her dog to walk along the wall.

What can ADC do to expedite a rapid investigation of and resolution of this significant risk to members of our community?

The Cabinet Member for Communities and Wellbeing replied that the Residents Association were advised at the March Committee that the Environment Agency (EA) had passed responsibility for the future maintenance of the wall back to the landowner (Hyde Housing).  At this meeting it was also clarified that the District Council did not own any section of the riverside walkway.

Initially Hyde had not been prepared to accept the wall as it also shared some of the concerns of the Residents Association about safety but the EA did not consider it was necessary to install railings to the top of the flood defence wall.

The concerns of the Residents Association had been discussed with Hyde Housing and they had agreed to fund the cost of any warning signs along this section of the Riverside Walk.  West Sussex County Council as the Rights of Way Authority had also been advised about the safety concerns and Hyde was liaising with WSCC to address the issue.  

Rotation Two

Cllr Arnold asked the following question

We welcome the news of the extra £200 million for the 2023-24 financial year for potholes, announced in the Spring budget. Within your role as portfolio holder responsible for highways liaison, can we be assured that WSCC will prioritise their share of the spend and that Adur will get its fair share please?

The Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure responded that this was a welcome announcement, however the Cabinet Member was unsure of how the £200m would be distributed. Responsibility for the distribution of funding sat with the Highways Team at West Sussex County Council. However, the Cabinet Member would be championing the cause for Adur District as transport liaison.

Rotation Three

Cllr Arnold asked the following question

In your outside body role of Sussex Police and Crime Panel (PCP (Adur), can you tell me how the resourcing of local policing is going since we last saw Katy Bourne at JOSC. What are you seeing as the major challenges to local policing?

The Cabinet Member for Communities and Wellbeing replied that Cllr Arnold should be aware that the PCC Panel discussed this matter at length on 23 September 2022 under the paper “The role of the Commissioner in ensuring Sussex Police demonstrated an efficient and effective approach to recruitment and retention”. A recording of the subsequent discussion and minutes are available on line.

Under Operation Uplift for years 2020/21 and 2021/22 the targets for 250 officers under that project had been met. It was planned during 2022/23 that 163 officers were to be recruited with a further 20 being funded by the precept and 9 for the Regional Organised Crime Unit.  Additional officers were also being recruited to cover redundancy and retirement from the force. Therefore, it was likely that the force would meet its target.  In respect of ethnicity recruitment, in 2021 11.5% of the recruits identified as Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority compared with 6.3% of the population of Sussex.

In respect of policing matters in Adur, consistent with the UK as a whole there had been an increase since Covid of Anti Social Behaviour.  Whilst this was at a significantly lower level than the Council’s neighbours, the Cabinet Member had taken steps to deal with this matter, including chairing a multi agency meeting with residents and businesses, liaising with PCSOs and other officers and ensuring there were close links with senior schools, WSCC and the police.  In addition there had been a marked increase in online romance fraud and the police continued to both educate the community of the risks and how to stay safe.

Given the hard work of Adur District Council officers, the police and the proactive approach, this council does not have significant levels of crime compared with other local councils. The Council considers that this matter is of significant concern to Adur communities, unlike other local councils, and therefore has maintained its own Community Safety budget of £261,570 for 2023/24. The Council increased its investment in Community Safety as part of the development of the 2023/24 budget by mainstreaming one additional community safety officer which had previously been funded by external funding (overall cost £41,000 of which £16,400 is the amount funded by Adur).

The Chairman used his discretion to allow 4 additional questions from Cllrs Stainforth, Crisp, Gardner and Dunn in relation to the self referral of Adur Homes to the regulator, the A27 consultation and targets in relation to increasing biodiversity.