Agenda item

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

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 9, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report set out background information on the Portfolio of the Adur Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, 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 which connected with the work of the Council and the Adur communities.

A Member asked “Since the council has yet to be successful in any of the government's competitive capital funding bids such as the towns fund, future of high streets fund and levelling-up bids. What has the council learned from the previous unsuccessful bids and what has it put in place to ensure our next bid will be a successful one?”

Members were told the council had submitted a number of funding bids, some with success included securing £1.7m from the Local Growth Fund to support Focus House (Shoreham), but as external funding was usually a competitive process they hadn’t been successful with others. The Council did bid for the High Streets Fund a few years previously and whilst they had received positive feedback the funder did indicate that Council needed to demonstrate greater ‘need’ for the project through a more robust evidence gathering exercise. 

With this feedback in mind, they had adapted their approach for the pending Levelling Up bid to ensure it, and any future bids, were co-produced and agreed with a number of local stakeholders and the community. The focus for the Levelling Up bid would be on Lancing and the work of Officers in the previous 6 - 9 months, which had enabled a clear evidence base, good community conversations and they were now working on a number of asks, including the possibility of upgrading the public realm in the village center. Whilst no bid was ever guaranteed they felt they would continue to build a solid case for investment but did require a coordinated effort for the best chance of being successful.

They felt it was worth noting that the Council couldn’t bid for the Towns Fund as this was direct allocations from government to certain towns and cities, rather than a bidding process, although Officers did lobby for Adur to be included.

In addition, there had been multiple successful funding bids received to restore and enhance the nature and landscape around the district, including: 

• Defra Test & Trial to fund intertidal habitat restoration (£76k); 
• Defra Landscape Recovery Fund - ADC was a landowner and one of delivery partners in the partnership bid led by Knepp Wildland Foundation to improve the quality, resilience and biodiversity of the river - £500k; 
• £1.5m for Adur Community Wetlands (New Salts Farm)
• Secured DEFRA Natural Environment Readiness Fund (£79k, Sept 2021)
• £1.6m had so far been secured from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund for carbon reduction projects.

A Member asked “How has the AH referral to the Regulator impacted the morale and well-being of CS based officers and how are the wellbeing and professional development of these valued staff members being supported?

Members were told this has been an exceptionally challenging time for the team.  The referral had been difficult especially given the scale of the issues needed to put right.  There was a lot of work to do and they did not yet have the right capacity in place, partly due to the difficulties of finding housing people within the current market.   

Getting the right leadership in place had been critical to provide the direction and support needed for staff to help them and provide the right infrastructure for their roles. The team was involved in the development of the improvement plan and communications and engagement were being carried out consistently.  

The wellbeing and resilience of staff was of utmost importance and was being prioritised at all times.  

A Member asked “I note that the Council Tax and National Non-Domestic Rates debt write-off has fallen across the last 2 years, significantly less than 2019/20 and previous years before that. Is there any particular reason for this?”

Members were told in both financial years, but particularly in 2020/21, significant additional rate relief was provided to businesses as a result of the pandemic. Consequently there was less business rates to be collected and so a lower rate of default as a result.