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 Friday 13^th July 2023 at 12 noon.

Questions should 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 4 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 were 30 minutes allowed for questions with 3 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 Cochran, Hunt and Humphreys.

First rotation:

Question 1 from Councillor Russ Cochran to the Leader

I realise that I may have asked a similar question like this before, but now sadly I find myself having to ask it again, as a matter of urgency, on behalf of all residents and young people in my ward and in the wider Borough.

As the council has now missed out on 2 previous rounds of funding and there is only one remaining round left to apply for funding, is the relevant Member able to provide an update on the DCMS Youth Investment fund application progress for Northbrook ward?

The Deputy Leader replied as he had portfolio responsibility for community and young persons. A detailed options appraisal for assessing sites under the Youth Investment Fund had been carried out in the autumn of 2022 and shared with key members. The options appraisal identified that within the Northbrook Ward (the only ward in Worthing identified by the fund), the only viable location for young service provision was the development at West Durrington. However, at this time the land was not within the ownership of the Council and therefore this site couldn’t be taken forward due to the criteria set within the grant. Other locations were appraised, however, they did not meet the criteria or time constraints on this project for delivery.

The grant required those spaces funded to provide open access youth work that was designed to either extend their reach to young people or help preserve their youth service. In conversations with our DCMS partner, the Council’s assessment was that the refurbishment and extension of changing facilities for sports did not meet the criteria for this grant.

The Council remained committed to identifying funds that could be utilised to improve the health and wellbeing of young people.

Question 2 from Councillor Claire Hunt to the Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency

I understand that Worthing Borough Council is exploring pathways to achieve net zero for the Borough by 2045 and has opted to follow the High Ambition pathway set out in the report commissioned from Anthesis. Given that current science says that would give us only a 1 in 3 chance of maintaining a liveable planet and that if the richest countries don’t decarbonise faster than 2045 we will be leaving Global South countries with no carbon budget at all after 2030. How could the Council be even more ambitious and set an earlier target date?

The Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency replied that in 2019 the council declared a climate emergency and adopted our carbon neutral 2030 target for our own operations and a 2050 target for the district and borough as a whole. In order to show leadership, the Council had since made considerable progress on developing and delivering projects to help get our own house in order. These included:

·         Delivering a low carbon heat network for the town, giving residents and businesses in the town centre the opportunity to decarbonise their heating in one easy step;

·         Generating our own electricity by installing solar panels on multiple council buildings;

·         Securing over £3m of Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funding to significantly improve the energy efficiency of our town centre estate;

·         Piloting the replacement of natural gas with hydrogen at our largest emitter, Worthing Crematorium.

The challenge to decarbonise the wider area is significant and not without hurdles that the council alone can overcome. UK Government policy will be key to meeting area-based emissions reduction targets and the council regularly provides feedback on government consultations emphasising the importance of this. Partnership working will also unlock programmes of work at a scale that the Borough council cannot deliver on its own.

In spite of these challenges, the council can proactively further the opportunities for residents and businesses to decarbonise and we already participate in:

·         Solar Together Sussex, offering bulk purchasing of solar panels to residents;

·         The rollout of a public EV chargepoint network;

·         The promotion of grant funding availability to residents through the Warmer Homes programme.

Since 2020, the council has already brought its target forward, from an initial 2050 date to 2045 and in working to deliver this challenging target we will need to work closely with residents and businesses within and outside of Worthing.

Second rotation

Question 3 from Councillor Daniel Humphreys to the Cabinet Member for Regeneration

Prior to last week's meeting of the Joint Strategic Committee I sent an email to the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Resources requesting that flexibility be built into this year's capital programme to allow for extra security to be put in place for two car parks in Findon Valley. I thank them for their consideration of the matter. Would you be happy to meet me and some of the local residents at these two car parks so that we can explain the issues and seek your support for the investment please?

The Cabinet Member replied that the additional measures requested for Coombe Rise and Storrington Rise would require capital investment in the required barriers as well as a revenue budget to cover the costs of security to lock the car parks at night and unlock them in the morning.  The Council would also need to consider practical issues such as walkers wanting to use the car parks in the evening or early morning, cars being locked in and the potential to simply displace any anti-social behaviour in the locality.

We are in the process of setting the capital programme with officers, so I can not make any further comment at this stage, but please do feel free to contact me directly so I can give these matters consideration.

Question 4 from Councillor Daniel Humphreys to the Cabinet Member for Regeneration

At the meeting of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny meeting in March this year I asked your predecessor about the council's intentions for the Southern Water office block and car park that was purchased by the council last year. He refused to give the councillors on the committee any information about the plans for the site. Could you please update the council on what the council's long term aspirations are for this site and in particular could you confirm that the council's plans will seek to safeguard the site as a key employment site in the borough?

The Cabinet Member replied that Worthing Borough Council purchased Southern Water’s headquarters in the town as an investment for the future to support the Council’s aspirations for both increased employment space and housing.  The Council used its strategic property investment fund to pay for the purchase.

By investing in Worthing, the Council could work with local businesses for mutual benefit as part of its approach to community wealth building.

I am pleased to confirm that in common with other existing employment sites, the Council would seek to protect employment use on this site in line with recently adopted Local Plan policy. 

By purchasing the site, there was, in the medium term to longer term, the opportunity to either expand our employment offer and potentially increase our housing supply by maximising the use of land, utilising other Council owned sites in the vicinity either by ourselves or in partnership with Adur District Council who also owned assets in this area.