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 16th October 2023 at 12 noon. Questions to be submitted to democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

Questions received can be asked of the following:

a)    The Chairman

b)    A Member of the Executive

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 Debs Stainforth asked the following question:

Back in July this council voted to approve a budget of £2.25 million to enable the acquisition of up to 10 homes on the Southwick Estate to facilitate the 

redevelopment of the estate in order to provide temporary accommodation in the interim.

Could you inform this council on its progress please?

The Cabinet Member for Adur Homes & Customer Services replied that in anticipation of more people wanting to take up the Council’s offer than the Council budget would allow, Council Officers were developing an acquisitions policy and selection criteria to assess applications. The Council had tested this with the Residents Leaseholder Group and were making changes based on their comments. The Council was planning to launch the scheme through a mailout to leaseholders week commencing 30th October 2023.

Cllr Mandy Buxton asked the following question

We saw recently some media coverage about the financial situations of local authorities and of course there are a number of councils that are in a tough financial situation. Both Adur & Worthing were mentioned as being authorities that might be in financial trouble but I wonder if you could explain some of the detail behind this and whether we should be concerned about the financial position of Adur District Council in particular as I am concerned that the reporting might not have been accurate?

The Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources replied that the recent press releases had provided debt to core spending ratios. In the case of Adur District Council this was inaccurate as it included debt associated with the Housing Revenue Account which sat outside of the General Fund budget. In addition, the core spending power was only one indicator relating to the net budget position funded from taxation. Within the net budget there were income streams that directly related to debt associated with the purchase of strategic assets. The council was in an under borrowed position which means that it had not relied solely on borrowing to fund its capital expenditure.

Cllr Lee Cowen asked the following question

With Westridge Construction Limited going into administration, do you have an update on the stalled Albion St development? What are the estimated costs to the council for this delay?

The Cabinet Member for Adur Homes & Customer Services replied that the Council had taken back possession of the site and were looking to get a contractor in place before Christmas to finish the scheme. The Council was protected by a performance bond which ensured any additional costs of completing the scheme were reimbursed.

Cllr Robina Baine asked the following question

The government’s u-turn on plans to force landlords to improve the energy efficiency of rented accommodation will cost renters about £325 a year in higher bills, according to a report published by the Climate Change Committee last week. The transition to net zero is essential but must also be a just transition, fair and inclusive as possible.

What will this council do to ensure private tenants can enjoy the benefits of efficient energy in their homes. Will you be publicising the services of the Local Energy Advice Partnership and pressing the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to take action to provide consistent energy grants to residents?

The Cabinet Member for Communities & Wellbeing replied that Adur District Council remained committed to ensuring residents in private sector housing received as much support as possible in making their homes energy efficient. The Council would continue to work with other Councils across West Sussex and the CAB in delivering the West Sussex Energy Advice Service. The Council had recently worked with Portsmouth City Council's Warmer Homes programme to secure over £41m of funding across a wide consortium area to deliver insulation, heating upgrades and renewable energy installations on eligible properties without gas boilers that was worth up to £38,000 per house.

The Private Sector team had previously taken action to ensure that properties were not privately rented out in breach of the current Minimum Energy Efficiency (MEES) Regulations which prohibited renting properties with an EPC of F or G. If the Regulations were subsequently amended, the PSH team would enforce against the revised standard.

Cllr Sharon Sluman asked the following question

The Adur and Worthing Health and Well-being Strategy states: “We will develop a more participatory approach that finds ways to involve people, and will work with communities so as to use their strengths (their skills, passions and time) to influence and shape health and wellbeing locally for all of our communities.” Walking groups are mentioned as an example. What progress has there been on this approach and how far has the inclusive nature of this been achieved?

The Cabinet Member for Communities & Wellbeing replied this strategy was predicated on key principles including:

• fairness and tackling health inequalities, therefore much of this work was about targeting more of our work with the poorest people in our communities. 
• Asset based approaches - working with the strengths in our communities and thereby working with our communities to design solutions to local problems around Health & Wellbeing. 

The strategy was being reviewed and renewed for next year. In the meantime, some key headlines included:

• The Wellbeing Programme continued to provide 121 behavioural interventions for residents to prevent / reduce cardiovascular disease.  This alongside a range of programmes (alcohol, falls prevention, NHS health checks, smoking cessation…)
• The LCN work with the NHS and community partners focused on food security, mental health and physical activity;
• Going Local - covered the work with people to identify and strengthen their capacity around some of the factors that drive good / bad health & wellbeing (including housing and loneliness)
• The Cost of Living programme supported the most vulnerable around warm spaces and provided help with finances.

Cllr Jude Harvey asked the following question

The Government’s intention to roll back targets for the country’s pathway to net zero will damage the UK’s ability to meet its carbon-cutting goal according to the the Climate Change Committee, the independent statutory body that advises the government on emission targets.

The decision comes at a time when the effects of the climate emergency are clear. The UK experienced record temperatures. Fires and floods have caused devastation in parts of Europe, North America and Australia. Environmental degradation in the developing world means increasing inequality, increasing poverty, crises in the provision of clean water, political instability and has driven millions* from their homes.

Can the cabinet member assure us that there are no plans for Adur to relax our targets to become carbon neutral by 2030?

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Leisure replied that the council had no intention of relaxing either its commitment to becoming a carbon neutral council by 2030 nor for the district of Adur to become net zero carbon by 2045. Whilst the Council was under no illusion that the targets remained difficult, it continued to make progress in both areas. For example the Council had recently reduced its reliance on fossil fuels to heat council buildings by commissioning air source heat pumps at the Shoreham Centre and the Council would be setting out its strategy for decarbonising in the first half of next year. 

The Council was also committed to working with partners to reduce emissions outside of its direct control. For example the most recent Solar Together Sussex programme had installed over 1500 new solar PV systems on private homes across Sussex and the Council recently worked with other councils from across the South East in order to secure funding to retrofit energy efficiency measures to households without access to a gas boiler.