Agenda item

Members question time will last up to 30 minutes, questions will be taken in order of receipt, in rotation from each political group on the Council. The deadline for submission of questions is 15^th July 2024 at 12 noon. Questions to be submitted to democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

 

Questions received can be asked of the following:

 

a)    The Chair

b)    A Member of the Cabinet

c)    The Chair 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 Parkin asked the following question:

 

I was interested to read how the Joint aim of Adur and Worthing councils was "TO MAKE THE AREA GREENER AND FAIRER". This is a great sound bite, but what does it mean? What are you going to do? Ìn other words, what is behind the sound bite.

 

The Leader replied that the earlier announcements from members of the Cabinet contributed to a fairer or a greener Adur on key issues for local people such as housing, energy and the environment. That was just the beginning.

 

At the Joint Strategic Committee (JSC) meeting held on the 17th July, a report was received regarding the Council’s involvement in the development of the county wide Local Nature Recovery Strategy, and the work underway by Adur Council to take this much further through the creation of an Adur & Worthing Nature Plan.  This would be presented to the JSC in October and would set out further plans to re-nature the area, including the creation of green corridors to allow wildlife to move across the landscape.  The new neighbourhood team would pick up these plans and work with the community to deliver as much renaturing as possible, including in people’s gardens.  The Council was now working with the South Downs National Park Authority to set up systems for biodiversity, net gain payments into local projects and designs for renaturing Pad Farm were progressing.  The Adur River Festival was providing the community with a number of opportunities to engage with the Adur River Recovery Project between June and October.

 

The JSC had also agreed on a priorities document, the priorities of the two councils. In this were a series of priorities around green, active travel, a fair deal for local traders, delivering affordable homes and on homelessness.

 

In relation to fairer, the continued work on Proactive would ensure both councils continued to focus on identifying and supporting people who were experiencing vulnerability to help maximise their income and access help.  It also meant working with partners including the NHS and community partners to address inequalities and improve health and wellbeing, including the work of the Council’s social prescribing team and it’s Wellbeing Programme.  Importantly, the Council was developing a new Housing Strategy and working with its partners, would develop a stronger approach to preventing homelessness and the essential work of improving Adur Homes after years of underinvestment. That was giving tenants a fair deal.

 

Cllr Shinn asked the following question:

 

When in opposition, you shared our frustration about the lack of progress in achieving the aims and intentions of our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).

 

Could you please outline how your new administration intends to make progress in pursuing and implementing the plan?

 

The Leader replied that a meeting was due to be held with West Sussex County Council (WSCC) on the 19th July to determine the level of activity in Adur regarding cycling and walking. Whilst the Council was approaching this as a partnership, the Council would hold WSCC to account if not enough progress was being made across the District. Work was planned around Buckingham Road, a community highway scheme would be progressed at Beach Green Lancing with the Parish Council, and the school streets trial at Swiss Gardens would be made permanent, all of which was good news. The Council was also fully supportive of interventions that aimed to encourage more active travel, including the installation of additional cycle racks right across the District as well as the continuation of the bike share scheme. 

 

The plan was to meet with WSCC on a regular basis, probably every 6-8 weeks, to monitor progress of work associated with the LCWIP. This regular meeting, which wasn’t in place before, would hopefully generate more partnership work as a result. 

 

In addition, and most probably linked to the aforementioned meetings, the Council was extremely keen to work with community groups who had an interest in this space to learn from them and listen to them, ensuring that the ‘community voice’ was also prevalent and guiding decision-making. For example, the Council had already engaged Shoreham-By-Cycle with their community highway scheme application but there were many groups that would have an interest in improving cycling and walking across the District. Its early days but the Council was extremely keen to progress or initiate work where resources allowed. 

 

Cllr Neocleous asked the following question:

 

In April of this year, after some considerable wrangling, I managed to secure the sum of £500,000 from WSCC from their Capital Growth Fund for improving the public realm in Lancing. 

 

Could Cllr Allinson please advise the council as to how that is progressing and when Lancing Residents might expect to see some consultation on the options?

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategic Planning replied that the new Administration was supportive of this proposal and of course the financial commitment made from West Sussex County Council (WSCC) to invest £500k in Lancing. The Cabinet Member understood this commitment was made as part of the Growth Deal and WSCC had given no indication that this capital investment was no longer available since the change in Administration. The Council had an Adur Growth Board meeting scheduled in mid-September where confirmation of the investment and the plan for public realm changes in Lancing would be sought. 

 

As for the scheme itself, following a review with WSCC highways officers, the Council was currently considering an additional step that would allow testing of the ideas associated with the scheme ahead of full implementation. Officers were working on the final consultation design with Project Centre (the external design team) to ensure the Council could approach the next stage with a robust visual interpretation of what the scheme may look like. 

 

The Council was looking at the possibility of an Experimental TRO that would allow closure of the roads identified; observe how this changed the dynamics of the village; consult with the community in a meaningful way; run a series of engagement events, all of which would help shape the detailed design of the scheme, or, if the trial wasn’t successful, provide an understanding of where investment should be in Lancing. This approach met with the principles of being a Council for the Community. As for timings, the Council was looking at the Experimental TRO being in place from October onwards, following the Growth Deal meeting in September.   

 

Cllr Jenner asked the following question:

 

I receive frequent complaints from residents concerned about the height and extent of grass along road verges and the general maintenance and upkeep of verges. 

Issues raised include:

 

·       The public perception is that verges have been deliberately left uncut without consultation.

·       Failure to collect grass clippings when cut; this impacts the immediate highway, blocking drains and settling in kerbs where it decomposes - allowing weeds to establish. 

·       Shredding of litter that accumulates in tall grass when it is cut - adding micro plastic pollution to the surface drainage system.

·       The use of herbicide to kill weeds on pavements. 

·       The spraying of herbicides at the base of street trees.

 

What is your strategy to address these concerns?

 

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Leisure replied that the Council was happy to review these concerns, however, it was equally supportive of the creation of increasing biodiversity and the establishment of creating more natural environments for wildlife. 

 

The Cabinet Member agreed to raise these concerns with WSCC as they were the highways authority and, in the main, were responsible for roadside verges and the strategy that sits behind that, including the use of materials. 

 

For all Members, it’s worth noting that the Council had recently introduced a ‘Report It’ function on the front page of the Council’s website that allowed Members and residents to report any concerns in their neighbourhood, including grass verges. In reference to the grass verges link, this redirected to the WSCC website as they were the lead authority for this matter.

 

The Director for Sustainability & Resources had recently met with his counterpart at WSCC and a workshop was being organised to explore better coordination between teams, enabled by the new neighbourhood model.

 

Rotation Two

 

Cllr Carol Albury asked the following question:

 

I have received a number of complaints and photos of the current unkempt state of our cemeteries particularly our North Lancing Burial Ground.

 

I need to be able to reassure our residents.....Is this a temporary issue?

 

This is causing a great deal of distress to residents that cannot even find their family grave and in many cases with the grass so long feel unsafe underfoot to walk in this area.

 

We need to make sure as a Council that these areas are kept to a high standard of cutting,   that they remain safe and an area families feel is well tended and comforting when visiting. 

 

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Leisure replied thanked the Councillor for their question, and acknowledged that this was a sensitive issue.  

 

To date the area had experienced a very wet and warm spring and summer, which had encouraged significant vegetation growth.  This could be seen in our gardens, parks and open spaces.  It presented a particular challenge in cemeteries because the team had to manually strim and mow around individual graves.  

 

The bereavement and parks team were working as fast as they could on their rotas to stay on top of the mowing, fitting it in alongside burial operations. 

 

This was a temporary issue, and the Cabinet Member gave an assurance that the Council was committed to maintaining high standards across all of its sites. 

 

 

Cllr Higgins asked the following question:

 

An election pledge was made to support our high streets and local businesses with a clean-up of our town and village centres. Can you tell us how this is progressing?

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategic Planning replied that the Council was extremely committed to working with partners to make sure that high streets and town centres were clean and welcoming. Officers had been working together to determine what and how this could be achieved, however in keeping with the Council’s commitments to listening to the community, the first step was to undertake ‘walkabouts’ across the District to determine which areas should be targeted.  

 

These walkabouts were planned for August / September, which would include relevant Ward Members, community groups and, where feasible, local businesses. This would help to identify any areas that needed cleansing or improvement and, from there, an implementation plan would be developed as to the best way to tackle any issues. The Cabinet Member anticipated that any work would take place from the Autumn onwards.