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 12th December 2024 at 12 noon. Questions to be submitted to democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

 

Questions can be asked of the following:

a)    The Mayor

b)    A Member of the Cabinet

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 14 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 7 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 Davey, Hunt, James, Jenkins, Schan, Smith and Walker.

 

First rotation:

 

Question 1 from Councillor Kevin Jenkins to the Leader

 

In opening can I first express my thanks to the Council staff and contractors who worked tirelessly to get our award winning pier open again. Now that it is open, can the leader please supply an update on the direct and indirect costs incurred to date?

 

 

The Leader thanked Councillor Jenkins for his question and echoed his thanks to the staff and contractors who worked around the clock in difficult weather conditions to get the Pier back open again.

 

The direct costs of the works carried out including the design, installation and sign off of the stabilising trusses to date was £314,280.80. There may be some final costs yet to be presented by suppliers and therefore this and the below figures remain subject to some change.

 

Indirect costs incurred are currently identified as follows:

·        Additional Security Patrols £792.00

·        Additional Entry Denial Measures: £1,388.77

·        Lost Rental Income of £13,041.10

·        Unrecovered Energy Bills (Closure Period) £5,150.00 Estimated: Pending Bills

 

Unfortunately the council also incurred costs in repairing damage caused by vandalism to the glazed central panels during the closure. Rectifying this damage was estimated to have cost the council £2,500.

 

Question 2 from Councillor Hilary Schan to the Chair of the Licensing

 

On 1st April this year pavement licenses for tables and chairs outside local businesses became a permanent function of district and borough councils following temporary measures introduced during the pandemic. Accordingly all local licenses were set to expire on 30th September 2024.

 

 

The scheduled June meeting of the licensing committee was cancelled due to ‘no business’ and meanwhile no consultation took place with local business owners between April and September. Why?

The Chair of the Licensing Committee, Cllr Cathy Glynn-Davies thanked Cllr Schan for her question regarding Central Government proposals for charges for the licensing of tables and chairs on pavements.

 

 

Following the transfer to responsibility from the county council to the borough

council, officers had worked up proposals to be considered by the Licensing Committee on 23 September.  This included engagement through the Sussex Licensing Liaison group, which consisted of senior licensing officers from across the county, and other stakeholders including police and fire services.  This group reviewed new legislation and worked to share best practice and ensure a level playing field and achieve consistency in approach where appropriate.

 

 

Officers had held informal conversations with many business stakeholders, advising

them of the forthcoming changes, and responded to questions regarding the

scheme.  You’ll be aware that these changes had been pending, and that charges were waived during the pandemic. Licensing officers had a good working relationship with those premises with a licence to sell alcohol, but many other premises such as snack bars, coffee shops and ice-cream parlours may now require a licence to trade from our pavements.

 

The Chair of the Licensing Committee was grateful for constructive suggestions tabled at the Committee’s meeting in September. It was great to see our businesses and their representatives questioning the process and influencing the Council’s practice.

 

Having listened to representations from the business community, the Licensing Committee concluded that more detailed engagement with businesses and the public was appropriate. 

 

 

Cllr Glynn-Davies was pleased to say officers had now delivered a more detailed engagement process which gave all businesses and the public the opportunity to feed back to the Council on a range of specific proposals. 

 

 

Between 16 October and 12 November 2024 members of the public and local business were engaged via an online survey. Businesses were contacted by email referring them to the survey. This included 84 current and previous pavement licence holders, Worthing BID, Adur & Worthing Chamber of Commerce, Worthing Pubwatch and other local businesses.

 

 

A total of 6 responses were received in Adur and 20 responses in Worthing. These had been collated and would be presented to the licensing committees in January.

 

Question 3 from Councillor Ian Davey to the Leader

 

Brighton & Hove has a population of under 300,000.  In 2019 before the pandemic there were 50m bus passenger journeys. That was 177 journeys per person per year. The highest in the country outside of London. In West Sussex with a population of just under 900,000 there were 27m bus passenger journeys in 2019. A mere 30 journeys per person per year. Not the worst authority in the country but not very good.

 

 

Bus usage in Brighton & Hove has just about recovered to pre pandemic levels whereas here in West Sussex it still has a long way to go.

 

 

Bus operators have told us that they fear that the Labour government's 50%  increase in the bus fare cap from £2 to £3 per trip will have a serious detrimental impact on bus usage and services in the area.

 

 

Our MP Beccy Cooper  says the “solution lies in granting more local control over transport issues.”

 

 

What local control does the leader of the council anticipate being granted that will help improve bus services in Worthing and the surrounding area?

 

The Leader thanked Cllr Davey for his question.

 

In relation to ‘local control’ this felt more a question for MPs Beccy Cooper and Tom Rutland or West Sussex County Council than the Leader of Worthing Borough Council, but what I can say is the Council had been facilitating a Bus Partnership for the last 12 - 18 months with local bus operators, West Sussex County Council and the Council coming together to look to solve local issues.

 

 

It had been great to have WSCC in the room as they were leading on a series of improvements across Worthing, with the Council’s guidance, as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

 

 

Things like improved signalling and real-time bus signs at bus stops had come into place in the last 12 months through that partnership - and we were now looking at accessibility and future roll outs of the real-time signs. There was more to be done and the Leader was pleased to say that some of the operators were now back to pre-pandemic levels in Worthing, which was great news.

 

 

Finally, again as a result of the partnership, the Council had been having open and frank conversations with Stagecoach in relation to the new service at West Durrington which would be delivered in the new year.  

 

Question 4 from Councillor Dawn Smith  to the Cabinet Member for Housing & Citizen Services

 

The draft housing and homelessness strategy 2025-30 strategy refers to providing affordable homes for our citizens in Mission 2 of the document. What, if any expectations will be placed upon our current social housing providers to provide any future housing  to increase their capacities? As a council we are committed to expanding our number of homes for our citizens, so I would like to know what role our existing or any new potential providers of social housing will have in this strategy too.

 

 

The Cabinet Member thanked Cllr Smith for the question.

 

 

In respect of this mission there were a number of areas to explore as more and more responses to the consultation were received. As part of the Local Plan process the Council needed to ensure it was pushing for maximum on site provision, alongside this the Council needed to ensure it was having meaningful, constructive conversations with the huge number of Registered Providers across the borough. This may include how the Council enabled connections between developers and providers led by a real understanding of key partners aspirations and needs.

 

 

The Council had included providers in the draft strategy consultation and had been working on joint projects to support schemes which the Council envisaged developing as it moved through the strategy period.

 

 

Alongside this, the Council also needed to ensure it was making the best use of the homes already available within the borough and again there were a number of areas to investigate here too. These may include our allocation polices, empty homes work, security of tenure within the private rented sector, supporting households underoccupying homes or needing adapted homes.

 

 

This was a complex mission but one where the Council could have an impact working in collaboration with partners.

 

 

Second Rotation

 

Question 5 from Councillor Kevin Jenkins to the Cabinet Member for Resources

 

Can you please give an update on the disposal progress of the council owned land at the old Caravan and Motorhome site in Titnore Way?

 

The Cabinet Member for Resources thanked Cllr Jenkins for his question and advised that commercial negotiations were progressing and he was confident that he would be able to share a positive conclusion with Council early in the new year.

 

Question 6 from Councillor Carl Walker to the Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Leisure

 

Adur and Worthing’s Healthy AW strategy for Health and wellbeing 2021-2024 has expired. Can the relevant cabinet lead give us an update on the progress with the follow-up strategy?

 

 

The Cabinet Member thanked Cllr Walker for his question, which was timely as it followed submission of the Council’s detailed well-being plan for 2025/26 to commissioners.

 

The current version of the strategy was developed at a particular point in time, as we started to come out of the pandemic, since when the Council had developed Our Plan, which included the mission of Thriving People, with the overall objective that ‘People are healthy, resilient and resourceful; they can access the right help when they need it’.

 

The Well-being, Social Prescribing, Proactive and Homelessness Prevention Teams increasingly worked together to deliver this objective with a focus on targeted preventative and early interventions including people with low-level mental health issues and focusing more on people living in temporary accommodation.

 

With changes to the external context, including the development of the new NHS plan,  and the implementation of Integrated Community Teams, bringing together NHS, Local Authority and voluntary sector partners, it was timely to take stock of our approach, building on the excellent work of our teams to date.

 

A full update on the progress made through the Health and Wellbeing Strategy would be prepared in the new year, which would set out the planned approach and its relation with Our Plan, with the intention to continue to develop and deepen the Council’s work in this critical area.

 

 

Question 7 from Councillor Claire Hunt to the Leader

 

This council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019, an Ecological emergency in 2023, and in the same year also supported a motion for Sustainable Marine Recovery. Climate and nature were declared to be a ‘golden thread’ running through all portfolios, but there was also a dedicated Cabinet post for Climate Emergency and one for the Environment. At a scrutiny meeting in March 2024, Cllr Cox, who was the Climate Emergency portfolio lead at that time, convincingly argued for there being a dedicated portfolio.  So can the Leader explain the thinking that has led to the current position where there is no dedicated portfolio for the Climate Emergency and in fact no mention of any kind of emergency in the title or the description of the ‘super-sized’ portfolio that now covers climate, nature and Environmental Services.

 

The Leader replied that as Cllr Hunt was aware there had been some changes to the Cabinet. The purpose of the Climate Emergency portfolio had been reviewed in July and whilst this had been a useful way to ensure diligence on projects such as the Worthing Heat Network, it was felt that with the Heat Network moving into the delivery phase, it was best moved into the Regeneration portfolio. Therefore, at this point, and with the number of cross-cutting projects and portfolios that the Climate Emergency and carbon reduction projects cover, we embed it as a golden thread with Cllr Wells taking the responsibility for carbon reduction.

 

Third Rotation

 

Question 8 from Councillor Charles James to the Leader

 

When the Labour Group took control of the council they were at pains to emphasise their commitment to the youth of the town. Even going so far as banning the wearing of robes in case young people found it off-putting and intimidating.

 

 

Therefore can the Leader please explain why there is no longer a Youth Mayor and Deputy; nor are there Mayor's Cadets representing our Armed Forces.

 

The Leader thanked Cllr James for his question. As a mum of three young children and in my previous role, having worked for charities supporting young people, this was an area that I too share as a passion.

 

In response to your particular questions, the Youth Mayor was not something that was being organised or run by the Council and was reliant on volunteers outside of the Council, in particular a local charity which had sadly closed.

 

The Leader had recently met with a number of youth organisations across the town, with all feeling there was more that needed to be done for our young people, and only by working together with the voluntary and community sector organisations, could we make the biggest impacts. The Leader advised that the Cabinet Member for Communities would be looking at this when we look at future CIL funding rounds to be able to support projects for young people.