Agenda and minutes

Members and officers must declare any pecuniary or personalinterest in any business on the agenda. They should also make declarations at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting. Consideration should be given to leaving the meeting if the nature of the interest warrants it.  If in doubt please contact Democratic Services before the meeting.

50.1     In accordance with the County Council’s code of conduct the following declarations were made:

50.2     Cllr Sharp declared a personal interest as a member of Chichester District Council and as the sponsor of a Ukrainian guest under agenda item no 5.

50.3     Cllr Ali declared a personal interest as a member of Crawley Borough Council under agenda item no 5.

50.4     Cllr Oakley declared a personal interest as a member of Executive Task and Finish Group for Active Travel under agenda item no 5.

50.5     Cllr Oakley declared a personal interest as a member of Chichester District Council under agenda item no 7.

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances, including cases where the Committee needs to be informed of budgetary or performance issues affecting matters within its terms of reference, which have emerged since the publication of the agenda.

51.1     No urgent matters were raised.

The Committee is asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2023 (cream paper).

52.1     Resolved – that the minutes of the Committee held on 23 January 2023 be approved as a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

The Committee is asked to note the responses to recommendations made at previous meetings of the Committee.

53.1     The committee noted the responses to recommendations made at previous meetings.

Report by Director of Finance and Support Services, setting out the finance and performance position as at the end of December 2022.

The Committee is asked to examine the Council’s corporate performance, finance, savings delivery and business performance for services within the remit of this Committee and to make any recommendations for action to the relevant Cabinet Member.

Members are reminded that only the performance data on Community Support in section 4 (Community Support, Fire and Rescue Portfolio) falls within the remit of this Committee.

Communities

54.1     The Cabinet Member for Community Support fire and Rescue, Cllr Crow, introduced the Communities section of the Performance and Resources Report (PRR).  He highlighted the work of the newly formed Ukraine Support Team, the seasonal uplift for sponsors which had commenced in January 2023 from the Government funding, and the work of the Community Hub in assisting with the latest round of Household Support Funds.  He also reported that libraries had helping with cost-of-living advice and assistance, as well as distributing essential toiletries packs.  Some 277 residents had engaged in digital safety training and Trading Standards had been involved in a case with a business selling alcohol to a child volunteer without checking proof of age.

54.2     Cllr Crow highlighted that the report showed a slight underspend at December 2022, mostly due to staff vacancies.  Work was in progress on an outstanding savings target on the development of adapted Library Service offer in conjunction with parish councils and officers would be looking to find a permanent solution.

54.3     Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows.

54.4     Ukrainian guests under the Homes for Ukrainians scheme were being successfully matched with sponsors or homed using temporary accommodation.  Assistance was being given to those guests who wanted to move into the private rental sector.  The numbers of sponsors had remained steady.

54.5     The majority of Ukrainian children had been kept in their schools.  Transport to school was being provided if children had to move location, in order to maintain education and links in the community.  Some parents/children had opted to move, for example to more urban areas from rural ones.  Decisions were made on individual basis or tailored to a family.  Some children were able to continue their Ukrainian education online to take examinations and some children were being home schooled.

54.6     Records of Ukrainian guests in employment were not required as part of the Homes for Ukrainians scheme.  Some Ukrainians were able to continue their work with Ukrainian companies by working online. A wrap around care support system was also being looked at to help single mothers move into employment.

54.7     The supermarket voucher scheme for Ukrainian guests had been set up with suppliers where they could be used easily.  Officers noted the suggestion that it was not giving guests the opportunity to use small independent businesses for example Polish shops.  The County Council had investigated an option of pre-paid top-up cards but that had proved very costly to the County Council.  

54.8     The County Council had commissioned learning courses for this cohort from the start of the scheme.  Options included online group work and English classes which were available to hundreds of guests.  Members questioned whether online learning reduced social contact for the attendees and how mental health could be supported.  This was an area discussed up 4- and 6-month conversations along with other challenges faced by the guests.

54.9     The Household Support Fund had only been in existence since the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

Report by Assistant Director (Highways, Transport and Planning).

The County Council has allocated an additional one-off £4.5m of revenue funding for highways maintenance and repairs, including flooding and drainage. 

The Committee is asked to consider the proposals for spending the funding.

55.1     The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Cllr Dennis, introduced the report saying that she was pleased to be able report an increase in the core budget to cover the impact of inflationary pressures which had impacted highways disproportionately, but also some one-off additional funding.  Recent unusual weather patterns had meant that systems were not coping and as the service had become very reactive to urgent situations it had created backlogs in other equally important areas.  One area of importance was the riparian duties of every householder whose property abutted the highway.  Recent events had shown a lack of understanding by the general public of their responsibilities and those of the County Council.  Proposals in the report aimed to address this problem more strongly.

55.2     The Committee received a presentation on the proposals for the distribution of the additional funding. 

55.3     Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows.

55.4     A new County Council communications strategy was being worked up to keep the public better informed and Highways have been very involved.  Officers would like to increase the amount of social media reporting.

55.5     There is a process in place on Riparian duties and enforcement will be an option if it is needed.  Work has taken place for many years with landowners to try and resolve flooding issues, especially those which impact properties or the highways network.  There can be difficulties in establishing ownership of land and the funding will support this process. 

55.6     The Flood Risk Team is working with different agencies who have flooding responsibilities, for example the Environment Agency on river flooding.  Water boards were also starting to get active on surface water.

55.7     Staff morale was quite low with many staff working overtime due to the large increase in work needed but it was hoped this extra funding could help to improve that as staff were keen to reduce the backlog.

55.8     Officers confirmed that they were fully aware of where drainage hotspots were.  If members felt new hotspots were arising, they were asked to feed information through to the area teams.  Sometimes these hotspots were not resolved as quickly as would be liked as they were intertwined with riparian responsibilities.  Members were keen to know of any planned drainage works in their area and have the communications shared with them.  Cllr Dennis said she would speak to officers to see if information could be included with the high-level works programme information which was shared in the weekly publication The Bulletin.

55.9     A Member questioned the difference between mechanical options available with the Jet Patcher and the Pothole Pro and officers agreed to share a briefing with the Committee members on the differences.

55.10  The funding allocated for additional tree work did not include any work on trees suffering from Ash Die Back disease, which was being dealt with in a separate project.

55.11  Over the last ten years vehicle numbers had increased tremendously and caused damage  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

Report by Assistant Director (Highways, Transport and Planning).

The Committee is asked to review the emerging views on the Highways England consultation on options for the A27 at Worthing and Lancing.

56.1     The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Cllr Dennis, introduced the report saying that the A27 was a road high on the national agenda with pinch points at Chichester, Arundel, Worthing and Lancing.  Cllr Dennis said she would have liked to have seen a bigger ambition for the Worthing and Lancing section of the A27 but recognised that funding was not currently available for a large scheme, and the proposals put forward by National Highways were only intended to be a temporary solution.

56.2     The Transport Planning and Policy Manager, Mr Hemmings, shared a presentation which talked through the consultation proposals along with a summary of the options, performance against scheme objectives and emerging conclusions.  Mr Hemmings reported that the ambitions were reflected in the Transport for South East’s Strategic Investment Plan which the Committee had considered at their meeting on 21 September 2022.

56.3     Committee Members heard a witness statement by Cllr Sparkes, Member for Cissbury, and a written statement from Cllr Smith, Member for Broadwater.

56.4     Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows.

56.5     It had been concluded in the report that there were concerns about the effectiveness of the options in tackling road safety and it was felt that none of the options put forward by National Highways would significantly benefit non-motorised users, for example cyclists.  Officers reported that the ‘additional opportunities’ (involving active travel, bus service and infrastructure improvements) identified by National Highways were in line with the West Sussex Transport Plan.  Members were also concerned about the impact of the road improvements on community severance, particularly for people who do not have access to a car. Some members requested the provision of safe crossings of the A27, particularly where communities were severed, and that arrangements were compliant with Department for Transport’s Local traffic Note1.20 (cycle infrastructure design guidance).

56.6     Several members expressed doubts that the options put forward by National Highways would be sufficiently beneficial to outweigh the disruption that would be caused during construction.  Members raised concerns about where traffic would be diverted while the measures were being implemented, particularly large lorries.  Officers reported that traffic would need to continue to use the A27 corridor and the consultation gave no information on road closures or diversionary routes as this would be developed at a later stage of the project.

56.7     The proposal to close the Hadley Avenue junction with the A27 in Option 2 would allow a longer distance of two lanes of traffic to get more traffic through the junction before merging to a single lane. It was recognised by members, as highlighted by Cllr Sparkes, that the closure could cause problems for residents and services such as the household recycling and waste collections in Hadley Avenue that would need to take alternative routes.

56.8     The evidence that the options could decrease journey times could be outweighed by the projected increase in the number of accidents, which could delay the flow of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

The Committee is asked to agree its current draft work programme (attached at Appendix A and B), taking into account the Forward Plan of key decisions within its remit (attached at Appendix C) and any suggestions from its members for possible scrutiny taking into account the attached scrutiny checklist (attached at Appendix D).

57.1     The Committee reviewed the most recent Forward Plan of key decisions and work programme. 

57.2     The Chairman highlighted that following the meeting of the Business Planning Group on 27 February 2023, it had been agreed that the Bus Enhanced Partnership Plan Task and Finish Group should meet again to consider the approach to the bus network review and to monitor progress in delivering Bus Service Improvement Plans so that an item might be brought to the Committee to consider in September.  The Chairman asked the Committee if they were happy for the Task and Finish Group’s terms of reference be widened to cover this additional work.

57.3     Resolved – that the Committee were happy for the Enhanced Partnership Plan Task and Finish Group to reconvene to consider the approach to the bus network review and to monitor progress in delivering Bus Service Improvement Plans and that the terms of reference be widened to cover this activity.

57.4     Committee members considered the items listed in the work programme for the next meeting to be held on 9 June 2023 and were informed that the item on the Corporate Policy on Offsetting Emissions might be removed.  

There have been no requests for call-in to the Scrutiny Committee and within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.  The Director of Law and Assurance will report any requests since the publication of the agenda papers.

58.1     There had been no request for call-in to the Scrutiny Committee within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 9 June 2023 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Chichester.  Probable agenda items include:

·       Active Travel Strategy (formerly Walking and Cycling Strategy)

·       Performance and Resources Report 2022-23 – Quarter 4

·       Road Safety Strategy

·       Highways Contract Procurement

·       Corporate Policy on Offsetting Emissions and Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs)

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 26 May 2023.

59.1     The next meeting would be held on 9 June 2023 at 10.30am.