Decisions

At its meeting of the 29 November 2016, the then Central Mid Sussex County Local Committee (CLC) was presented a report on Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) prioritisation.

Proposals for Wealden Way, Climping Close and Lucastes Lane were considered and approved at that meeting for inclusion in the works programme. Subsequently these roads fell within an area which was the subject of a wider ranging review of parking within the Haywards Heath area and postponed pending its outcome. Subsequently the decision was taken not to progress the wider scheme and the proposals were therefore resurrected

During the formal consultation stage, 46 objections were received,  together with 1 individual letter of support and 1 letter of qualified support.

The comments made by the residents were reviewed by the Local Member for Cuckfield and Lucastes (Cllr Bradbury). Given the overall lack of support for the proposals, Cllr Bradbury has agreed that the programme should not proceed and additional consideration should be given once further work has been done on local parking strategy, when local residents’ views will be taken into account.

The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, having considered that the concerns raised by the objectors outweigh the possible benefits to the community, has agreed that the proposed Traffic Regulation Order should be withdrawn.

25.1     The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance on changes to the terms of reference of the Regulation, Audit and Accounts Committee, specifically in relation to its licensing and regulatory functions, and other minor updates to the Constitution (copy appended to the signed minutes).

25.2     In relation to the change in name of the Confidential Reporting Policy to the Whistleblowing Policy, the Director of Law and Assurance said that the change had been made by the Standards Committee to make the nature of the policy clearer. The Director also reassured members that, despite the age of the legislation in relation to the licensing of the employment of children, the regulations under the primary legislation and internal council arrangements were regularly updated.

25.3     Resolved –

(1)         That the proposed changes to Part 3, Appendix 5 of the Constitution, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be endorsed for submission to the County Council for approval; and

(2)         That the minor changes to the Constitution, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report, be endorsed for submission to the County Council for approval.

24.1     The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance on proposals for changes to Council procedures which had been published (copies appended to the signed minutes). It was noted that some cross references needed to be updated.

24.2     Members were generally supportive of the changes, particularly taking question time earlier in the agenda and waiting until motions were due to be debated before circulating briefing notes.

24.3     A request was made for the limit on the number of motions taken at each meeting to be reconsidered. As the limit had only been agreed in July, the Chairman said six months should elapse before further consideration. He commented that he had asked for the changes as a whole to be reviewed after one year.

24.4     In relation to the limit on the size of written questions the Director of Law and Assurance reassured members that Democratic Services would continue to assist members with their formulation.

24.5     Cllr Lord requested that the time limit for speeches by members during petition debates should be kept at three minutes rather than being increased to five minutes as there is an overall total length of half an hour for questions during petition debates. She put forward an amendment, as shown in underlined bold italic text below, which was seconded by Cllr O’Kelly.

‘2.58  A member shall direct his or her speech to the question under discussion or to a personal explanation or to a question of order. Each member may speak for up to five minutes, with the exception of speeches in the annual budget debate, which are not timed and petition debates when members can speak for up to three minutes.’

24.6     The amendment was approved.

24.7     Resolved - That the proposed changes to Part 4, Section 1 of the Constitution, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report and the sheet of additional changes, subject to the amendment set out in minute 24.5 above and corrections to cross-references, be endorsed for submission to the County Council for approval.

The County Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children who need a place.

Increasing provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) through the creation of additional places in Special Support Centres (SSCs) will assist with the aim of enabling children to attend school locally. As a consequence, this will reduce the number of children and young people with SEND moving from maintained schools and academies into costly education provision in the Independent and Non-Maintained Special School sector, sometimes at schools not situated in West Sussex. 

Approval is required for the allocation of funding from the Capital Programme to provide the necessary accommodation at Felpham Community College for the establishment of a Special Support Centre for 12 children aged 11 to 16 with Social Communication Needs from September 2023. In addition the budget will fund all associated fees, ICT and furniture and equipment.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills has approved:

(1) The allocation of £1.224m to fund the necessary accommodation and external play area as set out in paragraph 2.1 of the report to enable the establishment of a 12 place Special Support Centre at Felpham Community College in Bognor Regis from September 2023;

(2) The authorisation to commence a procurement process and delegation to the Director of Property and Assets to appoint contractors to complete the design and cost the new accommodation;

(3) The delegation of authority to the Director of Property and Assets to submit the necessary planning application and to obtain any statutory consents, and to enter into a construction contract with the successful tenderer.

At its meeting on 29 November 2016, the then Central Mid Sussex County Local Committee (CLC) was presented with a report on traffic regulation order prioritisation.

Proposals for the Bentswood area were considered and approved at that meeting for inclusion in the works programme. Subsequently, these roads fell within an area which was the subject of a wider ranging review of parking within the Haywards Heath area and postponed pending its outcome. The decision was taken not to progress the wider scheme and the proposals for the Bentswood area have therefore been resurrected.

During the formal consultation stage, seven objections together with one individual letter of support were received.

That the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, having considered that the resulting benefits to the community outweigh the objections raised, authorises the Director of Law & Assurance to make the Order as advertised with a minor revision to the proposals for Fairbanks (as set out in sections 2 and 3 of the report).

In 2018 the ‘Choices for the Future’ transformation programme for inhouse services was approved by the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health. Within the programme there was a commitment to review the in-house residential services.

Marjorie Cobby House in Selsey is an in house residential resource centre, providing Discharge to Assess with Reablement beds and interim beds primarily for people coming out of hospital and in particular St Richards hospital in Chichester.

The demand for residential Discharge to Assess beds has been and is likely to further be impacted by the increase of capacity to support people on a ‘Home First’ pathway, the commissioning of alternative models of care during the pandemic and the increase in provision of the Community Reablement Service.  Supporting people in their own home and maximising opportunities for independence remains the priority as outlined in the Adult Social Care vision and strategy.

Proposed Savings were presented to the Health and Adults Social Care Scrutiny Committee on the 13^th January 2021 and then at Cabinet on the 22^nd January 2021, which included £640k in savings related to in house services and identifying in particular Marjorie Cobby House.  At the scrutiny committee it was identified that this will involve a consultation and an Equalities Impact Assessment which will be presented back to Cabinet once completed.  Following this, Cabinet will be asked to take a decision on the future of Marjorie Cobby and the provision of residential based in-house services at this setting.

Following consideration of the report, Cabinet resolved:

1.          The end of the provision of in-house residential services for adults in Marjorie Cobby House, 38 St Peter’s Crescent, Selsey, PO20 0NA and all the buildings on site including 38a and 38b St Peter’s Crescent. This will include closure of the building, declaration that the buildings are surplus to operational requirements as per the plan set out in Appendix C and for the return of the buildings to the Council’s Property and Assets service to manage or dispose of.

2.          The arrangements for future provision of short-term residential care services in the Chichester and Bognor Regis area as set out in paragraph 2.

3.          To delegate the implementation of recommendation (1) to the Executive Director Adults and Health (DASS) in light of the potential short term use of the building as outlined in paragraph 1.10 of the report.

The call-in deadline is 25 November 2021.

The County Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children who need a place.

Increasing provision for children and young people with SEND through the creation of additional places in Special Support Centres (SSCs) will assist with the aim of enabling children to attend school locally. As a consequence this will reduce the number of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) moving from maintained schools and academies into costly education provision in the Independent and Non-Maintained Special School sector, often at schools not situated in West Sussex. 

It is proposed to redesignate and create 4 additional places at the SSC at West Park Primary School in Worthing.  The school currently caters for 840 children aged between 4 and 11 with an existing SSC that is currently designated and resourced to provide 10 places for children with Additional Learning Needs

Approval is required for the allocation of funding from the Capital Programme to provide the necessary accommodation at West Park for the redesignation of the SSC from Additional Learning Needs to Social Communication Needs and to increase the current planned places from 10 to 14 children aged 4 to 11 from September 2023. In addition the budget will fund all associated fees, ICT and furniture and equipment.

The Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills has approved:

(1) The allocation of £0.935m to fund the necessary accommodation and external play area as set out in paragraph 2.1 of the report. This will enable the redesignation of the Special Support Centre (SSC) from Additional Learning Needs to Social Communication Needs and an increase from 10 to 14 planned places at the SSC at West Park CE Primary School in Worthing from September 2023;

(2) The authorisation to commence a procurement process and delegation to the Director of Property and Assets to appoint contractors to complete the design and cost the new accommodation;

(3)The delegation of authority to the Director of Property and Assets to submit the necessary planning application, to obtain any statutory consents and enter into a construction contract with the successful tenderer.

Gatwick Airport Limited (GAL) proposes alterations to bring the existing Northern Runway at Gatwick Airport into routine use alongside the main runway, enabling the dual operation of both runways.  The proposal, the Northern Runway Project, is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project requiring a Development Consent Order (DCO) from the Secretary of State (rather than planning permission from the local planning authority).  The County Council is a statutory consultee in the DCO process.

The proposal would increase Gatwick’s passenger throughput to approximately 75.6 million passengers per annum (mppa) by 2038, an increase in capacity of approximately 13.2 mppa.  The Northern Runway would be operational by summer 2029.  The majority of the construction works associated with the project would be contained within the existing airport boundary.

Formal consultation on the proposal is taking place from 9 September to 1 December 2021.

The Cabinet will be asked to approve the County Council’s response to the formal consultation. 

Following consideration of the report, Cabinet resolved:

(a)     to approve the comments in paragraphs 2.36-2.98 of the report and the detailed comments on the PEIR in Appendix C of the report as the County Council’s formal response to the consultation on the Northern Runway Project;

(b)       to authorise the Director of Highways, Transport and Planning to respond to any further stages of pre-submission consultation and to make minor or technical changes to the pre-submission in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change – in support of the formal response approved under (a);

(c)     if an application for a Development Consent Order is submitted, authorises the Director of Highways, Transport, and Planning to:

(i)      approve the County Council’s ‘adequacy of consultation’ response;

(ii)     prepare and submit the County Council’s written representation and Local Impact Report, and to negotiate with the applicant on the DCO requirements, any S106 Agreement, and the preparation of a Statement of Common Ground – all in support of the formal response approved under (a); and

(iii)    attend the examination hearings and answer the Examining Authority’s questions in support of the County Council’s position; and

(d)     if a Development Consent Order is made, approves the County Council becoming a relevant authority for the discharge of requirements, provided that the Authority’s costs are met in full.

The call-in deadline is 25 November 2021.

UPDATE – Wednesday 17 November 2021

Following approval by Cabinet, the Director of Highways, Transport and Planning, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, has made some minor changes to the Northern Runway Project report and to Appendix C (detailed comments on PEIR) for the reasons set out in the Schedule of Post-Cabinet Changes.

Shaw Healthcare Ltd hold a contract with West Sussex County Council to provide 12 Residential Care and Nursing Homes across West Sussex. Six of these services also have a Day Service offer. In May 2018, a Cabinet decision (Report Ref: AH2 2018/19) was taken which confirmed a three phased approach to making investment in the Shaw Healthcare Ltd contract, the third phase being the review of day services.  In November 2020, as part of the Council’s savings plans, the intention was confirmed to extend the review to assess whether all of the day services are required, whether they provide best use of public money and if not, what should change in order to deliver better outcomes for people.  (Report Ref: CAB 11 20/21)

As part of the review of this provision, the County Council will now undertake a 6-week public consultation on the future of the services, with consideration of the outcomes of the review to date and the identification of savings. The process of consultation will be completed by the end of July 2021. The outcomes of the review, responses from the consultation and considerations of the Equalities Impact Assessment will then be presented to Cabinet to inform the decision on the future of the day service offer within the Shaw Healthcare Ltd services.

Following consideration of the report, Cabinet resolved:

1.   The permanent closure of the Shaw Day Services and undertaking of a contract variation to remove the provision of day services from the Shaw Healthcare contract.

2.   The utilisation of existing provision as alternatives for current and future potential customers.

The call-in deadline is 25 November 2021.

Since 2015, West Sussex County Council has installed over 300 rooftop solar power systems on domestic properties, schools, corporate and commercial buildings with a total capacity of 5.4MW.

The performance of these systems will be optimised through operational monitoring alongside planned and reactive maintenance in order to –

·         maximise renewable energy generated to substitute for carbon emitting sources  

·         derive energy savings for social housing residents, schools and the County Council estate

·         protect the County Council’s investment in these systems

A tender process was started in July 2021 with a view to securing best value for the provision of the services.

The Director for Environment and Public Protection will be asked to award the contract for the monitoring, operation and maintenance of rooftop solar PV systems owned by West Sussex County Council, in accordance with the Council’s Standing Orders on Procurement and Contracts.

The Director of Environment and Public Protection has awarded the contract for Monitoring, Operations and Maintenance of the Council’s Roof Mounted Solar Power Systems to Ecovision Asset Management Ltd. as a single supplier for the sum of £478,477. The contract is for an initial term of 3 years with the option to extend for up to a further 2 years commencing on 01/04/2022 as set out in section 2 of the report.