Decision details

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Director of Growth presented the report which sought recommendation to Policy and Finance Committee for budgetary provision of up to £50,000 to enable the Council to engage a professional resource for the Development Control Order (DCO) process in relation to the National Highways A27 Improvement scheme at Arundel. He explained that this need arose due to the retirement of the current Engineering Services Manager.

Members thanked the Engineering Services Manager for his years of service and then took part in a full debate on the item where a number of points were raised including:

·       clarification was sought over what the provision was for (i.e. to produce the report or direct the project)

·       whether the justification for the supplementary estimate was the Officer’s retirement or because the Council did not have the expertise in-house

·       why this provision had not been included in the budget for the year if it had been known when the work might have been expected to take place

·       needing the strongest possible representation in this process in order to ensure the best outcomes for Arun due to the substantial impacts and problems that might result from what was a national scheme

The Director of Growth confirmed that the intention was to have a budget of up to £50,000 available with which to commission someone with the relevant technical expertise to prepare reports and undertake any detailed work as required in support of Arun’s submission as part of the DCO process, and that any other specialist advice if required might also be able to be funded from this provision. He explained that DCO processes could vary in length due to their complexity and so at this point in time it was difficult to predict how long the services of this individual might be needed, but that a Local Impact Statement would have to be produced and that these could vary quite substantially in length (and therefore the length of time needed to prepare it) depending on the issues covered. It was not known exactly when the DCO process would start but it was anticipated that this would be towards the end of the year. He concluded that the purpose of the £50,000 budget was to allow Officers to undertake this work without having to come back to Committee (and subsequently Policy and Finance Committee and Full Council) for other funds not budgeted for, and that had the Engineering Services Manager not been retiring it was still expected that some addition budget would have been necessary to undertake work of a more technical nature.

The recommendations were then proposed by Councillor Thurston and seconded by Councillor Yeates.

The Committee

RESOLVED

That a budgetary provision of up to £50,000 in 2022/23 be sought to employ, on a ‘call-off’ basis, a consultant to support Arun’s involvement with the National Highways A27 Arundel Bypass scheme;

The Committee

RECOMMEND TO POLICY AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

That Full Council be requested to authorise a Supplementary Estimate of £50,000, which is equivalent to £0.79 on a Band D Council Tax Bill.