Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed Councillors, members of the public, press

and officers to the meeting.

Members and Officers are invited to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda, and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

Members and Officers should make their declaration by stating:

a)  the item they have the interest in

b)  whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interest

c)  the nature of the interest

d) if it is a pecuniary or prejudicial interest, whether they will be exercising their right to speak under Question Time

Councillor Northeast declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 8 – Council Budget – 2019/20 in relation to mention of the Keystone Centre in Littlehampton and the joint project between Arun District Council and Littlehampton Town Council in his capacity as Chairman of the Management Committee and also a Trustee. Councillor Northeast confirmed that this did not preclude him from taking part in the debate on this item; however he would not take part in the voting on the Council’s Budget.

            Councillors Dr Walsh, Purchese, Gammon and Warren all declared their Personal Interests in Agenda Item 8 – Council Budget 2019/20 in relation to mention of the Keystone Centre in Littlehampton and the joint project between Arun District Council and Littlehampton Town Council as Members of Littlehampton Town Council.

To receive questions from the public (for a period of up to 15 minutes)

The Chairman invited questions from members of the public who had submitted their questions in advance of the meeting in accordance with the rules of the Council’s Constitution.

The Chairman announced that two questions had been received. The questioner asked the Cabinet Member for Planning, Councillor Charles, why there had been so many examples recently of planning application notices being put up as a loose piece of paper attached to lamp posts or other structures with a bit of string?

            The Cabinet Member for Planning, Councillor Charles, responded stating that Planning Officers erected site notices where it was most practicable to do so and relative to the application site. These notices used special paper which was waterproof and smudge proof. Councillor Charles invited the questioner to raise any specific examples where there had been issues with this and he asked the questioner to do this by contacting the Area Team Leaders who would look into the examples provided.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Mrs Brown, was asked why

February’s meeting of the Littlehampton Regeneration Sub-Committee had been cancelled and that it appeared that there would be no further meeting scheduled in the remaining life of the Council.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Mrs Brown, responded by confirming that the Chairman of the Littlehampton Regeneration Sub- Committee had decided to cancel the January meeting of the Sub-Committee as there had been no reports to discuss. An updated Position Statement had been sent to all Members of the Sub-Committee to keep them updated in terms of project progress. The next meeting of the Sub-Committee would be held in June 2019.

The Chairman then invited supplementary questions.

The questioner asked a supplementary question in relation to the first question stating that at meetings of Littlehampton Town Council’s Planning Committee, complaints had been made by those in attendance that they were not aware of planning applications because the associated planning application notices had either been ripped down; were out of view or had been destroyed by weather or not put up until too near the end of the consultation period deadline leaving insufficient time for those affected to respond.

Specific reference was made to the application for the Drug and Rehabilitation Unit in Littlehampton where it was claimed that the planning application notice had only been erected days before representations had been due. Those affected by this application had not been aware of the notice until after the deadline for representations had expired. The questioner stated that securing a piece of paper to a lamppost was not a sufficient way of conducting consultation and so he asked the Council if it could write to neighbours in the vicinity of applications in the future.

Councillor Charles responded confirming that he had liaised with Planning Officers and could confirm that no complaints had been submitted in relation to this matter.

The questioner then asked a supplementary question relating to the second question presented to the Leader of the Council. He confirmed that he had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 414.

To receive questions from Members with pecuniary/prejudicial interests (for a period of up to 15 minutes)

There were no Questions from Members with prejudicial/pecuniary interests.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 9 January 2019, which are attached.

The Minutes of the Council Meeting held on 9 January 2018 were approved by the Council as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive such announcements as the Chairman may desire to lay before the Council.

The Chairman confirmed that the number of engagements he and his Vice-Chairman had attended since the Christmas period had reduced; however, he hoped to be able to provide more details for the next meeting of the Council on 13 March 2019.

To deal with business not otherwise specified in the Council summons which, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Council (in consultation with the Chief Executive), is business of such urgency as to require immediate attention by the Council.

There were no items for this meeting.

The Council is asked to consider the Revenue and Capital Budgets for the 2019/2020 financial year for both the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account. 

            A report from the Group Head of Corporate Support confirming the recommendations being made to the Council is attached.  Members will also be asked to refer to the recommendations contained within the Minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 11 February 2019 with regard to the Budget for 2019/2020, which will have to be circulated separately.

The 2019/2020 Budget was considered at the meeting of the Overview Select Committee held on 29 January 2019 and these Minutes can be accessed by clicking on http://www.arun.gov.uk/overview-select-committee

            Details of the associated statutory resolutions in agreeing the Budget, following receipt of the West Sussex County Council and the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner precepts, will be circulated at the meeting.  

            This item will be presented using the order below:

(i)         Welcome by the Chairman – Councillor Gammon

(ii)        Leader of the Council’s Budget Statement – Councillor Mrs Gillian Brown will make her Budget Statement and will propose the recommendations, including the associated statutory resolutions required in agreeing the Budget, which will be circulated at the meeting.

            To be moved by – Cllr Mrs Brown

(iii)         Cllr Wensley to second (may reserve his right to speak)

(iv)         Cllr Purchese to respond on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group

(v)          Cllr Brooks to respond on behalf of the Independent Group

(vi)         Open Debate

(vii)        Cllr Wensley to respond as seconder

(viii)      Cllr Mrs Brown to respond as proposer

(ix)         VOTE REQUIRED

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Mrs Brown, presented her Budget Statement, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of the Minutes.

An extract from the Minutes from the meeting of Cabinet [Minute 397] held on 11 February 2019; and Appendix 4 setting out the statutory resolutions that the Council was also required to consider, were tabled at the meeting.

The Leader opened her statement by advising Members that this Budget had been prepared against the continuing uncertainty over Local Government funding. Despite this, the Council had been able to produce a balanced Budget requiring no contribution from the Council’s balances. Councillor Mrs Brown saw this as a significant achievement and one that the Council should be justifiably proud of.

Councillor Mrs Brown then provided some background to the ongoing changes in Central Government funding as it had been extensively reported that local government funding was under severe pressure due to this. Councillor Mrs Brown covered the following points:

§  Central Government had indicated that it may significantly reduce the amount the Council would receive from one of its major funding sources, the New Homes Bonus. However, due to extensive lobbying by the District Councils Network (DCN), it was pleasing to be able to report that the Government had accepted the Council’s arguments and had decided not to increase the baseline from 0.4%. In the longer term, it was hoped that Government would completely remove the baseline from the distribution methodology for NHB so that the Council could continue to encourage the level of housing growth required for the future.

§  The major funding source from Central Government would be the retention of business rates. Any increases were dependent upon growth within the District. There was a significant transfer of risk from central to local government as the Council was now responsible for the appeals against valuations. Any increases were dependent upon growth within the District. Due to the Council’s focus on economic development, the Council had been particularly successful in attracting many new business start-ups to the District. Subsequently, this had partly offset the reductions that were occurring in other funding sources and continued to act as a buffer against some of this uncertainty. The Government had announced a full or partial reset from 2020/21 which might effectively wipe out some or all of this growth.

§  The Revenue Support Grant (RSG) from Central Government had continued to deteriorate and so the DCN had long highlighted the unfairness of negative RSG which had been planned to be introduced for 2019/20. The Government had since decided to cancel this approach providing the Council with a windfall of £430k for 2019/20.

§  Given these severe risks, it was vitally important for the Council to mitigate against them so that it could continue to prudently plan for the future. It was therefore important to hold a reasonable level in the Council’s General Fund reserve. Thanks to this balanced budget, it was forecast that the Councils  ...  view the full minutes text for item 419.