Agenda and minutes

          There were no Apologies for Absence submitted for this meeting.

Members and Officers are invited to make any declaration 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 items 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 interest and/or prejudicial interest

c)             the nature of the interest

The following Declarations of Personal Interests were made in relation to Agenda Item 7 [The Regeneration of The Regis Centre – Update]:

·       Councillor Nash, as a Member of Bognor Regis Town Council and as a volunteer for Arun Arts; and 

·       Councillor Brooks as a volunteer member of Arun Arts and a Member of Bognor Regis Town Council.

The Committee will be asked to approve as a correct record the Minutes of the last meeting of the Policy and Finance Committee held on 11 July 2023, as attached.   

The minutes from the meeting of the committee held on 11 July 2023 were approved as a correct record and were signed by the Chair at the conclusion of the meeting.

          The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent items.

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

          The Chair confirmed that no questions had been submitted for this meeting.

This report provides an update on the Littlehampton seafront project.

The Principal Landscape and Project Officer presented a project update report to Members. This highlighted that the design team had been progressing with stage 3 of the project over the last couple of months which had included reviewing the scheme layout in more detail and preparing all documentation in readiness to submit a planning application.  It was emphasised that this was a significant milestone to have reached and had allowed the planning application to have been submitted at the beginning of the month.

The report also referred to the project not being able to meet the criteria for the changing places grant funding, however, Members were reassured that this facility would still be provided within the scheme. Officers were now awaiting a detailed cost review to be completed before proceeding with stage 4. The Project Team was also starting to look at the phasing of the construction works and the temporary facilities which would be needed during this period.  Information would be shared with Members when these details had been confirmed.

The Chair then invited questions from Members. A question was asked about the water jets forming part of the Place St Maur facility in Bognor Regis where disappointment was expressed that these had not provided any coloured lighting and so were lacking in providing an artistic atmosphere. If water jest were planned for the Littlehampton Seafront project, could reassurance be given that coloured water jets would be provided? It was explained that this project would provide a different water type feature and that if water jets were to be provided, they would be on a much smaller scale and so it was unlikely that a lighting display would be provided. In response to this discussion, it was confirmed that coloured lighting had not, at any point, been promised for the Place St Maur project.

Congratulations were extended to the Officer Team for ensuring that the project was timewise on track. Reassurance was sought that looking forward to all future key stages and targets of the project, these would continue to be met.  It was confirmed to Members that this was the case, and that work would commence early next year with a completion date of Autumn in line with the project’s grant funding requirements.

The Committee then noted the contents of the report.

The Committee will receive a verbal update from the Council’s Regeneration Officer.

The Chair welcomed the Interim Regeneration Consultant who was attending the meeting virtually so that an update on the regeneration of the Regis Centre, Bognor Regis could be provided to the Committee.

The Interim Regeneration Consultant outlined some key points since his last update provided to the Committee on 11 July 2023. These have been summarised below:

·      A final showcase of the design had taken place at the theatre which had been very well attended and well received.

·     The RIBA Stage 3 design had been undertaken allowing a planning application consultation to have been completed prior to an application being submitted to the Council and considered by the Planning Committee on 6 September 2023. That Committee had resolved to delegate the granting of planning permission to a Planning Officer once a couple of conditions had been satisfied, principally around drainage.

·     A tender exercise had been undertaken to procure a main contractor and this had been successfully completed.

·     To facilitate stage 4 design, site investigation work had been undertaken around the theatre and on the Place St Maur as it was necessary to establish what existed underground allowing progression of the detailed design for the foundations for the extension. It could be confirmed that good progress had been made. 

·     Background work was being undertaken on the RIBA stage 4 design and what this would look like in detail particularly around mechanical and electrical work which was necessary before installing solar panels on the roof. Air source heat pumps would be used for the heating.

The Chair thanked the Interim Regeneration Consultant for his detailed update and invited questions from Members. Questions and points raised by the Committee focused on:

·       Given the situation and negotiations with Arun Arts, how was this progressing as this was seen as being critical now.  Also, could any potential date be confirmed for when work would commence. It was confirmed that a positive meeting had been held yesterday with Arun Arts resulting in a way forward being found to best ensure their survival and finding a role for the future. On site investigations, as mentioned earlier, were currently being undertaken. The main demolition works would commence nearer to Christmas.

·       Looking at the Brewers Fayre site next door, reference was made to the site visits that had been arranged for Councillors and a question was asked about this space being lost and being nothing but a building site for some time ahead when it could be an area set aside for community use. The Chair interjected confirming that this was an item for the Special Meeting of the Economy Committee on 1 November 2023 and not for discussion now.

·       A question was asked about contractors using the Brewers Fayre site. It was confirmed that contractors were using this space as site offices and to save on having to use car parking spaces in the Regis Centre car park. Again, it was confirmed that this formed the detail of a different report to the Economy Committee on 1 November  ...  view the full minutes text for item 322.

As part of the budget for 23/24 a proposal to set aside a sum of money to deliver a number of small community projects similar to this across the District was confirmed. Clearly, not all projects can or should be funded in one year; therefore, there will need to be a sifting/bidding process agreed so that there is transparency over what is proposed and the costs of delivery and maintaining the project. 

This report seeks Member agreement to the above and how funding should be used.  Alternatively, the Committee could decide not to proceed with the provision of this fund in order to assist the Council in managing its financial challenges.

The Joint Interim Chief Executive and Director of Growth presented his report outlining to Members a mechanism by which potential qualifying capital projects for the Arun Community Fund could be assessed.

Members were reminded that in the 2023/24 budget, £100k had been set aside for a Community Fund intended to support the delivery of small one-off capital community focused projects. The report sought the Committee’s approval to agree to the Arun Community Fund and to agree the suggested process for considering projects that members might want to bring forward. Equally, Members could, if they wished to, decide to not proceed with the provision of this fund and instead confirm that it would rather use the money to assist the Council in managing its financial challenges.

In considering this item, reference was made to Paragraph 10 [Human Resources Impact] as it had highlighted that the main implications surrounding the delivery of the project were the possible need to outsource the work and so further information was requested. In response, it was confirmed that no specific figures could be provided at this point as the actual proposed level of work was not yet known. Where possible, use of the Council’s in-house resources would be made, but Members were asked to be mindful that staff were fully engaged with other projects, coupled with the need to constantly review resources and money available as part of the ongoing management of the council’s financial situation.

Although the report had highlighted that the Council could make a saving by deciding not to proceed with this project, it was strongly felt that it should proceed as it would benefit at least three organisations within Arun providing an opportunity to provide something of real benefit to the community.

On discussing the scheme further, Councillor Greenway confirmed that in principle he had no issues with the scheme but was considering making an amendment to Recommendation 4. He asked why the capital cost of an individual project should not exceed £33k. It was outlined that this amount had been selected as it allowed for three potential projects to be put forward and considered out of a fund total of £100k.  If Members did not wish to have a cap imposed, that could be an amendment that they could make but they needed to realise that this would mean that there would be less funding remaining for other projects. Councillor Greenway responded stating that it had been mentioned that this was a one-off project and that Recommendation 2 set out a range of objectives to qualify as a project. He asked about the timescales for projects being submitted for consideration and if they needed to be completed within the one year timeframe identified. It was explained that this question could not be answered without knowing the detail of each project. Returning to Recommendation 2, Councillor Greenway felt that there were other criteria that should be added in considering qualifying projects. An example was applications from Parish Councils for items such as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 323.

This report sets out the performance of the Key Performance indicators at Quarter 1 for the period 1 April to 30 June 2023.

The Group Head of Organisational Excellence advised Members that this report covered the Council’s key performance indicators for Quarter 1 covering April to June 2023.

These indicators had been reported previously to the relevant committees, in this cycle of meetings, and were now being reported to the Policy and Finance Committee as the Committee with overall responsibility for performance reporting.

          The Chair confirmed to the Committee that it had been recommended by the Housing and Wellbeing Committee, at its meeting held on 12 September 2023, that the following indicators be included as KPIs in the future:

·       A KPI is created concerning incidences of council housing subletting tenancy fraud; and

·       A KPI is created concerning the non-payment of service charges for communal areas by owners of flats sold under the council’s right to buy scheme.

At the same meeting the Committee had also discussed the newly created housing specific indicators identified to enable more effective scrutiny of housing functions by the committee and in addition to allow benchmarking against other authorities.

The two suggested new KPIs were relatively detailed and likely to be of interest only to Members of the Housing & Wellbeing Committee as they had detailed knowledge of housing issues and were areas that they wished to scrutinise. The Chair therefore proposed, with this Committee’s approval, that these new recommended KPIs become part of the new suite of performance measures for housing services which were being reported quarterly to the Housing and Wellbeing Committee but that they would not be added to the overall list of corporate KPIs.

The Committee was advised further that the Housing Interim Business Improvement Manager had confirmed that these new measures could be included in the Housing & Wellbeing Committee’s quarterly report with effect from November 2023.

The Chair confirmed that although the performance report before the Committee was an update and information report with no recommendations, he asked if the Committee could support this course of action and if so then a proposer and seconder would be required.

Councillor Birch then proposed the recommendation, and this was seconded by Councillor Nash. On putting the recommendation to the vote, it was declared CARRIED.

The Committee therefore

          RESOLVED

That the two new recommended KPIs as set out below become part of the new suite of performance measures for housing services which were now being reported quarterly to the Housing & Wellbeing  Committee, but not added to the overall list of corporate KPIs.

·       A KPI is created concerning incidences of council housing subletting tenancy fraud; and

·       A KPI is created concerning the non-payment of service charges for communal areas by owners of flats sold under the council’s right to buy scheme.

The Chair then invited questions from Members on the quarter 1 performance report. The following points were raised:

·            CP2 [% of Stage 1 responses responded to within 10 working days] – concern was expressed over the hiving off of overdue complaints into a project with extra resources, could the cost be confirmed, and could reassurance be provided that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 324.

Each year the council undertakes a Residents Satisfaction Survey as part of its performance framework.

The Residents Satisfaction Survey for 2022/23 was undertaken during June and July 2023.  The council instructed BMG Research to undertake the survey.

This report sets out the main findings of the survey for review by members.

 Group Head of Organisation Excellence presented her report and introduced the 2023 Arun Residents’ satisfaction Survey to the Committee.

          It was explained that the survey provided an insight into residents’ perceptions in terms of Arun and what it was like as a place to live and what were the customer satisfaction levels in terms of the services that were provided by the Council.

          The Committee was advised that:

(1)  The survey had been carried out by a professional survey organisation called BMG to ensure that responses remained anonymous.  Members had been given a copy of their full report.  These included details of the methodology used and the views expressed.  Where possible the data in the report had been benchmarked against the Local Government Association’s national public poll in June 2023 on resident satisfaction with local councils.

(2)  The various perceptions of residents had been illustrated in tables or charts, including trends over time and on page 49 of the agenda a  summary of the responses to each question and the changes in positive satisfaction since the 2022 survey had been provided. 

(3)  The survey had been posted to 3000 residents selected to ensure full geographical coverage across the district with 755 questionnaires completed, a response rate of 25%.  This was slightly down on last year but provided a big enough response to be statistically valid.   This was the ‘closed survey’.    In addition, all residents of the district were given the opportunity to complete the survey online, via a link on the website.  610 surveys were completed by this route.   Section 4 of the BMG report set out differences between the  perceptions of those responding to the open and the closed surveys with some suggested reasons.

Finally, it was explained that in addition to this survey, key performance indicators were reported to Service Committees which also provided the Council with a wealth of factual performance data enabling Members to scrutinise the performance of services on a regular basis. Officers were therefore proposing that the Residents Satisfaction Survey be completed every two years in the future with the next survey planned to be undertaken in 2025, resulting in a budget saving.

A range of questions and observations were asked and made by Members. Of particular interest were the satisfaction levels for the eastern and western sides of the district which differed considerably with those residing in the east being very satisfied compared to those in the west who were less so.  These differences could be seen with issues such as levels of cleanliness and trusting the council to make the right decisions. Members were keen to explore how improvements could be made to level out these differences.

          The Joint Interim Chief Executive and Director of Growth outlined that Officers were looking at the results closely to identify the specific areas that the Council needed to address. It was clear the Council needed to find ways of communicating better with residents and this work was in hand.

          Following further discussion, the Chair drew  ...  view the full minutes text for item 325.

The Council’s financial planning impacts all Directorates of the Council. The purpose of this report is to give Members a high-level interim update on the current financial and economic prospects for the Council for the period 2024/25 to 2028/29. The report also asks members to note the financial parameters for the 2024/25 budget preparation.

A more detailed report will be brought back to this Committee for its next meeting on 6 December 2023.

The Committee received a report from the Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer. Prior to presenting the detail of his report, he confirmed that he needed to make an amendment to Recommendation 2.3 to read as follows [deletions have been shown using strikethrough with additions shown using bold.

Recommendation 2.3 “the Committee agrees to delegate authority to the Section 151 Officer and the Chief Executive Officers and in consultation with the Chair of the Policy & Finance Committee to decide future participation in any West Sussex Business Rates Pool”.

          Councillor Gunner formally proposed this amendment which was then seconded by Councillor Stanley.  On this amendment being put to the vote it was declared CARRIED.

(At this point, Councillors Greenway, Pendleton and Oppler declared their Personal Interests as Members of West Sussex County Council).  

          The remainder of the report with recommendations was then presented.  It was highlighted that the report provided a 5 year forecast, which was still work in progress, but that a further report would be presented to the Committee at its next meeting on 6 December 2023. There would certainly be changes made to the figures and assumptions made within that report as the economic situation was still extremely volatile making the job of forecasting very difficult.

The Committee’s attention was drawn to Appendix A providing the latest forecast in terms of budget deficits that had to be closed. For 2024/25 this stood at £4.5m representing a change of £1m from the previous year when this Committee received the same report back in December 2022. One of the main reasons for this had been pay and contract inflation and further detail had been provided within the report.

The Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer said that there was more work to be done on estimates and further reviews were to be undertaken.  One of these was business rates. For 2025/26, a large increase had been forecasted and this was explained in detail. Further work on this area would be undertaken ahead of the report for the Committee’s next meeting. Certain assumptions had been made on central government grants and further work would be undertaken on capital programming and potential projects.

Looking at Appendix B, it was explained that this showed the impact to the Council’s usable revenue reserves if the funding gap was not closed. It was stressed to Members by the Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer that whilst he did not expect the Council to run out of reserves, Members would need to make some difficult decisions going forward.

The Council’s approach to formulating it forecasts was then explained. Much work in producing service planning templates had been undertaken with Group Heads as these would inform the budget process and would be reported back to Members during the budget setting process. 

The Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer then drew Members’ attention to Section 4.1 of report which explained the budget process. Turning to the Local Government Finance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 326.

Budget monitoring and forecasting are key in ensuring sound financial control and control of spending is in place. It is also a major part in ensuring sound governance arrangements.

The purpose of this report is to appraise the Policy and Finance Committee of its forecast outturn against the 2023/24 budgets, which were approved by Full Council at its meeting on 9 March 2023. The report sets out in further detail the Committee’s Revenue and Capital programme budget forecast projections to the 31 March 2024.

 Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer presented to Members the Budget Monitoring Report to 30 June 2023.

          This report was asking the Committee to note that an additional £750k would need to be added to the capital programme in respect of capital works to the harbour wall at Littlehampton Harbour as it was currently a statutory requirement. Members were also being asked to note that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) would continue to be closely monitored to ensure that corrective action would be taken if required. A report would be taken to the next meeting of the Housing and Wellbeing Committee on 23 November 2023.

          There were virements that the Committee needed to approve, and Members were reminded that this did not mean that this was additional expenditure.  Appendix 1 of the report set out the quarter 1 revenue budget forecast performance for the year at £34.377m against a budget of £35.042, resulting in a forecast underspend of £665k. The significant variances had been set out within the report and the reasons for the underspend had been presented to Service Committees over the last cycle of meetings.

Due to increases in interest rates it was positive to be able to report an overachievement of investment income. Members were reminded that within the 2023/24 budget, £3m had been set aside for the transformation budget but there was also the need to identify £2m savings in 2023/24. An update would be reported in greater detail in the Quarter 2 report.

Other appendices set out the General Fund forecast, the capital programme, the HRA and associated cost pressures. The £750k mentioned earlier for the Littlehampton Harbour wall was not presently in the capital programme but would need to be added. The three capital projects approved by Full Council on 19 July 2023, would appear in the Quarter 2 forecast. The HRA was looking at a current overspend of £179k, however, following major review work taken place since then it was anticipated that this figure would change significantly. Members were reminded that an update report would be provided to the next meeting of the Housing & Wellbeing Committee and then reported to this Committee on 6 December 2023. 

Finally, looking at earmarked reserves, it was anticipated that by the end of the financial year these would reduce to around £19.7m.

The Chair invited questions from Members. It had been highlighted that the £2m savings target would probably not be achieved and the £3m transformational budget would not be fully spent. It was explained, as mentioned under the previous agenda item, that more detail would be provided in the Quarter 2 report.

It was stated that it would be very difficult for Members to be expected to make major budgetary decisions in February 2024 without being provided with all the details around savings and not knowing what savings could be achieved in 2023/24. It was again emphasised that this work was currently underway with proposals coming forward for Members to see and be updated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 327.

The Committee will receive the Minutes from the meeting of the Housing & Wellbeing Committee held on 12 September 2023, which are attached.

There are recommendations for this Committee to consider as set out below:

Minute 240 [Key Performance Indicators 2022-2026 – Quarter 1 Performance Report for the period 1 April to 30 June 2023]

It is recommended to the Policy & Finance Committee that two new KPIs are created as set out below:

·       Concerning incidences of Council housing subletting tenancy fraud; and

·       Concerning the non-payment of service charges for communal areas by owners of flats sold under the Council’s Right to Buy Scheme

Minute 246 [Local Authority Housing Fund]

It is recommended to the Policy & Finance Committee that:

Includes this scheme within the Council’s capital programme at a total cost of £2.73m, with £1.09m to be funded from central government grant and £1.6m to be funded by the Council through additional borrowing.

The Officer’s report surrounding this item is attached as background information.

The Chair confirmed that the Committee had received recommendations from the Housing & Wellbeing Committee following its meeting held on 12 September 2023.

          The first recommendations for this Committee to consider were at Minute 240 [Key Performance Indicators 2022-2026 – Quarter 1 Performance Report for the Period 1 April to 30 June 2023.  The two recommendations were:

·       A KPI is created concerning incidences of council housing subletting tenancy fraud; and

·       A KPI is created concerning the non-payment of service charges for communal areas by owners of flats sold under the council’s right to buy scheme.

The Chair confirmed that these recommendations had been dealt with as part of Agenda Item 9 [Key Performance Indicators 2022-206 – Quarter 1 Performance Report for the Period 1 April to 30 June 2023].

The Chair then drew Members’ attention to a recommendation at Minute 246 [Local Authority Husing Fund] and confirmed that if approved by the Committee it was necessary to forward this onto Full Council for final approval.

The recommendation was that:

This Council includes this scheme within the Council’s capital programme at a total cost of £2.7 m, with £1.09m to be funded from central government grant and £1.6 m to be funded by the Council through additional borrowing.

Having had this recommendation proposed by Councillor Nash and seconded by Councillor Birch,

The Committee

                     RECOMMEND TO FULL COUNCIL

That this includes this scheme within he Council’s capital programme at a total cost of £2.7 m with £1.09 m to be funded from central government grant and £1.6 m  to be funded by the Council through additional borrowing.

The Committee will receive the minutes from the meeting of the Economy Committee held on 5 October 2023, which are attached.

There is a recommendation for the Committee to consider as set out below:

Minute 283 [Budget Monitoring Report – Quarter 1]

It is recommended to the Policy & Finance Committee that it approves a virement of £190,000 from the Corporate Support Committee budget to the Economy Committee budget.

A copy of the Officer’s report surrounding this item is attached as background information.

The Chair confirmed that the Committee had received a recommendation to consider following the meeting of the Economy Committee held on 5 October 2023.

          This recommendation was at minute 283 [Budget Monitoring Report – Quarter 1] and it recommended that the Policy & Finance Committee approves a virement of £190,000 from the Corporate Support Committee budget to the Economy Committee budget.

          The Chair confirmed that the Committee had already approved this recommendation in considering Agenda Item 12 earlier [Budget Monitoring Report to 30 June 2023] and so there was no further action for the Committee to take.

          The Chair also confirmed that at the meeting of the Corporate Support Committee held on 12 October 2023, a recommendation had also been made to this Committee in considering that Committee’s Budget Monitoring Report.  It asked the Policy & Finance Committee to approve virements of £190,000 from the Corporate Support Committee to the Economy Committee and £34,423 from the Policy & Finance Committee to the Corporate Support Committee.

          Again, this recommendation had been approved earlier as part of Agenda Item 12 [Budget Monitoring Report to 30 June 2023] and so there was no further action for the Committee to take.

The Chair confirmed that there were no items for this meeting.

The Committee’s Work Programme is attached for information.

          The Committee received and noted its work programme for the remainder of the 2023/24 year.