Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Wiltshire, Warr and Greenway.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee will be asked to approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Environment Committee held on 19 March 2024.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2024 were approved by the Committee. These would be signed after the meeting.

The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent matters for this meeting.

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

No public questions had been submitted for this meeting.

The Committee is required to agree its start times for meetings for the year 2024/25.

The Committee

RESOLVED

That its start times for meetings for 2024/25 be 6.00pm.

Ongoing review of the Council’s Car Park assets and charging structure in accordance with the Off-Street Parking Strategy and associated Action Plan.

The Chair proposed that this Item be deferred until the next meeting of the Environment Committee, explaining she felt it important that Members of the Environment Committee carry out a visit to the site of the River Road Car Park prior to the matter being discussed. Members of the Committee had received an email from Arundel Town Council requesting that they visit the site. This was seconded by the Vice-Chair.

Questions were asked around the role of the consultants and how much money had been spent on this. The Group Head of Technical Services would provide this information to Members after the meeting.

The Committee

RESOLVED

That the Item be DEFERRED until the next meeting of the Environment Committee to enable Members to visit the site.

As a result of recent flooding within the District, the Arun Flood Forum has been established to investigate the contributing factors, impacts and possible solutions in collaborative way.

This report gives an update on the second meeting of the Forum.  The meeting begun with each authority providing updates on the previous meetings actions. The Environment Agency then led on a cross organisation presentation which can be found in Appendix 3.  Forum members were then invited to consider thought provoking questions posed by the Chair and subsequently invited to engage in discussion and ask further questions.

          Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Flooding and Coastal Engineering Manager presented the report, which provided an update to Committee following the Arun Flood Forum held on 20 May 2024. The meeting had begun with each authority providing updates on the previous meetings actions; the Environment Agency (EA) then led on a cross organisation presentation; Forum members had then been invited to consider thought provoking questions posed by the Chair and subsequently invited to engage in discussion and ask further questions. The Flooding and Coastal Engineering Manager went through the Minutes of the meeting and actions agreed, which were attached to the Environment Committee agenda pack in Appendix 4.

          The Chair then invited questions and discussion and the following points were raised:

• One Member felt Littlehampton, in particular River Ward, should be represented on the Forum, and asked whether a change reflecting this could be made to the Terms of Reference of the Forum. The Group Head of Environment and Climate Change suggested that this be brought back to the Committee at the next meeting, with a recommendation from Officers to rotate the representatives from towns and parishes, so the membership was not increased, but others would have the opportunity to take part. Other Members supported this suggestion and felt their Wards would also benefit from representation on the Forum.
• One Member asked whether the time frame of the Forum could also be reviewed at the next Committee meeting, as it had originally been set up for one year, but she felt this should be extended.
• One Member highlighted that Appendix 3 of the agenda pack only mentioned ‘Internal Flooding – Garage spaces only’ and ‘External Flooding’, however there were houses in the area that had suffered flooding within their houses, and she felt it important this was recognised. She would also feedback to the EA about other information she felt was missing from some of the graphs.
• It was asked whether flood impact was a consideration when planning permission was being sought for new developments. The Flooding and Coastal Engineering Manager confirmed it was, and went onto explain that Southern Water were not able to build additional infrastructure until planning permission for the new developments had been granted.
• One Member asked for the actions Arun District Council and other organisations would take, to be clearly outlined and published.
• There was concern that the new infrastructure being designed may not be sufficient to cope with actual levels of rainfall. The Flooding and Coastal Engineering Manager explained there was an additional 45% capacity factored in when designing new infrastructure, which was a significant amount.
• One Member felt there had not been much notice given for the date of the Forum, and asked if additional notice could be given for future meetings.
• It had been mentioned that farmers were looking to take on some of the rife works and an update was requested. The Flooding and Coastal Engineering Manager explained that the rivers were managed by the EA, so it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

The Council Vision 2022-2026 was approved at Full Council in March 2022. To support the Vision, we have a comprehensive set of measurable performance indicators which allow us to identify how well we are delivering across a full range of services.   This is the second annual report and primarily updates the progress against strategic milestones. 

Covered in a separate report are the Key Performance Indicators which are primarily numeric, and measured and reported quarterly to Committees. 

          Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Organisational Excellence presented the report. The Council Vision 2022-2026 had been approved at Full Council in March 2022. To support the Vision, were a comprehensive set of measurable performance indicators which identified performance across a full range of services. This was the second annual report and primarily updated the progress against strategic milestones.

          There were no questions from Members.

          The report was noted.

This report sets out the performance of the Key Performance Indicators at Quarter 4 and end of year for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

          Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Organisational Excellence presented the report, which set out the performance of the Key Performance Indicators at Quarter 4 and end of year for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

The Chair then invited questions and discussion and the following points were raised:

• It was felt to be a real achievement that all KPIs relating to the Committee had either achieved the target or were within a close range.

• One Member had concerns around CP25 (contractor performance for green space management). In particular a wildflower meadow in Yapton that had been planted and then mown, and a shrub area that required better maintenance. The Group Head of Environment and Climate Change would discuss these particular concerns with the Member after the meeting.

• One Member was concerned with the Building Control KPIs. The Group Head of Technical Services highlighted that the Building Control team had been one full surveyor position down for the whole of last year, but had still managed to achieve 97% of site inspections dealt with within 1 day, for which he praised the team. He updated that this position had now been filled and a new surveyor would soon be joining the team. Other Members congratulated the Building Control team on their work.
• It was asked why CP24 (recycling) had consistently fallen during the year, and it whether more could be done, particularly around communicating with the public. The Group Head of Environment and Climate Change expected these figures to increase once the new waste contract begun.

The report was noted.

The Chair of the Free Parking Scheme Review Working Party, Councillor Wallsgrove, will provide a brief update on the second meeting of the Working Party held on 13 May 2024.

The Chair updated that the second meeting of the Free Parking Scheme Review Working Party had taken place on 13 May 2024, and the Minutes were attached to the Committee’s agenda pack at pages 121-126.  At the first meeting, members had been asked to provide suggestions that they wished to be considered by the Working Party during the second meeting. Several suggestions had been submitted by Heather Allen from Bognor Regis Business Improvement District (BID). There had also been a submission by Mike La Traille. Each of the options was discussed by the Working Party and they narrowed down that three options would be further researched by Officers, and brought back to the next meeting of the Working Party for consideration. Each option was to be looked at both for separate Bognor Regis/Littlehampton discs, and also for a singular Arun disc covering both towns. The three options being looked at further were virtual only permits; a hybrid of both physical and virtual discs, with the virtual discs costing less for the end users to purchase than the physical discs; to continue the current scheme but explore changes in price to the end user.

The next meeting of the Working Party would take place on 15 July 2024.

There were no questions from Members.

The Committee noted the update.

          There were no updates from Members regarding Outside Bodies.

The Committee is required to note the Work Programme for 2024/25.

[5 Minutes]

The Committee noted the Work Programme.