Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed councillors, representatives of the public, press and officers to the meeting.

The Chair stated that it was with great sorrow that he had to commence another meeting by announcing sad news. He confirmed that following a long period of illness notification had been received that Councillor Jim Brooks had passed away on Sunday, 26 January 2025.

          The Chair confirmed that Councillor Brooks’ funeral had taken place on Thursday, 20 February 2025 with many councillors and officers being in attendance to pay their respects to a long-serving colleague.

          Councillor Brooks had become a Councillor on 3 May 2007 and had served the residents of the Marine Ward for all that time whilst also being a councillor for Bognor Regis Town Council for the same period.

          As a council, the Chair asked those present to extend thoughts and prayers to Councillor Brooks’ family and friends at this very sad time. Tributes to Councillor Brooks were then made by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Lury, and by Councillors Huntley, Nash, Pendleton, Amanda Worne and Stanley.

          The council then conducted a minute’s silence to his memory.

          Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Bence, Bower, English, Goodheart, Hamilton and Needs.   

          An Apology for Absence had also been received from the council’s Honorary Alderman Mr Dingemans.

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

The Declaration of Interest Sheet set out below confirms those Members who had made a declaration of their personal interest as a Member of a Town or Parish Councillor or a West Sussex County Councillor, as confirmed in their Register of Interest as these declarations could apply to any of the issues to be discussed at the meeting. 

Councillor Stanley declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 10 (Policy & Finance Committee – 13 February 2025, Procurement of Human Resources and Payroll System) as he had a close family member who worked for West Sussex County Council’s Payroll, and this was being explored as a possible option.

The Chair then reminded Members of the restrictions on voting outlined in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. This confirmed that where a member had at least two months’ arrears of Council Tax they must not vote on any other matter relating directly to the setting of the next year’s Council Tax, though they could remain in the meeting and could speak.

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

The Chair confirmed that one question had been submitted for this meeting which was from Mrs Smith regarding the council’s decision declaring them to have unreasonable behaviour. As this question was substantially like a question submitted to the July 2024 meeting of council, the Chair confirmed that in line with procedures in place for public question time as set out in the Council Procedure Rules, he was using his discretion and confirming that Mrs Smith would receive a written response to her question. 

 The Chair then drew Public Question Time to a close.

(A schedule of the full questions asked, and the responses provided can be found on the Public Question Web page at: Arun District Council )

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

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

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 8 January 2025, which are attached.

          The minutes from the last Meeting of the Council held on 8 January 2025, were approved by the council as a correct record with the Chair confirming that he would sign the minutes at the conclusion of the meeting.

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

The Chair provided the detail of events he had attended following the last Full Council Meeting held on 8 January 2025.

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.

The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent matters for the meeting to consider.

The Council is asked to consider the Revenue and Capital Budgets for the 2025/26 financial year for both the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.

A report from the Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer is attached and considers the recommendations made by the Policy and Finance Committee following its meeting held on 13 February 2025 in respect of the Council’s Budget for 2025/26. The minutes from this meeting are attached.  

The associated statutory resolutions have been received from West Sussex County Council and the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner in terms of precepts.

This item will be presented using the order below in line with Council Procedure Rule 4.3 [Procedure for Debate at Special Meetings]:

(i)             Welcome by the Chair

(ii)            Presentation by the Leader of the Council to deliver his Budget Statement – Councillor Lury will make his Budget Statement and will propose the recommendations, including the associated statutory resolutions required in agreeing the Budget.

(iii)          To be moved by – Councillor Lury

(iv)          Councillor Nash to second (may reserve his right to speak)

(v)           Questions to be responded to by invited speaker(s) and/or Officers from:

(a) Members and

(b) Any other persons permitted by the Chair

(vi)     Statements may then be made by:

(vi)          Councillor Gunner to respond on behalf of the Conservative Group

(vii)         Councillor Northeast  to respond on behalf of the Labour Group

(viii)       Councillor Wallsgrove to respond on behalf of the Green Group

(ix)          Councillor Huntley to respond on behalf of the Independent Group

(x)           Councillor Goodheart to respond on behalf of the Arun Independent Group

(xi)          Any other person permitted by the Chair

(xii)         Open debate

(xiii)       Councillor Nash to respond as seconder

(xiv)       Councillor Lury to respond as proposer

(xv)        Recorded Vote required [in line with Council Procedure Rule 20.6

(xvi)       Chair to conclude the debate

          The Chair confirmed that this Special Council Meeting had been called to consider the Budget for 2025/2026 and to set the Council Tax for Arun District Council. Councillors were referred to 17 recommendations set out within the agenda papers for them to consider as well as the need to note four further recommendations and the minutes from the meeting of the Policy & Finance Committee held on 13 February 2025.

          Before inviting the Leader of the Council, Councillor Lury, to present his Budget Statement, the Chair reminded councillors of the procedure for this meeting as confirmed in the Constitution at Council Procedure Rule 4.3 and as set out in the covering agenda for the meeting.

Councillor Lury commenced his budget statement by formally proposing the recommendations set out in the report confirming that Councillor Nash would then second the proposals.  He outlined that local government had to suffer the vagaries of government policy which impacted its operation. There were two challenges to highlight being the Fair Funding Review and the reset of business rates. Those risks had been considered in finalising the budget. Councillor Lury stated that history was a recurrent theme, and he referred to the last conservative budget which had resulted in a structural budget deficit of £5.2m and included growth of over £1m. This resorting to raiding council reserves was not sustainable or financially prudent. Councillor Lury was therefore pleased to be able to announce that this budget had reduced the deficit substantially to £1.88m. The administration had  achieved this by approving £1.5m savings in 24/25 and by freezing non-essential growth for 2 years. A policy of charging council tax on second homes had been implemented achieving additional income of £355k and freeing up homes that were otherwise standing empty. Councillor Lury referred to other financial strategy work streams which were well under way such as the asset review and retendering of the waste contract to deliver further savings in 2025/26. He was pleased to announce that all of this had been achieved without the need for compulsory redundancies or cuts to front line services. Prudence remained at the fore of this budget and dictated that adding non-essential growth would be reckless at this time considering future government reforms and potential financial demands from the Littlehampton Harbour Board.

Councillor Lury then turned his attention to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) where it had been necessary to make the difficult decision to increase rent and introduce service charges of 2.7%. He stated that due to the economic environment imposed onto the council, this had significantly impacted the income base resulting in the HRA balance remaining below the council’s £2m target level. The service charge de-pooling policy was hoped to generate significant income next year and it was confirmed that a hardship fund would be established to alleviate the pressure on those impacted the most. The HRA reserve was forecast to reach over £1.48m edging closer to the council’s £2m target.

Councillor Lury then turned to the council’s capital programme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 562.

The Chair of the Corporate Support Committee, Councillor Oppler, will present a recommendation from the meeting of the Corporate Support Committee held on 6 February 2025.

The minutes from the meeting are attached. There are two recommendations for the Council to consider which can be found at Minute 523 (Review of Polling District, Polling Places and Polling Stations). The Officer’s report is also attached.

          The Chair of the Corporate Support Committee, Councillor Oppler, presented recommendations following the meeting of the Corporate Support Committee held on 6 February 2025.

          Councillor Oppler referred Members to recommendations at Minute 523 (Review of Polling District, Polling Places and Polling Stations). In duly proposing the recommendations he outlined that it was necessary to make a slight amendment to Recommendation 2 to delete reference to the West Sussex County Council elections on 1 May 2025, as these were no longer taking place.  Councillor Tandy confirmed that he was happy to second the amendment and the remaining recommendations.

          The amendment to the second recommendation is set out below:

The use of the polling stations listed in Appendix 1 be agreed for future elections.  including the West Sussex County Council Elections scheduled to be held on 1 May 2025.

                     The Council  

                     RESOLVED – That

(1)  The Returning Officer’s report on the 2023/24 review of Polling Districts, Polling Places and Polling Stations for the Arun District, as set out in Appendix 1, be agreed; and

(2)  The use of the polling stations listed in Appendix 1 be agreed for future elections.  

The Chair of the Policy & Finance Committee, Councillor Lury, will present recommendations from the meeting of the Policy & Finance Committee held on 13 February 2025.

The minutes from the meeting have been attached as part of Agenda Item 8 (Council Budgets 2025/26). The recommendations for the Council to consider can be found at Minute 538(Corporate Support Committee – 6 February 2025 - Procurement of Human Resources and Payroll System). The Officer’s report is attached together with an Exempt Appendix.

(Prior to the commencement of this item, Councillor Stanley redeclared his personal interest made at the start of the meeting).

          The Chair of the Policy & Finance Committee, Councillor Lury, presented recommendations following the meeting of the Policy & Finance Committee held on 13 February 2025.

          Councillor Lury referred Members to two recommendations at Minute 538 (Corporate Support Committee – Procurement of Human resources/Payroll System which he duly proposed explaining why it was necessary to proceed in procuring a replacement HR/Payroll system. He confirmed that an exempt briefing note had been circulated to councillors in advance of this meeting and that this briefing note had also been circulated to the meeting.

The Chair stated that members needed to be mindful of discussing any information contained within that document and that if there was a need to move into exempt business, members could do this.

          Councillor Nash then seconded the recommendations.

          The Chair invited debate. Various questions were asked. Firstly, confirmation was sought as to the precise date that the system would cease to function. It was confirmed that the current system would be withdrawn by its supplier in December 2026 meaning that there was a business need to have a replacement system bedded in by April 2026 well in advance of that date. Questions were also asked in terms of the cost of the replacement system and how this would be funded. The Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer confirmed that this would be funded from borrowing.

          As confirmation had been received that councillors wished to discuss the content of the exempt paper circulated, Councillor McAuliffe proposed that the meeting should move into exempt business. This was seconded by Councillor Gunner.

          The Council

                     RESOLVED 

That under Section 100a (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and accredited representatives of newspapers be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act by virtue of the paragraph specified against the item.

          A range of questions and concerns were raised covering business options and other alternatives and timescales and costs. Responses to the questions raised and concerns expressed were provided.

The meeting then resumed in open session.

Further debate took place with some Councillors confirming that from what they had heard in response to questions raised in exempt business, there were too many unanswered concerns in relation to alternative options available. It was felt that some of the options set out in the exempt paper provided should be explored further and in greater detail. The Chief Executive was asked if she could provide solid reassurance that she was content with the proposals put forward. In response, the Chief Executive confirmed that following the Policy & Finance Committee held on 13 February 2025, she had convened an urgent meeting with the project team to work through the questions that had been asked by councillors at that meeting and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 564.

To consider any Motions submitted in accordance with Council Procedure 15.

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