Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Carrie O'Connor 

Items
No. Item

12.

Declarations of Interest

Members and Officers are reminded 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

c) the nature of the interest

Minutes:

The following declarations of Personal Interest were made:-

·         Councillor Miss Seex as a Member of Littlehampton Town Council and also as a Member of the Chichester Business Improvement District [BID]

·         Councillor Dr Walsh as a member of Littlehampton Town Council and West Sussex County Council.

·         Councillors Mrs Baker, Miss Rhodes and B Blanchard-Cooper as Members of Littlehampton Town Council.

 

13.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 132 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2019  (attached).

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2019 were approved as a correct record by the Sub-Committee and signed by the Chairman.

 

14.

Arun Public Spaces Protection Order - Public Consultation pdf icon PDF 133 KB

This report is intended to provide information on proposed amendments to the Arun Public Spaces Protection Order and, specifically, to outline the public consultation process that has been undertaken to encourage maximum feedback from the local community (residents, business’ and visitors) by using the online survey available at www.arun.gov.uk

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman outlined that in view of the concerns raised at Full Council on 13 November 2019 relating to the role of the Bognor Regis Regeneration Sub-Committee in considering this item, she was putting forward her suggestions as to how this matter be handled by the Sub-Committee.

 

            As confirmed at Full Council, Cabinet has been listed in the Forward Plan as the decision taker on a new Order and the date for the decision to be taken would be the meeting of Cabinet on 13 January 2020.  As a result of the debate at Full Council, the Community Manager was now reviewing the legislation and what happened when the last Order was made to confirm whether this should remain a Cabinet decision or should form a recommendation going forward to a future meeting of Full Council.

 

            Discussions were ongoing with the Cabinet Member for Community and Wellbeing, Councillor Mrs Yeates, in terms of whether there should be any change to the current timelines for a decision as the Cabinet Member for Technical Services, Councillor Stanley, who was also the Chairman of the Bognor Regis Regeneration Sub-Committee, had agreed to look at this when this had been debated at Full Council.

 

            The Chairman suggested that as a Sub-Committee, Members views be listed and compiled to make a formal response to the consultation exercise but that this would not form a recommendation to Full Council.   Instead, any special observations would be reflected in the Minutes forming the Sub-Committee’s response for feeding into the consultation exercise.

 

            Having received the Sub-Committee’s approval to this way forward, the Chairman then invited the Community Manager to present her report.

 

            The Community Manager firstly reminded Members that the current Order did not expire until the end of March 2020.  It had been introduced by the Council in April 2017 and this was why there had been the need for it to be reviewed.  Legislation required the Council to undertake a period of public consultation to determine whether the Order should be extended, amended or discharged. The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 granted local authorities the opportunity to introduce PSPOs as a way of tackling persistent or on-going nuisance identified in specific locations where it was having a detrimental effect on the quality of life.  Public consultation had commenced on 24 September and ended on 24 October 2019.  This Sub-Committee was being invited to submit its views which could be added to the feedback received from local businesses and residents in respect of two sections.  Section 1 which was tackling and reducing anti-social behaviour (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) and Section 2 tackling and reducing anti-social behaviour for parks, opens spaces and foreshores.

 

Members were advised that the new proposed PSPO areas had been significantly reduced compared to the current Order. This change was a result of the difficulty in enforcing the dispersal powers.  The new areas specifically related to the Town Centres of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton where there was evidence of constant anti-social and nuisance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

Visitor Information Provision in Littlehampton pdf icon PDF 255 KB

Following the unforeseen closure of the Look and Sea Centre on 31st August 2018, alternative locations in Littlehampton, as sources of Visitor Information for the town and the surrounding area, have been arranged and set in place with local businesses and organisations. This report provides an overview of the new arrangements, progress to date and evolving plans.

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report updating Members on the sources of Visitor Information provision within the Town since the closure of the Look and Sea Centre on 31 August 2018. 

 

 Since the Council made the decision to not provide a staffed VIC in the Look & Sea, the Council had been charged to explore alternative ways to provide a physical VIC presence in the Town, in addition to the existing information sources such as the Sussex by the Sea website; social media; the printed visitor guide; and a destination marketing and promotion facility. 

 

Members were updated on work that had been undertaken to date.  It had been decided to work with a variety of existing local businesses and organisations in various locations such as the Town Centre; riverside, seafront and West Beach.  The Tourism Officer confirmed that nine businesses/organisations had agreed to host information in the form of tourist information leaflets and event posters and that volunteers/staff could also assist with visitor enquiries. These new partner businesses were known as Littlehampton Local Visitor Information Points (LLVIPs) and their locations had been set out within the report.  They had already reported the benefit of LLVIPS in terms of experiencing an increased footfall from visitors entering their premises.  To date this had been reported as being a positive experience.

 

            Varying questions were raised by the Sub-Committee.  Offices were asked to explore providing additional LLVIPS in new locations.  Littlehampton Railway Station was seen to be an obvious choice.  It was explained that work was ongoing and that there was a space capacity issue to overcome first in terms of where to display leaflets in obvious places like the waiting room area or ticket office and/or refreshment area which were all open at different times.  Members asked whether, as part of the ongoing negotiations, if it would be possible to explore providing an electronic screen in the station as this had been successfully trialled last year at Bognor Regis and seemed to be the most efficient and effective way of advertising Town events and Town issues.   The Littlehampton Harbour Board, which had plenty of downstairs space was also highlighted as a possible and appropriate LLVIP venue for Officers to explore taking into consideration its prime location on the Riverside Walkway.  The Tourism Officer explained that the Harbour Board Office was already included in the nine LLVIP locations.  The new Littlehampton Wave was also identified as a ‘must have’ location.

 

Discussion then turned to the Sussex by the Sea website and the issues that had been raised at the last meeting of the Sub-Committee in June 2019.  There were concerns that visitors might not easily associate this link to finding events and attractions in the District. The Group Head of Economy responded stating that this fact had been recognised and that a review would be taking place as the web site was dated and needed a refresh.   Officers were looking at a range of tools as part of this review which would revamp the website completely.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

16.

Littlehampton Regeneration Position Statement pdf icon PDF 265 KB

To receive and note the Position Statement.

Minutes:

In receiving and noting the Position Statement, particular discussion took place on the following main topical projects:-

 

·         Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Scheme – Further information was provided by the Town Centre Regeneration Officer confirming that over the Summer a funding bid had been submitted to the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership Local Growth Fund in the sum of £1.38m to fund delivery of the next phase of public realm improvements.  With the agreement of the Leader of the Council, a further bid had been submitted bringing the final total up to £2.3m to deliver Phase 3 of the programme.  A grant of £564k had been awarded for Phase 3, however, this this fell short of the full amount needed to deliver the scheme [£900k].  In liaison and conjunction with Littlehampton Town Council, Arun and LTC were topping up the outstanding money so the full scheme could be delivered to include the Beach Road element. The next step was for Officers to meet with the scheme’s designers, LDA Designs, who would be working up more detailed design specifications by February 2020.  The Group Head of Economy outlined that it would benefit Members if she could organise a “walk through” of the scheme to highlight how it would work using maps and drawings so that the Sub-Committee could see and understand exactly was being proposed.  Over the Summer months Officers had liaised with traders to gain their understanding and views on some of the issues that would need to be taken into consideration for the next phase.  The issue of vehicles using the High Street for deliveries had been the main concern and so Officers were gathering more data on this. In response, Members commented that it was vital to sort out the mixed paving for this aspect of the scheme as it was felt that a flat plaza could lead to dangerous confusion between pedestrians and vehicles.  It was Members’ wish that this viewpoint be forwarded onto the designers.  It was felt vital that the Arcade needed to be included as part of this phase to show that it was an integral and welcoming part of the High Street.  It was hoped that lighting would be fully updated in line with the rest of the High Street. Further points made were:

o   Would the ‘walk through’ be for information purposes or would Members have an opportunity to make comments that would be taken into consideration? 

o   Concern was expressed over accessability and paving surfaces.  It was outlined that there was the need to ensure that those with disabilities would be able to access all new paving areas and that these would be appropriate. 

o   The placement of trees was important

o   Precise timeframes for the project were requested.

o   How were traders’ views being formulated and incorporated?

o   Members asked to see the survey results so that they had the opportunity to comment

o   The Group Head of Economy outlined that it had taken a huge Officer resource to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.