The Chairman, Councillor Mrs Brown, will present the Minutes from the meeting of Cabinet held on 10 December 2018. There are recommendations at:
o Minute 295 [Housing & Homelessness Strategy 2019-2021] - to view the Officer’s report and Appendices, please click on this link – Report and Appendix 1 and Appendix 2
o Minute 299 [Overview Select Committee – 3 December 2018 – Minute 284 – Council Tax Reduction Scheme (Working Age) – to view the Minutes from the meeting of the Special Overview Select Committee held on 3 December 2018 and the Officer’s accompanying report – please click on these links: Minutes
andReport
Minutes:
Councillor Mrs Brown then alerted Members to the first of a series of recommendations at Minute 295 [Housing & Homelessness Strategy 2019/2021] and she emphasised how important this Strategy was as it covered all of the primary housing functions that the Council had to undertake and how these would be undertaken working with the Council’s partners towards a balanced housing market for the District and ensuring the provision of safe and healthy homes for Arun’s residents. Councillor Mrs Brown stated that the Strategy had four main objectives which were to increase housing supply and improve access to affordable housing; prevent and relieve homelessness; to improve the housing conditions across all tenures; and to create sustainable communities to meet the needs of all residents.
Councillor Mrs Brown then formally proposed the recommendations which were seconded by Councillor Bence.
In debating this item, a question was asked about the Council’s cold weather protocol for rough sleepers and why this had only just been activated when cold weather had been experienced for at least a week – other Councils had put their protocols into force some days ago. Councillor Mrs Brown was also asked what criteria was in place for this and for dealing with the homeless and in attempting to reduce the number of rough sleepers.
Although Councillors spoke in support of the recommendations, some urged the Council to urgently put into place more support for ex-veterans experiencing problems with PTSD and other mental health issues and needing urgent housing support. Councillor Buckland outlined that he had been in liaison with Councillor Mrs Goldsmith as Leader of West Sussex County Council (WSCC) over its decision to cut housing support grant to certain charities and organisations by a sum of £4M and he asked Councillor Mrs Brown, as Leader of this Council, if she and the Cabinet Member for Residential Services could meet with Councillor Mrs Goldsmith to ensure that WSCC would work with its neighbouring Councils to ensure that the right housing support would be provided to former armed service personnel, especially those with PTSD and other similar problems. Councillor Buckland asked if he could receive confirmation that these discussions would take place as ex-veteran rates with these problems were increasing at a rapid rate.
Councillor Chapman spoke in response and in his position as the Council’s appointed Champion on the Armed Forces Community Covenant. He confirmed that on 25 November 2018, a paper had been approved by the House of Commons which was an initiative review of all services involved in supporting veterans. As a result, a Strategy for veterans and a questionnaire had been distributed on 15 December 2018 for all interested parties to take part in and to respond to. Councillor Chapman confirmed that the Council had undertaken a lot of work in giving priority to ex-veterans in terms of housing allocation and that Arun was a leader in this field in terms of dealing with individual cases. He urged Councillor Buckland, in his position as Vice-Chairman of the Littlehampton Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club to respond to the consultation document.
The Cabinet Member for Residential Services, Councillor Bence, confirmed that he made a request, prior to Christmas, to have the night shelter open on extended hours to those that needed it.
The Council
RESOLVED – That
(1) The Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2019-2021 and its supporting Action Plan be approved; and
(2) Delegated authority be given to the Group Head of Residential Services, in conjunction with the Cabinet Member for Residential Services, to make appropriate changes to the Strategy during its life span.
Councillor Mrs Brown then referred Members to Minute 298 [Temporary Appointment to Patching Parish Council] and explained that Cabinet had considered this report on 10 December 2018 which sought authority to appoint a District Councillor to Patching Parish Council as it had found itself inquorate. Since the Cabinet meeting, further legislation had been identified confirming that this decision needed to be taken by Full Council as this could not be delegated to the executive of the Council.
Councillor Mrs Brown therefore referred Members to the report setting out the background to this matter and that the Council now needed to confirm this appointment. Councillor Mrs Brown then formally proposed the recommendations which were seconded by Councillor Wensley.
The Council
RESOLVED – That
(1) Under Section 91 (1) of the Local Government Act 1972, Arun District Council, as principal authority under the Act, hereby appoints one District Councillor as a Parish Councillor with the Patching Parish Council until either 7 May 2019, or such earlier date when the vacancies at the Parish Council have been filled, by election or co-option, so that the Parish council is quorate;
(2) The District Councillor to be appointed be Councillor Bicknell; and
(3) The Group Head of Council Advice & Monitoring Officer be given authority to instruct Legal Services to make the Order and confirm this to the Secretary of State.
Finally, Councillor Mrs Brown alerted Members to Minute 299 [Special Overview Select Committee – 3 December 2018 – Minute 284 (Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (Working Age) which set out the reasoning behind why the Council should consider changing its existing Council Tax Reduction Scheme to an income-banded scheme (Option 2) from April 2019. Councillor
Mrs Brown formally proposed the recommendation which was then seconded by Councillor Bence.
The Council
RESOLVED
That Option 2 [to change the Council Tax Reduction Scheme to an income-banded scheme] be agreed as this Council’s Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2019/2020.