Chichester District Council
Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2, East Pallant House. View directions

Contact: Bambi Jones on 01243 534685  Email:  bjones@chichester.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

191.

Chairman's announcements

Any apologies for absence that have been received will be noted at this point.

Minutes:

Apologies had been received from Mr N Galloway and Mr G Hicks.

 

192.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 570 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 14 November 2017.

 

To consider progress against the committee’s recommendations to Council and Cabinet.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee considered the minutes of the last meeting held on 14 November 2017.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2017 be approved as a correct record.

 

Matters arising:

 

Mrs P Dignum commented on the ‘excellent’ Wellbeing update report provided in the minutes. She noted the helpful support given by individual members of staff to members of the public with health needs and requested that this be recognised by congratulating the members of the team.

 

Mr Martin and Mr Shaxson commented on the sickness absence figures included with the minutes. They were concerned that the council’s absence figures were very different to the figures in the Office of National Statistics (ONS) report which had been circulated to the Human Resources Manager and which included private and public sector analysis. A request was made that a report come to the next meeting of this committee explaining the differences in the figures, listing the other authorities against whom we benchmark ourselves and including analysis by department (in days and percentage terms. The committee was in agreement with this request.

 

RESOLVED

 

That a report be brought to the next meeting of this committee on sickness absence figures.

 

[Post meeting note: A response was received from the Cabinet to the committee’s recommendation at its last meeting on 14 November 2017 relating to minute 190 (Forward Plan 2017 to February 2018) and this response is attached to these minutes.]

193.

Urgent Items

The Chairman will announce any urgent items that due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under the agenda item below relating to Late Items.

 

Minutes:

There were no urgent items for consideration at this meeting.

 

194.

Declarations of Interests

Members and officers are reminded to make any declarations of disclosable pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests they may have in respect of matters on the agenda for this meeting.

Minutes:

Mrs P Dignum declared a prejudicial interest in respect of agenda item 7 as she is the Council’s representative on the Pallant House Gallery Trust and Company.

 

195.

Public Question Time

The procedure for submitting public questions in writing no later than 12:00 on Monday 15 January 2018 is available upon request to Democratic Services (the contact details for which appear on the front page of this agenda).

Minutes:

No public questions had been received.

 

196.

Housing Strategy Update pdf icon PDF 55 KB

The committee is requested to consider and comment on progress made in delivering the council’s Housing Strategy for the period 2013-2018 as set out in the Housing Strategy Delivery Plan at Appendix 1. The committee is also requested to note that a new Housing Strategy will be developed as set out in paragraphs 4.1 and 4.2 of the report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee considered the report included with the agenda. Mrs L Grange, Divisional Manager for Housing Services, presented the report.

 

The committee made the following comments and received answers to questions as follows:

 

·         Funding received from Government by Community Land Trusts (CLTs) would normally be spent in the latter stages of the project when planning permission, development costs, land purchase etc. takes place. There were three CLTs in the process of drawing down grant with more expected later this year.

·         There was no mention of the South Downs National Park (SDNP) in the initiatives listed in the Housing Strategy Delivery Plan. Officers take every opportunity to work with the SDNP and to influence their policies and talks take place between the appropriate planning officers involved at an early stage on individual sites.

·         Downsizing. Queried developing a policy to provide subsidy to encourage downsizing or the council supporting families to allow downsizing to take place. A pilot scheme was run with Hyde but with few outcomes. The current Allocations Scheme promotes downsizing however there is no financial incentive on offer. This will be considered as part of the new strategy.

·         Requested a monthly register with number of homes permitted to be developed in the district, locations, land owners and date consent granted, house types and size.

·         Requested breakdown of number of affordable homes delivered in and out of the SDNP over the housing strategy period. [Post meeting note: This update has been provided and is attached to these minutes.]

·         Report on the number of affordable housing units permitted but yet to be developed. To be included as we currently report these figures to Government.

·         Update on affordability with average salary in the district and relation to need. This will be undertaken as part of the development of the new Housing Strategy.

·         Parking issues in rural villages; this is considered when developing new rural affordable properties.

·         The numbers of houses to be built by CLTs will generally be between 6-20 homes.  The council has no dedicated resources to deal with home owners of empty properties to bring these back into use. Grants are available to encourage more effective use and CDC will take on the management of empty homes through HomeFinder. Enforcement action can be taken where appropriate for environmental problems. The numbers of empty homes in the district are not accurately known as there is no incentive for house owners to contact the council as council tax discount no longer applies. Could we consider the council tax paid on empty homes in order to resource initiatives to bring them back onto the market?

·         The main source of affordable housing delivery is quotas from market sites then by additional properties such as Hyde’s garage sites where the council helps fund by making commuted sums received in lieu of affordable housing available to registered providers through grant. The council does not generally have land available but will work with registered providers including Hyde to provide additional properties on top of market quota  ...  view the full minutes text for item 196.

197.

Cultural Grants pdf icon PDF 62 KB

The committee is requested to endorse the proposed Funding Agreements and monitoring arrangements for Chichester Festival Theatre and Pallant House Gallery.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee considered the report attached to the agenda. Mr D Hyland, Community and Partnerships Support Manager, presented the report.

 

Mrs Dignum, having declared a prejudicial interest in this item as the council’s representative on the Pallant House Gallery Trust and Company, withdrew from the room during consideration of this item.

 

An error in the report was pointed out - Page 52, para 6.1 fifth line should read “…. Chairman of the Festival Theatre Gallery….”.

 

The committee made the following comments and received answers to questions as follows:

 

·             Both organisations had had economic impact assessments prepared to inform the review of funding which had taken place in 2017, which demonstrated that they were contributing positively to the economy of the district.

·             Arts Council England funding levered in by both organisations as a result of the council’s contribution was requested. Mr Hansford advised that this was exempt information in the report considered by Cabinet and undertook to provide this to members outside of the meeting.

·             Queried the possibility of a change in Government earlier than 2022 and whether the funding organisations had considered this scenario and whether Arts Council funding would be available until 2022. Both organisations are Portfolio Organisations with funding agreements for a four year period.

·             Clarification of the monitoring process. As a result of restructuring Mrs Hotchkiss would take over responsibility for Cultural Grants and Mrs Peyman would be the monitoring officer. Both organisations would need to report twice yearly to the council; a half year oral update of performance would be provided to the monitoring officer with financial information; an annual written report will also be provided from both organisations. Should there be concerns about either organisation’s performance this would be flagged up to the portfolio holder.

·             Queried the Theatre’s purchase of a commercial site to provide accommodation for staff and actors and whether our grant covered this type of acquisition. Both the theatre and gallery were private organisations and as such we should not be concerned with their projects; only with the outcomes we are interested in them achieving as stated in the monitoring framework.

·             Concern that the monitoring framework for the Gallery was not included in the agenda report. Members were advised that they were being asked to endorse the monitoring arrangements for cultural grants, not to agree the framework agreements which were the remit of the portfolio holder. Mr Hyland undertook to forward this to the committee for information when it became available.

 

On the recommendation being put to the vote Mr Lloyd-Williams abstained with all other members in favour.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)      That the proposed Funding Agreements for Chichester Festival Theatre and Pallant House Gallery be endorsed.

 

2)      That, subject to the final agreed monitoring framework for the Pallant House Gallery being consistent with Chichester Festival Theatre’s proposed monitoring framework; and subject to the portfolio holder's agreement with this document, the monitoring arrangements for both organisations be endorsed.

 

Mrs P Dignum returned to the meeting.

 

198.

Budget Review 2017

The committee will receive an oral report from the Chairman of the Budget Task and Finish Group, Mr S Lloyd-Williams, on the review carried out in mid-December.

Minutes:

Mr S Lloyd-Williams, the Chairman of the Budget Task and Finish Group, gave an oral report of the deliberations of the task and finish group which had met on 12 December 2017, stating that members had concluded they were satisfied with the explanations on the projected variances on the 2017-18 budget.

 

Mr J Ward, Head of Finance & Governance Services, advised that the draft settlement had been received from Government the week after the review and confirmed that the figures in the draft financial model had been similar to that predicted. A change in the rural delivery grant had resulted in an additional £35,000 in our favour. The bid for the 100% business rate pilot had been unsuccessful, although West Sussex may submit a further bid in the next round next year. There was no proposal to cap parish councils next year. Members had been notified of a new IFRS9 instruction regarding the accounting treatment of certain types of investment which would mean that any gain or loss on investment had to be recognised and included in the budgets. If it went ahead it would result in the bottom line credit of £1.3m in the budget being reduced to £800,000.

 

RESOLVED

 

That this oral report be noted.

 

199.

Community Safety Review 2018 pdf icon PDF 65 KB

The committee is requested to consider and agree the Terms of Reference for this task and finish group and to nominate five members to take part in this review.

Minutes:

The committee considered the Terms of Reference and scope of the review. Mrs Bushby, Communities Interventions Manager, was available for questions.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)          That the Terms of Reference for the Community Safety Task and Finish Group be agreed.

 

2)          That C Neville be approved as a member on this task and finish group and that she chairs the meeting.

 

3)          That three further members for this task and finish group be sought from the wider membership.

 

200.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 90 KB

The committee is asked to consider the latest Forward Plan (attached) and to consider whether it wishes to enquire into any of the forthcoming decisions.

Minutes:

The committee considered the Council’s Forward Plan for the period from February to May 2018.

 

Members were informed that the ICT Strategy 2018-2021 was likely to be delayed due to the resignation of a key member of staff, however the task and finish group would be constituted when this was ready to be reviewed.

 

Mr Ransley requested that members be provided with the methodology and format of financial and viability appraisals. In particular he requested that this be made available to all members in respect of the report on the St James Industrial Estate partial refurbishment/rebuild to be considered by Cabinet in February. The committee confirmed that they did not wish to debate the issue at a formal meeting.  Mr Over agreed to provide this information to members when available.

201.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Committee is asked to consider in respect of the following item whether the public, including the press, should be excluded from the meeting on the grounds of exemption under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 namely Paragraph 3 (Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any articular person (including the authority holding that information)) and because, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption of that information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

The report dealt with under this part of the agenda are attached for members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and senior officers only (salmon paper).

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That the public and press should be excluded from the meeting in respect of agenda item 12 (East Pallant House Options Appraisal) on the grounds of exemption under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 namely Paragraph 3 (Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)) and because, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption of that information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

202.

East Pallant House Options (EPH) Appraisal

This report provides the outcome of an options appraisal for potential future use and occupancy of East Pallant House and recommends that the Council continues to occupy EPH but seeks to reduce operational costs by leasing identified offices and areas on a commercial basis.

Minutes:

The committee considered the report attached to the agenda. Mrs J Dodsworth, Head of Business Improvement Services and Joe Mildred, Corporate Improvement Manager, presented the report.

 

Mr Ransley and Mr Lloyd-Williams were concerned at the limited level of information the committee had been presented with in order to make a meaningful contribution to this options appraisal and at the narrow scope of this review.

 

Members were advised of further detail in the analysis of the four options presented in the report. There was support for the use of the committee rooms by the courts which would be beneficial for local residents.

 

Mr Mildred advised that a full business case for option 2 would be considered before it was progressed and he confirmed to members that if this was unviable it would not be pursued.

 

On the recommendations being put to the vote – for recommendation one (eight members were in support and two members abstained from the vote) and for recommendation two (four members were in support, three members were against and three members abstained from the vote).

 

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET

 

1)      That Option 2 be approved.

2)      That capital costs associated with the refurbishment of office space for commercial let be funded from identified spend in the asset replacement programme.

 

203.

Late Items

Consideration of any late items as follows:

a)    Items added to the agenda papers and made available for public inspection.

b)    Items which the Chairman has agreed should be taken as matters of urgency by reason of special circumstances reported at the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no late items.

 

 

Top of page