Agenda and minutes

Any apologies for absence will be noted at this point.

Apologies for absence had been received from Cllr Norma Graves and Cllr Kevin Hughes. Cllr John-Henry Bowden (although not a member of the Committee) also gave apologies that he could not be present to ask his pre-submitted questions.

The Chairman requested Nominations of appointment of Vice-Chairman to the meeting in Cllr Kevin Hughes absence and it was RESOLVED that Cllr Clare Apel be appointed as Vice-chairman to the meeting.

The Chairman reminded Members that questions to third party representatives should be succinct and strategic, rather than focusing on location based concerns. Council Officers, Council Members and Officers from outside organisations were invited to introduce themselves.

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.

There were none.

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.

The Chairman asked members if there were any Declarations of Interest relating to matters on the agenda that had not been declared.

The following additional non-pecuniary interests were declared:

·         Cllr Adrian Moss as a Member of Chichester Harbour Conservancy and Manhood Peninsular Partnership

·         Cllr Graeme Barrett as a Member of Chichester Harbour Conservancy and Manhood Peninsular Partnership

·         Cllr Carol Purnell as a Member of West Sussex County Council and Chairman of the Manhood Peninsular Partnership.

The procedure for submitting public questions in writing no later than 12:00 two working days before the meetingis available upon request from Democratic Services (the contact details for which appear on the front page of this agenda).

The following question was submitted fromRoySeabrook:

Headroomestablishedby MWHfor ThornhamWwTWfor 2009/10,was554 dwellings.Throughoutthe subsequentdecade,ithasbeenconsistentlyestimated at 1,700 dwellings,despitethe buildingofwell over1,000 dwellingsduring thisperiod.  The sole exception to thiswas the AMEC report (August2018)for ChichesterDistrictCouncilgiving the headroomas zero.During thisdecade,no significantupdatesto theThornhamWwTW have been undertaken.Thedefinition of DryWeatherFlowand itsuse incalculating headroomneedsto be examined in carefuldetail.

Please askSouthernWaterto makeavailable:-

1)  Both10%and20%iles of measuredflowrates forthe lastthree years.

2)  DailyFlowrates forthe lastyear.

3)  TheEnvironmentAgency licence certificatetogetherwith anyamendmentsrelating tothe use of20%il  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee has invited the Environment Agency, Natural England and Ofwat, Southern Water to attend the meeting to discuss the following and to respond to a set of questions from members submitted in advance:

• Water capacity and headroom at treatment plants
• Water capacity challenges for Local Plan
• Responses to planning applications including delays in connectivity
• Nitrates affecting watercourses and harbours
• Chichester Harbour water quality
• Discharge into harbour and water courses
• Drain surcharging

The Chairman welcomed;

·         Environment Agency: - Michael Turner, Environment Manager - Hannah Hyland, Planning Specialist

·         Natural England: - Dr Louise Bardsley, Senior Adviser (Water Sector South East and Thames RBD) (available 9.30am – 10.15am)

·         Southern Water: - Ian McAuley, Chief Executive Officer - Toby Willson, Director of Environment and Corporate Affairs - Chris Braham, Head of Asset Performance - Richard Bagwell, Stakeholder Engagement Manager for Sussex

Apologies were noted from OFWAT.

The Chairman advised the meeting that James Seymour, Area Manager for Natural England had been called away at short notice and also sent his apologies.

A total of 78 questions had been submitted to Southern Water, Natural England, the Environment Agency and OFWAT. Due the unavailability of OFWAT they had been invited to provide answers in writing.

Questions to Natural England were taken at the first part of the meeting.

Due to the availability of time Nature England were asked to answer as many questions as possible before they needed to leave. Natural England confirmed all other questions would be answered in writing.

The Chairman thanked Louise Bardsley for attending.

The remaining questions were answered by representatives from Southern Water and The Environment Agency.

Cllr Sharp suggested recommendations as follows:

·         The Committee recommends that Chichester District Council ensure the Local Plan takes proper account of nature-based solutions and we look into re-wilding opportunities.

·         The Committee recommends that climate change adaptation must be at the forefront of Chichester District Councils’ plans.

·         The Committee recommends that Chichester District Council play their role to encourage and continue to facilitate conversations with all of our partners and landowners to ensure that we work together to  face up to these waste water and climate change issues and reduce nitrates.

The recommendations were not seconded.

The Chairman offered to work with Cllr Sharp to ensure these proposals were presented to relevant officers and cabinet members for subsequent discussions.

The Chairman proposed the following recommendation:

We (the Committee) thank our partners for joining the meeting and providing answers to our questions and we would be grateful to receive written answers to all questions. We urge SW, EA and NE to work together in support of CDC in the matters raised at this meeting and at other meetings and to ensure that the Local Plan can be delivered in a timely manner.

The Committee were in agreement.

RESOLVED

That the Committee thanks our partners for joining the meeting and providing answers to our questions and we would be grateful to receive written answers to all questions. We urge SW, EA and NE to work together in support of CDC in the matters raised at this meeting and at other meetings and to ensure that the Local Plan can be delivered in a timely manner.

Post Meeting Note:

Following the meeting the Chairman wrote to all the companies thanking them for attending.

Written responses to the questions have now been circulated to members. OFWAT responses still to be received.

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.

There were no late items.