To authorise the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 17 October 2022 as a correct record of proceedings.

The Chair was authorised to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 17 October 2022 as a correct record of the proceedings.

The Chairman to ask if any Member present is substituting for another Member and, if so, to declare his/her name as substitute Member and the name of the absent Member.

There were no apologies for absence.

To receive any disclosure by Members of personal and disclosable pecuniary interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the Member regards the personal interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct. Members are reminded of the need to repeat their declaration immediately prior to the commencement of the item in question.

Declarations of interest were made by Councillors in the Minutes as indicated below:

Barnes J          Agenda Item 6 & 7 – Personal Interest as Director of Rother DC Housing Company Ltd.

Agenda Item 8 – Personal Interest as Chair of Etchingham Parish Council.

Courtel            Agenda Item 8 – Personal Interest as a member of the Bexhill Environment Group.

Gray                Agenda Item 8 – Personal Interest as a member of the Bexhill Environment Group.

Maynard          Agenda Item 8 – Personal Interest as an Executive Member of East Sussex County Council.

Members received and considered the report of the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2023/24 to 2027/28, which would be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 12 December 2022.  The MTFP set the financial framework for the next five years and would be modified as the financial situation of the Council changed during that period.  Appendix A to the report gave details of the MTFP forecasting a £2.2m funding gap in 2023/24 but this was subject to confirmation of Government funding and several other factors that might affect the Council’s finances.  Appendix B to the report illustrated the impact on the Council’s Reserves.  Members noted that the figures quoted were as robust as possible, but the financial forecast was a work in progress and an update would be reported to Members in January.

The following salient points were noted:

•           Budget Process: The Council followed a three phased budget process.  The first phase was to update the MTFP, which set out budget pressures and estimated the size of the budget deficit over the next five years. The second phase was to produce a detailed draft budget for Cabinet’s consideration in January 2023. The third phase was to finalise the budget once the national funding settlement had been announced and incorporate the Capital Strategy and revised Capital Programme into the MTFP for approval by Cabinet and full Council in February 2023.

•           Local Government Funding Settlement: In June 2022, the Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, announced the introduction of a two-year financial settlement with effect from 2023/24; and that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) would complete the local government ‘Fair Funding Review’ in consultation with local authorities in 2022. He also announced that the DLUHC would look to reduce the number of funding pots that Councils must bid for in order to secure resources for specific initiatives. The funding settlement for 2023/24 was expected around mid-December 2022, but at this stage it was unclear whether it would contain further clarification about the June 2022 announcements.

•           Cost Pressures: These included inflationary increases built into certain service contracts, increasing demand in Temporary Accommodation (TA), predicted increase in external audit costs, net financing costs due to the planned increase in capital investment on major projects such as the Property Investment Strategy and TA acquisition programme, the annual pay award, non-pay inflation increases, increasing electricity costs and a budget contingency of £200k.

•           Corporate Plan:  The Corporate Plan was adopted by full Council on 5 July 2021 and included several priority objectives, some of which could require revenue and capital investment if they were to be successfully delivered. The MTFP forecast did not include any additional funding to deliver these objectives, so any proposals for further investment would need to be considered for affordability. This may also necessitate a need to realign existing resources or make compensatory savings elsewhere from the budget. One of the objectives of the Corporate Plan was to achieve financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/33.

Members received and considered the report of the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) on the Quarter 2 Revenue Budget and Capital Programme Monitoring  for 2022/23. The report updated Members on the Council’s finances as at the end of September 2022 and projected provisional outturn for 2022/23.  The Revenue Budget, Capital Programme Statements and impact of the forecast on the Council’s reserves were summarised at Appendices A, B and C respectively.

At the end of Quarter 2, the Revenue Budget showed a surplus of £527,000, against the approved budget drawdown from reserves of £3.2m.  The report detailed the material variances and the forecast was summarised at Appendix A to the report.  The main variances included a reduction in planning appeal costs, improvement in planning application income, unbudgeted rent income from Buckhurst Place and additional car parking income. These were partially offset by an, increase in temporary accommodation costs,  and lower than anticipated recovery of Housing Benefit overpayments.

It was noted that the staff pay award agreed by the Council in October had not been factored into the report at the time that it was written.  The pay award would cost the Council an additional £145,000, which was a part year cost, some of which would be met by the £200,000 budget contingency. 

The revised Capital Programme budget was £140.2m, the actual spend as at September 2022 was £14.9m.  Two new schemes were included within the programme namely the purchase of a property in Buckhurst Place at a cost of £10.5m as part of the Property Investment Strategy (PIS), and redevelopment of Council-owned sites at Beeching Road / Wainwright Road at a cost of £15m.    It was noted that there was a £34,000 overspend for the Community Grant Scheme which was attributed to a higher uptake of grants from previous years.  Confirmation of Government funding was still outstanding for some projects; progress reports would be presented to Cabinet later this year.  It was noted that the Leisure Centre projects were currently on hold, the Disabled Facilities Grant was being spent and Temporary Accommodation Purchase Budget would be allocated when suitable properties became available. 

The forecast impact on Reserves was a reduction of £3.072m against the planned use of £3.560m, a decrease of £488,000 from the previous forecast.

The Council Tax collection rate at the end of Quarter 2 was 47.97% of the collectable debit, which was 0.04% lower than the corresponding figures in 2021/22.  The Business Rates collection rate at the end of Quarter 2 was 51.17% of the collectable debit which was 14.47% higher than the corresponding figure in 2021/22.  There were two reasons for the significant difference, namely 2021/22 Quarter 1 collectible debit was reduced as a result of retail businesses receiving 100% relief, which was further reduced to 66% in Quarter 2, increasing the collectable debit by approximately £5.1m; and schools paying Business Rates in one single payment, rather than instalments.  It was noted that the 2022/23 collection rates were now in line with pre-COVID 2019/20 rates.  The next few  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/34.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director – Place and Climate Change on the Performance Report of the Second Quarter 2022/23.  Members were given the opportunity to scrutinise progress towards the Council’s stated aims, outcomes and actions in the Corporate Plan and make any necessary recommendations to Cabinet for future service delivery. 

A summary of the Council’s performance against the selected Key Performance Indicators (KPI) five themes (Housing and Communities, Finance Performance, Economic Development and Poverty, Environment and Planning) at the end of the second financial quarter (1 July 2022 to 30 September 2022) was set out in the report.  Performance was compared to the previous quarter result and to the same quarter the previous year.

Housing and Communities:  During quarter two, two measures had met their target (Number of affordable homes delivered (gross) (supply target: end of year) and Homelessness Prevented and Homelessness Relieved) and three measures did not meet their target (Number of all Households in Temporary Accommodation (TA), Number of Households on the Housing Register and Cost of TA).  It was noted that the Cost of TA had met its target and had been incorrectly reported. The Council had a limited ability to influence the various factors that increased homelessness and the number of households in TA and Members were advised to focus on homelessness prevention measures as an indicator of performance for the Housing Service.  Members were concerned that the number of households on the housing register would increase with the rising cost of living; expectations would need to be managed of those on the register and housing stock increased.

Finance Performance:  During quarter two, one measure met its target (Net income from all investment assets) and one measure did not (Additional Income Generation).  The acquisition of the Sainsbury’s site at Buckhurst Place, Bexhill had resulted in the estimated net income from all investment assets significantly out-performing the anticipated income target. The Property Investment Strategy originally made available £35m with a £2.1m gross income target and the ambition of generating £700k of net additional income after borrowing costs. The full £35m had now been either spent or allocated and was already generating an annual income of £1.687m. Due to lower than anticipated borrowing costs, the net income from investments so far was £850k per year. Three of the acquired sites were development sites and were yet to produce an income.

Economic Development and Poverty: During quarter two, all three measures met their target (Number of Council Tax Reduction Claimants, Council Tax Collection Rates and Business Rates Collection Rates).  Members raised concerns that some eligible residents may still not be aware of and therefore accessing the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Environment:  During quarter two, one measure did not meet its target (East Sussex County Council Waste re-used, composted and recycled, reported one quarter in arrears), the other measure did not have a target as yet (Carbon Baseline).

Planning: During quarter two, both measures did not meet their targets (Major Applications weeks/calendar days to process and  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/35.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director – Place and Climate Change, which outlined progress made on the Environment Strategy (2020) since the last report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) on 25 April 2022.

Two new staff members had joined the Council to lead work on carbon reduction and the Environment Strategy (ES): Project Officer  (Environment), to develop and deliver projects that aimed to reduce the carbon footprint of both the Council and the wider district and Environment Strategy Officer, responsible for reviewing and updating the Council’s strategic approach to carbon reduction and the environment.

Delivery of the ES and action plan had significantly improved over the previous six months. There was a renewed focus within the Climate Change Steering Group (CCSG), which was now meeting monthly and driving the policy agenda of the Council’s climate change ambitions. A full summary of the projects being reviewed by the CCSG was attached at Appendix A to the report. The new staff resourcing had made a significant impact on the ability of the Council to deliver against its aims.

Members were updated on the following projects:

•           Baselining and Monitoring Annual Emissions: the Council adopted the Local Government Association’s Green House Gas (GHG) Accounting Tool for Local Authorities to track its annual emission of tonnes of Carbon dioxide (tCO2e) and other GHGs, starting from a baseline year of April 2019 – March 2020.  The tool categorised emissions into three distinct Scopes, as outlined in the report and Members were presented with the Council’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2019/20.  Emissions generated by the Town Hall made up 39% of total emissions in the baseline year.

•           Village Halls Energy Project: led by the Project Officer  (Environment), aimed to reduce the carbon footprint of Village and Community Halls across Rother through energy efficiency measures, switching to low carbon energy systems and installing renewables.  £500k of project funding was approved by the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Panel in July 2022 from the Climate Emergency Bonus fund, 40 halls had expressed an interest in taking part and funds would be allocated using a prioritisation process.  The intended project completion date was May 2024.

•           Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Points in Council-owned Car Parks: Approval to procure an appropriate service provider had been granted in March 2022.  Site surveys had since been undertaken by the provider and the Council was awaiting the outcome of detailed feasibility studies, to include details of infrastructure capability from UKPN. Once the feasibility studies were complete, an application for the funding of equipment and installations would be made, with installation at the priority car parks of De la Warr Bexhill, Bedford Place Rye and Mount Street Battle to be completed by Spring 2023, with a further six car parks being considered.

•           Couch to Carbon Zero: the Council was the first local authority to commit to the Couch to Carbon Zero Sprint which took  place from 7 to 18 November in line with the annual UN  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/36.

Members received the report of the Director – Place and Climate Change which recommended the establishment of a Bexhill Town Centre Conservation Area Task and Finish Group, comprising of five non-Executive Members, to consider the format and content of the Technical Advice Note (TAN) for Windows in Bexhill Town Centre Conservation Area, consult with local stakeholders and identify key areas where greater clarity or detail was needed.

The Group could also consider making additional recommendations in relation to how the Conservation Area was treated as part of local plan policy.  This could then be reviewed as part of the local plan review and how the Conservation Area was considered in relation to the Rother District Council Planning Enforcement Policy, which could also be reviewed and amended if necessary, subject to normal policy governance.

A full day exploratory meeting would be held in January/February 2023, to which stakeholders, such as the Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Bexhill Heritage, would be invited to present. A series of recommendations would then be taken to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration in March 2023.

RESOLVED: That:

1)         a Bexhill Town Centre Conservation Area (BTCCA) Task and Finish Group be established, comprising of Councillors P.C. Courtel, Mrs D.C. Earl-Williams, L.M. Langlands, C.A. Madeley and G.F. Stevens to review the BTCCA Technical Advice Note;

2)         the Terms of Reference at Appendix A to the report be approved; and

3)         the recommendations of the Bexhill Town Centre Conservation Task and Finish Group be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the meeting scheduled to be held on 13 March 2023.

Consideration was given to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme.

RESOLVED: That the Work Programme at Appendix A be agreed.