Agenda and minutes

To authorise the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 21 November 2022 and 28 November as correct records of proceedings.

The Chair was authorised to sign the Minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 21 November and 28 November 2022 as correct records of the proceedings.

The Chair 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.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mrs D.C. Earl-Williams.

It was noted that Councillor Mrs M.L. Barnes was present as substitute for Mrs D.C. Earl-Williams.

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:

Clark               Agenda Item 7 – Personal Interest as a Director of Rother District Council Housing Company Ltd.

Courtel            Agenda Item 7 – Personal Interest as a Director of Rother District Council Housing Company Ltd.

Members received the report of the Head of Neighbourhood Services which outlined the results of the public consultation on the draft Health and Well-Being: Leisure Facilities Strategy for consideration and amendment, prior to final approval of the strategy by Cabinet and full Council.

Rother District Council (RDC) had undertaken to review leisure requirements across the district for longer-term planning once demand for leisure services and the financial climate became clearer following COVID.  To be considered in conjunction with the review, was the wider Playing Pitch and Leisure Facilities Strategy currently being undertaken jointly by the planning teams of both RDC and Hastings Borough Council, to ensure the new Local Plan reflected residents’ and sports club’s requirements into the future. 

Consideration had been given to the fact that the current leisure management contract for Bexhill Leisure Centre and Bexhill Leisure Pool, operated by Freedom Leisure (FL), expired on 31 March 2024 and the separate Rye Sports Centre contract, also operated by FL, expired on 31 March 2026, and so a clear direction was required for the future management of these facilities.  Members also noted that the leisure facilities buildings in Bexhill were coming to the end of their structural ‘life’ and ‘patch repairs’ to the current structure were no longer economical or environmentally efficient. The buildings were in need of major refurbishment or replacement and it was therefore important that a strategy was agreed for the provision of appropriate leisure facilities for the future.

In January 2022, Cabinet approved the appointment of a leisure strategist to complete market research on residents’ use and requirements from built leisure facilities across the district and on health and well-being in general, to inform a draft Health and Well-Being: Leisure Facilities Strategy.  The draft strategy was approved by Cabinet in October 2022 and then went for public consultation via an online survey during November and December 2022. The public consultation sought comments and feedback on all aspects of the strategy, but most particularly the strategy’s vision, key principles, aims and objectives, the role of town and parish councils as partners in leisure services and swimming provision.

The total responses received was 685, of which 667 were completed online and 18 received by email or letter, with the overwhelming majority, 634, coming from Rother residents. Detailed analysis of the consultation results were appended to the report. 

The results were strongly supportive overall of the draft strategy and it was not considered necessary to change any of the recommendations. However, some additional commentary could be added to paragraph 5.3 of the draft Strategy to better reflect some of the comments made concerning elements that were considered missing from the Strategy. 

During the debate, the following points were noted:

·         it was noted that the condition of playing pitches had been audited during the wet winter months as part of the emerging Playing Pitch and Leisure Facilities Strategy currently being undertaken jointly by the planning teams of both RDC and Hastings Borough Council;

·         the provision of all-weather pitches at  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/45.

Members gave consideration to the report of the Chief Finance Officer on the draft Revenue Budget, which outlined the likely financial position and key issues that Members needed to consider as part of the budget setting process.  The Committee had been requested to consider the draft budget and make recommendations to Cabinet, to be considered at its meeting on 6 February 2023.

The following assumptions had been made in calculating the draft Revenue Budget:

•     inflation of 4.57% applied to non-pay budgets except for contracts where specific indices were applied;

•     with effect from September 2023 salaries had been increased by 3% and an allowance of 1% assumed for staff turnover;

•     the use of transfers between existing budgets had been applied enabling funding to be re-directed into priority areas;

•     where applicable, income budgets have been increased in line with the fees and charges approved by Cabinet on the 12 December 2022

•     interest rates of between 3.2% and 4.4% had been used to calculate the financing costs on capital investment schemes;

•     between 0.05% to 4.40% interest rates had been used to calculate investment returns; and

•     an assumed Council Tax collection rate of 98.3% (unchanged from last year and had held up well during the current year).

The following key issues were highlighted: 

•     the draft Local Government Finance Settlement announced by Government in December applied to 2023/24 and 2024/25 only and did not guarantee any future funding streams beyond this two-year period; the Council’s Core Spending Power had been set at £12.3m, an increase of £0.9m from 2022/23;

•     the East Sussex Business Rates Pool for 2023/24 and 2024/25 would be retained;

•     the council tax referendum principle for Rother would allow an increase in council tax of £5 or 3% (1% increase from 2022/23) whichever was the highest; it had been assumed that the Council would increase council tax by the maximum allowed before a referendum was required – for Rother, this was 3% and would raise an additional £30k more than a £5 increase; it was noted that other preceptors had greater flexibility to raise income than Rother District Council;

•     for 2023/24, to ensure the Council remained within the referendum limit, it was assumed that £198.85 would be agreed for an average Band D property;

•     the 2023/24 council tax base had been calculated at 38,520.8 and showed an increase of 293.80 Band D equivalents, mostly due to an increase in chargeable dwellings and eligible discounts, and a reduction in Council Tax Reduction Scheme claimants;

•     new Government funding streams in relation to ‘Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging’ Schemes were anticipated during 2023/24; details would be announced once received;

•     the Council was expected to receive Government grants of £1,756m as part of the LGFS, (excluding New Burdens funding), which represented an increase of £106,000 from 2022/23;

•     in response to inflationary pressures, the DLUHC would combine the New Homes Bonus legacy payments with the Lower Tier Service Grant; the Council’s allocation would  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/46.

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Housing and Community which updated Members on progress of the Improvement Delivery Plan of Priority 1 and Priority 3 of the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019-2024 (Part A).  An updated Improvement Delivery Plan and a summary of all the actions achieved since the Strategy’s inception was attached to the report at Appendices A and B respectively.  Members’ attention was drawn to some of the key highlights, as follows:

PRIORITY 1: Increasing the Supply of Housing

The Council was actively seeking to broaden the range of Registered Providers (RP) of affordable housing operating in Rother and had benefitted from the delivery of wholly affordable housing sites across the district in 2021/22 and 2022/23.  The Council’s primary RP was Southern Housing Association (formerly Optivo) and it was essential that sites were progressed for RPs to deliver affordable housing provision.  At present there was a slow-down in new sites and the Housing Team was actively working with RPs to address this. 

Members were advised that schemes had progressed at Rosewood Park and Worsham Farm in Bexhill and Tollgates and Lily Bank in Battle.  A further scheme was scheduled to be completed and started to the south and north of North Trade Road, Battle respectively.  The Council was actively challenging viability appraisals on sites that no longer provided affordable housing.

A 15-unit scheme had been completed in Icklesham led by the Icklesham Parish Community Land Trust with support from the Sussex Community Housing Hub (SCHH); 12 homes for social rent and three affordable housing ownership homes for local people.  A second site was being identified.  The SCHH was also supporting the Bexhill Community Land Trust with the acquisition and redevelopment of the site at Cemetery Lodge.  Additional sites were also being considered in Beckley, Burwash, Fairlight, Guestling, Pett and Rye, and funded from the Council’s Community Housing Fund.  Section 106 obligations were also being obtained to support these projects.

The Rother DC Housing Company Ltd Business Plan (2022 to 2025) sought to deliver 1,000 new build homes over 15 years.  Priorities for 2023/24 were to continue to deliver the 200 dwelling Blackfriars scheme, as well as the wider aims and objectives identified within the plan.

Progress on the new local plan was ongoing and in relation to planning for new housing supply, the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment was being completed in-house with assistance from relevant consultants.  In addition, a Technical Advice Note for 100% Affordable Housing had been formally approved by full Council.

PRIORITY 3: Improving the quality and suitability of existing housing and new build housing

During 2021/22 and up to December 2022, a total of 107 inspections were completed (including 35 temporary accommodation dwellings).  The Warm Home Check service, run by East Sussex County Council, was promoted and discussed during the inspections, and provided energy efficiency advice and financial advice around heating.  Work to identify residential schemes using Modern Methods of Construction was ongoing and would continue throughout  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/47.

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Housing and Community which updated Members on progress of the Improvement Delivery Plan of Priority 2 of the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019-2024 (Part B).  An updated Improvement Delivery Plan and a summary of all the actions achieved since the Strategy’s inception was attached to the report at Appendices A and B respectively.  Members’ attention was drawn to some of the key highlights, as follows:

PRIORITY 2: Rough Sleeping, Homelessness and Meeting Housing Aspirations

In June 2022, a review of the Council’s housing service was carried out by the Homeless Advice and Support Team (HAST – department of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities).  They were impressed with several initiatives and particularly praised the Council’s Rother Tenant Finder Scheme, as well as the amount of temporary accommodation (TA) properties purchased.  Some areas for improvement were identified, namely to review the Council’s Allocations Policy, as well as oversee the increased demand for the service since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Council purchased four units of accommodation in 2022 for use within the East Sussex-wide Housing First scheme.  Funding of £391,050 had been secured and a further four units were scheduled to be purchased, which would total 12 units for 2023.

Through the Rother Sleeper Initiative (RSI), a gap in provision for vulnerable females, particularly in respect of female-only accommodation, had been identified. The proposal made by East Sussex Housing Partnership (ESHP) would deliver 12 respite rooms across East Sussex; funding had been extended to March 2023.

The Council had secured 22 TA units, with 16 occupied and seven under refurbishment, within one block of flats.  A further nine units were under offer at various stages of purchase.  Inclusive of the 22 units, eight were used to support former rough sleepers.

Up to 2025, Government funding had been secured to deliver the countywide initiative “The RSI & Complex Needs Homeless Service”; a seamless support service across the breath of the rough sleeper accommodation pathways.  A crowdfunding platform, launched in August 2022 and commissioned until summer 2023, supported the homeless.  Within the first three months, 32 customers were referred to the service.  The Council had commissioned BHT Sussex to provide specialist housing advice to residents across the district who were not eligible to receive legal aid.

The ESHP had been restructured to develop specialist sub-groups that would facilitate greater partnership working across housing development and homelessness support services.  To complement the restructure, a new Housing Partnership Lead had been recruited, funded by the Local Housing Authorities and East Sussex Public Health; the post would be jointly line-managed by the Head of Housing and Community and Public Health.

In March 2022, the Homes for Ukraine scheme was established which matched Ukrainian guests with accommodation hosts.  The Council had worked in partnership with several organisations to ensure there was support available.  Additional staff resources had been employed to support this work.

During the discussion the following salient points were noted:

·         Members were very  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/48.

Members received the report of the Director – Place and Climate Change, which gave details of the current Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which covered five themes reflecting key priorities from the Corporate Plan.  It was intended to change the style of KPIs to better reflect indicators over which the Council had direct control and report other more wide-ranging factors through an annual state of the district report.

The report proposed a maximum of 25 KPIs for 2023/24, detailed at Appendix A to the report, broken down into eight service areas, namely:

•     Environmental Health (two indicators)

•     Housing (two indicators)

•     Customer Services (five indicators)

•     Neighbourhood Services (five indicators)

•     Estates (one indicator)

•     Corporate Core (two indicators)

•     Planning Development Management (four indicators)

•     Revenues and Benefits (four indicators)

Members were invited to consider which of the proposed 25 KPIs they wanted to monitor.  Aside from the above 25 measurements to be reported quarterly, other indicators informing the Corporate Management Team of performance would be reported by exception to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) where they were exceeding or significantly missing their target.

With regard to environmental measurements, these would be reported through an updated Environment Strategy, developed and overseen by the Climate Change Steering Group and reported to OSC every six months. 

Members felt unable to recommend which KPIs should be monitored, as the current performance for the proposed KPIs was not included within the report.  It was considered that the sickness monitoring could be removed as this would be reported to the newly established HR Committee and, given the importance of homelessness, the average number of weeks spent in Temporary Accommodation (TA) was requested to be retained.  

The OSC agreed to recommend all the suggested KPIs, with the exception of the sickness monitoring, plus the addition of number of weeks spent in TA provided that Cabinet received details of the current performance to enable consideration of the proposed target in each case.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet be requested to approve the following Key Performance Indicators for 2023/24, subject to comparison to the current performance of each KPI:

1)   Environmental Health

•     % of planning food inspections carried out: Target 90%

•     % of service requests resolved on time: Target 90%

2)   Housing

•     No. Homelessness Prevention/Relief: Target 120 per annum

•     Average cost per TA Placement: £1,200 per month

•     Average Number of weeks spent in TA

3)   Customer Services

•     Calls received per month: Target Reduced on current

•     First Contact Resolution – number of enquiries that are resolved at first point of contact: Target 85%

•     Average call wait time: Target Reduced on current

•     Customer Satisfaction – how satisfied customers are with our services: Target 85%

•     Total Contact – total customer contact including digital: Target Monitor

4)   Neighbourhood Services

•     Waste collections missed bins/100,000: Target 62/ 100,000

•     % of public land found with unacceptable levels of litter: Target 2.50%

•     % of public land found with unacceptable levels of detritus:  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/49.

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

Following the Scrutiny Improvement Review and workshop held on 18 January 2023, consideration would need to be given to the Work Programme and the way in which the Committee operated moving forward. 

The Director - Place and Climate Change agreed to submit a report to the Committee’s April meeting to consider the options and assist the Committee in making recommendations for the new Committee to pick up after the elections. 

RESOLVED: That the Work Programme attached at Appendix A, as amended, be agreed.