Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Service Acquisitions, Transformation and Regeneration on the Performance Report of the Third Quarter 2020/21.  Members were given the opportunity to scrutinise the 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) areas (Housing and Homelessness, Waste and Recycling, Asset Income and Other Income) was set out in the report.  Performance was compared to the previous quarter result and to the same quarter the previous year.

Housing and Homelessness:  During quarter three, all seven measures had not met their target (Affordable Homes Built (gross) Supply target, (Affordable Homes Built (gross) Local Plan target, New Homes Built (net) Supply Target, New Homes Built (net) Local Plan Target, Homelessness Prevention Cases per 1,000 homes, Number of all Households in Temporary Accommodation [TA] and Average Weeks in Temporary Accommodation).  There was a concern that once restrictions on evictions were lifted, the Council would be likely to see an increase in requests for assistance with TA.  Current figures for those in TA were high due to a slow-down in the movement within the private rental market, therefore restricting the number of individuals who could be moved from TA.

Waste and Recycling:  Two of the indicators had not met their targets (Re-use, Recycling, Composting: East Sussex County Council and Re-use, Recycling, Composting: Contractor) and one had met its target (Missed Bins per 100,000 Collections).

Asset Income: A review of rental income had been undertaken to ascertain the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Council’s revenue stream. It was predicted that there would be £120,000 of unpaid rent in this financial year, and whilst some of this would be written off at a future point in time, officers would continue to work with tenants to recover this lost rental in the 2021/22 financial year once the longer-term effects of the pandemic were better understood.

Other Income:  All three indicators had not met their targets (Car Park Income, Garden Waste Income and Planning Income) due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Projected car park losses had increased to £192,000 for the 2021-year outturn; this was to be reviewed as the full impact of the current lockdown and winter snow became known. The income for garden waste was performing well against target despite the £5 reduction in the subscription charge due to COVID-19 service disruption.  It was anticipated that income would increase further as officers worked to incentivise new subscribers to the service to achieve a minimum of 20,000 subscribers by March 2021, to reduce the cost per household charged by the contractor.  The number of households subscribing reached 20,137 as of 31 January 2021.  Planning income had picked up in Quarter 3 but was still heavily dependent on how the economy reacted to COVID-19 during the forthcoming spring period, and how that impacted or stimulated the development and construction industry.

The Committee were pleased to note that a report on the KPIs for 2021/22 would be brought to the meeting scheduled for 26 April 2021, for the Committee to make further suggestions.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic had adversely affected performance levels in quarter one for all KPIs reported and continued to do so in Quarter 2. The Committee had previously agreed that the KPIs should remain the same to provide a baseline for the overall impact of COVID-19 in the current financial year. 

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.