Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Place and Climate Change on the Performance Report of the First Quarter 2021/22.  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 Communities, Economic Development and Poverty, Waste Collection, Additional Income and Planning Processing) 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 one, one measure had been flagged as a warning (Affordable Homes Built (gross) Supply target) and four did not meet their target (Number of all Households in Temporary Accommodation, Average Weeks in Temporary Accommodation, Number of Households on the Housing Register and Net Additional Homes Provided Supply target). 

Economic Development and Poverty: During quarter one all three measures met their target (Number of Council Tax Reduction Claimants, Council Tax Collection Rates and Business Rates Collection Rates).

Waste Collection:  During quarter one, this measure (East Sussex County Council (ESCC) Waste re-used, composted and recycled) did not meet its target.  ESCC had advised that the recycling rates for the districts and boroughs were under review due to discrepancies between ESCC figures and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ for some authorities and were subject to change.

Additional Income:  During quarter one, both measures did not meet their targets (Net Income from all Investment Assets and Additional Income Generation).  The property team was actively looking to improve revenues from existing assets, primarily through scheduled rent reviews as well as ensuring any outstanding arrears were collected.

Planning Processing: During quarter one, both measures did not meet their targets (Major Applications days to process and Minor Applications days to process).  This centred around limited capacity in the service due to vacant posts, long-term sickness, significant upturn in workload and challenges faced with COVID which had impacted on officers’ ability to deal with all applications in a timely fashion.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were noted during the discussion:

•           the number of Council Tax Reduction Scheme claimants was better than expected, which may have been as a result of the Government’s furlough scheme;

•           the Council had purchased five properties to date to be used as Temporary Accommodation (TA), one of which was made up of four flats; the programme was progressing well with further properties in the pipeline;

•           there had been a stall in the private sector rental market due to the non-movement of tenants during the pandemic and the increase in house prices;

•           Members praised the Council’s waste collection operator, Biffa, for maintaining their service over the pandemic, despite staffing issues;

•           £1.7m had been spent on purchasing TA to date, £400,000 of which was grant funding, so the net cost to the Council was £1.3m.  £1.7m of the original £3m budget therefore remained;

•           build-out rates appeared to be very low across the district;

•           Members raised concerns about fly-tipping and rubbish accumulating at Bring Sites.  Officers were working with the Communications Team to inform the public that household waste sites were back in use and to provide information about recycling and the Council’s bulky waste collection service.  Members suggested that this information could also be included with Council Tax bills; and

•           Members were concerned that many blocks of flats in the district did not appear to have recycling facilities; officers would raise with the Head of Neighbourhood Services to consider options.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.