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 The Property Investment Strategy originally made available £35m with a £2.1m gross income target and the ambition of generating £700k of net additional income after borrowing costs.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 Minor Applications days to process).  However, returns continued to show a downward trend and work continued on processing improvements.     

Officers were currently considering the measures and targets for the following year, which would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in January 2023.  Consideration would be given to targets that the Council could control and have influence over.  In addition, a ‘State of the District’ report would be presented to Members on an annual basis, to address statistics that the Council could not control.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

(Councillor J. Barnes declared a Personal Interest in this matter as Director of Rother DC Housing Company Ltd and in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct remained in the meeting during the consideration thereof).