Agenda and minutes

The Chairman carried out a roll call to establish attendance at the meeting.

The Chairman proposed that Councillor Whittaker be appointed as Vice-Chairman for this meeting in the absence of Councillor Pulfer.  This was seconded by Councillor Smith and agreed by all Members.

The substitutes were as follows: Councillor Webb for Councillor Pulfer, Councillor Peacock for Councillor Trumble, Councillor Ellis for Councillor Cromie and Councillor Smith for Councillor Coote.

Apologies were received from Councillors Cromie, Pulfer, Coote and Trumble.

None.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 May 2021 were agreed as a correct record and electronically signed by the Chairman. 

None.

Neal Barton, Policy, Performance and Partnerships Manager introduced the report noting that 71% of indicators shown are at green and therefore meeting target. It was noted that this report reflects continuing impacts of the pandemic as restrictions only started to be lifted after the end of this quarter. He drew Members attention to extra areas of work as a result of the pandemic, particularly an increase in Covid-compliant inspections carried out by Environmental Health, an increase in people placed in temporary accommodation, and extra business grants issued by the Revenues and Benefit Teams. He noted that there are no updates on priority projects in this report as there are no current projects listed in the Corporate Plan. Projects that are ongoing will be updated through reports to individual Scrutiny Committees, Cabinet reports and the Member Information Service.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Anne Eves for pre submitting questions which helps Officers in providing answers for the meeting.

Discussion was held on the key performance indicators for electric charging points to ensure they capture meaningful data. The Business Unit Leader for Community Services, Policy and Performance confirmed that there is an opportunity to review the KPI’s as a result of the contract awarded in partnership with West Sussex County Council. A range of KPI’s will be reported on a regular basis including operational uptime, turnaround times for repairs and usage.

Members discussed the traffic light system for the performance report. It was confirmed that indicators will show red if it is felt that the target will not be reachable by year end, and any amber and red indicators will have accompanying reasons.  Some indicators did not have targets to reflect where the Government had dictated action nationwide, particularly regarding the closure of leisure centres and increase in temporary accommodation requirements. Members expressed a wish to look at long term trends in areas such as temporary accommodation and footfall in leisure centres, to see comparisons over time.  It was agreed that this would be considered as part of the reporting options available to the committee for future meetings.

Members discussed statistics relating to waste and fly tipping. The increase in the amount of waste taken to landfill reflects a national trend as result of the pandemic where commercial waste moved to domestic waste as people were furloughed and more people were required to work at home. It was confirmed that there are prescribed standards for street cleaning across both towns and rural areas, with an inspection of a cross section of each area taking place every 3 months. With regards to fly-tipping, the number of fly tips is pro-actively measured as a statutory requirement for the Government. Consideration can be given to adding these targets back into the performance report at the next KPI review. It was requested by Members that more consideration be given on the subject, including the ability to issue enforcement notices. This falls under the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Environment and Service Delivery and could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Solicitor to the Council introduced the report. He noted that there is a working group focussing on the Sustainable and Economic Strategy which will be reported back to this Committee in due course, prior to going to a full Council meeting for adoption. With the agreement of the Committee it may require a special meeting to be scheduled, depending on when the report is available.

The Chairman took Members to a vote on the recommendation contained in the report which was agreed. 

RESOLVED

The Committee agreed the indicative Work Programme as set out at paragraph 5 of the report.

None.