Minutes:
Report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Growth
The Deputy Leader confirmed that the Council’s Open-for-Business event being held in spring will focus on apprenticeships and he was happy to confirm that the Economic Development Team had aptly secured the Harlands Road college site as venue for this event.
He also confirmed that the recent acquisition of a commercial asset in Burgess Hill was the Wickes site, and the Council has now completed on this acquisition. Revenue from this will contribute to both this current financial year’s budget and the future budget to help ensure the Council remains financially self-sufficient.
Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance
The Cabinet Member confirmed that she continues to work with Members to produce the service and financial plan for the next year and the Council awaits the provisional settlement on the Local Government financial position. A report will be presented to the Scrutiny Committee for Leader, Resources and Economic Growth in January 2019.
Report of the Cabinet Member for Customer Services
The Cabinet Member confirmed that preparations for the Voter ID pilot are under way with a full campaign plan submitted to the Cabinet Office for their review. A communications plan is also in place, considering marketing proposals such as branded leaflets, banners for shopping centres and brackets and posters for lampposts around the District. She also confirmed that the Electoral register has now been published, and the annual canvas has concluded with a 98.7% return rate. 65% of the return rate has been via digital methods, which has provided a £16,000 saving to the taxpayer.
On social media and through other avenues the Council has been advising residents on the £1 Christmas parking, Christmas tree recycling, food waste and bin collection times over the Christmas period.
In October the Customer Services team received over 8500 calls and met all but one of their key performance indicators.
The Cabinet Member concluded by offering congratulations to the Land Charges team who are now dealing with 80% of the market share.
Report of the Cabinet Member for Service Delivery
The Cabinet Member noted that the latest car park to receive the disabled parking accreditation given by the British Parking Association is Station Road Car Park in Burgess Hill. He noted that the Council is working hard to raise standards across all car parks and most have the accreditation already. In response to a Member’s query on the Governments recent discussion around doubling disabled parking spaces he confirmed that the Council has increased the number of disabled spaces across all car parks and are reviewing it with a view to providing more, sited in the best positions.
He reiterated the Cabinet Member for Customer Services comments regarding the amount of waste generated at Christmas and confirmed that the Communications team had issued a leaflet to all households confirming what can and cannot be recycled.
He also confirmed that the Council’s flagship green bin service had just reached over 19,000 subscriptions and encouraged Members who have subscribed to the service to talk to neighbours to promote it, as word-of-mouth has proved to be the top reason why others have subscribed.
Report of the Cabinet Member for Community
The Cabinet Member confirmed that the new CCTV camera installation is proceeding to plan and is scheduled to be completed before year end.
He also announced that 2 valuable projects have been extended. These are the Safe in Sussex Freedom Programme which supports women who have experienced domestic abuse, and the Bentswood Community Partnership training opportunities for volunteers.
He confirmed that the NEETS Project by the YMCA Positive Placements team is running well and has assisted 29 young people since April against a target of 30. Of the young people involved, 8 have exited the programme successfully, with the remainder still receiving support.
He also drew Members attention to the work of the Licensing Sub A committee citing a recent case which ended in court. The decision of the committee was upheld and the Council was awarded its costs. He commented that residents need to know they are safe when getting into a licensed taxi in Mid Sussex and although the vast majority of drivers are fit and proper, the Council will not tolerate those that are not.
He concluded by thanking the members of the Scrutiny Committees for their work, the Emergency Planning Liaison and Air Quality Groups, the HASC representative and all the Officers within his portfolio for their diligence over the past year.
A Member expressed a wish to promote the pupil service premium for families of those in the Armed Forces. It was acknowledged that each school has a local authority governor who are aware of the premium but also that some families don’t wish to advertise their forces connection so this needed to be considered when promoting the premium.
Report of the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning
The Cabinet Member confirmed that for the second month in a row the Development Management team has determined 100% of planning applications received in all three categories which reflects excellent performance by the whole team.
On the subject of temporary accommodation he confirmed that the Council has completed on 2 properties and hope to complete on up to 5 by the end of this year. He noted that safety checks need to be done on these properties and some may require redecoration so it is hoped that the properties will be housing residents by January 2019.
He concluded by thanking Officers and Members for their support over the last year.