Agenda and minutes

34.1     The Committee RESOLVED to agree as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2017.

35.1     Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Claire Dowling, with Councillor Sheppard substituting for Councillor Dowling.

35.2     Apologies for absence were also received from Councillor Nick Bennett, Lead Member for Transport and Environment; Councillor Bill Bentley, Lead Member for Communities and Safety; and Karl Taylor, Assistant Director, Operations.

Disclosures by all members present of personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the member regards the interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.

36.1     There were none.

Notification of items which the Chair considers to be urgent and proposes to take at the appropriate part of the agenda. Any members who wish to raise urgent items are asked, wherever possible, to notify the Chair before the start of the meeting. In so doing, they must state the special circumstances which they consider justify the matter being considered urgent.

37.1     A request was received from the Joint Waste and Recycling Committee to make a decision under special urgency arrangements.

Report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport.

38.1     The Team Manager Economic Development introduced the report which outlines the progress in implementing the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review. Some of the actions to implement the recommendations are dependent on the completion of Contract 2 and the commencement of Contract 3 of the Broadband Project. There has been some delay in responding to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review due to long term staff sickness within the Broadband Team but this is now resolved.

38.2     The Scrutiny Review particularly asked the Broadband Team to look at communications and information. An information pack for Councillors has been developed and will be circulated to all Members. The Broadband Team have also revised and revamped the web site which will go live shortly. It will contain information on the project at property level rather than just at post code level. This will provide greater detail and provide further information on where businesses and residents are in the delivery plans for the project roll out.

Project Progress

38.3     The Team Manager Economic Development outlined the project progress to date. The coverage in East Sussex is currently 96% of premises have access to superfast broadband, which provides speeds of 24 Megabits per second (Mbps) or above. The take up of superfast services is just short of 50%, compared with a national average of 20% for similar broadband projects. The current Contract 2 will complete in December 2018.

38.4     Contract 3 has been let and will survey all properties that do not yet have access to superfast broadband before work commences in January 2019. This means the Broadband Team will know where work is going to take place and will also be clear about areas not covered and which will need further support. The Assistant Director Economy commented that the Team will be in a position in December 2018 to be able to say which premises will be included and when they will be worked on. The work included in Contract 3 will finish at the end of March 2020.

38.5     The Director of Communities, Economy and Transport (CET) outlined that the procurement process for Contract 3 has been quite complicated and represents the first contract of this type nationally. It is not as constrained by the requirements of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) as the two previous contracts, but required the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to approve and assure the procurement process. The aim is to achieve 99% coverage for access to superfast broadband by the end of Contract 3.

38.6     The Committee asked if there will there be any money at end of Contract 3, generated by the higher levels of take up, which will be available to deal with 1% of premises that do not have access to superfast services. The Team Manager Economic Development responded that there may be some money available from the higher take up that can be reinvested in the project. In addition, Contract 3 has some of the best commercial terms that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport.

39.1     The Head of Economic Development, Skills and Infrastructure introduced the report. ESCC provided the Catalysing Stalled Sites (CaSS) funding during 2015/16 to unlock stalled housing and employment development sites through a £915,000 capital programme. It is intended to help overcome viability issues on development land such as access, flooding, contaminated land, environmental issues and pre-site development work.

39.2     To date 40% of the funding has been awarded, and the programme continues to be promoted through various business networks. The continuation of the CaSS fund is important for housing and commercial development projects and to develop a pipeline of projects for funding by the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP’s) and other funding streams. Often CaSS funding is a stepping stone to obtain greater private sector or public sector funding for sites which might not otherwise be developed. The CaSS programme may also be able to support aspects of the developing ESCC Property Asset Disposal and Investment Strategy.

39.3     The CaSS programme has received 26 applications so far, and the programme is getting more support from the various business networks ESCC works with. There have been successes such as the Ivyhouse Lane pre-development cost funding. In addition, this scheme has applied through the ESCC grants and loans panel to develop 20 businessincubation unit work spaces. Some of schemes that the CaSS programme has funded, have not proceeded for reasons such as:

·          Site owners choosing not to proceed;

·          Site owners going out of business, leaving the premises or a change in site ownership;

·          Applicants failed to acquire premise/site and/or planning issues or demand not evidenced; and

·          Funding being obtained from other sources to progress the scheme (e.g. an Eastbourne housing development).

39.4     The Assistant Director Economy outlined that the CaSS programme is a relatively new fund and is targeted at developing a pipeline of projects to attract further funding from LEP’s. The CaSS programme is used to establish scheme viability. So far it has been possible to attract £110 million of additional funding through the creation of detailed business cases and the submission of bids to LEP’s.

39.5     The Committee commented that the initial name of the programme (CaSS) is confusing, but changing the name to Scheme Enabling Fund (SEF) might be equally confusing. After some discussion, the Committee recommended that the programme name be changed to “Stalled Sites Fund”, but noted that the name is not as important as making sure the intended outcomes of the programme are achieved.

39.6     The Committee commented that the programme was a good example of pump priming and asked how the programme is promoted.  The Assistant Director Economy explained that the programme is promoted through the businesses networks such as Let’s Do Business Group, Team East Sussex, Developers East Sussex, Locate East Sussex, Borough and District Councils, county council property colleagues and the Business East Sussex (BES) Growth Hub that ESCC is involved with.  The Committee asked if there are ways the programme could seek the repayment of funding from schemes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

Report by the Chief Executive.

40.1     The Director of CET introduced the report and outlined that it was the Committee’s opportunity to reflect on the RPPR process and examine the future financial constraints on the Council. He referred to a recent presentation he had given to the Sussex Association of Local Councils, and the Committee asked if it was possible to go through the presentation outlining the financial challenges facing the Council.

40.2     The key points in the presentation were as follows:

·          The elderly population in East Sussex is increasing and the working age population is going to decline, which has a bearing on the demand for services. In the local economy, productivity is low in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA). Although there are some successes, there are fewer businesses in East Sussex. Full time earnings are lower than elsewhere in the South East.

·          The Rate Support Grant (RSG) received from central Government will be zero by 2020. The income from Business rates is static. So the only way to increase the Council’s income is by raising Council tax. Even so, the demand on services will create a funding gap of around £100million.

·          Business rate retention is not going to be the solution. To fill the funding gap will require a 23% increase in Business rates income, or a 12.99% increase in Council Tax, or 13,640 new homes to be built to increase the Council Tax base.

·          In reality there is likely to be no business rate growth, a cap on Council tax increases of 5.99%, and only 1,400 new homes were built in 2016/7. Although predicting housing growth for future years is difficult, both Hastings and Eastbourne have constraints so most development is likely to be in Lewes, Wealden and Rother. House building is slow and requires the necessary infrastructure. It is unlikely house building will reach the numbers needed to fill the funding gap.

·          So the financial picture is one of reduced income and unfunded cost increases (e.g. extended Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support; national dispersal scheme for unaccompanied Asylum seeking children; inflation; minimum wage increases; apprenticeship levy etc.). The Council cannot match the demand for services with the funding it has available. So therefore it needs to make further savings. ESCC is not the only local authority in this position.

·          The journey ESCC has taken so far between 2010 and 2013 is that it has made £14.4 million savings; between 2013 and 2016 £64 million savings; and between 2016 and 2021 it will need to make a further £75 million to £85 million in savings.

·          The Council’s budget has reduced by £112million in last 8 years, and has a savings requirement of £17 million in 2018/19, £12 million in 2019/20 and £19 million in 2020/21. The Council is projected to have made savings of £159 million over 11 years, but will still have net budget of £370 million for 2018/19.

40.3     The CET department has used a commissioning approach to focus available resources on needs and plans to save  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

41.1     The Committee discussed the items on the work programme; any additions in relation to the reports considered above; and the Committee’s previous work on the Waste Disposal Service and the Countryside Access Strategy. The Committee noted that the proposed changes to Scrutiny arrangements within the Council, which will be considered by the Governance Committee at the meeting on 19 March 2018 and Full Council at the meeting on 27 March 2018. It is intended that the outstanding items in Committee’s current work programme will be carried forward into the revised Scrutiny Committee arrangements.

41.2     The Committee RESOLVED to agree the following changes to the work programme which will be carried forward into the revised Scrutiny Committee arrangements.

• RPPR – The Committee agreed to establish a Scrutiny Review Board to start considering the savings options for 2019/20, which will meet initially on the 14 June 2018 (minute 40.11 above).

• Dropped Kerbs – The update report on the provision of dropped kerbs will be considered at the meeting on 14 June 2018.

• East Sussex Road Safety Programme – This report will now be considered at the meeting on 13 September 2018 to allow more time for the completion and analysis of the pilot projects.

• Scrutiny Review of Broadband – the next update report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review will be at an appropriate time in 2019 (minute 38.17 above). This is to allow for the completion of the project milestones linked to the recommendations of the review.

• The Waste Review Board will reconvene to consider the outcomes of the public consultation before a report is presented to Cabinet in June 2018.

• Countryside Access Strategy – The Committee would like to review the proposals for the management of countryside sites before a decision is made by the Lead Member for Transport and Environment later in 2018/19. It was agreed to reconvene a Scrutiny Review Board to examine the proposals and provide comments to the Lead Member as appropriate.

The Forward Plan for the period to 30 June 2018. The Committee is asked to make comments or request further information.

42.1     The Committee RESOLVED to note the Forward Plan.

43.1     The Committee RESOLVED to agree the request from the Joint Waste & Recycling Committee consider a report as a “Special Urgent Decision” at the meeting on 6 April 2018.