Agenda item

Report by the Assistant Chief Executive.

8.1       The Committee discussed the recent water supply problems in the north of the County where South East Water is responsible for the water supply. It was suggested that the Committee request South East Water attend a future meeting of the Committee to explain what actions they are taking to resolve the water supply issues experienced by East Sussex residents and businesses. The Committee also considered that it would be beneficial to invite Southern Water, who supply some parts of the County, to answer similar questions about water supply resilience and long term water supply plans.

8.2       The Director of CET commented that it might be helpful for the Committee to think about the sort of questions they would wish to put to the water supply companies about long term water supply and demand, and the short term solutions that can be put in place to resolve the water supply issues that have been experienced. The Committee noted that some of the long term planning is based on the assumption that individual water consumption would reduce from 150 litres per person per day, to 100 litres per person per day which might be unrealistic.

8.3       The Committee agreed to request that South East Water and Southern Water attend a future Committee meeting to respond to questions about the water supply issues and longer term water supply planning for East Sussex.

8.4       The Committee discussed a range of topics that they would like to reflect and include within the work programme. These included the following topics and issues:

• A recent internal audit of the corporate Climate Emergency Action Plan had an outcome of ‘Partial Assurance’. The Committee requested that the Climate Emergency working group see this report.
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) 2022 Assurance Deep Dive report. The Committee agreed that the Chair and Vice Chair would write to DLUHC to ask when the report would be available.
• Waste and Minerals Plan review. The Committee asked what stage the work to review the Waste and Minerals Plan had reached and whether there was an opportunity for the Committee to feed into this piece of work. For example, is there a presumption within the Plan that the use of recycled materials will be maximised.
• Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). The Committee asked if with would be possible to have a report on the new Flexibus service, including an evaluation of the use and success of the service.
• Killed and Seriously Injured (KSI) road collisions. The Committee asked if it could have an update report on the effectiveness of the interventions that had been put in place to try and reduce the number of KSI incidents on the County’s roads, and have an outline of the measures that other local authorities had put in place to tackle this issue.
• Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points. The Committee asked for a progress report on the plans for the installation of a public EV charging point network in East Sussex.

Local Transport Plan (LTP) Reference Group - update

8.5       Councillor Paul Redstone, Chair of the LTP Reference Group gave an update on the work of the Group. The Reference Group has been working with officers and representatives from the consultants, Steer, on the development stages of the LTP. This has included the work with other stakeholders who have been contributing to the development process. The Reference Group’s work has included commenting on the drivers, transport scenarios and potential interventions within the LTP, and inputting into the Vision and Strategy for the LTP. The next step is for the draft LTP to go out to public consultation, with the final version being presented to Cabinet and then Full Council for approval.

8.6       The Committee RESOLVED to

1) Agree the agenda items for the future Committee meetings, including items listed in the updated work programme in appendix 1 of the report;

2) Amend the work programme in line with paragraphs 5.12, 8.3 and 8.4 above;

3) Note the upcoming items on East Sussex County Council’s (ESCC) Forward Plan in appendix 2 of the report;

4) Note the Climate Emergency Action Plan Working Group will be reconvened; and

5) Confirm the membership of the Economic Growth Strategy Reference Group as outlined in paragraph 2.4 of the report.