Agenda and minutes

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2024 were submitted and approved and signed as a correct record by the Chair.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Shuttleworth.

Councillors Ewbank and Rodohan were appointed as members of the Committee by the Head of Democratic Services under delegated authority in place of Councillors Parker and Morris.

Councillor Ewbank declared a personal interest in item 12 on the agenda Stability and Growth Programme, as a result of her involvement in a not-for-profit organisation that worked on behalf of the Council and received funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

On matters not already included on the agenda and for which prior written notice has been given (total time allowed 15 minutes).

There were none.

The Chairman to notify the Committee of any items of urgent business to be added to the agenda.

There were none.

The Chairman to report any requests received to address the Committee from a member of the public or from a Councillor in respect of an item listed below and to invite the Committee to consider taking such items at the commencement of the meeting.

There were no requests.

Lee Michael, Neighbourhood First Operational Manager, Chris Bibb, Neighbourhood First Team Specialist Advisor (Green Consultancy) and Lee Banner, Assistant Director - Neighbourhood and Transformation, provided a verbal update on the Council’s Grounds Maintenance Contract. The following points were outlined during the update:

·       The existing grounds maintenance expired in March 2026 and could not be renewed after that date. The Team was currently working towards the provision of a new contract in the future, as well as undertaking a review, while recognising the financial pressures the Council was experiencing.

·       Incorporating biodiversity in the new contract would form part of the review with the intention of a target by 2030 of 30% of the Council’s land being set aside for biodiversity improvements. Although the existing contract had green credentials, it was hoped that this would be built on, with a greener contract put in place.

·       Partnership working was already being undertaken to improve biodiversity on both Council owned sites and sites the Council was not responsible for. A new stewardship scheme for Eastbourne Downland and the Council owned area of Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) had been approved by Natural England and the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs. External funding would be used by the Council to manage the SSSI. The funding would also allow for capital necessary improvements to be made.

·       With regard to weed control in the Council’s parks and housing areas, the Council had a pesticides and pollinator policy which aimed to not use pesticides if at all possible. A foamstream was used to control weeds, and although it provided an eco-friendly solution, it was an expensive and short-lived solution. The ground maintenance team was looking at a strong-grade vinegar as an alternative solution. Manual strimming and hoeing patrols and were also carried out, although these were resource intensive. The Council did not use or specify phosphates in any areas of its grounds maintenance contract.

During further discussion, the following points were highlighted:

·       Fertiliser was generally no longer used in areas managed by the Council, such as plant-beds, unless, for example, soil improvement or turning over beds was required, but this was infrequently. Organic manure had been used in the past, but this had been removed from the contract as a cost-saving exercise.

·       The current contract had been extended as far as was legally possible. Any contract beyond March 2026, when the existing one finished, had to be a new one.

·       In response to a Member’s comment that the detritus left after weeds were dealt with using the current system posed a health and safety risk to residents, and led to further damage to areas of paving, the Committee was advised that this did not form part of the grounds maintenance contract and was undertaken as an agreement with East Sussex County Council, which was responsible for weed control. It was the only area where Eastbourne Borough Council (SEESL) used glyphosate, with the cost of one application provided each time by East Sussex County Council. A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Oliver Dixon, Lawyer and Data Protection Officer, presented the report which allowed the Scrutiny committee to agree the membership and terms of reference for the Byelaws Task and Finish Group. During discussion, the following points were highlighted:

·       A Member questioned the proportionality of the Group and suggested that an additional member from the majority group should be added. Although it was not considered by the Committee to be necessary, an additional Member was identified and added to the Group for the purposes of cross-party working and outcomes.

·       A Member suggested that the terms of reference should be expanded to include consideration of potentially adding new byelaws. It was recognised that the Group could only include this as a recommendation and that neither the Group nor the Committee was a decision-making body.

Resolved to agree the Membership of the Group specified in paragraph 3.1 with the addition of one extra Member; and to agree the terms of reference specified in paragraph 2.1, amended in line with the second bullet point above.

Jane Goodall, Environment Lead, presented the report which addressed requirements of the Environment Act 2021 relating to the Council’s Supporting Authority role in reviewing both the pre-consultation draft Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) and the final pre-publication LNRS. East Sussex County Council as the Responsible Authority would provide the draft and final pre-publication documentation. During discussion, the following points were highlighted:

·       A Member again raised the condition of Sovereign Park and the levels of invasive species. It was hoped that the Strategy would support any work being done to reduce the levels.

·       The consultation for the Strategy was comprehensively managed by East Sussex County Council. A public survey was undertaken between February and June 2024 with the canvassing of 1834 residents to inform the LNSR priorities for nature, demonstrating how committed to community engagement the LNSR was. An interim followed soon after the survey to look at the interim results. Consultation with farmers and landowners had also been undertaken.

·       In February 2025, a pre-consultation document was going to be produced that would include all the data and information collected. The document would be available to the public.

·       The South Downs National Park Authority had representation on the Supporting Authority Group. Officers from the Council, including representation from the Planning service, also sat on the Group. Other local authority planning officers were part of the Group.

Resolved to note the report.

Luke Dreeling, Performance Lead, presented the report which provided an update on the Council’s progress and performance in respect of service areas for the First Quarter of the year (April-June 2024) as shown in Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report. During discussion, the following points were highlighted:

·       Solution Sprint had been running at the Council for approximately three years and was a tool used to effectively manage contracts and identify opportunities for improvement. It was particularly effective when looking at new contracts and supported the Council by ensuring, at an early stage, that sufficient resources were allocated. The Council had a contracts management system and the Council’s contract procurement manager had worked to ensure that oversight of all the Council’s contracts was available. A report on the Council’s contract management process would be made available to the Cabinet. The aim was to ensure consistent centralisation and corporate oversight of all the Council’s contracts.

·       With regards to the performance indicator for the average void property relet time, significant staff changes had been made in the Housing team to improve the performance. Contract management changes had also been made to allow diversification of contracts, rather than using the preferred contractor. This allowed other contractors to fast-track void properties back in to use if the main contractor was unavailable. An improvement in the void properties relet time was expected in the reporting of the second quarter of the year. It was agreed that an update from the contact procurement manager would be provided to the Committee at a future meeting.

·       The Chair expressed concern at the number of underperforming or approaching underperforming indicators, particularly for the collection of council tax. The Chair noted that liability orders to the overall value of £2 million had been issued and hoped that this would support collection rates. Officers reported that, following the implementation of a new system for council tax, which had created an initial backlog, rates of collection had improved and it was expected that the second quarter would show an improvement.

Resolved to note the report.

Steve Houchin, Deputy Chief Finance Officer, presented the report which provided an assessment of the Council’s financial performance against its approved 2024/25 budget, incorporating key financial risks, issues and opportunities for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). During discussion, the following points were highlighted:

·       The reduction of £7 million would be a mixture of service reductions against the Council's gross expenditure budget of approximately £80 million, or where the Council was seeking to maximise income against the Council's income budget of approximately £56.6 million. The savings would need to be achieved through all areas of the Council. There were ambitious savings targets in areas such as tourism and culture as there were opportunities for the transfer of services to third party providers

·       A significant area of potential reduction was temporary and emergency accommodation, although this was a particularly challenging area. At the end of the previous financial year, the Council had 308 emergency accommodation placements, although this had now been reduced to the most recent figure of 263. The Council had been able to identify further areas of private sector housing that enabled the reduction in numbers, and a number of void properties in the Council’s social housing stock had also been made available. The numbers of people and families presenting as homeless had not reduced, however, a significant amount of preventative work had been undertaken by the Council to support those people and prevent instances of homelessness occurring.

·       The Stability and Growth programme, a later item on the agenda, provided more detail in relation to where the Council anticipated savings would be provided. The savings were a mix of what the Council already hoped to deliver as part of the 2023-24 budget savings - approximately £3.05 million and other areas where savings would need to be increased. Although the required £7 million savings had been identified in the current year, a large proportion of the savings was due for delivery the following year.

·       Providing a land charges service was a statutory requirement for local councils, including the maintaining of the land charges register. The Council was able to charge for the service, however the revenue from the service was not currently covering the cost of providing it, hence the 2024/25 variance of £46,000 in the Corporate Services Forecast Outturn. The Finance team would be looking at this service to identify areas of improvement to reduce the variance.

·       The Council’s Microsoft licensing required upgrading to the latest version and along with increased inflationary costs had resulted in additional costs projected in the first quarter. All of the Council’s IT services would be under review as part of of the budget review workshops agenda, to identify savings. The IT team would be responsible for identifying whether cloud-based or on-premises servers would provide the best outcomes. The decisions on the choice of server would be on a case-by case basis,

·       Officers highlighted that the variances in the report were based on projections in the first quarter of the council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Jo Harper, Head of Performance and Delivery, presented the report which set out key savings proposals to address the exceptional financial challenges currently being experienced by the Council. During discussion, the following points were highlighted:

·       A number of parameters existed when deciding which service areas to identify savings in. Services which were non-statutory and where savings could be delivered quickly in the current year and in 2025/2026, in order to achieve a balanced budget, were prioritised. Those services that met these criteria and had the least impact on customers, but also had the potential to be reinstated should budgets allow, were also part of the prioritisation.

·       The Council was open to hearing from any party during the consultation period who was looking to provide alternative solutions for the continued provision of current Council facilities. A significant challenge as part of the process was to minimise financial risk to the Council. Outsourcing of facilities to a third-party provider would provide some assurance. The Committee could consider clarification of options available as part of the consultation process, as an additional recommendation to the Cabinet.

·       Although the £1.6 million identified savings following consultation referred to in appendix 2 the report covered a full year, the delivery of those savings would not be in 2024/2025 alone. Subject to the Cabinet’s approval, the consultation would start on the 19 September and would continue for six weeks. The inclusion of representatives from protected groups was a key part of the consultation process and a full equality analysis would be included when the Cabinet considers the final report.

·       The Chair noted that many of the services identified and subject to a consultation period, already received a high level of complaints.

Resolved to note the report and request that the Cabinet consider an additional recommendation, proposed by Councillor Ballard and seconded by Councillor Goodyear:

·       That, during the consultation process it is made clear by the Council that all alternative solutions for retaining the non-statutory services and facilities identified in the report, will be considered.

To receive the Forward Plan of the Cabinet.

The Chair introduced the Forward Plan of Cabinet decisions which outlined those reports due for consideration by the Cabinet its future meetings. The Committee requested that the following additional items be considered for inclusion on the Committee’s next agenda:

·       Interim medium term financial strategy

·       Council tax and business rate base 2025/26

·       Local council tax reduction scheme (if there are any significant changes to the scheme)

·       Eastbourne Carbon Neutral 2030: Annual Progress Report

Resolved to note the Forward Plan of Cabinet decisions.

To receive the Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

The Chair introduced the Scrutiny Committee work programme. Members were advised of the items already included in the work programme and asked if there were additional items that they wished to be included:

·       A Member requested that a review of the Council’s IT service be included at a future meeting.

·       Additionally, as a result of discussion on item 10 on the agenda, Corporate Performance Quarter 1, an update on the Council’s corporate procurement process would be added to the work programme.

Resolved to note the Scrutiny Committee work programme.

To note that the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to be held on 19 December 2024 in the Court Room, Town Hall, Eastbourne commencing at 6:00pm.

Resolved to note that the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to be held on  9 December 2024 in the Court Room, Town Hall, Eastbourne commencing at 6:00pm.