Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllr Andy Dingwall (Cllr Steve Ashton as substitute), Cllr Wes Read (Cllr Martin Lovell as substitute), and Cllr Lance Duddridge.

Apologies were received from Cllr Andy Dingwall (Cllr Steve Ashton as substitute), Cllr Wes Read (Cllr Martin Lovell as substitute), and Cllr Lance Duddridge.

To approve the minutes from the previous meeting on 13^th December 2023.

Resolved that the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee – Communities held on 13^th December 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

Resolved that the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee – Communities held on 13^th December 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

There were no new declarations of interest.

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

There were no public questions submitted.

The members discussed the items on the upcoming programme.

They queried the delays for the items Somerset Cultural Strategy and Gypsy, Romani, and Traveller Review, and were informed that the Somerset Cultural Strategy was linked with deadlines from Arts Council Funding and had been delayed due to the funding and a clash with the Financial Emergency Work. For the GRT Review, they were informed there was in issue with staff capacity in bringing that report to the committee.

To consider the report and presentation.

The committee received a report and presentation from Christian Evans, Strategic Manager – Finance and Business Partnering. The chair invited comments and questions from members, and noted the report.

Christian Evans, Strategic Manager – Finance and Business Partnering, gave a presentation on the month 9 budget monitoring report, which provided the latest budget position from December 2023. It gave an overview of the overall council position and the position in Communities specifically, with a predicted underspend of £300,000.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:

• What does the future look like for rough sleeping and homelessness if demand escalates and government funding increases? The future is uncertain and pressures are increasing.
• At a previous meeting, there was an anomaly in the budget that was impossible to remove – now there is a £300k underspend. How have we closed that gap? We have managed that income within the service. We are not currently delivering to the normal standard we would expect. There is a cost pressure next year around that. A lot of work has gone on to balance all those figures and reduce those pressures.
• This directorate is under the least pressure finance wise but has had to do as much work as everyone else to save money – thank you for all the hard work.
• Are you hopeful the budget will squeeze further? Some income generation items like the crematorium are demand led, it is difficult to predict. If we do find other savings there may also be other costs.
• Housing and homelessness that are reliant on government grants – what happens if we aren’t able to fund statutory services? Homelessness is a statutory obligation, and also demand driven, so we will see a rise in overspend if there is demand on that.
• Which budget headlines are statutory and which aren’t? It’s not as simple as saying a service is or isn’t – some services are blended, with statutory elements and enforcement actions. We will bring back a breakdown of which subsets are statutory.

The committee noted the report.

To receive the presentation.

The committee received a presentation from Jonathan Stevens, Head of Operations, Regulatory, and Operational Services, and Sarah Dowden, Service Director – Regulatory and Operational, on Open Spaces. The chair invited comments and questions from members, and noted the presentation.

Jonathan Stevens, Head of Operations, Regulatory, and Operational Services, and Sarah Dowden, Service Director – Regulatory and Operational, gave a presentation on open spaces, detailed the amount and different categories and how their maintenance was organised.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:

• Is there a mapping exercise and will councillors be approached to identify areas that are frequently missed or usually need chasing? Yes, we need to know that – we are trying to compile lists of areas which keep getting missed.
• It would be helpful to have clarity on which areas are highways’ responsibility and which are open spaces, as it would minimise duplication of conversations. We are trying to move away from work between this was district, this was highways. We are working on that.
• It would be helpful to have communication and clarity around devolution. We need to get that right – it is easier for bigger towns like Bridgwater with a new area, whereas smaller towns and parishes might be more difficult. We need to move our internal mapping system and get it online for councillors and public to see. This is a devolution challenge we have on the list to work through.
• When equipment becomes unsafe, what is the council’s responsibility for replacing anything? Who is responsible for defective equipment in a play area? If it’s our park, we stop people from accessing unsafe equipment. There’s no statutory duty to replace, but our play inspectors and supervisors will look at what things like a broken slide etc. can be replaced with. There is a budget for replacement parts. If it’s a park that has been devolved that will fall to that town or parish council.
• A list of which equipment is being replaced and dealt with would be helpful. We have a long term plan in terms of which equipment is being replaced in ten or twenty years. In the past we have written to councillors about plans for replacing equipment in the next year, and this was helpful. The savings proposal CMS029 will pause the replacement of defective play equipment in 2024/25 unless externally funded by S106 or CIL agreements.
• How do spaces stay in the system that are mapped? Community work around that would be great, if people want to rejuvenate open spaces or little parks.
• How are new developments dealt with? We are closely aligned with planning services, and S106 and CIL funds help with that. With the restructure, we want to have someone who works between Open Spaces and Planning. When we take on open spaces, we need to make sure the trees have had surveys, it’s safe, and we can afford it.
• A play area in one area with a broken see-saw that was removed – we were told there was no money for a replacement. Surely there is CIL money from Taunton. All of the CIL money in Somerset Council is tied up in larger projects, while Taunton Town Council has money for smaller council, and because  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

Presentation to follow.

The committee received a presentation from Chris Brown, Service Director of Housing. The chair invited comments and questions from members, and noted the presentation.

The committee received a presentation from Christopher Brown, Service Director of Housing, on the demand and supply for housing, the challenges around affordable housing delivery, and the local pressures.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:

• Right to Buy – is there evidence of who is buying? Anecdotally, it may be an elderly couple who have children that have become affluent and buy the house for their parent or parents? Presumably it only goes in the name of the tenants, do we have a handle on how often that is the case? An awful lot of ex-council houses are let privately, do we know how much that happens and if there’s anything we can do? Once something has purchased for right to buy, the council doesn’t have any control, aside from where the council is still the leaseholder. It is difficult to get data on this.
• Is there a current pressure from developers not doing affordable housing because they only get 15% profit? Planning applications have dropped significantly and have been held there because of the phosphates challenge. It’s easier to develop elsewhere as they don’t have to invest in phosphate solutions. There are also issues around skilled labour effecting developers. 15% profit is the benchmark for a requirement to make social housing. Developers are squeezing their budgets and they are the ones evidencing their costs as they offer the development so that does impact development of affordable housing. Planning would be better to go through that.
• Pop up housing – does the HRA have a stock of land it can use for modular housing? There are clusters of 8 units, that are low energy/net zero carbon. They are appropriate for garage sites and single story buildings, so we can continue to use the available HRA garage sites for small developments. There aren’t large pockets of land to build larger schemes. We are looking at a model with Adult Services with Corporate Assets – where we are selling a lot of land, can we identify some of that which could be put to a different use and save us revenue funding. If we put 60 houses on it, it would be a huge offer. Half of it would be a good offer for providers. Where land can be put into the pool, it needs to be large enough for developers to make a profit. We were talking last week with Homes England, Adults, and Childrens, and Homes England have asked if we would like some money to investigate these sites. Larger schemes will take several years as they are complex joint ventures.
• Pressure on rough sleeping budget – when does the money come out, when is the next tranche of money due? The current funding for rough sleeping will run out at the end of 2025. There is a budget for 24/25, and will be putting a new bid in to the government in the summer. We would expect some funding to continue.
• Is the 405 based on this?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

To consider the report and business case.

The committee resolved under 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting, on the basis that if they were present during the business to be transacted there would be a likelihood of disclosure of exempt information, within the meaning of 12A to the Local Government Act 1972:

Reason: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

The committee resolved under 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting, on the basis that if they were present during the business to be transacted there would be a likelihood of disclosure of exempt information, within the meaning of 12A to the Local Government Act 1972:

Reason: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).