Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.
Planning
WSCC Highways
Communication from Michele Hulme Head of Local Highway Operations – Highways, Transport & Planning Directorate
Dear Parish & Town Councils,
As you will be aware, we have experienced unprecedented levels of rain and named storm events over this autumn/winter. To put this in context, over the past 5 months (October- Feb) we have had more rain than we would normally have in a year. February saw the highest level of rain since records began and in the first week of this month, we have already experienced a month’s worth of rain.
Unfortunately, with these conditions’ potholes can form as water seeps under the road surface and saturates the substrate, leading to a hydraulic effect as vehicles pass over. This is particularly the case where we have ‘evolved roads’ which don’t have formal construction layers or where we have existing damage to road surfaces. It is therefore unsurprising that we are now seeing a large number of issues on the network, and we are experiencing very high numbers of customer reports.
I wanted to assure you we are doing all we can to manage the volume of enquiries though extended working/over-time.
Our contractor’s safety repair gangs are working twilight shifts and Saturdays to manage the increased number of safety jobs. We have also increased the number of gangs and will continue to add to this resource but as I am sure you will appreciate, sourcing additional gangs at this time is very difficult and is a national issue.
In addition, we have find & fix gangs who are predominately operating in urban areas and, when weather permits, we continue to run a jet patcher in more rural areas (this resource will increase again from next month).
We continue with the ‘Right Time Approach’ we adopted last spring where the default is for potholes to be “Sides Sawn and Sealed”. Whilst these repairs take longer, we won’t carry out temporary repairs unless an emergency or where a large-scale patching/resurfacing is imminent.
In terms of drainage, in our normal cleansing programme we have cleansed 90,000 gullies this year. In addition, we have 4 gully suckers operating across the network carrying reactive work to alleviate flooding issues. They have tackled over 600 jobs on our highest priority sites.
To enable the Highway Teams to effectively deal with the volume of safety issues being reported, we will pause non-statutory activities for an initial period of 4 weeks, which we start from today and we will review on the 15/04/2024 .
Our response times to customers on general enquiries from 10-20 days. Please continue to report issues via our website. Of course, if you have urgent issues then please call 01243 642105. Between 8.00am and 6pm, Monday – Friday, our Customer Service Centre will deal with the immediate response or ensure the matter is escalated to a member of the highways team. Calls made out of hours are taken by our contractor’s contact centre.
A summary of the temporary measures are detailed below. We appreciate your support at this very busy and challenging time.
Temporary measures ( from 18th March 2024 to 15/04/2024)
Extend Service Level Agreement for customer responses – up to 20 days.
Pause non-essential licensing activities (e.g., Licences such as Vehicle Crossovers, Planting Licences and Access Protection Line requests).
Pause responses to general enquiries, including Community Highway Schemes, Community Traffic Regulation Orders, Third Party Claims
We will add pop ups to the webpages to advise members of the public of paused activities.
Recycling Centres extend opening hours from 1 April 24
Recycling Centres across West Sussex will switch to extended spring/summer opening hours from 1 April 2024, giving residents more opportunity to recycle their household waste.
Residents need to make an appointment before visiting all West Sussex Recycling Centres. Slots are easy to book and can be made up to 14 days in advance or on the same day where available.
The spring/summer opening hours will remain in place until 30 September 2024 and will not be affected by bank holidays, including Easter Monday which falls on 1 April.
Cllr Deborah Urquhart, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said: “Ensuring our residents can recycle as much as possible in a cost effective way is an important element of our Council Plan. As we approach springtime and warmer weather our Recycling Centres are usually at their busiest. To help accommodate this, we are providing longer opening hours to give residents more opportunity to visit the sites.
“An added benefit of our ‘Book to Recycle’ system means residents will be able to easily see when their local site is open when making an appointment.”
From 1 April 2024, Recycling Centres will be open as follows:
Billingshurst open 9am to 6pm every day except Thursday and Friday.
Bognor Regis open 9am to 6pm every day except Thursday and Friday.
Burgess Hill open 9am to 6pm every day.
Chichester open 9am to 6pm every day.
Crawley open 9am to 6pm every day.
East Grinstead open 9am to 6pm every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.
Horsham open 9am to 6pm every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.
Littlehampton open 9am to 6pm every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.
Midhurst open 9am to 6pm every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.
Shoreham-by-Sea open 9am to 6pm every day except Monday and Tuesday.
* We can also offer shorter, workshop-style events and online training.
Pippa O’Connor Marketing and Communications Officer Sussex Prisoners’ Families
Easter Playdates – April 2024
NALC News
Chief executive’s bulletin
Government officials visit NALC Council of the Year
Promoting our sector to government and improving understanding of the great work local (parish and town) councils do, as well as the issues they face, remains an important part of our work engaging with the government. That’s why I was delighted we secured a visit by several officials from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to NALC’s Star Council Awards 2024 Council of the Year (sponsored by Blachere Illumination), Braunstone Town Council. A delegation of six civil servants visited the town council on 6 March 2024, where they met and held discussions with councillors, staff, and partner organisations. They toured several council facilities and projects, including the civic centre, library, new footpath/cycle path, multi-use leisure/sports areas, community centre. I’m hugely grateful to colleagues at the town council for all their hard work organising and delivering such a successful visit!
Spring Budget 2024
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, presented his Spring Budget to Parliament on 6 March 2024. Measures of interest for local government include:
Extension of the Household Support Fund for a further six months.
£400m of funding to expand the Long-Term Plan for Towns to 20 new towns in England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland.
National Insurance cut by 2p in the pound for employees and the self-employed.
As announced in the local government finance settlement, principal authorities have been asked to produce productivity plans by July 2024 setting out how they will improve service performance, utilise data and technology, and reduce wasteful spend.
Scrapping tax breaks for owners of holiday let properties.
Fuel duty frozen, with the 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel due to end later this month kept for another year.
Office for Budget Responsibility predicts UK economy to grow by 0.8% this year and 1.9% next year.
Growth of 2% predicted for 2026, with 1.8% in 2027 and 1.7% in 2028.
UK’s inflation rate forecast to fall below 2% target by the end of June, falling to 1.5% next year.
On the blog: ACRE on Village Halls Week 2024
This week’s blog is from Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE). They write about Village Halls Week 2024, which aims to promote environmental action, focusing on rural communities’ potential to lead in the battle for net zero. With a growing climate crisis, the week encourages village halls to adopt sustainable practices such as energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy adoption, and digital technology utilisation to reduce carbon emissions. The campaign highlights the importance of village halls as community hubs and encourages behaviour towards sustainability. A highlight is the launch of energy efficiency guidance featuring successful case studies from Cumbria, Lancashire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, and Somerset. The initiative also encourages involvement through open days, events, and social media sharing that aims to inspire and empower communities to act. Read the blog to find out more!
Finance and Scrutiny Committee
NALC’s Finance and Scrutiny Committee met remotely on 12 March 2024 and discussed our financial performance to 31 December 2023, noting no significant issues of concern to report. It agreed an inflationary increase to NALC councillor and officer expense rates in line with national recommendations. The committee also set up a task and finish group to consider any changes to the presentation of future accounts to the National Assembly and noted our latest GDPR log, agreeing that two small breaches required no further action.
Martyn’s Law Steering Group meeting
The NALC and Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) Martyn’s Law steering group held its latest online meeting on Thursday 7 March 2024. Here are a few highlights:
The group received an update on headline findings from the recent snapshot survey on the Home Office standard tier consultation which will inform NALC and SLCC’s responses. While respondents welcomed the Home Office’s efforts to ease some of the standard tier requirements, it was noted that compliance could still be challenging for certain local councils. Councils are requesting a standard tier evaluation form, sector-specific training, and tailored support and guidance.
There were mixed views on whether the standard tier minimum threshold, which the government are not proposing to change despite concerns expressed by NALC and other bodies such as ACRE, should be retained as it was noted this would cause some resource issues for smaller local councils managing venues such as village halls and their user groups.
NALC and SLCC would include in their responses that the current proposed requirements for standard tier compliance could make it harder for local councils to secure certain types of insurance. The steering group also suggested further work to share good practice examples of how local councils currently plan for potential terrorist attacks in their areas.
Local audit backlog consultation
NALC recently responded to the government’s consultation on addressing the local audit backlog in England, intensifying its campaign to exempt local councils from entering the rigorous Category 1 full audit regime. In our response, NALC backed the Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments (SAAA) proposal to eliminate the existing minimum threshold of £6.5 million per annum for the full audit regime, arguing local councils and internal drainage boards should be classified as smaller authorities, irrespective of their turnover. Our response also called for an increase to the £25,000 audit threshold and introduction of a transparency code for councils with turnover between this lower threshold and £200,000. Read the full consultation response here. You can also read the SAAA response here.
International Women’s Day recap
8 March was International Women’s Day (IWD) which saw local councils across the country celebrate with various initiatives honouring the contributions and achievements of women in their communities. From hosting events and workshops to sharing stories on social media, local councils highlighted the importance of gender equality and empowerment. Keighley Town Council celebrated IWD in collaboration with Keighley Soroptimist Club, hosting a free event at Keighley College aimed at empowering women and girls to explore opportunities in traditionally male dominated industries. Representatives from various sectors, including Yorkshire Water, Transdev, Incommunities, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Smart Works Leeds, and West Yorkshire Police, came together alongside community organisations supporting women. Similarly, Bridgnorth Town Council honoured remarkable women in their community through sharing daily stories on Facebook, culminating in a video message from the mayor commemorating the occasion and acknowledging the significant contributions of women throughout history, including Mayor Phoebe Matilda Weale, the town’s first female mayor in 1932, symbolising progress since women gained equal voting rights in England just four years prior. Find out how NALC celebrated IWD.
Digital Democracy Partnership
Charlotte Eisenhart, head of member services, attended a meeting of the Digital Democracy Partnership, which explored a new Digital Democracy Maturity Framework being developed by the Local Government Association (LGA). This digital democracy partnership developed over the pandemic as part of a sector wide response to holding remote council meetings, and later campaigned for the reinstatement of the power to hold remote meetings. This group is made up of other national bodies such as the LGA, Lawyers in Local Government, the Association of Democratic Services Officers and the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny. It is now a valuable forum to explore wider opportunities related to digital democracy.
LGA event on Artificial Intelligence
Justin Griggs, head of policy and communications, attended the hybrid panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence, hosted by our LGA colleagues on 7 March. Speakers Jenny McEneaney from LGA, Sarah Pena from Swindon Borough Council, Felicity Burch from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Jennifer Schooling from Anglia Ruskin University and Sue Daley from TechUK, shared their thoughts on three key themes of risks, rewards and readiness. Jenny gave an overview of LGA’s work since 2019 on data and more recently AI, plus support available to ensure the “sensible use of AI in local government”, including the establishment of a councils network. Using drones to inspect council housing rooves was among the uses of AI by Swindon Borough Council, alongside trialling other uses and improving skills. AI “is an exciting opportunity, but risky” said Felicity, who also stressed how governance was crucial in addressing ethical issues, and her department was keen to engage with local government. Jennifer highlighted the importance of building capacity and capability in organisations alongside collaboration. Sue pointed out local government wasn’t alone in looking at how to use AI effectively, that digital transformation wasn’t over and that AI was part of the journey, and being AI ready required infrastructure/tools, governance, data, skills and collaboration. If this has piqued your interest, remember that places are still available at NALC’s online Decoding the future of artificial intelligence in local governance on 24 July!
