East Sussex Association of Local Councils Limited
Agenda for a Board Meeting
To be held at Heathfield Community Centre
Monday 23rd October 2023 at 10.30am
In attendance:
Marquess of Abergavenny DL [President]
Mrs Marion Shepherd DL [Vice President]
Dr. Alex MacGillivray [Vice President]
D.P.M.Young [Vice President], Chairman RALC]
K.B.D. Stevens [Chairman ESALC], Chairman WDALC]
J. Barnes [ Vice Chairman ESALC], RALC
Keith Robertson, RALC
Trevor Leggo, CEO ESALC and Emily Simpson, Admin and Finance Assistant, ESALC
Also in attendance:
Rt. Hon Norman Baker
Kate Wood [Former Lewes TC]
- Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Councillor Macleod.
- Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting held on July 3rd were accepted as a true and accurate record.
- Lewes Town Council
Norman Baker spoke as a concerned resident about the operations of Lewes Town Council (LTC) and how he felt action needed to be taken to address it. He cited problems dating back almost 15 years and went into detail about various issues along with former town councillor Kate Wood. Due to the nature of the issues discussed and the fact that Sussex Police were currently involved, no minutes were recorded.
Questions were raised how one could raise concerns about a local council without facing aggression and backlash. It was agreed that this appeared to be a systemic problem across the country and Rt. Hon Norman Baker finished by saying he would appreciate it if this question could be taken up nationally as well as any ideas as to next steps at LTC.
The conversation closed with the ESALC Chairman stating that every Minister or MP he had spoken to agree the standard regime should come back but as a collective body, the government would not agree to it.
- Financial update
The Chairman updated the Board that for the first half of the year ESALC had a surplus of just under £32k which had been anticipated. At the start of the year, the bank balance after taking into account debtors and creditors of £63k, was £95k. As of 30th September, in the current account there was just over £8k. In the reserve account there was £25k and in the CCLA account there was £61k, which totalled £94k. There was additional expenditure in the first half such as the elections video. At the next meeting, affiliation fees would be discussed. The CEO said that at its Board meeting last week, WSALC agreed to increase subs by 2%. He also said that salaries for public sector workers had not yet been agreed.
The Chairman concluded by saying the current account was slightly lower than usual with payments for VAT and payroll coming out so an additional £5k had been transferred from the reserve account to the current account. He also said that CCLA paid interest of approximately £300 per month.
- ESALC AGM & Conference
The CEO informed the Board that the AGM would be taking place on 14th November in Uckfield with a similar format to last year. In terms of speakers, Steve Tilbury would be providing an update on the state of planning, Andy Saville from Sussex Police would be there, Breakthrough Communications and Action in rural Sussex.
- Police Focus Groups
The CEO advised that all focus groups had been scheduled from 9th November until the end of the month. They would take place remotely this year and in the summer they would take place face to face. All clerks had been notified by Mandy Jameson in the PCC’s office.
- Civility & Respect Project
The Chairman confirmed that 1400 parish and town councils had now signed up. Approximately 30% of councils had signed up across Sussex and a simple survey would be sent to ESALC members to ask if they had signed up to the pledge, and if not, why not.
- CEO update
The CEO said clerk recruitment continues to be difficult across the country. When a clerk leaves, an experienced clerk is requested and these are not in abundance. Two recent vacancies advertised by ESALC have both received only two applications despite a healthy salary. The CEO suggested that we need to grow our own clerks and train from within or we will continue to struggle.
Cllr Moss said that large councils had to develop senior staff and forward plan for clerks who may be nearing retirement.
The Chairman said he had spoken with the LGA Chair and they both recognised that many people don’t consider a career within local government and how colleges should be training clerks.
It was also recognised that there was a shortage of not only clerks but also democratic officers and planners.
Mentoring was also discussed and this is taking place with a few of the smaller parishes where they have an inexperienced clerk.
- Planning enforcement
The CEO said across West Sussex, local planning authorities had largely walked away from planning enforcement for various reasons which was causing understandable unrest. The CEO said town and parish councils should be the eyes and ears for their local planning authority, taking photos as evidence where necessary. Councillor Barnes said we should be campaigning very strongly on this.
In Rother, Councillor Young said parish councillors had to be mindful to the fact that there were staffing problems.
Cllr Meyer said he sat on the SDNPA Board enforcement was still an issue, despite only having one statutory duty, planning. They receive a grant and they choose how to spend it and unfortunately they do not spend heavily on enforcement as funds are limited. It was agreed that this is a national problem and something needs to be done. There need to be resources, such as enforcement officers.
- District Associations
Councillor Young reported on RALC and said their meeting two weeks ago was very well attended. Their main theme at the moment is zero carbon which is taking up a lot of their time. He also said there is always a worry that Rother District is going to go broke, however, they have done a lot of work on risk and they are working on transparency. A good working relationship with Rother has been built which is to be commended. Councillor Robertson commented on Highways and said ESCC were asked for reassurance that some of the new investment it had received would benefit Rother directly, however, ESCC said it did not look at areas, just East Sussex in general.
The Chairman reported on Wealden and said a report from Southern Water had been received and he would circulate the slides. He also said dog fouling seems to be getting worse in the area and if reported enough, wardens will come out and issue fines. Councillor Robertson said in their parish they have installed bins and supply free bags and this has made a huge difference. It was also reported that loose dogs were also on the increase.
There was no report for LDALC however it was agreed that there were issues and the CEO was working to resolve some of the issues.
- Any other matters raised by the Board
The CEO spoke about failures regarding flooding, network and infrastructure problems as well as a lack of resilience on SE Water’s behalf. It was also reported that Wealden District had met with the Chief Executive of SE Water who apologised and assured them that the situation would improve.
With regards to caravans, the CEO said our planning consultant, Steve Tilbury, would be attending the AGM & Conference on 14th November and he would explain the planning law as far as caravans are concerned.
With regards to Martyn’s Law, there was no update since the last meeting.
The CEO informed the Board that ESALC had changed payroll providers and now used a local company called Team4 and they already seemed better than the previous provider.
Dr MacGillivray spoke about Transport for the South East and asked how seriously TfSE should be taken when it comes to determining transport? He expressed his concern that decisions would be made which would affect smaller communities and they would inevitably be the last to know. It was agreed that ESALC need to know what is going on at a strategic level so more meaningful conversations can be had about transport in the area. The CEO felt the most effective contribution parish councils could make was to provide local transport links. Councillor Barnes agreed that better communication and more transparency was required, and it was agreed to invite Huw Merriman and Rupert Clubb to the next Board meeting. Councillor Robertson noted one negative of Dial a Ride: if your village is already on a bus route then you cannot use the service, which seems very restrictive.
Lastly, the Chairman said that NALC had become accredited to the White Ribbon group and this is something which ESALC may wish to consider as well.
- Date of next meeting
Friday 26th January at 10.30am. Location TBC.