Agenda item

To receive questions from Councillors in accordance with the requirements of Standing Order 23.4(a).

Question from Cllr Davis to Cllr Turner

Can you please tell us what the situation is at the moment regarding the Breach in the sea wall at Southmoor Nature reserve? Is this Breach to be allowed to be permanent and if so at what point is the remaining wall to be re-enforced if at all. Will it be allowed to just get bigger and bigger?

Reply from Cllr Turner:

HBC Officers are monitoring the situation but not promoting any response or action. Our position is unchanged since our previous response.  As this land is not owned by HBC, the Council will not be taking action as this is a matter for the landowner.

Questions from Cllr Davis to Cllr Bowerman

(i) Why does the Council need to recruit four extra solicitors at a time when we are told our Council Budget is in deficit and getting worse? (This year the Budget is in small profit only because of the extra covid payments)

Reply from Cllr Bowerman:

These are not extra posts but are existing vacancies presently being filled by locum staff. The recent recruitment exercise will fill these as permanent roles which represent a cost saving for the Council.

(ii) Why do we need a new post of Senior Democratic Services Team Leader.? This is another extra expense which we have not had before, in the face of a rising budget deficit to this council.

Reply from Cllr Bowerman:

The Senior Democratic Services Officer role will provide improved support for Scrutiny and member development in keeping with feedback from members.  This new post is part of a full review of the Democratic Services structure which has been undertaken to ensure that it is appropriately resourced.  The former Democratic Services Assistant and Democratic Services Officer positions have been merged into career graded Democratic Services Officer posts to enable career progression and the overall budget for providing the new shared service doesn’t represent an increase over that of the existing structure when fully staffed.

Question from Cllr Pike to Cllr Rennie

Could the Cabinet Lead please confirm how much the Council currently spends on maintaining play areas, and how much he believes would need to be budgeted so that the current level of play equipment is maintained without further reductions?

Reply from Cllr Rennie

Since 2019/20 we have managed an annual £70k capital budget for small scale play area refurbishment. This budget is utilised for the replacement of items of play equipment that are coming to, or are, at the end of their usable life and also looks at a bigger picture of how this investment can have the largest impact for children in terms of the play value, inclusivity and welcome that a play area provides. Given this and the standards for modern equipment, it’s not always the case that like for like replacements are sourced.

The general maintenance of play areas is managed by Norse. This includes safety inspections and subsequent repairs to equipment, surfacing, gates, fencing etc and the removal of play items if deemed unrepairable. 

We are reliant on external grant funding, CIL and community group fundraising to realise any larger refurbishment works. For example, the full refurbishment of Emsworth Recreation Ground, due to be completed this year, is funded by £45k CIL and £45k of charity fundraising by Veritys Gift and similarly in 2018, the full refurbishment of Hayling Park Play area, at £85k was funded by S106 and community fundraising by Play Parks for Hayling.

If any Member wishes to bring forward ideas for the refurbishment of a local playpark or has identified problems with equipment, I’d be very happy to host a meeting with officers to discuss in more detail.

In response to a supplementary question from Cllr Pike, Cllr Rennie believed that there was some scope to look at additional capital funding within the budget for the replacement of tired or missing play equipment.