DRAFT MINUTES OF THE STRATEGIC POLICY AND RESOURCES PANEL held on Thursday 17 May 2021 at 3pm via Microsoft Teams Video Conferencing

Councillors Present:

Cllrs John Lowman (Chair), Allan Brown, Tony Lank, Malcolm Llewellyn, Claire Majsai & Martin Machan. Also in attendance: Sarah Groom, Clerk to the Council

1. Apologies for Absence: There were no apologies received from Cllr Sampson.

2. Declarations of interest: There were no declarations of interest.

3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting of the Strategic Policy & Resources Panel: The minutes of the meeting of 15 April 2021 were agreed as a true record of the meeting. The minutes will be signed by the Chair at the next available opportunity.

4. Local Government Boundary Commission Review of Mid Sussex: To re-consider the draft response to the review being undertaken into the size of Mid Sussex District Council. The invitation is to submit comments by 31 May 2021. At the Council meeting on 29 April 2021 (Minute C20/21.129) it was:

RESOLVED: That the Council AGREES to feed all comments to the Clerk by Friday 7 May 2021 when a second draft would be considered by the Strategic Policy & Resources Panel at a meeting prior to the next Council meeting.

Further comments had been incorporated into the letter and re-issued with the agenda. After consideration, it was suggested the final main paragraph was expanded to include reference to the Settlement Sustainability Review undertaken by MSDC in May 2015 which cited Hurstpierpoint as a Category 2 settlement and Sayers Common as a Category 3 settlement. Therefore as an already recognised hierarchy, there was a mutually supporting infrastructure in place.

It was AGREED by the Panel that the letter would be amended and submitted to Council for final approval on 27 May 2021 before submission by 31 May 2021.

5. Call for Evidence for Local Authority Remote Meetings: From 4 April 2020 to 6 May 2021 local authorities were permitted to hold remote or hybrid meetings under the LA and PCC (Coronavirus) Flexibility of Meetings Regulations 2020. Since this was rescinded, some local authorities have asked that those arrangements are made permanent. NALC realises that this places additional pressure on local authorities and urged all local authorities to respond to the government 12 week consultation by 17th June 2021. The Panel considered the questions posed and agreed responses to be recommend to Council.

It was AGREED by the Panel that responses to the questions would be drafted and presented to Council for final approval on 27 May 2021 before submission by 17 June 2021.

6. Matters for information or inclusion on future agendas. The Panel noted the items for future agendas:

· Fundraising Policy

· Grants Policy

· Environmental Policy (will also be considered later this year, after the consultation at the Annual Parish Meeting on 18 May 2021)

7. Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting is to be confirmed as required.