Just two weeks and one day after thanking members for their support on electing me as Leader here I am again to deliver another speech to you all. I’m proud and delighted to do so as this evening I am presenting a Budget, a plan and a record of achievement that we can all be very proud of.
As you would all expect the last two weeks have been a busy two weeks for me, but rest assured I offer no complaints about that fact because they have also been an invigorating and inspiring two weeks. During the last fortnight, I’ve held more conversations with people from across our community and council than I can keep count of and as a result I am more convinced than ever that here in Worthing we have a great story to tell and a fantastic future to look forward to. The Budget that we’ll be discussing this evening is the key component to ensuring that this Council is in a fit state to carry us forward or to ‘catch the wave’!
Despite having faced setbacks and challenges locally, nationally and globally I can’t help but face the future with great optimism. Not just here in Worthing, but across the whole world, it’s a self evident truth that in 2015 the vast majority of people are living longer, happier, healthier and safer lives than ever before. The rate of progress in these areas, particularly in the developing world but also in the developed world, has accelerated greatly since the triumph of modern conservative ideas over the past three decades. These great gains are a testament to the freedoms that have been unlocked by right of centre Leaders who have fought and won battles to open up democracy and freedom (or ‘capitalism’ to people who don’t like freedom) both in their own countries and abroad. Here in Worthing we benefit every day from those great strides and we should, and will, greet the future with the positive, practical pragmatic policies that have served the area so well over recent years.
The 2015/16 budget seeks to catch and ride that wave and to take the borough on to new levels. Capitalising on past achievements and grasping new possibilities.
Regeneration
The budget aims to provide new impetus to the regeneration of the Borough that has been so successful in recent years. From the large projects such as Splashpoint Leisure Centre that is now fast approaching its second birthday and which has proven to be such a great asset to the town, to the smaller but no less important projects such as the new and improved playgrounds across the town, the improvements to Windsor Lawns, the new splash pad that my daughters love so much, and the conversion of the beach chalets to artist studios we are continuing to see regeneration all around us.
In the Budget for 2015/16 there will be an additional £245,000 courtesy of the Department for Communities and Local Government to fund a new Creative Hub in Worthing. This will convert the currently unoccupied offices in Colonnade House into incubator spaces for small and medium sized arts based enterprises. The Creative Hub is set to be operational by the summer and will support 22 jobs in the town. It will also bring additional benefits to Worthing’s all important cultural tourism offer.
Having worked in the tourism industry myself for many years I am an advocate of the sector and believe that here in Worthing we have a great product, some brilliant businesses and a supportive Council. We can and must improve though and with officers and the Cabinet Member for Regeneration I am driving forward the necessary changes.
From the 6th March, Visitor Information Points will be open in the Pavilion Theatre and Worthing Museum, staffed by a fully trained team and offering a complete range of information about the local area. We will also be working with Worthing’s Town Centre Initiative to form partnerships with local businesses who are keen to display tourist information and contacting the Library to discuss increasing the information offer at various locations. Additionally, the three red telephone boxes owned by Adur and Worthing Councils will be transformed into mini tourist information kiosks, adding to the availability of information.
We are also looking at improving the tourism offer in partnership with the surrounding area to create a broader West Sussex offer. The Budget maintains our commitment to tourism.
It also makes provision for the recruitment of a new officer whose responsibility will be to support and drive forward the regeneration of sites such as Union Place, the Grafton Car park and Teville Gate that are in long overdue need of improvement.
We welcome the wonderful events that take place in the town and I am proud that the Council takes such a proactive role in supporting them. In 2014 there were numerous occasions organised to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War and others such as the
- World of Words Festival
- Lions Festival
- Worthing Art trail
- Tide of Light
- Splash Point Mini Golf
- Food and Drink Festival
- Children’s Parade
- Community Play
- Art on the Pier
- Town Centre Christmas Lights.
They all received some degree of support or assistance from the Council.
Over the first weekend in August, Worthing seafront will host the 5th round of the UK Street Velodrome Series, the only venue on the South Coast for this now hugely popular cycling sport.
In the Budget there is provision for the new Events Officer post through which we will provide enhanced and targeted support for more and even better events in Worthing.
Culture
Strongly linked to events and tourism is the magnificent cultural programme that we have in Worthing.
The Commit to Culture Partnership will encourage excellent and inclusive cultural activities, bringing together the energy, creativity and resources of individuals, organisations and businesses involved in delivering, or supporting cultural activity.
Worthing Theatres go from strength to strength and I find the improvement in the programme breath taking. In the past year there have been a record number of sold out shows. The Comedy programme has attracted many big name acts including Dawn French, Jimmy Carr, Lee Mack and Jo Brand. In 2015 celebrities such as Alan Carr, Alan Davies, Katherine Ryan and Ruby Wax are all visiting Worthing to perform in our theatres. The Christmas shows were a delight once again with Jack Frost’s Frozen Christmas receiving exemplary reviews (not least from my daughters who particularly loved the snow at the end!) and Aladdin breaking all records to become the highest grossing pantomime in the history of the Connaught Theatre.
In July we have a week long run of the play Dead Simple by Peter James - Worthing Theatres currently has the highest advance ticket sales for the tour, proving that our venues are back on the creative map and the local community are proving their support by buying tickets.
We’ll continue to support our theatres while challenging the management team to reduce the subsidy that Council Tax payers provide.
Similarly Worthing Museum is a credit to the town but must find more improvements. In that vein the management has managed to win a partnership agreement to work with the British Museum in developing links with hard to reach community groups.
In 2015 I look forward to seeing further progress on the regeneration of the town and its cultural offers. These improvements make Worthing the town that it is and encourage employers to create jobs her. The record on employment in the Borough is excellent and this is a testament to the people and businesses of this town and the actions of both Worthing Borough Council and West Sussex County Council. Under Conservative leadership we know when and how to support and more importantly, when to get out of the way.
This has led to commitments from a number of companies to create new jobs in Worthing. GSK are bringing 200 new jobs to the Borough. Rayner Intraocular Lens are relocating 170 employees from Hove and creating an additional 30 new jobs. Teledyne Oil & Gas – are increasing their workforce by an additional 30 jobs.
Communities/Big Society
- We have just launched our new Public Health Plan, being one of the first district councils to have done this. Over the next few years we will be looking at how we can mobilise our workforce to help improve the health and wellbeing of our local communities.
- We continue to offer value work experience placements for unemployed people through a variety of placements in the Councils and with local employers. An amazing 60% of these are then going on to find employment after these schemes.
- Our Money Tree event was entertaining, with presentations becoming more inventive than ever – we had song, dance & poetry at the presentation evening in 2014. We allocated £15,953 to 10 groups as a result of the scheme in 2014. Money Tree has become a regular feature of our work with the community sector and the time has come for a refresh. So this year we have focussing the programme on the needs of young people in our communities.
- West Sussex Credit Union – delighted that Worthing Council is now a corporate member.
Technological advances
Sound finances
- At the outset of this budget round, the council faced the challenging prospect of finding savings of around £0.5m. This challenge has been successfully met and the council is now in the position to balance the budget, freeze Council Tax and reinvest back into priority services to promote economic growth.
- Nevertheless we must not forget that the austerity measures are set to continue in the next Parliament. The Council is likely to face further reductions in government funding over the next 5 years irrespective of who wins the election.
- So, the Council must continue to focus on finding ever more efficient ways of working if we are to continue to balance the budget and protect our front line services. With this in mind we have recently invested heavily in a new digital strategy which should help us to transform how our services are delivered to the public in the future.
Public services
- Adur and Worthing has retained all the features of its successful weekly refuse & fortnightly recycling service in the face of a difficult budget settlement.
Large numbers of additional houses have been absorbed into the service without incurring significant additional financial burden - The weekly garden refuse service goes from strength to strength. 1700 new customers signed up for bins during 2014-15 and garden sack sales have remained steady in spite of the increase in bin customers. The education team have worked hard to retain existing customers and promote the service throughout the year.
- Successfully being awarded £100,000 of external funding from DCLG’s Transformation Challenge Award for our Rethinking Parks agenda.
- Let Beach House Park pavilion for Fair Trade cafe.
- Over 95% Occupancy of Worthing Allotments
- Over 98% Occupancy of Worthing Beach Huts and Chalets
- Fitness Equipment and Concrete Table Tennis Table installed in Windsor Lawns, Worthing
- 124 events in Worthing in Council owned Parks and Open Spaces.
- Working with Worthing Allotment to promote self-management of all Worthing Allotment sites.
Unfortunately there is a disconnect in politics in the early 21st century. Here in Britain I feel that the only Party that reflects that we are living though a period in which lives are longer, happier, healthier and safer is the Conservative party. Ours is an optimistic outlook but crucially a rationally optimistic outlook. Our optimism is one based on facts and a practical understanding of the world as it is rather than as we fear or hope it is. Other politicians and political parties tend to view the world in a pessimistic way that I don’t understand. They see the world in zero sum terms. They see a world in which one person can only do well at the expense of someone else. Where if someone makes money someone loses, where if someone receives some tax relief someone else must be paying more or losing an entitlement, where if someone moves to an area from somewhere else and gains a job someone who is from that area is losing an opportunity to work for a living or where economic growth equates environmental cost.
This is a view that sees the world through a prism of scarcity rather than the abundance that is all around us. Metaphorically it is a notion that the world is a cake – a small cake at that – a cake that needs to be sliced up and each person given their fair share, with only so much to go around. But we Conservatives know, and it shouldn’t really need be said, that the world is not a cake. Neither literally or metaphorically. We know that the world is a big, beautiful, bustling, bountiful bakery where everyone can get stuck in and bake their own cakes with their own recipes and if they don’t like cake they’re free to make any pie, pizza or pastry they desire.
Ultimately we believe that the potential of the world around us and in particular the people who inhabit it is boundless. The levels of technological, scientific, social and economic advances that we seen in recent years and decades would have been unimaginable just a short while ago and the potential for future positive change is unimaginable to us now. That is the reality and the vision of the wave that we are now catching and which this budget is preparing us ride.
The future in Worthing is bright blue and we should be very excited, motivated and enthused to be a part of it.
Mr Mayor, I’d like to propose this Budget the plans for the future that it contains, and of course, a fifth consecutive Council Tax freeze for the people of Worthing to this Council.