The Chairman of the Council, Chairs of Committees and Sub-Committees and Portfolio Holders to answer any questions on any matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affect the District of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.
Minutes:
Question 1
Councillor Marchant to Councillor Wilshaw Cabinet Member for Housing
Would it be possible for Mid Suffolk to have allocation rights for some of the large number of vacant properties on Wattisham Army Camp belonging to the MoD?
Answer
Officers have been in contact historically with both the Ministry of Defence and Suffolk County Council to discuss the vacant properties at Wattisham. Our understanding is that the MoD have made the decision to privately let all vacant properties via a local commercial Lettings Agency.
Thus there is no role for Mid Suffolk District Council to be involved in the letting of these properties.
Question 2
Councillor Marchant to Councillor Burn Cabinet Member for Environment
Has Mid Suffolk reduced too drastically the number of countryside staff, managing Mid Suffolk and Babergh’s Countryside sites?
There used to be 2 x part time (22.2 hpw) Communities Officers (Countryside) – both posts cut.
And 2 Seasonal Ranger posts (May- September) 30 hpw covering weekend – both posts cut.
And 1 Communities Officer (Countryside) retained; and 1 Countryside Maintenance Officer – retained.
So now two countryside officers instead of six, and this is to manage eight countryside sites in Mid Suffolk, plus a further nine since countryside integrated with Public Realm, and now have involvement in Babergh as well as Town Parks in Hadleigh and Sudbury and numerous other small open spaces across both Districts.
Answer
The Countryside and Public Realm Team came together in 2015 but had separate budgets and management arrangements. It was identified at that time that there would be benefit from a full integration at some point in the future.
The Countryside Service had been holding 2 vacant Community Officer (Countryside) posts since 2015 in anticipation of the consultant’s report on Countryside and Public Realm services produced by Whites, Green and Young (WYG) in 2017 and considered by Cabinet in March 2018. The report identified that the level of resources devoted to Countryside Services was unusually high compared to other authorities with a similar portfolio of sites and responsibilities and that there was also duplication with many of the functions delivered by the in-house Public Realm Grounds Maintenance Team. The two vacant posts also had a dual locality role in the Communities Team and were not able to devote their full time to Countryside work.
In 2017 the 2 vacant posts were put forward as a saving as well as two Seasonal Ranger posts. This reduction was confirmed during the budget setting process for 2018/19.
The functions formerly delivered by a separate Countryside Service have now been integrated into Public Realm. The Communities Officer (Countryside) who had already been working in Public Realm for the last 3 years will continue to work alongside the 3 Public Realm Officers and 2 Tree Officers delivering an integrated service for all open spaces owned by the Council. The Countryside Maintenance Officer will work more closely with the in-house Grounds Maintenance Team to ensure that sites are managed for both people to enjoy and for nature conservation.
In summary, because vacancies have been held in the Countryside Service since 2015, the level of resource in the now joint Public Realm and Countryside Service is not very different to the overall resourcing levels at the same time last year. The Corporate Manager confirms that he can manage with this amount of resource and that the expected efficiencies have been realised from the integration of the two services.
Supplementary Question
Would it be possible for this to be looked at again?