Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda item

CMU10 – Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments

CMU11 – Cabinet Member for Communities

CMU12 – Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation & Improvement

CMU13 – Cabinet Member for Economic Growth

CMU14 – Cabinet Member for Environment

CMU15 – Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance

CMU16 – Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance (Law and Governance)

CMU17 – Cabinet Member for Housing

CMU18 – Cabinet Member for Planning

 

Minutes:

199.1         The Chair advised Members that it was her intention to limit the discussion of this item to thirty minutes. She would therefore draw the questioning to a close after 30 minutes had elapsed, if the item had not already been concluded.

 

199.2          Councillor Ward advised that the Cabinet Members were present to respond to questions for the Cabinet Members’ reports. He notified the Council that this was the last time that Cabinet Members’ reports would be presented to Council.  In the future the quarterly reporting would be enhanced to include Portfolio Members’ updates and be brought to Cabinet, as part of the Cabinet agenda. This would also include aspects of finance and risk assessments.

 

199.3          CMU10 – Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments

 

Councillor Lindsay outlined his vision for the Borehamgate Shopping Centre in Sudbury and asked what the Council could do to create town centres with attractive focal points to increase footfall and support the local economy.

 

Councillor Busby, the Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments responded that he agreed that towns needed an attractive centre and that developments were underway for the direction that Sudbury needed to take for the future.

 

It was Resolved: -

 

That Report CMU10 be noted.

 

199.4     CMU11 – Cabinet Member for Communities

Councillor Hinton asked in relation to paragraph 3.1 when decisions relating to the visits and applications for grants referred to in the report were likely to be made.

Councillor Davis responded he would provide an answer outside the meeting.

Councillor Busby referred to paragraph 3.4 in relation to the Strategic Leisure Advisor. He understood that this appointment was coming to an end and asked if there was a contingency plan in place to continue the work.

Councillor Davis responded that the work would continue and that individual applications would be in February.

Councillor Davis welcomed the Community Team’s new Corporate Manager Vicky Moseley.

Councillor Barrett congratulated on the opening of the Kingfisher Leisure Centre and asked if there was any scope for running more classes and Councillor Davis responded he would pass this request on to Abbeycroft Leisure.

It was Resolved: -

 

That Report CMU11 be noted.

 

199.5          CMU12 – Cabinet Member for Customers, Digital Transformation & Improvement

Councillor Hinton referred to paragraph 3.2 and asked if there was any information regarding the increase in the number of calls to the Call Centre from Quarter 2 to Quarter 3.

Councillor Parker responded that he would provide a response outside the meeting.

The Chief Executive added that it was likely that the increase between the two quarters was caused by the General Election as members of the public contacted the call-centre with queries in relation to registration and voting arrangements.

It was Resolved: -

 

That Report CMU12 be noted.

 

199.6          CMU13 – Cabinet Member for Economic Growth

Councillor Owen referred to paragraph 3.6 and asked for more information regarding the Delphi Site and Councillor Holt responded that updates would be forwarded to Members in due course.

Councillor Hinton referred to paragraph 3.6 in relation to the sites being brought forward for development in Hadleigh and asked if the sites at the top of town, bought from Persimmons, would be developed, or if any information could be provided for sites, which were not included in the report.

Councillor Holt responded that plans for the development of sites in Hadleigh would be presented to Members when they became available.  Until then he would not be able to provide any further information.

Councillor Norman asked if the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth could provide an update on the empty units in Copdock (paragraph 8) and the Cabinet Member responded that work was being undertaken with agents to attract new business to occupy the units.

It was Resolved: -

That Report CMU13 be noted.

199.7          CMU14 – Cabinet Member for Environment

Councillor Hinton questioned the arrangements for the Civil Parking Enforcement (CP), which would come into force later in the year, specifically, who would be responsible for the changes for the marking of parking arrangements during the transitional period.

Councillor Malvisi clarified that Suffolk County Council was still responsible for the painting of white lines, which Councillor Hinton was referring to, and that the work was ongoing. 

It was Resolved: -

That Report CMU14 be noted.

 

199.8        CMU15 – Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance

199.9        There were no questions for the Cabinet Member for Finance.

It was Resolved: -

That Report CMU15 be noted.

199.10     CMU16 – Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance (Law and Governance)

199.11     There were no questions for the Cabinet Member for Finance (Law and Governance).

It was Resolved: -

 

That Report CMU16 be noted.

 

199.12     CMU17 – Cabinet Member for Housing

199.13      The Cabinet Member provided a summary of the main points in the report and added that it was important that Members were kept up to date with developments in Housing and she was working with Officers to ensure that this happened.

199.14      Councillor Beer enquired how complaints were dealt with on Council Housing estates in relation to enforcement.  He referred to a specific case in which the enforcement officer had been present, and asked if the Enforcement team would receive any additional support.

199.15      Councillor Jan Osborne explained that currently recruitment for the neighbourhood team was taking place, and once feedback became available, she would update Members.  She continued that she was working with the police to ensure that not just housing developments, but all areas of communities were safe communities for resident to live in.   She was working on organising briefings and workshops for all Members to bring together ideas for how to work with the Police and other organisations involved. She hoped to bring something forward in February.

199.16     Councillor Hinton asked that the repair work undertaken by the Council on tenant properties was quality assured and that the repairs were of high standard, so that they could last.

199.17     Councillor Jan Osborne assured him that all the maintenance work was up to standard and quality assured.  However, consideration for a joint venture to work alongside the maintenance Team was being investigated to continue to provide high standard of repairs.

 

It was Resolved: -

 

That Report CMU17 be noted.

 

199.18     CMU18 – Cabinet Member for Planning

199.19     Councillor Beer asked if it was possible for all Members of the Planning Committee to receive paper copies of the latest neighbourhood plans, which the Cabinet Member confirmed would be actioned.

199.20     Councillor Hinton referred to paragraph 3.5 and asked for further information for the review of the Planning Enforcement.  He hoped that Members would be involved in this review.

199.21     Councillor Arthey responded that both Heritage and Planning Enforcement were undergoing reviews.  He thanked Philip Isbell, the Chief Planning Officer, for the work undertaken so far.

199.22     Councillor McCraw informed Members that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was scrutinising Planning Enforcement at the upcoming meeting in February as Planning Enforcement was a concern of many of the Members.

 

It was Resolved: -

 

That Report CMU18 be noted.

 

 

Councillor Busby referred to Report CMU14 and asked if the Cabinet Member for the Environment could provide an update on the Tree For Life Scheme. She informed Members that the first event to plant trees would take place on the 1st of February 2020.  There had been a 23% uptake of all births in Babergh for the scheme.

 

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