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 13.
Minutes:
Question 1 Councillor Penny Otton to Councillor Suzie Morley, Leader of the Council
The menopause is a natural stage of life but can lead to long term changes in physical and emotional health for women, including transgender. It is rarely discussed. What support does the council and its partners have in place to help and advice?
Response
There is guidance on Connect which details how we can support women through this stage in their lives. The guidance also offers tips and support from our people. The Employee Assist Programme which all staff and councillors can access has a section in the app that can also provide guidance and support.
As with all of our guidance, we do review and whilst this is comprehensive, it is one that we will look at as part of our policy and guidance review.
Question 2 Councillor Mellen to Councillor Morley, Leader of the Council
This Council declared a climate emergency in July 2019 and is making progress towards the goal of being a carbon neutral local authority by 2030. However, this will be futile if we do not also see a reduction in carbon emissions from all sources in the District. Given the recent “code red” warning from the IPCC and the urgency of this task, what measures is the administration taking to encourage everyone in Mid Suffolk – residents, homeowners, landowners, businesses and all other organisations - to reduce their own carbon emissions with the aim of achieving net zero by 2030?
Response
You are right to say that we are making progress. We have just switched our waste fleet to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, immediately reducing its carbon emissions by 90% - the first rural Council to do so.
We are installing a solar carport at our Mid Suffolk Leisure Centre in Stowmarket, enabling electric car users to charge their vehicles but also to capture clean energy for use within the leisure centre.
We will soon see the results of the extensive mapping exercise undertaken with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to understand our habitats and enabling us to protect and enhance wildlife corridors in our District.
We are offering free trees and hedgerows to towns and parishes and have seen a fantastic take up off this offer, again increasing the infrastructure for our biodiversity.
We are a community leader in this space. We must encourage and influence our communities by setting an example. But our biggest message is simply making a conscious change. As small as it may seem – not wasting water, not wasting food, stop using plastics, avoid the car where possible, switch to a green energy tariff.
But to highlight just two areas where we are specifically encouraging change.
Firstly, our Local Energy Showcase. Businesses and community organisations are being urged to tackle climate change by joining Babergh and Mid Suffolk’s first ever showcase event celebrating sustainability and green energy.
The Local Energy Showcase, organised by Mid Suffolk District Council, along with Babergh Council, will promote how different types of energy can be used by communities and businesses help reduce their impact on the environment, lower costs and contribute to the fight against climate change.
Tickets, which are free, are now available for the two-day extravaganza, at Wherstead Park in Ipswich on 21 and 22 October. The event is open to all businesses with an interest in finding out more about local energy solutions and as well as community groups and parishes who would like to understand and explore the benefits of using local energy solutions.
The Local Energy Showcase, marks the Councils’ recognition of a climate emergency and their commitment to the Suffolk-wide aim to become carbon neutral by 2030, aims to inform and update visitors on the latest in green energy. Featuring keynote speeches from specialists in the field, workshops, as well as the chance to participate in a Q&A session with a panel of experts on a range of topics.
The event will also feature a marketplace for green energy businesses and organisations to showcase their products and services, demonstrate how local energy solutions can be installed and used, and how switching energy supplies can lower greenhouse emissions and reduce energy costs.
Delegates will have the opportunity to network with and learn from leaders in the fields of carbon reduction, heat networks and solar energy.
Practical workshops will include understanding the concepts of becoming net zero, how to access green grants and funding, and how to reduce energy consumption.
I would encourage everyone to attend this exciting and informative event.
Secondly, I would like to highlight our Food Savvy campaign. This campaign led by the Suffolk Waste Partnership, helps the people of Suffolk reduce their food waste and save money at the same time.
52,000 tonnes of food get thrown away in Suffolk every year. About a third of our black bin rubbish is wasted food.
The food savvy project teaches people about planning a food shop, store food, portion control, freezing, sharing and composting.
We know for certain that each of us changing our behaviours and making environmentally friendly choices will make the biggest difference to achieving our aspiration of carbon neutrality.
Supplementary Question
We are going to have to start asking our residents to start making difficult choices in the years ahead about how live, how they travel, what they eat, and how they heat their homes. Is this administration ready to provide the leadership on this issue that Mid Suffolk needs?
Response Cllr Morley
Yes, we are.
Question 3 Councillor Stringer to Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for Planning
Would the Portfolio Holder agree that we need to give back to local communities, a strong voice in local housing and planning policy, both to ensure development is appropriate to local need and to engage communities in shaping sustainable development.
Response
Thank you, Councillor Stringer. As you know from our conversations not just as part of the Member Working Group for the Joint Local Plan, but also from the detailed conversations we had as part of framing our Council’s response to the Planning White Paper, we share a desire to see our communities having a stronger voice in the Planning process. Indeed, I have been developing a motion to present to Council that would emphasise this very point. That draft motion currently states,
"This Council applauds the Government’s desire to improve and simplify the planning system, encourage greater community involvement in the plan making process and provide increased importance for neighbourhood plans. To achieve this, this council believes planning works best when developers and the local community work positively together, and do so early in the process, to shape local areas and deliver necessary new homes and related infrastructure. It therefore supports the right of communities to engage fully in the whole planning process by the full use of digital technology, participation in local and neighbourhood plans and maintaining the right to object to individual planning applications, whether they conform with the local plan or not."
Following the recent changes to Cabinet roles within government, and the subsequent news that Michael Gove is going to pause the proposed planning reform, I will be writing to him to make similar points and to emphasise the importance of community participation in the planning process.
Supplementary Question
The planning regime has been simplified over the last decade leaving communities feeling that they have less power over the system than they had a decade ago. Would the portfolio holder agree that is this government best placed to give us back this power?
Response Cllr Burn
I am not necessarily going to agree to answer that question as you put it, but I do accept what you are saying about the simplification of the planning system has eroded the contribution that communities can provide. It may be that as a result of looking at that motion again and looking at the development as I have seen it happen over the last few weeks on the approach to the planning reforms. I may well not include the word simplify in the letter to Michael Gove. That letter has not yet been written but it will be drafted along similar lines to the one I just read out to you as a motion. The simplification element of it, I think you are probably right, does not necessarily fit to the ideal of increasing community involvement. So, I will make sure that is the principal message and nothing much more.
Question 4 Councillor Eburne to the Councillor Fleming, Cabinet Member for Environment.
Following the Local Government Association (LGA) General Assembly meeting in July please can you report to Council what initiatives were made to support local government involvement at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, COP26, and advise Council of the task force work towards net zero. In view of this, what will Mid Suffolk be doing to support the COP26 work?
Response
Thank you for your question, Cllr Eburne. As you point out, COP26 was high on the agenda of the recent (July) LGA General Assembly meeting where the important role local councils can play in achieving climate change goals nationally was recognised. Quote: Councils have a significant role to play in tackling the climate emergency. They are well-placed to translate national climate ambitions into transformative action through their roles in: Place Shaping, Purchasing, Direct Delivery, managing their Assets (including social housing), and as Communicators.
I am proud to say that this Council is being recognised as a leader in environmental initiatives and is ahead of most councils in England in this regard. Cllr Morley has mentioned the HVO and Leisure Centre projects which tackle our two highest CO2 emission sources over which the Council has influence, and other actions are in process. But I would like to make brief reference to some specific topics which the LGA has singled out in support of the COP26 objectives.
Place Shaping – Here the council as the local planning authority has perhaps the most potential to make positive changes. Given the expectations in the new NPPF that good design is ‘fundamental to what planning and development should achieve’, I understand that our own Planning team is fully on board with current expectations for positive change and will consider how best to put into practice the messages in the NPPF and more widely through consideration of a Local Design Code, through neighbourhood planning, work with communities. These latter actions are already being put into place as part of the Carbon Reduction Management Plan (refer to S8, Business and Communities).
Purchasing - One of the actions in our Climate Change Action Plan is to review procurement arrangements and to adopt a whole life costing approach for projects (refer to S9.3, Culture Change and Governance). We understand that there is a lot more work to be done on this area as we address the more challenging aspects of carbon management within the supply chain.
Direct Delivery - By this the LGA implies support for new technologies and putting actions in place ‘on the ground’ so to speak. Here the District is leading in innovations such as its HVO programme, its solar car ports, and hedge and tree planting programme. On a grander scale, I hope that Gateway 14 and the anticipated Free Port status will enable this District to really show its capacity to lead on an important national scale exemplar commercial project.
Managing Assets – We are in the process of assessing and investing in improving Council assets and assisted housing, providing grants for improvements to those needing them most (refer to S6 Council & Commercial Estate).
Communication – Here the District is also actively involved with communities and its own staff, increasing environmental awareness and training. Our 2-day Energy Showcase taking place later in October is a case in point.
Given time constraints I will stop there, but there are many areas where this Council is leading and its actions reassuringly consistent with the priorities advocated by the LGA leading up to COP26.
Regarding the Task Force for Net Zero – A Climate Change Task Group has been set up to provide strategic oversight of the LGA’s political engagement in the lead up to the November summit.
· There is a dedicated local government day on 11 November
· LGA is asking for a dedicated chapter for subnational governments in the official agreement reached at COP26
· LGA is asking for a commitment be made by Government to empower local government to work within the updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The LGA will have an exhibition stand at COP26, for one day – the Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day – on 11 November 2021. Open to all councils in the UK, Councils are invited to participate by sending a digital photograph of innovative local climate activity.
Supplementary Question
I specifically would like to know if at that meeting it was discussed that the Glasgow food and climate declaration and the UK 100 that is about energy, that we have just heard about, will Mid Suffolk be signing up to those protocols?
Response
I will have to get back to you concerning those two protocols, but I can say that Mid Suffolk is participating in the local government open day on the 11th November. We are going to be putting forward some photographs and a description of our HVO project at a COP26 exhibition.
Question 5 Councillor Field to Councillor Hadingham, Cabinet Member for Housing
Many of the population after a visit to hospital for treatment after an event require adaptions to their accommodation. The process usually commences with reference to an Occupational Therapist who determines what adaption is appropriate then work is undertaken by our staff. Could you tell us how long it is currently taking from initial OT referral for adaptions to be implemented on average and as a maximum.
Response
Members will be aware that at the turn of the year Suffolk Authorities introduced an Independent Living Service which now provides a Disabled Facilities Grants service to residents. At present internally Babergh and Mid Suffolk are unable to report the length of time individual elements of the DFG process takes from end to end. Work is underway to introduce Key Performance Indicators that will be recorded by the systems we use. During the first nine months of this year officers have been prioritising the transfer of data from existing Orbit systems to our own. Alongside catching up on the historic OT backlog.
We can confidently advise Members this evening that the process of administering Minor Adaptations and Grants are currently completed in a matter of a few weeks. Historically for several years’ Members will be conscious that a significant proportion of DFG budgets were unspent year on year. However, the outturn for 20/21 demonstrates the budget was fully committed which is ensuring the volume of works and performance of the service has improved rapidly and significantly during the past 12 months. Of course, Disabled Facilities Grants will vary in complexity and scale, so can take up to 6 months or longer.
Your question Councillor Field, refers specifically to hospital discharge, in addition to the Independent Living Service there are services within Suffolk namely Stepping Home which supports the process of hospital discharge and is aimed at reducing housing related hospital admission, and delayed discharge. The project has units of accommodation to temporarily house patients who are at imminent risk of hospital admission due to their housing or are unable to be discharged for housing reasons.
The performance of our Independent Living Service is being monitored by Suffolk Housing Board at a Countywide level whilst we expect to bring updates on performance to the Overview and Scrutiny committee in due course.
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