Minutes:
The Chairman invited the Leader of the Council to make her announcements.
Councillor Morley wished Members a Happy New Year, and thanked Councillor Wendy Turner for her service to residents of her ward and the council, following her resignation over the Christmas Period. Councillor Morley confirmed that a by-election would take place on 17 February 2022.
Councillor Morley went on to announce the following:
The Leader advised that although we are now able to begin to operate slightly more normally again, she would personally like to encourage residents to continue to be mindful of Covid, in order to keep one another safe and keep services going.
The Leader expressed thanks, on behalf of herself and all councillors, for all of the work undertaken by MSDC, local government, healthcare staff and volunteers in delivering so many booster jabs in such a short time.
As always, continued thoughts and prayers were with the families and friends of those who had tragically died from covid and also with those who were living with long covid.
The Leader encouraged all those who were eligible to, to have the vaccine as soon as possible, and all eligible businesses to ensure that they accessed the financial support available to help them through Omicron.
Gateway 14 has been officially designated as part of Freeport East with infrastructure works due to start on site shortly.
The new visitor centre and café at Needham Lake has had its topping out ceremony and the Leader was looking forward to the Duck & Teapot opening very soon.
The Council is continuing to develop new affordable housing and it was great to see 8 more new homes being finished and occupied in Needham Market at our former HQ.
Significant progress had been made against the Councils climate change and biodiversity ambitions, as Councillors heard about at the briefing last week.
It was amazing to see officers pulling out all the stops to get the Woolpit GP car park built in record time to support the covid vaccination campaign.
The Councils new 4 day “Careeriosity” festival was launched in Stowmarket during October half term - with a series of different events for 9 to 19 year olds that offered practical tips and guidance on different career paths as well as hands-on experience and workshops to provide a taster of the media, tech, and creative job opportunities available locally.
The Council has continued to help residents in a number of other ways including the Holiday and Food funded schemes for children through half term and over Christmas; and the launch of the new iPad lending scheme with Suffolk Libraries as part of digital skills work.
The Leader stated that she was really proud that Cabinet was able to sign off the additional £5.1m of investment for a range of projects to boost the district’s recovery from the impact of the Covid pandemic. The ideas for this were developed together through the detailed Councillor workshops in the Summer last year; and we are now looking forward to seeing the impact of these investments for our residents during 2022 and 2023.
The Leader mentioned the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the huge number of events planned across the district and the whole county throughout the year as part of the new Festival of Suffolk and encouraged all councillors and residents to look out for these and more local events so that we can make 2022 a year-long celebration!
Councillor Eburne raised a point of order to the Monitoring Officer as the Chairman had stated that Councillors were not able to ask questions at this point in the proceedings however at past meetings this had been allowed.
Councillor Eburne also commented that responses to questions asked at the previous Council meeting had not yet been received.
The Monitoring Officer emphasised the principle that the Chairman had discretion of how to manage questions and debate and confirmed that questions for clarity on the announcements which had been read out were permitted.
The Chairman encouraged Members of the Cabinet to ensure that responses to questions were provided to Councillors.
Councillor Morley asked Councillor Eburne to provide details of any questions which had not been replied to.
Councillor Scarff raised the issue of wearing face coverings, commenting that the Leader had advised it was not necessary to wear a face covering however the meeting protocol advised Members to do so if possible.
Councillor Morley confirmed that she had stated that although it was not a requirement to wear a face covering, she would continue to do so.