Minutes:
65.1 The Leader of Mid Suffolk District Council made the following announcements:
65.2 As Leader of the Council, I would also like to begin by congratulating and welcoming our newly elected councillor for Thurston, Councillor Austin Davies. I had the pleasure of meeting and congratulating Austin at the count last Thursday and now formally welcome him to Mid Suffolk District Council and our Chamber.
65.3 Next, I would like to thank all of you, our staff and the wider emergency services, who rose to the challenge of the succession of storms last week. Fortunately, we were not as badly affected by those storms and related flooding as some other parts of the UK; but the impact was still felt by many of our residents. I was one of them, as were several other Councillors, having lost power for 24 hours and overnight into Saturday. Our teams helped fight the elements to ensure our residents were supported and kept safe.
65.4 This included our building services team who provided emergency cover, helping our tenants in need on Friday and over the weekend; and our public realm team, who created two rapid response teams, with officers out and about dealing with fallen trees. Thank you also to all of our officers that responded to our request to provide emergency support over the weekend. There were more volunteers than required, and your selflessness and flexibility is truly appreciated. Thank you.
65.5 This week of course we have had the Government’s announcement about the lifting of remaining Covid restrictions. We already had a draft transition plan in place that is being reviewed in light of the Government’s announcements. This plan means that all of our existing internal arrangements will remain in place for now but that we will be safely moving to more 'normal' working.
65.6 Councillors may also have seen that on Friday last week judgement was handed down in relation to Thurston Parish Council’s judicial review of our planning committee’s decision. Officers are currently reviewing the judgement and considering next steps; so there is nothing further I can add on this tonight but there will of course be further engagement with Planning Committee members shortly.
65.7 Sticking with the theme of planning, I know Councillors have been awaiting the outcome of the Planning Peer Review that took place before Christmas. The draft report from the Planning Advisory Service was unfortunately delayed due to covid related ill health. We have however now received the report which has been fact checked by officers. I am pleased that discussions of the recommendations and the development of a relevant action plan can therefore begin shortly.
65.8 As always Councillors will have directly received and seen the various press reports that have been published by the Council since we last met, all of which are also available on our website. I will therefore not spend time repeating them all here tonight; but as it is currently half term for our schools I did want to mention how proud I am of the activities we have on offer for our younger residents of Mid Suffolk this week, including football, swimming, crafts and outdoor cooking.
65.9 Similarly, I did also want to say how pleased and proud I am to see the opening of the new library in Needham Market and the nine new affordable homes in Botesdale. These nine affordable rent homes are made up of two and three-bedroom houses, a 2-bedroom bungalow and four one-bedroom flats; with air source heat pumps installed as the primary heating source in the houses and electric heating system in the apartments. We are literally building “great communities, with bright and healthy futures that everyone can be proud to call home” and I couldn’t be more excited!
65.10 Finally, and sticking with the theme of exciting opportunities, you will all have seen that Suffolk was successfully named as one of the nine pathfinder County Deals in the Levelling Up Whitepaper. This success came following two delegations with Whitehall, led by Councillor Hicks as Leader of the County Council, and by me, as Chairman of Suffolk Public Sector Leaders. Unlike in other parts of our Country we are and will continue to all work together, collectively between the district, borough and county councils to secure the best possible deal for the residents and communities of Suffolk. It is early days in these discussions with government but there is an ambitious timetable to agree deals by the end of the summer, and I will continue to keep you as engaged as I can in this process.
65.11 Councillor Mellen queried whether the potential award for costs relating to the judicial review of the planning committee’s decision by Thurston Parish Council been included in the Council’s risk register.
65.12 Councillor Morley confirmed that these costs were currently being considered.