In addition to any announcements made at the meeting, please see Paper BC/22/33 attached, detailing events attended by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
Minutes:
38.1 The Chair referred Councillors to paper BC/22/33 for noting.
38.2 The Leader of the Council made the following announcements:-
Gainsborough’s House
Gainsborough’s House finally opened to the public yesterday and in the past week it has received both local and national news coverage. The facilities inside are superb and the external architecture is really impressive. It is quite amazing to think that a small town like Sudbury now has something like this and I am sure the economic benefits to come for the town will be huge. It is the largest art gallery and museum in the county and all who have been involved with this project should be immensely proud of what they have achieved. It couldn’t, of course, have happened without the vision and drive of the director, Mark Bills.
Housing Repairs and Maintenance
The death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak after exposure to mould in his family's flat in Rochdale was a tragedy, and I am sure all members will join me in expressing our sympathies to his family.
This sad case has rightly put the standard of social housing in the spotlight. In the last week, housing secretary Michael Gove has written to all housing providers in England, including Babergh and Mid Suffolk Councils, calling for an urgent assessment of homes to provide reassurance over standards.
But we didn’t have to wait for government to act with this letter: we have already initiated work to address this. Members will be aware that we initiated a full diagnostic review of Building Services earlier in the year. This picked up the need to increase our input into resolving issues around mould and damp.
We have acted on these recommendations. This year, for example, we have trained more people to deliver damp and mould treatment and employed a Damp Specialist Surveyor. We are in the process of recruiting another surveyor to increase capacity.
The well-being of our tenants has always been a priority. Following this case, I can promise members that we will redouble our efforts to ensure the quality of all our homes so that such a tragedy can never happen here.
I have spoken to our new Housing Director, Deborah Fenton, who has updated me on the action already taken this year to resolve any damp and mould issues and further measures planned.
We are also progressing well with our Stock Condition Survey and are developing and costing a retrofit programme.
The housing directorate will also be developing a performance framework to be presented to Cabinets and the Tenant Board every quarter, helping both members and tenants to hold us to account.
This work is just a part of what we are doing to ensure our homes are fit for the future. And be rest assured, Cllr Osborne is working hard with the Director of Housing to ensure this, having contacted her as soon as the DLUHC letter was received.
Chancellor’s Autumn Statement
Last week the chancellor announced that Suffolk had secured a devolution deal and that we would get an elected mayor. There will be additional powers and, crucially, funding, in areas such as skills, transport, and housing. The county council, supported by the other members of SPSL, has worked hard to put together a proposal that the government has now agreed to and this is really exciting for the county. There has been some confusion about the use of the term mayor and the relationship between this position and the county council administration. I have confirmed that there will be no change to the current leader/cabinet governance, apart from the leader being directly elected. This is dependent on the completion of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill with its additional provisions for alternative names to mayor.
I don’t have any more information yet, but we can expect further
announcements in the next few weeks.
End of Term Report
We will be publishing the Babergh End of Term Report next week on 28th November. This highlights what we have been able to achieve during the past almost four years. It has been a unique and challenging time with Covid and now the Cost of Living Crisis, but you will see that, nonetheless, a huge amount has been achieved for our communities and residents. It was completed with the guidance of PLG to ensure that it is non-political so that all of us can use it as we wish and perhaps put our own political spin on it in the forthcoming elections. It will be an online document and we will be able to help those without Internet access to read it at our Customer Access Points.
I would like to thank Jane Kennedy and Francine Tarn for their work in gathering the information together and to Brad Jones and Darren Bird who have done a fantastic job creating an appealing and easy to read publication.
38.3 Councillor Simon Barrett asked if the position of elected mayor would be elected and the leader of the County Council. Councillor Ward replied that in a public statement from the current Leader of Suffolk County Council it was stated that there would be an elected County leader within the current County’s leader Cabinet model but the term Mayor would not be used.
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