CMU9 – Cabinet Member for Assets and Investment
CMU10 – Cabinet Member for Communications
CMU11 – Cabinet Member for Communities
CMU12 – Cabinet Member for Economy
CMU13 – Cabinet Member for Environment
CMU14 – Cabinet Member for Finance
CMU15 – Cabinet Member for Housing
CMU16 – Leader & Cabinet Member for OD (Law and Governance)
CMU17 – Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery
CMU18 – Cabinet Member for Planning
Minutes:
36.1 Councillor Ward introduced the reports and invited questions from Members:-
8a. CMU9 Cabinet Member for Assets and Investment – Councillor Lawrenson
Councillor Arthey to Councillor Lawrenson
Q. The Council recently gifted a property known as the Gainsborough Chambers, how does this compare with the ongoing negotiations with Lavenham Parish Council about the future of the Tourist Information Centre?
Response: Councillor Lawrenson
A. Nothing is effectively off the table at this point, negotiations are continuing so it would be unwise of me to pre-empt anything at this stage.
Councillor Arthey to Councillor Lawrenson
Q. In paragraph 3.2 of the report it provides details about Angel Court and the consultation - how will this be funded?
Response: Councillor Jan Osborne
A. This will be mainly funded by the Housing Revenue Account but also some funding may be supplied from the business rates retention scheme.
8b. CMU10 Cabinet Member for Communications – Councillor Grandon
Councillor Hurren to Councillor Grandon
Q. Can Councillor Grandon explain what is meant by infographics?
Response: Councillor Grandon
A. They are the whizzy designs and illustrations contained in the report. If any Member has any interesting information or case study that they may wish to put forward for the end of term report, could they please send it to the Comms team.
Councillor Hurren to Councillor Grandon
Q. Presumably this is a report on the last four years of this current Council - will it be something that the whole Council can study and approve before it goes out or will it be based on a party- political basis?
Response: Councillor Grandon
A. It is still in the early stages of being formulated, but it is something the whole Council can contribute to. As to whether the whole Council will be approving it, I don’t think that will be the case, however there is a team working on it to produce a well- balanced interesting report.
Councillor Hurren to Councillor Grandon
Q. Who makes the decision about what is included in the report?
Response: Councillor Grandon
A. There is a cross party group working on this. There will more information on this in the next report, I was merely referring to this earlier for those Members that are here today who may wish to submit information for it.
Councillor McCraw to Councillor Grandon
Q. What is the membership of this Group?
Response: Chief Executive
A. As Councillor Grandon has already said this is not a specific item for this report. However, we will come back in greater detail but perhaps outside of the meeting where we can circulate the full details in that regard, including the initial scoping and the planned timetable.
8c. CMU11 – Cabinet Member for Communities - Councillor Maybury (in the absence of Councillor Maybury, the Leader accepted questions on behalf of the Portfolio Holder)
Councillor Hinton to Councillor Ward
Q. Do members of the Communities Team regularly meet with the SNT’s?
Response: Councillor Ward
A. I will find out and come back to you
8d. CMU12 Cabinet Member for Economy – Simon Barrett
Councillor Bavington to Councillor Simon Barrett
Q. Do we have an industrial strategy and if so should we urgently review it and if not, should we have one now?
Response: Councillor Simon Barrett
A. What has happened, is over the last few years those strategies went from being just Babergh strategies to becoming Suffolk Wide with the overall strategy being mitigated to the Suffolk Growth Group. However, when an enquiry comes in relating to any area of expertise such as Delphi has, then that enquiry is filtered to that area. When we get enquiries coming into the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce then those enquiries are filtered to the officer in post. So, the Strategy is there but at a Suffolk level.
Councillor Bavington to Councillor Simon Barrett
Q. Is the strategy up to date and does it need to be reviewed further, in light of Delphi?
Response: Councillor Simon Barrett
A. I think with the Delphi situation there is a cross over between us as a Council and the realities of the business community. I think the role of the district Council and the county Council is to make the area suitable for people to want to invest there and we have to make it easy for them, so there is least resistance to that pathway. Where you have a situation where an employer decides to move their plant, the Council are unable to influence this decision. What we need to do is to ensure that we have a robust plan for this type of situation. However, this is difficult as I don’t know how you can provide a catch all for any one industry as it may be a completely different skill set. What we can do is where we get an enquiry, see what the Council can do to make it easier for that Company, which I believe that was the point Councillor Ward was making about business rates.
Councillor Bavington to Councillor Simon Barrett
Q. When Councillor Ward gave me his responses to my questions, he didn’t answer my question where I gave an example of business development grants, is that something we are able to do under the law and is that something we would consider?
Response: Councillor Simon Barrett
A. There could be a case to have some sort of enterprise zone, industrial regeneration like what is happening with the Sproughton site, that is something that is possible. However, if you had a company that was willing to take on the asset as it is, then we may not need to. But I would say if a company was coming and wanted to take over an aged asset which is going to cost a lot to refurbish, then yes, I think it is something that should be considered.
Councillor Bavington to Councillor Simon Barrett
Q. Are we taking steps to make sure that the future of the Delphi sports and social club including the playing field is secured for the community.
Response: Councillor Simon Barrett
A. The Delphi Management have made it quite clear that it is part and parcel of the overall curtilage of the site and we must assume that it will go with the site.
Councillor Arthey to Councillor Simon Barrett
Q. Does the delegated authority that was granted to the Strategic Director to negotiate a lease or disposal arrangement with a view to Lavenham Parish Council taking over the TIC building include gifting?
Response: Chief Executive
A. The delegated authority of lease or disposal would be by any means and would include gifting.
Councillor Hinton to Councillor Simon Barrett
Q. We have talked about the South Suffolk Strategy which includes our MP, James Cartlidge and the work around the Delphi site, has he had any discussions with Network Rail to relax their draconian rules?
A. He has had extensive discussions with Network Rail to see whether they would relax their policy on the gate movements but as far as I am aware there has been no developments in that area. The only thing is whether they then actually go to the next stage and redevelop the underpass and make a proper underpass, but that is an ongoing conversation.
8e. CMU13 Cabinet Member for the Environment – Councillor Campbell
Councillor Beer to Councillor Campbell
Q. Do we really see there is a future for a Building Control Service in this authority?
Response: Chief Executive
A. We have statutory responsibilities to provide a building control service in relation to non- fee charging aspects, so we are the provider of last resort if you like, when anything goes wrong. That doesn’t mean we have to directly deliver it in house, we could commission somebody externally to provide it on our behalf, but we cannot remove ourselves from the statutory obligation to provide certain building control functions.
Councillor Beer to Chief Executive
Q. There was a move a few years ago to make Building Control more self sufficient are we self sufficient or getting near self sufficient or are we the opposite?
Response: Chief Executive
A. We still retain a loyal client base, the challenge is that we do a comprehensive job where the private sector is not obliged to. We have seen in the last twelve months, events that can happen when the building control functions are not fully and properly performed. A paper went forward to the Suffolk Chief Executives looking to bring forward some funding to support marketing and collective work. This will hopefully provide a more resilient and a more timely service for customers because we do provide a slightly different offer to the market. But clearly for national house builders it is much easier for them to deal with one national building control provider rather than dealing with the local building control providers on their particular patch in relation to a particular development. So, this will always be a challenge, but I don’t think unless Members tell me otherwise that you wish to get out of the building control business in its entirety.
Councillor Beer to Councillor Campbell
Q. Can Councillor Campbell assure us that BDC will continue to have a Building Control department - a department which is held up quite highly by the general public?
Response: Councillor Campbell
A. How long term do you want the assurance for, I am not able to give that. Currently we have managed to recruit people so let’s hope we can continue to do so.
Councillor Cresswell to Councillor Campbell
Q. Why is there no mention of the air quality management area in the report particularly in reference to Cross Street in Sudbury and would you consider Benton Street and perhaps have an air quality action plan as well?
Response Councillor Campbell
A. With Benton Street the reading isn’t high enough to actually warrant it. The Cross Street situation is due to some parking spaces, and if we were able to remove those parking spaces then the traffic would flow more freely and there would not be a problem. However, I understand that local residents are opposed to these spaces being removed.
8f. CMU14 Cabinet Member for Law and Governance.
Councillor Cresswell to the Assistant Director for Law and Governance
Q. Will there be a review of polling stations and what will be the timescale?
Response:Assistant Director for Law and Governance
A. Once we have the final recommendations from the Boundary Commission we will need to undertake a review of polling districts and polling places across the district to ensure that we have adequate provision for polling, that complies with the new boundaries that are presented to us. As part of that the Returning Officer will review the actual polling stations.
Councillor Beer to the Assistant Director for Law and Governance.
Q. Will the revised polling stations come back to Council and will ward Members be involved?
Response:Assistant Director for Law and Governance
A. Polling districts and polling places are a matter for Council to decide so they will come to Council for approval. The polling station itself is a matter for the Returning Officer to decide, but typically we do report these to Council and there will be an opportunity for Council to comment on the arrangements that the Returning Officer is proposing.
8g. CMU17 Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery – Councillor Davis.
Councillor Parker to Councillor Davis
Q. I am heartened to see throughout the report that performance targets are improving. However, can we be assured that we are putting in place some sort of key performance measurement as at the moment we appear to be reactionary and where customer services are concerned I personally think we need to be more proactive?
Response: Councillor Davis
A. I think you make a very valid point, in terms of the performance indicators there are targets in there, the risks are also in there and how well we are doing against each one. I am quite happy for you to be sent what we are looking to achieve and how well we are achieving that. The Assistant Director and her team have done a fantastic job in reaching those standards. Babergh’s IT and CIL team are also leading on a pilot scheme with a fantastic piece of software called Exicom. You are right we do need to set gold standards - standards have already been set by the Chief Executive for officers to respond to Members, but everybody including Members need to respond within those timescales. We are not there yet but we are getting there.
8f. CMU18 Cabinet Member for Planning – Councillor Ridley
Councillor Bavington to Councillor Ridley
Q. Why does our five-year land supply go up and down like a yoyo?
Response: Councillor Ridley
A. I don’t think it’s a yoyo, I actually think it’s a great achievement. We have been granting an enormous amount of applications and doing everything possible to encourage developers to start those developments. This year we are building over 300 houses. It doesn’t matter whether you look at the lower figure or the higher figure it is very good news indeed and it is not yoyoing.
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