CMU16 – Leader and Cabinet Member for Assets and Investment
CMU17 – Cabinet Member for Communities
CMU18 – Cabinet Member for Economy
CMU19 – Cabinet Member for Environment
CMU20 – Cabinet Member for Finance
CMU21 – Cabinet Member for Housing
CMU22 – Leader and Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery
CMU23 – Cabinet Member for OD (Law and Governance)
CMU24 – Cabinet Member for Planning
Minutes:
35.1 The Leader introduced the Cabinet Member reports and invited questions from Members: -
CMU16 Councillor Gowrley, Leader and Cabinet Member for Assets and Investment
Q1. Councillor Marchant to Councillor Gowrley
Page 15 Paragraph 3.4 Councillor Marchant welcomed the plans for the new library and internet café but asked if it would be possible to include an exhibition area within the plans where local artefacts could be displayed?
Response Councillor Gowrley, Leader and Cabinet Member for Assets and Investment
There may be other plans for Needham Market where this may be more suitable but we will certainly consider this.
Q2 Councillor Eburne to Councillor Gowrley
With reference to how the Council utilises its assets – when is the Council going to utilise its assets and borrow some money to set up a housing company?
Response Councillor Gowrley, Leader and Cabinet Member for Assets and Investment
I am pleased to say that it is under consideration at the moment.
CMU17 Councillor Flatman, Cabinet Member for Communities
Councillor Flatman drew attention to two errors contained in the report, the reference to Lavenham in paragraph 4.2 should be replaced with the wording in Paragraph 3.1 and although the dates for the Parish Liaison Group were correct, the venue should read Walsham le Willows.
Q1 Councillor Welham to Councillor Flatman, Cabinet Member for Communities
With regard to paragraph 3.8 the Womens’ Cycling Tour, I understood that schools would be provided with resources so that they could work on various aspects, Members would receive some details of what these resources would be so that they could work with the schools. Freeman Primary School in Stowupland didn’t receive anything. If the event were to occur again I think the Council should make more effort to ensure that these resources are provided in a timely fashion, also does the Council have a plan for the legacy provided by this event?
ResponseCouncillor Flatman, Cabinet Member for Communities
It is my understanding that all schools were sent a pack with what was on offer. I take your point on member involvement and will make sure that members are the first to know with any future events.
CMU18 Councillor Brewster, Cabinet Member for Economy
Q1 Councillor Norris to Councillor Brewster, Cabinet Member for Economy
Under Page 26 Paragraph 4.4 the Open for Business Team will be progressing the Needham Lake Visitor Centre priority work stream by working up a feasibility specification on commissioning the next stage of this project – will there be a timetable for the progression of this project?
Response Councillor Brewster, Cabinet Member for Economy
I am sure there will be a timetable produced and as soon as it is, it will be made available to you and other members.
Q2 Councillor Otton to Councillor Brewster, Cabinet Member for Economy
I am not sure if this is commercially sensitive information but on commissioning Nautilus Associates Development phase 1 feasibility do we have a costing for that and would that be available to members?
Response Councillor Brewster, Cabinet Member for Economy
I will make enquiries on that as to the confidentiality of the information. If it is available I will make sure that you see it.
CMU19 Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
Q1 Councillor Otton to Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
Has any consideration been given to using street lamps as charging points for electric vehicles which I believe is happening in other parts of the country?
Response Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
It is certainly possible to use the electricity supply that is at street lamp positions to mount charging points on the street lamps or by the side of the street lamps. However, I am unable to answer the question directly, so I will find out and let you know.
Q2 Councillor Marchant to Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
Could you tell us more about the childrens’ activities planned for Needham Lake?
Response to Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
Unfortunately, I have not got the details to hand, so will send them to ward members.
Q3 Councillor Field to Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
Under 3.13 with relation to the County Council cutting recycling performance payments does this solely affect the collection authority or does it ripple down to the Parish Councils and others who do have sites albeit of a smaller nature and if so have they been informed of the changes? Also, whilst I am clearly pleased to see we are taking action with the Fison’s building please can you keep local members informed?
Response Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
With regard to the second question relating to Fison’s – yes, I will make sure you are informed as for the first question I will ask Councillor Barker to respond
Response Councillor Barker, Lead Member for Waste
We in Mid Suffolk and Babergh are one of the few councils in Suffolk to actually pass on recycling credits down to our charities and we will be continuing to do that for as long as I can foresee.
Q4 Councillor Stringer toCouncillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
My question relates to the Fison’s building which is obviously an iconic building, the report suggests that we have already been working in a robust way but we have got to this impasse - where do you think this action will lead us on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being where the building gets flattened or 10 gets it beautifully rebuilt?
Response Chief Executive
We are clearly talking about a matter that is subject to ongoing legal proceedings therefore any conversations should be taken outside of the public realm.
Q5 Councillor Matthissen to Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
Given that global issues are undermining market prices for recyclable materials and the 22 streams of recycling that I understand are dealt with in one way or another in the County. What initiatives are we going to take to actually try and reduce the quantities that arise through these various processes? Secondly, can we ensure that with the electric vehicle charging points provision is included in the points for people with disabilities can charge their electric buggies and indeed also for electric bikes?
Response:Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
I will refer your first question to Councillor Barker, with regard to your second question that is a good point and I will make sure that I take this up with the officer concerned to ensure that the charging points can cope with all those requirements.
Response: Councillor Barker, Lead Member for Waste
We are not going to stop recycling full stop. Up to now we have been making money out of the commodities, as a Farmer I don’t pack up because we lose money one year we keep going. The main thing is that we keep pushing recycling. We have got higher levels of recycling. The good news is that the stuff that’s produced from the incinerator is now actually recyclable and that can also be used as part of our recycling target percentage.
Q6 Councillor Mansel toCouncillor Burn, Cabinet Member for the Environment
In the table on paragraph 3.9 about annual growth in garden waste subscription could you please tell me what the units are?
Response: Councillor Barker, Lead Member for Waste.
The units mentioned are the number of subscribers which equates to the number of bins whichever is the easiest for you to write down.
CMU20 Councillor Whitehead Cabinet Member for Finance.
Q1 Councillor Eburne to Councillor Whitehead
Under paragraph 3.17 with regard to the SRP savings and the accumulated savings of £3.76m – what does that actually mean for Mid Suffolk? Secondly at paragraph 4.1 the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), in February we discussed the MTFS and were sent a note saying it was based on projected completions etc, given that those figures have now increased massively can the Member for Finance assure me that those figures will go into the new MTFS because it will make it look very different?
Response: Councillor Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Finance.
I take your point to some extent on paragraph 3.17 in terms of making big numbers by rolling them together. However, SRP was a joint initiative between three councils so I think it is important to see where the total savings have been made. With regard to the MTFS my hope would be that on the basis of doing zero based budgeting as a matter of course we would effectively almost start from a blank piece of paper when we come to recalculate these for the next budget year.
Q2 Councillor Otton toCouncillor Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Finance.
With regards to paragraph 3.17 should we actually be celebrating this? I would like to know where the actual savings have come from considering the highly sensitive work that the SRP undertakes. Also your statement at 3.3 which states that planning fees and community infra-structure levy contributed to a favourable end of year position but then go on to say that these will be transferred to specific reserves. Do these two paragraphs contradict each other because after all the money is there for other purposes?
ResponseCouncillor Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Finance.
I don’t really see there is a contradiction in so far as these various initiatives contributed to a favourable end of year position, that is really a statement of fact. I agree that CIL may be seen as a bit of a strange one as it is ring fenced money, but it does come in and straight in the reserve account. The reality is that it is useful to have that sort of magnitude of outturn. With regards to your point about SRP, by putting three organisations together to create SRP we have been able to achieve quite some significant economies of scale and everything I see by sitting on that committee is that we continue to meet all of our targets and that is something that should be celebrated.
Q3 Councillor Field to Councillor Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Finance
Under paragraph 3.14 there are figures about council tax collected which are very high and I’m inclined to suggest that we celebrate this. I note there was a parliamentary report about government bodies adopting rather aggressive attitudes towards debt collection, excessive use of bailiffs and the impact that this has on people’s mental health and life. I would like assurance that although we are achieving excellent figures we are doing that with recognition of the knock- on cost if we are too aggressive in our attitudes?
ResponseCouncillor Whitehead, Cabinet Member for Finance.
The SRP is as you know shared with Ipswich Borough Council, Babergh and Mid Suffolk. I suspect Ipswich Borough Council is more cautious than perhaps ourselves in terms of the needs for collections. It is a difficult one because for any amount that is not collected everyone else has to bear the burden. Our percentage rates for collection stack up very well against the sort of averages that are seen nationwide. However we are feeding back the need to collect as much as possible but in a fair and sensible way.
CMU21 Councillor Wilshaw Cabinet Member for Housing
Q1 Councillor Matthissen to Councillor Wilshaw Cabinet Member for Housing
We are proposing a very high number of affordable houses on the Needham Market Middle School Site and in your report it states that there was minimal feedback on the proposals, I have certainly heard feedback from Members including Ward Members can you confirm that you are happy that we are doing the right thing here and would you reconsider?
Response Councillor Wilshaw Cabinet Member for Housing
Thank you we are considering all options available to us so watch this space.
Q2 Councillor Stringer to Councillor Wilshaw, Cabinet Member for Housing
With regards to housing delivery - in the annual monitoring report there are more houses being built in one type of area than others, I have done some analysis and it appears that the primary villages have washed our face this time while the urban centres have slightly dwindled. Do we have an accurate analysis of this as its imperative that we understand where our housing delivery is being successful and the areas where it isn’t. I also ask that we need to do this analysis quickly as we are almost through a quarter of the year already to deliver the 606 units that we need to deliver?
Response Councillor Gowrley, Leader of the Council
Yes, we will be addressing that issue shortly. There is a report later on in the agenda relating to the timetable for the Joint Local Plan Development scheme and that information will be required for the Plan.
34.2 Councillor Eburne raised a point of order relating to not being able to discuss items not included in the Cabinet Member’s report and requested that current processes were reviewed.
Q4 Councillor Mansel to Councillor Wilshaw, cabinet Member for Housing
Can I ask what is the position on the possible disbandment of the Joint Housing Board and has the creation of a Tenant Board as I was particularly keen to establish have some sort of Member involvement?
Response Councillor Wilshaw Cabinet Member for Housing
I have checked with the Assistant Director for Housing and they are still working on the how the new proposals would work
Q5 Councillor Otton toCouncillor Wilshaw Cabinet Member for Housing
With regard to your report on universal credit, you state that you have three tenancy support officers who are only working one day a week at each of these job centres. Please could you clarify where it says tenancy, are these for local authority tenants or are they for all tenants and are those officers qualified to actually give debt advice? Please also confirm whether you are paying the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) for help and support?
Response Councillor Wilshire: Cabinet Member for Housing
Councillor Gowrley and I are in discussion with the Assistant Director for Housing regarding universal credit and possibility of using CAB to support this.
34.3 Councillor Gowrley, being a trustee of the Stowmarket CAB declared a non-pecuniary interest and also for Councillor Wilshaw, being a volunteer at Stowmarket CAB.
CM22 Councillor Morley, Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery
Q1 Councillor Otton to Councillor Morley, Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery
On the Council’s priorities for 2018/19 it details the timetable for the “One Council business Case surely this should no longer be included?
Response: Councillor Morley, Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery
You are quite right that should be removed, thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Q2 Councillor Field to Councillor Morley, Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery.
Within your performance measures do you have any statistics on messages being left on officers phones and whether they respond to them as I have received complaints from residents that their messages are going unanswered?
Response: Councillor Morley, Cabinet Member for Organisational Delivery
I think if the call comes through to individual officers then we are unable to measure this but I will find out and confirm this.
CM23 Councillor Gowrley, Cabinet Member for Law and Governance.
As the Leader and Chief Executive know, I felt that the Council was very poor in promoting National Democracy Week I would hope that that in another year we would have a much more inclusive local democracy week
Response Chief Executive
Just to clarify this was the very first National Democracy Week, Local Democracy Week takes place in October, obviously we will be supporting both.
CMU24 Councillor Horn, Cabinet Member for Planning
Q1 Councillor Otton to Councillor Horn, Cabinet Member for Planning
This Council appears to have a more complex CIL bidding process than other councils in Suffolk can we look at this? I would also like to ask you to have a look at a recent judicial review which appears to throw a spanner in the works for planning applications in villages in the countryside particularly outside of a settlement which may have significant implications for our villages and lastly would you have a discussion with Councillor Field relating to S106 payments for Gt Blakenham which have been hanging about for three years?
Response Councillor Horn, Cabinet Member for Planning
In reverse order, the Gt Blakenham 106 has already been raised and once I have solid answers I will make sure that all members are briefed. I am more than happy to look at other recent court rulings and other authorities’ experiences. Lastly, I’m not sure our CIL bidding process is more complex as I really don’t have anything to compare it with. We do have a CIL review process in place, so I would hope through the iterations it will become more simpler and effective. We will monitor what other people are doing and we will learn from them and take those lessons up as they crop up.
Q3 Councillor Eburne toCouncillor Horn, Cabinet Member for Planning
With reference to page 48 paragraph 3.6 the Suffolk Design Guide, whilst there were lots of input from businesses at the workshops I was concerned that there was little input from Members as representatives of our communities, I would ask if you are looking at a plan to develop the Suffolk Design Guide looking at how the community element and what housing development looks like in Mid Suffolk because it is very different to what’s in Ipswich and Southwold and my concern is that it will become Suffolk and not Mid Suffolk, can I have your assurance that this won’t happen.
Response Councillor Horn, Cabinet Member for Planning
I agree with Councillor Eburne. I would love to see more members attending these workshops. This was a launch event and there will be other workshops and seminars and I would encourage all members to attend. With regard to the specific Mid Suffolk designs I will ask the Assistant Director for Planning to respond.
Response Assistant Director for Planning
To pick up the point about local community representatives, this was essentially the most significant input that Mid Suffolk and Babergh made in the original bid to MHCLG to ensure that training for community representatives parish councils and particularly neighbourhood planning groups was an inherent part of the bid that was made. Invites were also sent to the Suffolk Preservation Society and the Suffolk Association of Local Councils and representatives from both of these groups attended. A particularly complicated part of the training exercise is that in Suffolk there is probably in excess of 4,000 Parish Councillors so engaging them all is quite challenging. Mr Hemingway has a particular desire for digital engagement but some of our Parish Councillors have a particular desire not to be engaged in that way so there is a bit of tension to resolve there in terms of how you engage that mass of people and particularly pick up the points around Mid Suffolk specifically.
A key part of the communication between the project team and the design team has been to ensure that we don’t end up with something bland that reflects some kind of Suffolk DNA but that it actually reflects the diversity of vernacular and communities across Suffolk from the coastal to urban to the rural to the very rural. I think what we will end up with is some kind of typology or methodology that reflects the uniqueness of different places so that’s the core part of the work that will be ongoing.
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