Agenda, decisions and minutes

Since the last meeting of Cabinet, the death on 9^th April, had been announced of HRH, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

On Monday 19^th April, the Mayoress, Mrs Angela Cooper, had passed away after a long illness.

Members paid tribute to Prince Philip noting his sense of duty and the legacy of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

Members paid tribute to Mrs Cooper, who all remembered as a friendly and bubbly personality who had embraced her role as Mayoress.

All present observed one minute’s silence. 

There were no apologies for absence.

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17^th March 2021.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th March be approved as a correct record. 

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th March be approved as a correct record. 

There were no declarations of interest stated.

That:

(a) the latest position regarding problem odours in the borough be noted;

(b) the progress made on the actions arising from the extraordinary meeting of full Council on 18th March 2021 be noted; and

(c) the programme of work as set out in the report be endorsed.

Cabinet considered a report on the on-going odour problem that was affecting the Borough and was widely believed to come from Walley’s Quarry Landfill Site in Silverdale. 

The Chief Executive introduced the report. The odour issues had been the subject of the Extraordinary Council meeting on 18^th March.   A number of actions had been taken following that meeting and the Chief Executive updated:

-       The Environment Agency (EA) had been requested to require RED to suspend operations.  They had responded that this action would have little practical effect as RED had suspended accepting new waste in March.  The EA also explained that odour issues were from older waste that was decomposing rather than new waste;

-       The CCG and Public Health England (PHE) had been requested to arrange health screening to those who were impacted.  PHE had advised they were to use a process called Real Time Syndromic Surveillance; and were looking at accessing information directly from GPs.  The CCG was working with Keele University to analyse historic health data and Air Quality data.

-       Aaron Bell MP was to meet with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding both the odour issues in general and the Council’s request that an investigation be held into the EA’s handling of the permit relating to Walley’s Quarry.

-       Neighbouring Councils were in support of the Council’s action.

The Chief Executive then updated on each of the recommendations from the Scrutiny Review which were specifically for action by the Council:

-       Recommendation 1: undertake a review and appraisal of EA monitoring data and work with the EA for any future monitoring – Air quality consulting company Ricardo had been commissioned to review the first two EA monitoring campaigns.  Their findings were set out in the report and had been shared with the EA.  They concluded that the EA monitoring focused on the health risk rather than the associated nuisance impact arising from odours and hydrogen sulphide. 

-       Recommendation 2: prepare and undertake air pollution monitoring, the results of which shall be made available on the Council’s website – the Council was to jointly fund with the EA and County Council an additional two monitoring units.  The data would be reviewed weekly by Public Health and rated as Red, Amber, Green against World Health Organisation thresholds.  It would be published after a validation process and be shared with agencies; it was important that data was validated to give confidence.  A similar approach would be taken to rate odour in terms of nuisance ratings.

-       Recommendation 3: request confirmation from the EA as to the odour source(s) and specify appropriate method of control.  As noted in the report, there had been recent breaches of the EA permit including one significant breach.  The Council and EA had also been informed by RED that they had identified an alternative source of the odours but further detail was yet to be supplied.  The EA had identified specific measures to be undertaken by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105.

That:

(a) The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Future High Street Fund grant of £11,048,260.00 be accepted.

(b) The scheme of projects that the grant amount will fund be accepted.

(c) The £3.5m of match funding towards the scheme of projects be approved; and.

(d) The Executive Director Commercial Development and Economic Growth be authorised to work with the Leader of the Council to deliver the projects as set out within the grant award.

Cabinet considered a report on the Future High Street Fund grant award.  MHCLG had confirmed the grant award in December but had allocated 69% of the submission amount due to overall demand for the Fund.  The Council had accepted the reduced amount and removed the Midway Car Park demolition from the scheme along with reducing expenditure on public realm projects.  The report set out that the grant had now been received and recommended some match funding towards the scheme of projects.

The report also listed the key projects which included:

-       Demolition of the former Civic Officers at Ryecroft

-       A new multi-storey car park at Ryecroft

-       Improvements to the market area

-       Improvements to part of upper High Street

-       Pedestrian wayfinding

Resolved: That:

(a) The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Future High Street Fund grant of £11,048,260.00 be accepted.

(b) The scheme of projects that the grant amount will fund be accepted.

(c) The £3.5m of match funding towards the scheme of projects be approved; and.

(d) The Executive Director Commercial Development and Economic Growth be authorised to work with the Leader of the Council to deliver the projects as set out within the grant award.

That:

(a) The Newcastle under Lyme Playing Pitch Strategy 2021 – 2026 (PPS) be approved and be the basis for making strategic decisions on future playing pitch provision and associated facilities across the Borough; and

(b) A review of the PPS be carried out by the Steering Group on an annual

basis and any significant changes be reported to Cabinet, to ensure that identified local priorities continue to be achieved.

Cabinet considered a proposed Playing Pitch Strategy for the period 2021 – 2026 which set out the Council’s strategy for identifying and meeting the playing pitch and associated facilities needs of the Borough from the present until 2026.   It included all playing pitches in the Borough both in public and private ownership.  It included natural and artificial pitches used for a wide variety of sports including football, netball and bowls.  The Strategy would be a useful document towards bidding for funding towards sport and leisure needs.  It was also an important document for the Borough Plan as part of the evidence base. 

Resolved:  That:

(a) The Newcastle under Lyme Playing Pitch Strategy 2021 – 2026 (PPS) be approved and be the basis for making strategic decisions on future playing pitch provision and associated facilities across the Borough; and

(b) A review of the PPS be carried out by the Steering Group on an annual

basis and any significant changes be reported to Cabinet, to ensure that identified local priorities continue to be achieved.

That the updated Internal Audit Service Level Agreement be approved.

Cabinet considered the Services Agreement for Internal Audit Services between Stoke on Trent City Council and the Borough Council.  The Agreement needed approval to ensure the continuation of the Internal Audit service provided by Stoke on Trent City Council along with their service to the Council of fraud detection and prevention.

Resolved: That the updated Internal Audit Service Level Agreement be approved.

That the Forward Plan be received subject to one amendment to move the report on Newcastle Crematorium from the July Cabinet meeting to the meeting of Cabinet on 9 June 2021. 

Consideration was given to the Forward Plan listing upcoming key decisions to be made by Cabinet.

Resolved: That the Forward Plan be received subject to one amendment to move the report on Newcastle Crematorium from the July Cabinet meeting to the meeting of Cabinet on 9 June 2021. 

There was no Urgent Business.

There was no Urgent Business.