Agenda item

The Leader, Councillor Simon Tagg presented the statement that had been circulated about the activities and decisions made by Cabinet to allow questions and comments. Reference was made to the Council’s Annual Report and the Leader stated that this Council ‘made things happen’ and this Statement reflected that.

 

Questions were raised and responses were provided as follows.

 

On paragraph 2 – Newcastle Town Centre Regeneration Update

 

Councillor John Williams raised concerns regarding all the works commencing at the same time and impacting upon businesses and asked the Leader and Portfolio Holder to speak with businesses in the town to ensure that they were on board with safety aspects and traffic controls in the town.

 

The Leader agreed and stated that officers did a lot of work with businesses in Merrial Street in preparation and it would be the same with the Midway.  It needed to be ensured that traffic movements were taken care of.

 

On paragraph 3 – Contract Award for the Digital Infrastructure Project

 

Councillor Holland asked the Leader to outline how the distribution hubs at Community Centres would work and what benefits would be seen by the community.

 

The Leader stated that it was good news for the Town Deal areas.  Rural areas would be part of a procurement for gigabit broadband.

 

ITS Technology, the company that had been awarded the contract for the work had a good track record for delivering.  It was hoped that there would be eleven public sector buildings and sixteen community facilities connected to the network.  Part of the development included the creation of a local digital community hub which would include digital inclusion skills and training to the public over the next five years and also possibly connecting community centres across the Borough.

 

Councillor Richards asked the Leader if the Borough Council was working with the County Council and utility companies to ensure that,  once rolled out, the roads and footpaths were put back into a good stated of repair.

 

The Leader stated that the County Council did have a protocol when working with contactors digging up roads.  There was a network programme and officer team at the County Council to oversee this.  Our officers were working with the provider too.

 

 On paragraph 4 – Borough Local Plan Update

 

Councillor Lewis asked if the information contained within the report was the raw data of just the responses that had been acknowledged.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning stated that feedback had been collated by theme so that only one response was required to avoid replication.  All comments were being recorded and put onto the website and all of the comments would be forwarded to the independent inspector. 

 

Councillor Crisp asked the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning if he agreed that the progress made on the local plan made the Borough’s green spaces safer and was a vindication of the Council’s decision to go ahead with a bespoke plan for Newcastle.

 

The Portfolio Holder stated that he was 100% behind the local plan.  By identifying specific areas for development, green spaces were made safer. However, the Government could still change the rules.   The Portfolio Holder stated that he was never in favour of a joint local plan as the City’s interests differed from our own. 

 

Councillor Adcock asked what steps were being taken to ensure that the next steps of the process go smoothly.  

 

The Council was working hard to ensure that the consultation responses were put together ready to go to the Inspector.   In addition, people had been spoken with to ensure that the plan, when presented to the Inspector, had no legal pitfalls.  In October, a sum of money was voted through by Cabinet to ensure that the inspection ran smoothly.  It was uncertain how long the Inspector would take.   Officers were thanked for securing a substantial grant from the Planning Skills Delivery Fund.

 

Councillor Moss asked for confirmation that there was at least one group that had come forward to run the proposed village hall in Knutton and what was the current status of the project to build it.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth stated that nothing was set in stone as yet, however, the Council was working fast to recruit members to this and was underway at present.

 

Councillor Gorton asked if it could be taken that no changes to the plan had been made as a result of the consultation exercise.  In addition, when was it anticipated that the Borough’s local plan would be submitted to the Inspector.

 

The Portfolio Holder advised that were a material concern to emerge from the consultation, the plan would come back to Council.  Confirmation was given that, according to officers, it was not the case.  It was hoped that the plan would be submitted to the Inspector by the end of the calendar year.

 

Councillor Fox-Hewitt asked if the comments and the Council’s response to

the themes that were mentioned, whether they be that the Council was happy with the extant plan or amendments in response to those themes were to be made; would they be shared with Scrutiny or Council prior to the plan being submitted to the Planning Inspector.    

 

Responses would be made public but the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning would check with the Service Director – Planning that that was correct and would get back to Councillor Fox-Hewitt.

 

On paragraph 5 –  Quarter 2 Finance and Performance Report 2024/25

 

Councillor Stubbs referred to the Kidsgrove Fund – Kidsgrove Station, the Shared Services Hub and the Canal Enhancement Scheme had all stalled for at least six months and 84% of the management budget had already been spent.  He asked the Leader or Portfolio Holder if they could ensure that the money would not be sent back due to delays on site.

 

The Leader stated that the Council needed to ensure that the money did not go back.  The scheme was developing and was currently going through a sub-group arrangement where plans were being clarified so it was hoped to get those through the Town Deal Board and through the necessary planning procedures.  Members were advised that the canal scheme was progressing.

 

Councillor Whieldon referred to the recent Castle Classics car show held in the town and asked if there were any plans for the event to be repeated and similar ones held.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth advised that Castle Classics would not only be repeated but would be three times bigger on 15 March, 2025.  It would include military vehicles and scooters.  The Christmas lights switch on would be taking place on 24^th of this month and on 30^th, Keele Brass Band would be in town and on 14^th December a food festival would be held and on 24^th December there would be an antiques forum.  

 

Councillor Bryan asked the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment what plans there were to increase the volume of food waste collections in the Borough.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment stated that all waste and recycling targets were being met.  In the last quarter, property and resident participation in food waste collection had increased to 45.4%.    This positioned the Council well for the forthcoming Simpler Recycling legislation which was expected in 2025 for business waste and in 2026 for household waste.  The Council would be providing recycling services to its current commercial customers, including separate food waste collections from April, 2025.  Food waste collection from flats would also be rolled out during the next year.

 

Councillor Holland welcomed the performance indicators falling under the Sustainable Environment Portfolio which included four 100% in street environmental cleanliness. He also welcomed the 99.96% collection statistic in waste and recycling collections which equated to, out of every 10,000 collections, the Council had missed four.

 

On paragraph 6 – Civic Pride Campaign

 

Councillor Paul Waring asked the Portfolio Holder what actions were being taken to address the issues raised by residents regarding safety and cleanliness in the Borough.

 

Th Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment stated that over the last year, the Council had been implementing the same in-cab and back office system that was successfully used in the recycling and waste service into streetscene servers.  The software system, supplied by Bartec was the first to be implemented and the location was noted digitally of every litter bin in the Borough that the Council serviced.  The use of each bin could be monitored digitally, to assess the emptying frequency and adjusted if required.  It also indicated if the correct size bin was being used.

 

Councillor Lewis stated that, as part of Civic Pride, she would like to see the Council working alongside volunteer groups to maintain areas such as St James’ Church yard in Audley.  Could wardens be brought in across the Borough.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment had visited the churchyard and  met with volunteers.  He had mentioned to the Parish Clerk that it would be best if she dealt directly with the Streetscene Manager to ensure that everything was being done properly.  The Portfolio Holder would check with the officer to see if that was still functioning. 

 

The Leader stated that there were community wardens in Kidsgrove who were funded by the Town Council and people in Madeley carried out community clean up jobs so, working with Audley Parish Council was key. 

 

Councillor John Williams welcomed this which brought together the Police, County Council, the BID and Borough Council. Reference was made to the paragraph regarding moving out into the communities and stated that the Council needed to be the leaders on this but felt that that was not the case.  He mentioned that the grass in Douglas Road, Cross Heath and other areas of the Borough had not been cut for twelve months and he hoped that in the future, the Council would be leading with the different partners out in the communities.

 

The Leader stated that the issue at Douglas Road had been raised before and agreed that this first year – where grass had been left longer should be reviewed and the Health Wellbeing and Environment Scrutiny Committee could take that on and there were plans to set up a scrutiny working group looking at the Borough’s parks and open spaces and part of that could be to look at reviews of the grass cutting.

 

Councillor Burnett-Faulkner asked the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Wellbeing to advise how the Council was working with partners to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and how it was being highlighted this week – ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Awareness week’ and with upcoming events.

 

The Portfolio Holder stated that the Council was taking part in a national initiative to tackle ASB working closely with Staffordshire Police and Aspire Housing to ensure that residents and stakeholders were healthy, happy and able to enjoy living in a safe environment.  This week, Staffordshire Police and Aspire Housing were delivering themed events running until 24 November.  High visibility patrols would take place in known hotspots in the town centre, Chesterton and Kidsgrove.  There had been a mobile police station in Kidsgrove today as part of ‘Let’s Talk – Anti Social Behaviour Day’ and it would be based at the Salvation Army in Chesterton tomorrow.

 

Councillor Reece on his way to this meeting had met a resident of May Bank who pointed out some broken glass and other debris from a road traffic accident about four weeks ago.  Councillor Reece urged the Council to get behind local people.

 

Councillor Gorton asked the Leader for more information on how the campaign would be taken forward, how would other areas of focus be selected and how would elected members be involved in the planning and implementation of future schemes.

 

The Leader welcomed the positive comments.  The Council did not have the resources to spread Civic Pride across the Borough straight away but can work with partners.  A lot of the work that was already being done did fall under Civic Pride – such as tackling fly tipping and graffiti work.  The Launch week was currently being evaluated to see where to go next and he would write to local members for their views.  Scrutiny could also play a part and there were many ways that Civic Pride could be expanded beyond litter picking – by making it a community effort for example.

 

Councillor Parker referred to the Remembrance Day parade at the cenotaph Stating that crowds seemed to increase yearly.  It was good to see poppies on the Capital and Centric hoardings and scaffolding across the road which also had a Remembrance Banner on it.  Councillor Parker was pleased to see progress being made on the three sites in the town centre and asked the Leader if he agreed that the extra people living and working in the town would mean even more people congregating at the cenotaph in future years.

 

The Leader agreed that it was a growing event.  Regarding the hoardings, the developer had been contacted and at the Leader’s request worked with the Council to put the poppies on the hoardings.

 

The new developments would have hundreds of people living and working in the town centre with the new Astley Place development overlooking the cenotaph.      

 

Resolved:    That the statement of the Leader of the Council be received and

noted.

 

Watch the debate here