Agenda item

Members asked questions of Portfolio Holders in accordance with Procedure Rules 8.1 and 8.2 as follows:

1.      Councillor Meekins addressed Councillor Boden and said considering the announcement about Bartletts closing its Chatteris operation in June 2021 with a loss of up to 500 jobs, was FDC aware that this announcement was to be made? If so, what action did FDC take to try and prevent the closure and, assuming that it happens as reported, what will FDC be doing to help find alternative employment for those who lose their jobs and to find an alternative use for the premises? Councillor Boden responded that he is not sure that we were aware of the time the announcement was going to be made, but we were aware it was going to happen back in 2019. In November 2019 we contacted the company and FDC officers met them in the December. Contact was maintained throughout 2020 and both he and Councillor Benney, as the portfolio holder, were always aware of this. Unfortunately, such discussions take place on a confidential basis and the company has not yet made a formal announcement about why it is closing that site. He can say however it is an internal matter to do with the company and there is nothing FDC could have done to redress the issue or prevent the closure. FDC has informed the company of the support available to employees facing redundancy. Bartletts intend to market the site and FDC has some potential inward investment enquiries that will be engaged once further details are released to see the site brought back into use. Councillor Meekins thanked Councillor Boden for his comprehensive response.

2.    Councillor Hay said she is very pleased that from 1^st March the Combined Authority are trialling a daily bus service from March, Wimblington, Doddington and Chatteris linking through to Addenbrookes and Cambridge city centre and hopes it will eventually join up with the CAM Metro. She asked Councillor Boden if he knows when the route map will come out for that. Councillor Boden agreed the new service is very welcome and said that Councillor Count in particular had a lot of input into putting the timetable together so that the timing of the buses was extended to make it easier for patients to attend their hospital appointments at Addenbrookes. An announcement regarding the proposed CAM Metro routes and a route map will be made in March.

3.    Councillor Booth addressed Councillor Sam Clark to follow up a question he raised at the last meeting regarding empty homes managed by registered housing providers. He appreciated the response that had been provided but finds it shocking that 44 properties have been left empty for over six months. He asked if Councillor Clark could make every effort to ensure that the number of empty properties empty for this length of time is reduced substantially. Councillor Clark referred the question to Councillor Hoy as she is now the portfolio holder, who responded that Councillor Booth had made a fair point, particularly when so many people are looking for homes. The pandemic has not helped, but it is something that we need to keep a close eye on and there is still work that can be done. She did point out however that this figure did not relate only to Clarion but to other providers as well. Councillor Booth thanked Councillor Hoy.

4.      Councillor Patrick addressed Councillor Hoy regarding SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol). Recently SWEP was abandoned for one evening, people were turned out of a property and left homeless for one night, and then it was reintroduced. He could not understand this and asked for an explanation. Councillor Hoy said SWEP was never cancelled; there is a difference between provisions under SWEP and provisions under Everyone In, which is a Government initiative. The Government were saying that under COVID-19 we must try and house people in respect of lockdown. SWEP is mandatory and applies when the temperature is 1 degree or lower. The difference is that SWEP is about preservation of life, regardless of behavioural issues etc. Under Everyone In, there is a difference and we do not necessarily have to house someone as we would do under SWEP. On the evening in question, SWEP was not in place but the people referred to were removed from a property due to a number of issues in adherence to Everyone In, and it was resolved within a few nights when a different property was sourced. For both initiatives we do rely heavily on government funding as we do not have a core budget for these.

5.    Councillor Sutton addressed Councillor Mrs Laws saying he notes planning validation times are reducing and asked where we are with staffing issues. Councillor Mrs Laws said that we are looking to address validation, in 2019 we offered a workshop to the Developers Forum of over 60 members as only 4% of applications were right first time. We then offered a second workshop as this figure only increased to 16%.  We need to be flexible with applications and encourage them but at the same time there is a balance of developers and agents using our staff skills and professionalism as an extension of their own office. She said she is preparing two possibilities levelled at agents to encourage them to proof-read their applications and ensure they have the correct reports. There is a tick list on our website which only four developers are currently using but means 98% of their applications are right first time. Staff shortages were because of health problems and staff needing to use up their annual leave.  She has surveyed five other councils and their average is 60-70% right first-time applications, so she will be investigating the reasons behind this and implementing some changes shortly so agents and developers will be using their own staff more. Councillor Sutton thanked Councillor Mrs Laws.

6.    Councillor Sutton paid tribute to Councillor Wallwork for her work as previous portfolio holder for Communities and the positivity and passion she had displayed in her role. He addressed Councillor Sam Clark, stating he knows also how passionate she is particularly in respect of Golden Age, and asked how soon do we hope to get back to holding these events once the pandemic is over? Councillor Clark said she has already been attending meetings this week regarding Golden Age as it is something people are going to need once the pandemic is over.

7.    Councillor Sutton addressed Councillor Mrs French regarding WVI. On 3^rd  May 2019 she stated that we are looking at WVI and removing the brown bin charge so he is surprised that the bin charge has increased. He asked for a definitive explanation of what WVI means and when can we expect the removal of the charge as stated. Councillor Mrs French responded that this is something that was looked at back then; it was a government initiative that brown bin charges be removed and we were hoping to have this money reimbursed from government. Unfortunately, we were hit by COVID-19 so it is not currently a government priority, but it is something we will pick back up. Councillor Sutton thanked Councillor Mrs French but said he would still like an explanation of WVI and Councillor Mrs French said that she will provide a full update at the next meeting of full council. 

8.    Councillor Sutton addressed Councillor Boden. Two meetings ago he asked about the small business grants to political party offices across the country and in particular the NECCA office. Councillor Boden was unable to give an answer at the time because of GDPR but he came back in writing and it was appended to the minutes of the last meeting. NECCA did receive a grant payment which was legal although Councillor Sutton questioned the morality of it but he asked, given that the government have now given out more money, can Councillor Boden confirm whether or not the local office has received further monies. Councillor Boden emphasised that the small business grant fund, which was set up during the first lockdown, had business grants that were given out which were not discretionary, specific rules were set down by Government about whom we may pay and any breach of those rules then we would have been penalised. Every legal application that came in was paid. Regarding the current regime, it is similar with the LRSG winter lockdown payment. There have been 12 payment regimes put into place by central Government, and under that only businesses that are in retail, hospitality and leisure industries are going to quality so he does not know if NECCA have made any application, and if they had then it would be refused. Councillor Sutton stressed that he understood Councillor Boden was not responsible for choosing who got paid but he still questioned the rules. Various political offices across the country have either refused to claim or given the money back and his understanding is that he believes the MP also thought it wrong to claim. Councillor Boden said he is at this meeting as Leader of FDC to provide answers to questions regarding FDC and Councillor Sutton needs to write to the organisation concerned regarding this question. 

9.    Councillor Patrick asked Councillor Murphy what can be done to improve the process of speeding up the approval of memorial applications as delay can cause distress to bereaved families, particularly as some applications are six months old. Councillor Murphy explained that the weather has been so bad that this has caused the water table to rise which then causes a delay in the drying and settling of the soil. This is unfortunate but not something that can be controlled.

10. Councillor Hoy wanted to place on record that she is employed by the Conservative Association referenced by Councillor Sutton earlier so she would like this recorded in the minutes.

11. Councillor Mrs Laws referred to Councillor Patrick's query and said from personal experience she found cemeteries staff to be very efficient. She added that stonemasons source their materials from quarries, many of which have not been working in lockdown. Also, FDC advise that no headstone be placed for at least 12-18 months because of the type of soil we have; if the soil has not settled properly then there is a danger of the headstone toppling. She said contractors are working as well as they can in very muddy and challenging conditions and having to pump water out of many graves before a funeral can take place. Councillor Patrick said he was not criticising staff but had been approached by people who had been waiting 8 months for their applications to be approved on graves that had settled.