Councillor Miscandlon stated that no questions had been submitted under Procedure Rules 8.6 and asked if there were any questions under Procedure Rule 8.4 from Councillor Tanfield as Leader of the Opposition Group.

Councillor Tanfield said that it is becoming a frequent occurrence to receive late updates or amendments to agenda items, and this means the Independent Group do not have a chance to discuss these in advance. It is unfair to start having to make decisions at such short notice and we need to be more careful that it does not seem we are being undemocratic when we have not had the chance to have a look at the papers properly as a group.

Councillor Tanfield said she is concerned about the Conduct Committee updates. The LGA has an explanation about what bullying and intimidation can be and more comprehensive wording than FDC about bullying and she does not understand why we are not protecting members of the public or fellow councillors from bullying in local government. We talk about there being a difference regarding councillors when they are being individuals, especially online, but characters outside of being a councillor is important when it comes to the principals of public life. (8.50) She would like to know why FDC has a watered-down version of a conduct committee code of practice when the LGA version is much more comprehensive. In her view our version appears to allow bullying and intimidation with no redress, and she would like to know why we do not have an updated and full version of a code of conduct for the conduct committee. 

Councillor Boden responded to Councillor Tanfield's observation about late amendments and updates and said that he had recently made a similar comment to Paul Medd. Every effort will be made to ensure that this is repeated as little as possible; however there is a lot going on within the Council at the moment and perhaps we have been over ambitious in trying to do too much in a short space of time. He has said to Paul Medd that it is important that deadlines are met but we will make every effort to ensure we see less of that in the future and as maximum amount of notice is given as possible. 

In respect of the Conduct Committee, Councillor Boden said that codes of conduct belong to each individual council and it is up to the councillors of each council to decide what their own codes of conduct should be. The proposed code of conduct for later discussion has been worked on for over 15 months; it is for the Conduct Committee to decide to then take forward to full Council to debate what is appropriate.  He fully agrees however that it is appropriate to look at our own circumstances and our own failings over the last few years in which the way the code has been abused and to decide about what is appropriate for us at FDC. 

Councillor Tanfield thanked Council Boden but said if there are late updates in future, maybe these items should be put back to the next full council meeting to allow everyone a chance to discuss them properly. She does not believe there is any difference in bullying between one authority and another and so the conduct committee is not unique; it is about making sure that people feel comfortable and have some redress. This is a serious issue across the country, and she does not understand why our conduct should be so flimsy on some of the most important things we have to deal with, especially online.

Councillor Tanfield quoted James Palmer, Mayor of the Cambs and Peterborough Combined Authority (CA), from a statement he made in December 2020, "Local government in Cambridgeshire is massively muddled and costs about £20million more than an area needs". She has brought up on many occasions that we should be looking at devolution, not necessarily for the cost, but for the ease of where people go to, do we really need four tiers of local government in this area? We need to start looking at devolution and it appears that the Mayor of the CA agrees, therefore can Councillor Boden confirm that at some point we will start talking to the Mayor of the CA about devolution for Cambridgeshire.

Councillor Boden responded that at some point discussions about devolution will take place. Government has been producing several publications and made statements about devolution of various powers. However, what they regard as devolution is the passing down of powers to the lowest appropriate level of local government. He believes that it is important that decisions are made as locally as they reasonably can.  There are many examples of decision making at government level that should be devolved to local level, and others made locally that could be even more local and it is important that when discussions commence, he would hope Councillor Tanfield would support and agree devolving responsibility for decision making to the lowest possible level of local government. Councillor Tanfield said that we certainly need to modernise local government.

Councillor Tanfield said that she was pleased to see we are looking at funding for cycling with all the benefits it entails.  In respect of electric bikes, she wondered if it would be possible to look at bringing in electric charging points, particularly as there is so much funding available coming from central government.

Councillor Boden said we are highlighting six priority schemes across Fenland for which we can gain funding and implement as quickly as possible and additionally we are creating a Cycling, Walking and Mobility Vehicle policy. Within that policy, whilst a lot is said about cycling and cycling provision, he would ask that consideration is given to the users of mobility vehicles who are not given as much attention but they have rights too and need access to all their local amenities. In respect of cycling funding, more money is available from Government, so we will be looking to expand the series of six schemes to other areas and so enhance cycling facilities and cycling provision in Fenland. He looks forward to a future debate on electric bikes, they have been used in other areas and there has been mixed feelings about them; with particular concerns from the visually impaired. Therefore, he would firstly like us to learn from the problems and successes in other authority areas and make an informed decision at a later appropriate time.