Agenda item

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

1.    Councillor Sutton addressed Councillor Boden and said that he had mentioned in response to Councillor Tanfield that there are failings in the current conduct procedure in Fenland. He asked what he felt those failings are.

2.    Councillor Boden said some individuals, not necessarily councillors, have abused the current system. It is therefore important to ensure we have a robust conduct process so that the potential for abuse is dealt with.

3.    Councillor Sutton addressed Councillor Mrs Laws regarding the five-year land supply and asked why the application number has been changed to a code number because it has made it more difficult to follow. Councillor Mrs Laws explained that Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) monitors the progress of the housing development sites on behalf of Fenland and also provides this service for a number of other local authorities. Each authority uses a different format for its planning application references, so to manage this the CCC supplies its own case number to provide a consistent format across the authorities.  The case number shown in the five-year land supply report merely reflects the content of the data received from CCC.  The case number is similar to Fenland's planning application references but with slight differences.  However, CCC has agreed to show the case number with the planning application number in future versions of the report. Councillor Sutton thanked Councillor Mrs Laws. He also queried several planning references and whether the number of properties had been double counted. Councillor Mrs Laws thanked Councillor Sutton for bringing this to her attention and that she would investigate this further.

4.    Councillor Sutton addressed Councillor Mrs Laws further and said the new local plan is very difficult to find on our website. This is such an important document and he asked if this could be made more visible on the website. Councillor Mrs Laws agreed that she would address this.

5.    Councillor Sutton addressed Councillor Hoy and asked that given that Julie Spence, the Queens representative, sent a congratulatory letter to 50 Backpacks Vision, had she also written to them? Councillor Hoy said she had not sent letters to any of the local organisations across the district that had been supporting homeless people.

6.    Councillor Sutton said that with the vast amount of money coming into local government it was worth looking at working with 50 Backpacks Vision as they seem to be able to re-house rough sleepers where we sometimes fail, and that is not a reflection on officers but a failing of the system. He asked if Councillor Hoy could work with Councillor Boden and channel some of that money into this organisation, which will help get rough sleepers off the street and into a settled home. Councillor Hoy said we are happy to work with any organisation that wants to work with us but is sure he can appreciate as a council we must have proper checks and balances in place. She believes 50 Backpacks Vision not to be a registered charity or not for profit organisation and does not believe they are DBS checked so this would all have to be examined as would any organisation, as we are dealing with very vulnerable people. Councillor Sutton thanked Councillor Hoy.

7.    Councillor Booth addressed Councillor Murphy on the projects regarding open spaces and play equipment. One of the projects is at Parson Drove and he asked at what point officers will engage with the Parish Council, the charity where the play equipment is placed and the community regarding an understanding of what is requested. If we are going to make applications and put forward bids, we need to have that knowledge. Councillor Murphy responded that we need the money first, so a bid will be submitted and if successful that is when approaches are made to consult on what is required. At Parson Drove we have a third-party bid coming in, which should be received by Spring or Summer next year and we will then consult with the parish council and villagers; unfortunately, we cannot do it the other way around. Councillor Booth said with local knowledge the parish council knows of various other sources of funding, so if officers were able to approach us, we may be able to tap into that. Therefore, he feels there could be more cohesion on these projects going forward in order to be more successful. Councillor Murphy suggested that if other funding is also available than there is no reason why the parish council can make those applications independently. However, he agreed to ask officers to speak to Councillor Booth further on this issue.  Councillor Booth thanked Councillor Murphy.

8.    Councillor Booth addressed Councillor Clark regarding a situation where a property in one of his village wards has been vacant for some 8/9 months. He approached Clarion Housing but was told they could not use it to provide housing for a variety of reasons. However, after this amount of time it seems ridiculous that the house has not been put back in order to allow people to move in. He wondered if Councillor Clark could take this up and furthermore, investigate how big an issue this is across the district in respect of social housing.  Councillor Hoy responded on behalf of Councillor Clark in her absence and said that she was certain Councillor Clark would look into this further having already received information about the property from Councillor Booth. In respect of private properties, our Empty Homes Officer is already doing a lot of work in this area, but Councillor Hoy will ask her to look at this issue in respect of social housing. Councillor Booth thanked Councillor Hoy.

9.    Councillor Hay addressed Councillor Boden and asked if, as a representative of the CA, does he have an update on when we can see a route map for the CAM link. Councillor Boden said he has been informed that the Mayor intends to make an announcement in February or March as to how it will be possible to extend the metro to include Fenland. He would hope that there will be further information, if it has not already been provided sooner, at the next full Council meeting in February. Councillor Hay thanked Councillor Boden.