Minutes:
Members asked questions of Portfolio Holders in accordance with Procedure Rules 8.1 and 8.2 as follows:
· Councillor Patrick asked Councillor Murphy if he had yet visited the open space at Petts Close as requested at the last meeting? Councillor Murphy stated he had not yet. Councillor Patrick then asked if the grounds maintenance contractors, Tivoli, are being properly monitored as he has photographs of areas in Wisbech that have not been mown this year and Wisbech is looking poor because of it. Councillor Murphy said he was sorry to hear that, but the Council has had more compliments on grass cutting in the district this year. He asked Councillor Patrick to provide him with further information after the meeting and he will investigate. Councillor Patrick thanked Councillor Murphy.
· Councillor Booth stated that the issue of rural fly tipping had been raised last night at a meeting of Parson Drove Parish Council, who will be writing to the Council to ask if more can be done to deal with the blight in this area, with also the mention of making more use of CCTV. Councillor Booth made the point to Councillor Murphy that the Council has the powers for this and needs to be more proactive. Councillor Murphy said unfortunately this is something the Council is always looking at as it is so prolific, as soon as an area is cleared, more appears. Officers sift through all the fly tipping to find invoices or means of identification and unfortunately this takes a lot of time to do. The Council has had some good results lately, but it is ongoing. Councillor Murphy stated with regards to CCTV, the Council has tried using cameras, but they have been stolen previously and it is not cost effective to put up more, however, he can assure Councillor Booth that this issue is being looked at all the while.
· Councillor Sutton asked Councillor Murphy if he is aware of the cessation of the collection of crisp packets from the terracycling scheme. He stated that there is a group in Christchurch that has collected close on a tonne of various items for the scheme over the last few years, along with other similar groups in the district and it is disappointing that many of these items will now likely go into the green bins. He asked if there is any intention to bring any of this into mainstream recycling and if not, why? Councillor Murphy said there are no plans, items are sorted at Waterbeach but the Council has nothing to do with waste when it gets there and would not have the resources to sort through waste to collect the number of crisp packets that would be required to collect a tonne. Councillor Sutton said that was a shame as some £400 had been raised for a local school as a result of this and he asked if this is something that Recap could look at? Councillor Murphy replied that he is Chairman of Recap and again they would not be looking at this. Councillor Sutton said it is a shame that terracycling has finished and the Council cannot pick this up.