Agenda item

In accordance with the Council Procedure Rules (paragraph 8.3 of the Rules), the Chairman proceeded to conduct a period of oral questions addressed to Executive Councillors and Panel Chairmen as follows:-

Question from Councillor Mrs M Banerjee to the Executive Councillor for Healthy and Active Communities, Councillor T D Sanderson

Having had his attention drawn to the views of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Economic Well-Being) on the content of the proposed Business Plan for One Leisure and received a suggestion from the questioner that the Business Plan should not be adopted in its current form, the Executive Councillor explained that all aspects of the One Leisure Service were under review and that the Business Plan would be further developed before re-submission to the Economic Well-Being Panel at a future date.

Question from Councillor P Kadewere to the Executive Councillor for Customer Services, Councillor B S Chapman

Having conveyed to the Executive Councillor his concern that residents in his Ward had received correspondence from registered social landlords (RSLs) and not the District Council regarding impending changes to welfare support, the Executive Councillor confirmed that the District Council was working closely with the RSLs to ensure all residents likely to be affected had been advised how to mitigate the impact of the new housing benefit support schemes.  Councillor Chapman added that the District Council would continue to offer advice to anyone affected.

Question from Councillor R J West to the Executive Councillor for Strategic Planning and Housing, Councillor N J Guyatt

Referring to the proceedings of the County Council’s Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the suggestion that two neighbouring authorities claimed a percentage of funding towards public art from developer contributions, Councillor Guyatt considered that it was appropriate for Cambridge City given its rich heritage to require a contribution from developers towards the arts.  However, with the community infrastructure levy now in place and given the projects required to be funded to enable development to proceed, Councillor Guyatt was of the view that, whilst desirable, any contributions from developers should not be directed towards the arts at the expense of the more critical infrastructure projects required in Huntingdonshire.

Question from Councillor G J Bull to the Executive Leader, Councillor J D Ablewhite

In response to a question relating to the additional sum of £100,000 which had been agreed by the Cabinet for inclusion in the Medium Term Plan to meet the increase in statutory homelessness applications, Councillor Ablewhite suggested that this decision demonstrated the Council’s ability to rise to a challenge and positively commit to help vulnerable District residents in difficulty. 

Question from Councillor R S Farrer to the Executive Councillor for Strategic Planning and Housing, Councillor N J Guyatt

In response to a question regarding the timescale for the introduction of the community infrastructure levy and the proportion of funding which will be allocated to the District Council from developer contributions, Councillor Guyatt confirmed that CIL was now operational and to-date the District Council had received the sum of £12,000 in developer contributions.  This fund would accelerate in 2014 as proposed new developments get underway.  Councillor Guyatt explained that the District Council would receive the total amount due from any proposed development and would distribute funds accordingly to the authority expected to deliver the infrastructure necessary for the development to proceed as for instance – Cambridgeshire County Council in terms of the Huntingdon link road.  In response to a supplementary question, Councillor Guyatt added that the District Council was entitled to retain a small percentage of CIL to cover administration expenses.

Question from Councillor R Carter to the Executive Councillor for Environment, Councillor D M Tysoe

In response to a question regarding the benefits to be achieved from the re-scheduling of current waste collection rounds, Councillor Tysoe explained that whilst it would be difficult to predict the exact level of savings which could be achieved until the new rounds were in operation, it was clear that more efficient routing would result in fuel savings.  In terms of communications, Councillor Tysoe reported that all residents shortly would receive letters, information and stickers about the changes and benefits to the service and whilst he accepted that transition to a new schedule might present some difficulties, arrangements were in place to ensure these could be responded to.  Mention also was made of a joint procurement exercise with four other Districts to purchase specialist refuse collection vehicles and the savings this might also generate for the service.

Question from Councillor D B Dew to the Executive Councillor for Strategic Planning and Housing, Councillor N J Guyatt

In response to a question regarding the levels of delivery of affordable housing and shared equity schemes on new housing development, Councillor Guyatt confirmed that the District Council currently was in discussion with Registered Social Landlords on various options to provide low-cost housing - including shared equity projects.

Question from Councillor M F Shellens to the Executive Leader, Councillor J D Ablewhite

In response to a question regarding the level of contribution expected from the District Council towards improvements to the A14 and whether this would involve the Authority in additional borrowing, Councillor Ablewhite reported that significant negotiations were ongoing with statutory partners both locally and across East Anglia to seek to achieve upgrading of the A14.  He added that the District Council had been an active participant in the A14 project since the CHUMMS report in August 2001 and even before that, in the compilation of a report that included the Council’s recommendations.  The previous scheme was cancelled by Government in 2010 as part of their comprehensive spending review.  At that time the Government announced a new A14 study divided into three stages as follows:-

¨  Output 1 - to understand the nature, scale and importance of the corridor and to develop a list of prioritised challenges;

¨  Output 2 –  to generate and sift potential interventions;

¨  Output 3 – to develop a multi-modal package of interventions to tackle the prioritised challenges which were affordable, deliverable and value for money.

All are now completed and six highway based options are being taken forward together with a finance option relating to tolling, public transport and rail freight.  The Government has indicated that private finance, local tolling and local finance must be part of the funding package.

Current indications are that the Government will fund up to 50% of the capital cost whilst the remainder needed to be secured by these and other means.

There is no clarity on the actual sum that the Government will expect local authorities to meet.  Discussions have taken place between various authorities on this and some hypothetical figures have been used to focus debate.  The local authority total sum will need to spread over authorities and several Counties and Local Enterprise Partnerships.

The Medium Term Plan includes an item in the risk provision of £200,000 per year from 2016/2017 simply as recognition that the Council regards the A14 improvements scheme as a very high priority and, with this in mind, it is correct to include a planning assumption of a hypothetical number at this stage.  There is a great deal of discussion necessary before any agreement can be reached between authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and the Government on the final package.

Question from Councillor P D Reeve to the Executive Councillor for Customer Services, Councillor B S Chapman

In response to a question regarding the circumstances of a family in Ramsey and the opportunity for the District Council to make use of vacant shop premises in the town to address housing issues, Councillor Chapman replied that he would prefer to discuss a personal issue outside the meeting, that new arrivals to the District without a local connection would have no entitlement to housing and that occupation of empty shop premises would trigger a liability for business rates within twelve months.  Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Resources advised the Council that the Treasury Management Strategy and Policy now provided the opportunity for the Council to provide loan finance to local organisations such as Registered Social Landlords if this would assist them in supporting Council services such as meeting the needs of the homeless.

Question from Councillor D A Giles to the Executive Leader, Councillor J D Ablewhite

In response to a question regarding the recent resignation of two Councillors from the Conservative Group, Councillor Ablewhite made it clear that every Member had the opportunity to contribute to the conduct of Council business through a range of processes and that as Executive Leader he was willing and available to listen to the views of all Members.