In accordance with the Council Procedure Rules, all questions –
· Must be relevant to matters for which the Council has powers or duties;
· Must not relate to an item which is included elsewhere on the Agenda;
· Should be limited to obtaining information or pressing for action; and
· Should not exceed two minutes in duration.
Questions should not divulge or require to be divulged, confidential or exempt information.
Contact:25 Minutes.
Minutes:
Arising from a question from Councillor C J Maslen in relation to accurate and speedy communication in the resolution of problems from residents and the identification of relevant Officers to assist through the provision of a staff list, the Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller responded by referring to the difficulties with Officers working remotely this year and the simplicity that had been removed with not having a desk telephone to contact them by. He further referred to a process for Members that encouraged them not to contact the Officer direct but contact the relevant Head of Service or Service Manager who would be best placed to direct any such enquiry. If the problem was not resolved and the difficulties still existed, it was suggested that contact be made with the relevant Portfolio Holder.
In relation to a question raised by Councillor Ms S Smith on car parking fees across the District and advised the Executive Councillor for Operations and Environment, Councillor Ms M Beuttell, that she would put the detail of her request in writing and asked for response in writing with a timescale within a month of when the detail might be received. In addition, Councillor Ms Smith referred to the difficulties with quantifying data as a result of the pandemic but asked for an update on Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 to ascertain the increase or decrease in the usage of car parks to determine the effects of the car parking charges across the District and although encouraged to hear the increase in footfall and increase in car park usage requested to be provided with these figures over a longer period going forward. In response, Councillor Ms Beuttell explained that the data required was not available as a result of the breaks in charging for six months and undertook to provide a full detailed response when such data might be available.
Councillor J P Morris raised a question in relation to civil parking enforcement and appreciated that this may have been delayed due to the Covid situation but as the issue of dangerous, illegal and unauthorised parking was a matter of concern for many Members he enquired as to whether any progress had been made in progressing this project. Whereby, the Executive Councillor for Operations and Environment, Councillor Ms M Beuttell reported that more information would be available and presented to Members in January 2021.
In response to a question from Councillor D A Giles on an update of the Executive Leader’s request for a further £500k from the Combined Authority to meet the immediate recovery needs of St Neots and Councillor R Fuller explained that the Mayor of the Combined Authority was of the view that as a substantial amount of money had already been allocated to St Neots in the sum of £4.1m it was explained that the District Council was investigating to see whether any of the schemes could be brought forward as part of the Future High Streets Fund to try and accelerate any of the Covid recovery work in St Neots. In response to a supplementary question, Councillor Fuller explained that his understanding was that the £4.1m was the funding allocated to the St Neots Master Plan project that included the bridge and various other projects.
Arising from a question from Councillor P Kadewere on the criteria for the distribution of the Covid vaccine in Huntingdonshire, the Managing Director undertook to provide a link to all Members on the published list of priorities identified by the NHS that had been structured around age profile and underlying health issues.