To answer any questions submitted by the public in accordance with the Constitution.
The deadline for the receipt of public questions is five days prior to the meeting and must be submitted to the Monitoring Officer.
Contact:15 Minutes
Minutes:
Earlier this year, one of my close friends, Chris Penhall, tragically passed away. He suffered a heart attack in Huntingdon town centre during the day, and his heart stopped for 29 minutes before the paramedics arrived. He was in a coma for nearly two weeks, before passing away. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people would have walked passed, and if any of them knew how to perform CPR, or even knew how to contact a Town Ranger for them to perform CPR, then Chris would still be alive today.
I am interested in understanding how Huntingdonshire District Council is supporting community health and safety initiatives, specifically regarding CPR training and safety awareness for customers and local businesses. Could you please share what programs or resources are currently in place, and what actions are being taken to promote and facilitate CPR education and safety measures within our community?
Chris didn't deserve to die lying on a cold, concrete floor in fear, and we need to make sure that this doesn't happen again to anyone else.
The Executive Leader, Councillor S J Conboy offered her condolences to Mr Penhall’s family and friends. She responded to the question by advising the significant amount of work being done by the Council to help communities do more to support residents, particularly around medical emergencies were quick assistance is vital. Councillor Conboy reflected on contributions and investments towards projects undertaken by MAGPAS, the new health facility at Alconbury Weald and improvements at the Godmanchester Roman Hicks surgery. She noted that through Section 106 and CIL funding, investments in GP surgeries and health facilities across the district as well as supporting Town and Parish Councils with equipment, training, first responder scheme and maintenance to support community health initiatives leading to the provision of 16 defibrillators in parishes across the district. Councillor Conboy highlighted the defibrillator awareness and training and getting devices installed where they are needed, she encouraged members to familiarise themselves with the defibrillator.co.uk website and also advised that 999 operatives were aware of defibrillator locations and could direct the general public to their location and give instructions to use in the event of a necessary call. It was advised that 95 Council staff were CPR trained with 33 of those having first aid emergency training, this was particularly of importance for Leisure Centre and Countryside staff and visitors. Councillor Conboy concluded that she hoped Chris’s situation would not be repeated and thanked Miss Simpson for bringing the matter to the Council’s attention, noting that the Council would continue to work hard to support the community to avoid similar outcomes in the future.
The Preferred Options Local Plan consultation opened on 5 November 2025, but the Stage 2 Water Cycle Study, a key piece of evidence on water capacity and deliverability was not published until 25 November 2025. Furthermore, the publication dates and integration of the Infrastructure Delivery Study (IDS) and Whole Plan Viability Assessment (WPVA) are not clearly documented. Therefore, will the Council confirm whether the Preferred Options were prepared using the final Stage 2 Water Cycle Study findings, and whether the relevant evidence documents were complete and available at the point the consultation opened?
The Executive Councillor for Planning, Councillor T Sanderson responded to the question by advising that the preparation of evidence-based documents in support of the development of the local plan was an iterative process. He noted that regular meetings were held with consultants to talk through findings and discuss draft chapters and policy formation throughout the creation of evidence-based documents, discussions and updates on the water cycle study (WCS). He noted that the creation of a WCS was not legally required document as part of the Local Plan making process. However, the Council had decided to produce a WCS to inform growth in the area and identify areas to infrastructure providers where infrastructure would be required to support growth. It was noted that the Council had already completed a stage one water cycle study which was publicly available. A full draft of the interim stage 2 WCS was provided to the Council in early September and the full WCS would be used to inform the final policies of the Local Plan. It was noted that the process to develop the WCS had been ongoing and involved key stakeholders, it was advised that the final Stage 2 Water Cycle Study would be completed in Spring 2026 and that this would be used alongside responses from the Preferred Options Local Plan consultation to further refine policies ahead of the Plan’s submission in summer 2026.
In regards to timescales, it was advised that the infrastructure delivery study and whole plan viability assessment were published on the local plan evidence library on 16th October 2025 and informed the development of the preferred options. Responses from statutory consultees on infrastructure matters including water were included in the development of these evidence bases. It was advised that as with the WCS, the development of policies was an iterative process using information from statutory consultees, national legislation and draft chapters and findings from the studies with minor amendments made to the policies following the final reports.