Agenda item

To receive reports from Cabinet Members on their portfolios.

Cllr T Adams - Executive Support & Legal Services

Cllr H Blathwayt – Coast

Cllr A Brown – Planning & Enforcement

Cllr W Fredericks – Housing and People Services

Cllr C Ringer – IT, Environmental & Waste Services

Cllr L Shires – Finance, Estates & Assets

Cllr J Toye – Sustainable Growth

Cllr A Varley – Climate Change & Net Zero

Cllr L Withington – Community, Leisure & Outreach (Including Health & Wellbeing)

Members are reminded that they may ask questions of the Cabinet Member on their reports and portfolio areas but should note that it is not a debate.

No member may ask more than one question plus a supplementary question, unless the time taken by members’ questions does not exceed 30 minutes in total, in which case, second questions will be taken in the order that they are received (Constitution, Chapter 2, part 2, section 12.2)

The Chair invited Portfolio Holders to add any further information to their written reports, where required.

Cllr W Fredericks, Portfolio Holder for Housing & Benefits, said that there was an amendment on page 45 of the agenda pack. Where it stated 33 Homeless + priority need, it should state ‘unintentionally homeless’ not ‘intentionally’. She said that her list of meetings attended also incorrectly included Joint Staff Consultative Committee (JSCC).

Cllr H Blathwayt also highlighted an error in one of the meetings listed as attended.

Cllr L Withington informed members that the Leas Play park had been opened in Sheringham and it had been full of children within a few hours. She asked members to promote the Pretty Corner Woodland Fair which was taking place on 29^th July.

The Chairman then invited members to speak:

Cllr R McDonald asked Cllr A Varley, Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Net Zero, for more information on the ‘Make my House Green’ scheme. Cllr Varley replied that it had been very successful so far. Engagement with the company had been encouraging and the partnership with them had been about spreading the word about solar PV panels. He went onto speak about NNDC’s Net zero project in Stalham and one of the main issues raised by the community was insufficient information on available products and schemes and the ‘Make my House Green’ project had proved to be a good starting point. A few households had already taken part and had solar panels installed. He added that everyone was advised to get at least three quotes before proceeding with purchasing a product. He then updated members on carbon savings from solar projects and said that they now stood at 2703 kg.

Cllr L Vickers asked the Leader Cllr T Adams about 9 Norwich Street, Fakenham. She said that the public speakers had already highlighted the positive attitude of the town and she sought assurance that there was a clear plan of action in place and that local members would be kept aware of any developments. Cllr Adams replied that any obstruction to the footway was the responsibility of Norfolk County Council (NCC) and as he had already stated, he could not discuss the matter publicly as it could damage any progress being made. He added that he wanted to see the matter resolved and that the obstacles were legal issues which would take time. Cllr Vickers said that she would like more transparency and that local members were not being kept informed. In response to Cllr Adams comment that local members had been involved, Cllr J Punchard said that there had been no contact from officers on the matter and he had raised this at the last 3 Full Council meetings.

Cllr N Dixon asked the Leader if he saw any opportunity, as devolution progressed, to achieve efficiencies and quality improvements through the delivery of services and democratic governance without increasing council tax. If so, could he outline what they would look like. Cllr Adams replied that he had outlined his position on this at the Full Council meeting in March. He said he did not agree with this model of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and felt that there were a lot of false promises. However, there were some opportunities in Norwich in terms of strategy and spend but there was not the same opportunity for the rest of rural Norfolk. He said that other areas of the country who had already gone through this process had not delivered savings and he remained unconvinced about the tangible benefits. He acknowledged that a reduction in the overall headcount of elected members would reduce costs.

Cllr Dixon said that he did not feel his question had been answered.

Cllr K Leith asked Cllr C Ringer, Portfolio Holder for IT, Environmental & Waste Services, for an update on the collection of plastics. Cllr Ringer replied that the Council was trialling the collection of flexible plastics and films in an area of North Walsham. The results would then be used by the Norfolk Waste Partnership to inform DEFRA so that they could learn from the experience and help with understanding the cost implications ahead of a national rollout in 2027.

Cllr P Porter asked Cllr A Brown, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Enforcement, about the Government’s proposed changes to Planning Committees. She said that if they were implemented the influence of elected members would be significantly reduced, with power shifting to planning officers. She asked how the Council had responded to the proposals. Cllr Brown said that a series of consultation documents had been released by the Government. He said that the response had been returned and the details could be seen on the Planning section of the NNDC website. He went onto say that he did not believe that the proposals would make the difference that the Government intended. The local connection to determining planning matters was a fundamental democratic freedom and any attempt to interfere was misplaced and would not lead to an increase in the number of developments planned by the Government.   

Cllr J Boyle asked Cllr J Toye, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth, for an update on support offered to town centres and high streets and how well it had been received. Cllr Toye replied that it was going very well and there had been expressions of interest from Cromer, Holt, Stalham and Fakenham in the North Norfolk High Streets Matter’ scheme. The local market town initiative had generated a further 9 expressions of interest, although it was disappointing that Wells and North Walsham had not applied.

Cllr V Holliday asked Cllr Toye about employment in the district. She said that there was currently a large percentage of part time workers on below median wage and she asked about proposals to bring more well-paid employment into North Norfolk. Cllr Toye replied that he met with colleagues in Great Yarmouth to discuss new jobs in the energy industry, and some in Norwich regarding the hi-tech sector. The Council was doing all that it could to work with industries to open up opportunities across the district. He added that options to bring educators to Norfolk instead of students having to travel were also being explored.

Cllr C Cushing asked Cllr W Fredericks if there were plans to house asylum seekers in Fakenham. Cllr Fredericks replied that the Council was aware of increased reporting about accommodation for asylum seekers. She said that the Government contracts a number of private sector organisations to provide accommodation. She said that the Council had been informed that 8 properties in the district had been appraised for refugee and asylum seeker accommodation by a Government contractor. As of today, she was not aware that any placements had been made into properties in the district. Separate to the above, NNDC had purchased 6 properties with local authority housing fund monies as part of the national Afghan housing resettlement programme. To date, no applications had been received under the scheme and the properties were used as temporary accommodation for local families. In conclusion, she said the Council had welcomed refugees from Ukraine and other refugees would be just as welcome.