Agenda item

To receive reports from Cabinet Members on their portfolios.

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)

Cabinet members (listed alphabetically):

Cllr T Adams (Leader / Executive Support)

Cllr A Brown –  Planning & Enforcement

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett – Coast

Cllr W Fredericks – Housing & Benefits

Cllr V Gay – Leisure, Culture & Wellbeing

Cllr R Kershaw – Sustainable Growth

Cllr N Lloyd – Environment & Climate Change

Cllr E Seward - Finance, Assets & Legal

Cllr L Shires – Organisational Resources

Cllr G Perry-Warnes raised the matter of prayers at Full Council meetings. She wondered whether these could recommence now that the pandemic was over. The Chairman asked members to indicate whether they supported this and several raised their hands. The Democratic Services Manager agreed to look into reinstating prayers in the future.

The Chairman then asked Cabinet members if they wished to provide an oral update to their written reports.

Cllr W Fredericks advised Members that the Poverty Dashboard was now up and running. She explained that this facilitated the collation of information for people receiving benefits and identify areas where they may be able to receive more support, such as free school dinners, energy support, or access to foodbanks. Currently there were 1300 children in the District who were currently not receiving free school meals but were eligible for them. She highlighted a website called ‘Entitled to’ which had a useful calculator for anyone wanting to access additional support or resources.

The Chairman invited members to ask questions:

Cllr M Taylor asked the Leader about the recent Cost of Living Summit and the decision to donate £10,000 to Cromer foodbank. He commended the generosity behind this but asked whether there was further scope to roll out support across the District. The Leader replied that the donation was to the North Norfolk food bank which covered the District, including Stalham. The donation was towards the energy bank too, as this was something which residents were increasingly seeking support for. In terms of planning for the cost of living crisis over the next few months, he said that there was still a lot of learning to do and information to take on board and he hoped that the Council could engage with other organisations to provide consistent and strong support across the District.

Cllr J Rest referred to page 24 of the agenda and asked the Leader if he could clarify the financial increase to the Council in percentage terms of the staff pay award. He also sought reassurance that this was the only pay award that would be offered to staff. The Leader said that as far as he was aware this was the only pay award. The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Cllr E Seward, said that he understood the award to equate to 5.9% in percentage terms. The Chief Executive said that he believed it was closer to 5.3%.

Cllr N Housden asked why some Portfolio Holders had not included a list of meetings attended in their reports. Cllr Fredericks said that this was an oversight and agreed to circulate a written update.

Cllr P Heinrich asked Cllr R Kershaw, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth if he could confirm that monitoring in North Walsham Market Place had found no reduction in footfall and that it was likely therefore that any reduction in trade was due to inflationary pressures and not the work being undertaken for the Heritage Action Zone project. Cllr Kershaw replied that the market place had been monitored for the past 8 weeks and footfall had remained buoyant. He added that trade in the town was suffering more generally from the impact of rising fuel costs and fewer people eating out. Footfall had increased during September, so the number of people visiting the town was not a factor. He concluded by saying that the work on the east of the Market Place had now finished, on schedule.

Cllr N Dixon asked Cllr N Lloyd, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Climate Change, about the Corporate Plan objective to plant 110k trees. He wondered how many of the trees that had been planted to date had survived the dry summer. He asked if information on this was collected and if so, when that would be reported to Full Council. Cllr Lloyd replied that all applicants who requested and received a tree, signed a pledge agreeing to care for and look after the tree. He said that there was 5 – 8 % retrition rate. He concluded by saying that over 70k trees had been planted to date and the Council was on track to reach its target of 110k.

Cllr Dr V Holliday asked Cllr E Seward, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Assets, if the Council would be providing free car parking in the market towns in the run up to Christmas. Cllr Seward replied that there would be free parking for Christmas shoppers on 5^th and 6^th December. He said that he would ask the Communications Team to publicise this.

Cllr J Toye asked Cllr N Lloyd about Avian Flu and sought reassurance about continuing to resolve communication issues between the responsible authorities. Cllr Lloyd replied that Civil Contingencies Manager at NNDC was leading on this for all Norfolk Authorities and she was sending a letter to DEFRA asking for clearer guidance on dealing with wild birds. He added that the Council would continue to with partners on addressing the significant problem of Avian Flu.

Cllr E Spagnola thanked all of the officers who had supported the Cost of Living Summit. She asked the Leader whether the Council intended to monitor the situation and issue follow-up surveys so that there could be an understanding of whether services were reaching the right recipients. The Leader confirmed that this was the intention, adding that it was important that the Council remained flexible in its ability to respond to arising issues. He said that the Community Connectors continued to work hard and were working with local organisations on supporting warm hubs.

Cllr E Withington referred to the forecast deficit in the Council’s finances and asked Cllr Seward whether there were any cuts to services planned. Cllr Seward replied that as it currently stood, the Council could maintain services and its capital programme. It was the future that was looking less certain.

Cllr A Varley sought assurance from Cllr W Fredericks, Portfolio Holder for Housing, that, as the winter months approached, support would be provided for rough sleepers. Cllr Fredericks replied that there were not many rough sleepers in the District. However, if the temperature was due to drop below zero for three consecutive nights, then the Housing team would go out and offer support and a warm place to sleep.

Cllr J Punchard asked Cllr L Shire, Portfolio Holder for Customer Services, if more work would be undertaken to link the Council’s website to the waste contractor’s, (Serco), website – as it was currently a very difficult and clunky process to report a missed bin collection. Cllr Shires confirmed that work was underway to improve the connection between the two systems.

Cllr C Cushing asked Cllr V Gay, Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, for more information about the Community Connectors, saying that it would be useful to know which areas they covered. Cllr Gay said that she would circulate information to all members and suggested that a briefing could also be held so that members could learn more about the work that the team did.

Cllr S Penfold asked Cllr R Kershaw about the Rural Prosperity Fund. He said that 40% of the District’s population lived in rural areas and he wondered whether there was a good mix of representation in place to form the bid that was being submitted. Cllr Kershaw replied that he had met with the local partnership group and it comprised the two MPs for the District, the Federation of Small Businesses, the National Farmers Union, the Country Landowners Association, Community Action Norfolk and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). He said that the Fund did not start until next April, with just 20% being made available during the first year. It was a capital fund, with no percentage allowed for administration costs. So there would be additional work for officers to undertake.

Cllr D Birch asked Cllr N Lloyd whether the ‘Environmental Tip of the Week’ which was currently circulated to staff, could be expanded to share with the public. Cllr Lloyd replied that he was happy to look into this suggestion and would discuss it with the Communications Team.

Cllr J Stenton asked Cllr L Shires about Customer Services’ call response times. She said that the times provided in Cllr Shires report indicated that the service was good, yet she was aware of one of her constituents who had waited 24 minutes for a response. Cllr Shires replied that specific cases could be investigated. She asked Cllr Stenton to provide her with the details outlining the date, time and phone number for the call. She would look into what had happened and then come back with a response.