Public Participation
(1) Receipt of Petitions (if any) from Local Government Electors for the District
(2) Questions (if any) from the Public
Minutes:
(1) There were no requests to submit petitions.
(2) The Chairman advised of 4 requests to address Council.
Jane Wood, of Climate Action West Northamptonshire, addressed Council in relation to Motion 1 and explained that global carbon emissions in 2021 were the highest they had been since records began. She noted that the UK had successfully delivered against the first 2 budgets set in line with the 2019 Climate Change Act and was on track to meet the 3rd but was not due to meet any of the next 3 targets. Ms Wood stated that money spent on growth that did not address climate mitigation or adaptation was wasted. She noted that a study of the impact of enterprise zones published by Centre for Cities showed that 1/3 of jobs created were created by existing businesses moving from elsewhere and were overwhelmingly low-skilled, so did little to make local economies more prosperous.
Leslaw Darocha addressed Council in respect of item 7 (Report of Councillor Fiona Baker - Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education) and explained that prior to moving to the UK, his son had attended a specialist nursery due to his autism. Since relocating in March, he had been placed in a mainstream school to undergo further assessment, however his official assessment did not begin until July, and had not been completed to date. Mr Darrocha believed that the Council was not putting families at the heart of what it did.
The two remaining speakers did not attend.