Agenda item

Cabinet Members each highlighted the salient points of their reports. Members made comments and asked questions and the following points were raised:

·       The Council had responded to requests from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities regarding data around damp and mould condensation. Next steps were to review the data and look at the information to understand issues. The Council was working with NPH officers to give timely and robust responses to enquiries. A root and branch review of NPH practices had been undertaken and the data was currently being reviewed.

·       Following the police investigation, the Leader would arrange a meeting with the Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Engagement and Regulatory Services and ward councillors to see what actions could be put in place regarding knife crime.

·       Regarding housing for homeless, every effort was made by the Council to house families locally.

·       Regarding the Pensions Fund recommendation that re-divestment of fossil fuel is not done until 2050, it was suggested that this be reviewed by the Working Group.

·       It was acknowledged that there were issues with the planning call-in process – this would be brought to the attention of officers.

·       Regarding local contingency hotels for refugees, it was noted that there was no funding forthcoming from the Home Office – further representations would be made to make them aware of the huge burden being put on West Northamptonshire residents.

·       Regarding the Ofsted report following its inspection, it was advised that the reasons for cases going to tribunal were numerous – in many cases, there were not enough appropriate school places for young people. In the future it was hoped that many issues would be resolved before they reached tribunal stage.

·       Dates for various workshops relating to the West Northamptonshire Local Plan would be released in the very near future.

·       The Children’s Trust was set up by the Department for Education and was under their statutory guidance. The Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education did not believe that bringing the service back in house would improve it and explained that embedded issues that required addressing were among the reasons that turning the service around was taking longer than expected.

·       Lots was going in in terms of recruitment; the lowest paid employees were given inflation-busting pay increases, the Council was promoting jobs not expected by councils, e.g., cyber security specialists.

·       Regarding Fair Cost of Care, the Council had to be careful with how it shared the information it found.

·       The Cabinet Member for Transport, Highways and Waste visited JCB to see a piece of equipment not available elsewhere – if purchased, it would result in increased efficiency in filling potholes. Work was underway with Kier on a business case to purchase one. He also confirmed that he would be happy to facilitate meetings with Members regarding flooding issues.

·       Lighting across West Northamptonshire was provided to an agreed standard, and this was not subject to change. However, the Council was looking to replace bulbs with LED bulbs which would save energy.

RESOLVED:

Council note the Cabinet Member reports and the decision records from 8^th November 2022, 6^th December 2022, 20^th December 2022, 17^th January 2023, 13^th February 2023, and 7^th March 2023.