Minutes:
(A) Mr Sheahan asked the following question of
the Leader of his nominee:-
“Will the Leader be making good the claims in a County Council press release dated 3rd September 2015 that the Authority is “clamping down on dangerous parkers”, and there has been a “drive to tackle unsafe parking”, by allocating additional resources to deal with persistent problem areas, for example, on Chapel Street, Measham, next to the cash machine and on Ashby Road, Moira, near the Post Office?”
Mr Osborne replied as follows:-
“As Mr Sheahan is aware from correspondence with the Director of Environment and Transport the press release referred to was aimed at publicising the work that the County Council does to enforce on street parking restrictions to prevent dangerous parking with a view to influencing driver behaviour.
The Council continues to work with our District partners to ensure that patrol routes are dealing with dangerous and unsafe parking. The enforcement team are aware of the issues that have been reported on Ashby Road, Moira and will continue to patrol this location. As the press release made clear, the costs of undertaking this enforcement are closely matched to the fine income received with the Council making a small loss of £792 in 2013/2014. Additional resources are not available for additional patrols at this time.”
(B) Mr Wyatt asked the following question of the
Leader or his nominee:-
“The current MTFS includes £87 million of cuts over the next 4 years. Following the Government’s emergency budget, the Cabinet has indicated that it will now need to make significantly more cuts to balance the books.
Can the Leader assure me that any financial review will include the position of the Chief Executive, Senior Management and Cabinet Members?”
Mr Rhodes replied as
follows:-
“It is well known that the Council is in an extremely challenging financial position. Savings of over £100m have already been achieved and current plans include a savings requirement of £87m with significantly more to follow. It goes without saying that all elements of the budget will be considered for savings, but Mr Wyatt is missing the point if he thinks further reductions in management costs and the costs of democracy which, of course include scrutiny, will solve the problem.
The profound impact which the required level of savings will have on local services is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that by the time austerity budgets have come to an end the County Council is likely to have saved the sum of all the Leicestershire District Councils’ net budgets three times over.”
(C) Mr Wyatt asked the following question of the
Leader or his nominee:-
“1. Is the Leader aware that the Government has launched a consultation on whether to allow Police and Crime Commissioners to take over the running of fire and rescue authorities?
2. Can the Leader share his opinion on whether he feels such an arrangement would be suitable for Leicestershire?”
Mr Rushton replied as
follows:-
“1. Yes.
2. I do not believe that putting the governance of the Fire and Rescue Service under a Police and Crime Commissioner would improve democratic accountability. There is, however, considerable scope for making efficiencies in back office and support services by joint working between the emergency services.”
(D) Mr Welsh asked the following question of the
Leader or his nominee:-
“The road lining including the stop lines and yellow keep clear boxes at the traffic light controlled junction of Leicester Road, Little Glen Road and Newbridge Road, Glen Parva have almost worn away completely. A number of traffic collisions have occurred. Despite assurances from officers of the authority for over two years that the work is in hand nothing has been done. Could the Leader advise me when this junction will have the correct road lining and signage reapplied?”
Mr Osborne replied as
follows:-
“As Mr Welsh will be aware a site visit took place with representatives of the Glen Parva Parish Council in November 2013 to discuss their concerns over safety at the junction. Following this meeting a safety assessment of the junction was undertaken. This assessment concluded that the accident record at the junction did not warrant the funding of any major improvements and that those minor changes possible within the constraints of the site would not improve safety at the junction.
It was noted at the site meeting that the junction was scheduled for relining in the spring of 2014, when weather conditions for such works would be more favourable. Subsequently, these lining works were put on hold due to the development of the County Arms public house site, adjacent to the junction. The works at the site involved resurfacing works in the highway which would affect the junction, so it was considered appropriate to delay the relining works until the development works were complete. The works at the development site are now nearing completion and lining works will be programmed to be completed shortly. An audit of the signing at the junction will also be undertaken to ensure that all the corrected signs are in place.
I will ask Officers to update Mr Welsh once a date is confirmed for the lining works”.
Mr Welsh asked the
following supplementary question:-
“Thank you Chairman, can I thank Mr Osborne for a comprehensive and helpful answer. I do have a supplementary though, I wondered whether Councillor Osborne is willing to use his good offices to put pressure upon the officers to try and undertake this work before the winter sets in as identified in the response clearly trying to do this work in the winter would be very difficult so we haven’t got long to get it done. If we don’t do that we’re going to end up into the Spring which would be three years which is a long time to wait for such important work. Thank you”.
Mr Osborne replied as
follows:-
“If there is anything that I can do in talking to officers, and I know that you’ve been in touch with them, that facilitates this, I am more than willing to do so”.
(E) Mrs Loydall asked
the following question of the Leader or his nominee:-
“I understand that the auction of Aberglaslyn Hall did not meet the reserve price. Can the Leader inform me how much it has now been sold for?”
Mr Pain replied as
follows:-
“Negotiations for the sale of Aberglaslyn Hall have taken place with interested parties after the auction. A sale price has been agreed which is marginally below the reserve and contracts have been exchanged. Mrs Loydall and members will appreciate that until the sale is complete, details regarding price and terms need to remain commercially confidential. I can advise Mrs Loydall of the sale price once completion has taken place and if she wishes.”
(F) Mr Pendleton asked the following question of
the Leader or his nominee:-
“In the light of the findings of the recent
National Rural Crime Network survey that rural crime costs £800million, could the
Leader advise me of the measures this Council is taking to keep our rural
communities safe?”
Mr Orson replied as
follows:-
“Tackling Anti Social Behaviour and crime in any area of the county is not something that any one organisation can do alone.
Through the Leicestershire Safer Communities Strategy Board that I chair we work with our partners in the Police and District Councils to address key areas of concern regarding crime and disorder for people in Leicestershire, including acquisitive crime, anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse and hate crime.
In a significantly rural county, we work to ensure that communication and campaign approaches and partnership responses take account of the needs of people living in rural communities. This involves for example linking with Parish Councils on awareness campaigns, developing contacts with local businesses in rural areas to use of varied media channels.
We also work to address some of the acquisitive crime issues that rural areas face, such as thefts of farm machinery and break-ins to rural premises. Our partnership responses include: