Agenda item
Member Questions
A Member of the Council may ask the Chair, the Leader, a Cabinet Member or the Chair of any Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Cotswold District. A maximum period of fifteen minutes shall be allowed at any such meeting for Member questions.
A Member may only ask a question if:
a) the question has been delivered in writing or by electronic mail to the Chief Executive no later than 5.00 p.m. on the working day before the day of the meeting; or
b) the question relates to an urgent matter, they have the consent of the Chair to whom the question is to be put and the content of the question is given to the Chief Executive by 9.30 a.m. on the day of the meeting.
An answer may take the form of:
a) a direct oral answer;
b) where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication; or
c) where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated later to the questioner.
The following questions were submitted prior to the publication of the agenda:
Question 1 from Councillor Judd to Councillor Layton, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning.
On Friday 20 December, I emailed [email protected] asking for support to find out if one of my parishes can use their CIL payments to enhance the school Wi-Fi so that the Parish could use the Wi-Fi for CCTV which they will be installing to disrupt ASB in their village. At the time of writing, neither I, nor the Parish Clerk have received a reply.
Please could members be updated on the current CIL process to include what is the procedure to get the ball rolling to help parishes receive CIL money for their projects, what criteria is applied and who makes the decision on whether the needs of the Parish meet the criteria?
Question 2 from Councillor Blomefield to Councillor Layton, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning.
Many councils including Harlow District Council have introduced civil penalties for rogue landlords who fail to keep their properties to the Decent Home Standard with potential fines of up to £30,000 for non-compliance.
Whilst I very much hope that there are very few tenants suffering from sub-standard housing across the Cotswolds, where it does happen it can be a very serious issue for the tenants’ health and wellbeing, and access to help to remedy their problems is essential.
Does CDC have a process whereby social and private tenants can report poor conditions in their housing, and, if so, what actions are taken to ensure the responsible landlord brings the property up to standard or is otherwise penalized?
Question 3 from Councillor Fowles to Councillor Evemy, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation
When the decision was taken in March 2022 to refurbish and then let a sizeable part of Trinity Road as serviced offices, the business case presented to Council projected an annual return of 12.3% on the £1,345,000 capital investment.
Following the appointment of Watermoor Point a few months ago to both let and manage the site; it appears that the building is still largely unlet. This is against the backdrop of the main Watermoor Point being fully occupied
Now that the works are completed, please could you confirm the final total costs of this capital investment project, the revised anticipated annual return and provide the Council with an update on how many tenants have signed up to date and what space is still unoccupied?
Question 4 from Councillor Blomefield to Councillor Layton, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning.
There are reports from elsewhere in the Country of developers struggling to secure viable bids from housing associations to fulfil the social and affordable housing which developers are obliged to deliver under planning agreements with local authorities.
This has the potential to delay developments or alter the balance of planned housing projects, posing a significant barrier to meeting local authority targets.
Are you aware of any similar problems in the Cotswolds and how much of a concern could this be given the likely increase in development in the coming years?
Question 5 from Councillor Theyer to Councillor Wilkinson, Cabinet Member for Economy and Environment
5 months after the re-zoning of rounds caused huge disruption to waste collections across the district, there are still an unacceptable number of missed collections in Sandywell Ward and presumably across the district. Why, after such a significant time, is this impact still being felt?
Question 6 from Councillor Corps to Councillor Wilkinson, Cabinet Member for Economy and Environment
When new housing developments are first built, developers often hand over the maintenance of public areas and assets, such as dog waste bins, to a resident's management company.
Over time, as these developments become established, local authorities—such as the County Council for highways and the District Council for public waste management— generally adopt responsibility for these assets.
Given the huge numbers of new housing CDC is planning for the district, and the inevitable rise in demand for dog waste bins on public footways, what steps has Cotswold District Council taken to ensure it has the necessary resources in place to effectively manage both the current and anticipated increase in dog waste bins?
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