Questions on Notice
A period of up to 15 minutes is allocated for the asking and answering of questions. This may be extended at the discretion of the Chairman with the agreement of the majority of those present.
To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received.
Minutes:
Question submitted by Councillor S Peters
“The former Dolphin Leisure Centre was operated as a charity in order to reduce the business rates liability. Is the new Bromsgrove Sports & Leisure Centre operating under a similar arrangement or is the Council now having to pay business rates either directly, or indirectly through the management company, Everyone Active?”
The Leader responded that as a Community Enterprise Company Everyone Active received similar business rate relief and therefore there were no such costs to the Council for the new Leisure Centre.
Question submitted by Councillor R Dent
Could the Portfolio Holder responsible for Leisure give an update on the progress regarding the options on the Sports Hall?
Councillor P. J. Whittaker, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, responded that he believed he had already provided an answer to this question earlier in the meeting when asked the question by the member of public.
Question submitted by Councillor M Thompson
What provision has the portfolio holder for finance made since the deal to use NBH's sports hall fell through?
Similarly Councillor P. J. Whittaker, Portfolio Holder for Leisure advised Councillor Thompson that a response to this question had been provided earlier in the meeting.
Question submitted by Councillor M Buxton
Noting the collapse of Carillion can the Portfolio Holder tell us of any businesses impacted locally, including those in the supply chain, and how will this Council be supporting them?
The Portfolio Holder for Economic Development responded that she was not aware of any immediate impact to local businesses and that the Council would continue to monitor the situation and work with partners such as the Growth Hubs and Local Enterprise Partnerships to support any affected businesses. If Members were aware of any businesses that had been affected then they should be advised to contact the Worcestershire Business Central (Growth Hub) in the first instance or the North Worcestershire Economic Development Team.
Questions submitted by Councillor S Shannon
With knowledge that this Council has contributed to the cost of the new train station transport interchange project for Bromsgrove, can I assume the Leader of the Council shares my concern for the sudden collapse of Midlands based Construction and Services Company Carillion with the related loss of jobs to the large workforce coupled with the inevitable disruption to essential services and delays to large local infrastructures projects? In particular can the Leader inform Council if the delays to the introduction of an improved electric train service from the new Bromsgrove train station are directly or indirectly connected to the failure of Carillion Rail Infrastructure division.
In particular, can I ask the Leader to exercise his leadership role by calling on those responsible for the delays in energising the electric cables that have resulted in a lengthy delay to the introduction of an improved electric powered train service from the new Bromsgrove train station. Also will he continue to exercise his leadership role in ensuring the promised delivery of this service to our residents is enacted as soon as ... view the full minutes text for item 81