Issue - meetings

Questions on Notice

Meeting: 24/02/2021 - Council (Item 76)

To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received.

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.

Minutes:

The Chairman advised that 6 questions had been submitted for consideration at the meeting. There would be no subsidiary questions.

Question Submitted by Councillor S. Robinson

“Can the portfolio holder please update the council on how many tonnes of garden waste we have collected from households this winter and whether or not there are plans for this to continue next year?”

The Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services responded by explaining that since April 2020 the Council had collected 6,855 tons of garden waste up until the end of January 2021. There had been a reasonable usage of the Council’s garden waste service through the extension in December and January, but with low tonnages of material collected (30% of average monthly tonnage in December, and 18% in January). The service would normally start again at the end of February.

Officers were still awaiting the February data, which was also part of the current extension to the service. This data would be reviewed, involving consideration of the carbon impact of the extension of the scheme against the benefit, the operational impact of continuing the service through this part of the year, and the financial considerations for residents as well as the Council. A report would be produced summarising the outcomes and any proposals for changes to the service later in the year. A decision would then be required on whether the service could be extended in future years. However, it was too early to say by the date of the meeting whether this would be possible, based on tonnage data.

Question Submitted by Councillor H. Rone-Clarke

“After announcing plans for the city to be carbon neutral by 2030, myself and Cllr McDonald met with the relevant Birmingham City portfolio holders and identified half a dozen areas of cooperation between our two authorities, including: buses, active transport and country parks. Soon, transport into Birmingham by car will be heavily regulated, meaning residents of Bromsgrove may struggle to get to work. Similarly, citizens of other districts will be incentivised to shop local, due to active transport schemes; this would squeeze our already struggling high street to breaking point.

We don’t wish to hear that the council ‘already engages’ with our neighbours, as our Birmingham counterparts agree that Bromsgrove is failing to keep up.

So, in terms of a promise of concrete action, here and now, how does the administration plan to engage more robustly with our neighbours (including but not limited to Birmingham) in order to ensure Bromsgrove is not left behind?”

The Leader responded by commenting that officers and members sat on many groups across the county and the region where engagement happened, including the Greater Birmingham and Solihull and Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnerships (GBSLEP and WLEP).

It had recently been announced that there would be £250,000 investment into further bus provision in Bromsgrove to ensure, that the bus and rail networks would work together to allow faster and easier access to the town centre and surrounding areas. The service would make it ... view the full minutes text for item 76