Agenda item

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.

A single supplementary question may be asked by each Councillor scheduled  to ask a question on notice at this meeting. The supplementary question must  be based on the original question or the answer provided to that question.

The Chairman advised that four questions on notice had been received for this meeting.

Question submitted by Councillor R. Hunter

“When will members have the opportunity to input into the play audit with respect to their individual wards?”

Councillor S. Colella, the Cabinet Member for Finance, replied that

“This item is on the forward plan for Cabinet on the 11^th September 2024.   In advance of this it is anticipated that there will be a Cabinet Advisory Group on this matter.  The date of the Cabinet Advisory Group is yet to be arranged, but we envisage that it will be in late June or early July”.

Councillor Hunter asked a supplementary question that ahead or shortly after the Cabinet Advisory Group whether there would be an opportunity for all members to have some input.

Councillor Colella answered that he agreed; it was important that all members understood the process, where their particular play areas fell in the ranking process and how the assessment was arrived at.  Substantial capital expenditure had been set aside for this initiative, so it was important to understand needs across the district.

Question submitted by Councillor D. Nicholl

“When will the Council publish the next consultation on the local plan review?”

Councillor K. Taylor, the Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and Regulatory Services replied:

“The Bromsgrove District Plan Consultation is set to be considered by Members at the Cabinet in June and the Council in July, if approval is given consultation will begin shortly after the July Council meeting for an extended period to take into account the summer holiday period.”

Councillor Nicholl asked a supplementary question, whether the consultation would include potential site allocation, given concerns residents had about the green belt.

Councillor Taylor replied that potential site allocation would be included in the consultation.

Question submitted by Councillor J. Robinson

“When will the Ward Fund allocation for the 2024/25 financial year be available for members to access?”

Councillor S. Colella, the Cabinet Member for Finance responded that “The Ward Fund allocation application process for Members will be ready following the Council AGM meeting.  This will include draft forms to be completed, and the checks and balances that the Council will need to undertake before monies are allocated to ensure we comply with all “subsidy” requirements (which has replaced the State Aid requirements we had when we were part of the EU).  Members will be mailed the information, including key contacts and the estimated timescales from application to the delivery of the funds.”

Question submitted by Councillor S. Robinson

“It was recently reported that two thirds of councils expect not to hit the Government’s deadline of April 2026 for introducing food waste collections. This is because of a shortfall between the funding committed by Government and what is actually needed to undertake the work. What does this mean for Bromsgrove?”

Councillor P. Whittaker, the Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety replied:

“Defra have allocated a capital grant payment to Bromsgrove District Council of £902,511 for the purchase of food waste caddies and food waste vehicles. We have challenged this allocation as it is less than we have calculated is needed and await a response from Defra.

Details of two further funding streams to support the introduction of food waste collection are still awaited. Transitional resource funding is likely to cover the one-off costs such as communication materials, project management and delivery of the two food waste caddies to each house (internal to the property as well as the kerbside collection caddies). Ongoing revenue funding will then be paid to support the ongoing delivery of the service.

A review of the infrastructure required i.e. the waste disposal capacity for the service across the district and the county is also needed ahead of the service start. This will look at how we can deal with the collected food waste in the most efficient way, e.g. reducing transport through use of waste transfer rather than direct delivery to third party Anaerobic Digestion facilities.

A report updating Members is due to go to Overview and Scrutiny in July 2024. It is anticipated that the likely commencement of the service will be in late 2026.