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Agenda item
Questions from Councillors under Rule 12
Minutes:
No written questions have been received from Councillors.
Questions to the Leader, Deputy Leader and other Lead members were asked and answered in accordance with Rule 12.1 as follows: -
Questioner and Councillor
Subject
Reply Given By Councillor
Lee
New Home Secretary would the Leader of the Council join with him in congratulating our local MP on her appointment as Home Secretary?
Councillor Chowney congratulated Amber Rudd MP on her new appointment, and explained that he had emailed her shortly after her new role was announced. He explained that he met with Ms Rudd regularly to discuss issues of local concern.
Chowney
Rankin
Addressing Street Drinking given the importance of inward migration and tourism to the local economy, what is the council doing to tackle street drinking in Hastings town centre?
Councillor Chowney replied that addressing street drinking was primarily a matter for the Police, he continued that as a result of reductions to policing budgets, crimes were now assessed based on potential threat, harm and risk. Councillor Chowney had met with the newly appointed Chief Inspector for Hastings and put forward that street drinking should also be considered as an economic threat. The council also worked proactively with a range of other partners on this issue and was considering the implementation of Public Space Protection Orders to help tackle the issues experienced in the town centre.
Chowney
Westley
European Funding Opportunities Hastings has benefited considerably from European funding in the past, what will the impact on the financial position of the town be after the vote to leave the European Union?
Councillor Chowney responded that it was likely the town would have significantly fewer resources than previously, although there were still many unknown impacts of the decision to leave the European Union. It was likely that the council would also find it increasingly difficult to find other European partners to bid for new projects. Councillor Chowney added that the council, in partnership with Amicus Horizon, had recently successfully obtained European funding for the SHINE initiative to help tackle fuel poverty. The council was also pursuing a bid for Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) 2 funding. Previous funding opportunities through Community Led Local Development (CLLD) may also now be limited from a 5 year programme, to 1 year.
Chowney
Cooke
Missed Bin Collection a number of reports of missed bin collections have been received from residents around the town, what action is being taken with the contactor to improve performance?
Councillor Davies replied that the council continued to work with the other members of the Joint Waste Committee and through officer contacts to address areas of under performance in the contract and support improvements to services.
Davies
Scott
Green Flag Award for Alexandra Park can the lead member advise if Alexandra Park will retain its Green Flag accreditation for another year?
Councillor Davies said he was pleased to announce that Alexandra Park had been awarded a Green Flag accreditation for another year. The Green Flag Award was a national scheme, which recognised that the park was maintained to a high standard.
Davies
Beaver
Litter bins on the seafront given the recent fine weather, could the lead member arrange for extra collections from the litter bins on Sea Road in the evening, to prevent rubbish from accumulating there?
Councillor Davies explained that he had been monitoring this issue closely, reporting any incidents of overflowing bins online and meeting with staff from the council’s waste and street cleansing contractor. Councillor Davies encouraged all members to report waste and street cleansing issues using the My Hastings online service.
Davies
Batsford
Parking Near Schools will the Leader of the Council request that East Sussex County Council (ESCC) deploy their Traffic Enforcement Officers outside local schools at busy times to help address safety concerns and instances of illegal parking?
Councillor Chowney agreed to contact ESCC to make this request. He added that this was a longstanding issue in the town, but deploying Traffic Enforcement Officers in this way had been proven to improve safety.
Chowney
Clarke
Engaging with Businesses would the Leader of the Council comment on a recent report by the Local Government Association (LGA) which set out a series of measures for local authorities to engage more effectively with businesses?
Councillor Chowney explained that the council already successfully engaged with businesses in a variety of ways. He continued that he was not yet familiar with the specific report Councillor Clarke referred to, but would investigate how its findings could be applied in Hastings.
Chowney
Patmore
Renaming Aquila House given the current financial position of the organisation, how can the cost of renaming Aquila House to Muriel Matters House be justified?
Councillor Chowney explained that the costs of renaming the building would be minimal. The current name of the building had been chosen by the previous owner and it was considered appropriate that the building should be re-named to honour a local resident who had made a significant contribution towards securing votes for women. Nationally, a number of initiatives were planned to mark the 100th anniversary of women gaining the vote in 2018. The new name was due to come into effect from 1 January 2017.
Chowney
Bacon
Dog Fouling a minority of irresponsible dog owners are repeatedly allowing their dogs to foul and refusing to clear up after them, what is the council doing to address this?
Councillor Davies replied that the council’s warden service was involved in a range of initiatives to reduce dog fouling. He noted that the council continued to take robust enforcement action against irresponsible dog owners, an increased number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) had been issued in the first half of the year. The team were also preparing a new education and awareness campaign to help tackle dog fouling, which would be launched shortly.
Davies
Edwards
Renewal of Trident does the Leader of the Council support the Leader of the Labour Party in his opposition to the renewal of Trident?
Councillor Chowney replied that he did support the Leader of the Labour Party in this stance.
Chowney
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My council
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