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Agenda and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3UY
Contact: Democratic Services on 01424 451484 email: democraticservices@hastings.gov.uk
Items No. Item Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
Apologies were received from Councillors Forward and Charman
To approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting PDF 94 KB
Minutes:
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Full Council meeting held on 23rd October 2019 be approved and signed by the Mayor as a correct record of the proceedings.
Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
None
Announcements from the Mayor and Leader
Minutes:
The leader of the Council congratulated the recently elected MP, Sally-Ann Hart. He believes in democracy and recognises that the people have spoken. He gave her 3 messages to consider;
1. Transport Infra structure: focus on resolving transport problems involving cycling and walking rather than the HS1 train connections to London.
2. Homelessness: large amounts of money have been paid out to cover costs of temporary accommodation. The Local Housing Allowance needs to be raised as people cannot afford private accommodation. There needs to be more homes available to people.
3. Council Budgets: Both Hastings Borough Council and Rother District Council need more money to deliver services. Any further cuts to budgets may mean that both Councils are unable to deliver core services.
Questions (if any) from:
a) Members of the public under Rule 11
b) Councillors under Rule 12
Members of the Public under Rule 11
Minutes:
A written question was received from Julia Hilton regarding the Councils recently received My Town funding and its allocation. Councillor Forward provided a written response. Copies of the question and response were circulated to Councillors and members of the public.
Ms Hilton asked a supplementary question. There are a great number of community groups in the town who could help build a vision for the town and facilitate it. They would also be useful in developing a climate change plan. Would the Council be advertising for this sort of input?
In the absence of Councillor Forward, Councillor Chowney responded. The Council is still awaiting guidance about how this will operate. The questioner raised good ideas which could be fulfilled with smaller contracts. He would like to see engagement from people from the deprived wards. These people rarely engage as they are occupied with worrying where the next meal will come from. We need to be thinking about what they need and there will be opportunity for developing the system for this. Any appointments would be advertised locally.
Councillors under rule 12
Minutes:
Questions to the Leader, Deputy Leader and portfolio holders were asked and answered in accordance with Rule 12.1 as follows:
Questioner
Subject
Reply given by
Councillor Lee
Working with MP- Will he present his ideas and collaborate working with the new MP?
Councillor Chowney replied that he would as he has done with the previous MP
Councillor Chowney
Councillor Davies
Street Cleansing- Overview and Scrutiny were unanimous in its praise for the DSO (street cleansing). How will it be improved in the forthcoming year?
Councillor Fitzgerald replied that he was pleased with the success for this and has received positive feedback from the public. Will be looking to deploy resources to north parts of the borough and exploring commercial opportunities
Councillor Fitzgerald
Councillor Beaver
Flood Risk- At the Annual Council held on 23 October, it was said that Cornwallis car park wasn’t suitable for housing as it was a flood risk area, will he apply this throughout the town?
Councillor Chowney replied that mitigation wasn’t worth applying given the size of the site. Other parts of the town are bigger and we get grants to help with this.
Councillor Chowney
Councillor Scott
Fairer Funding Review- After 10 years of austerity Leaders from East Sussex were hoping to benefit from the fairer funding review. This has currently been postponed by the government. Will Hastings Borough Council write to the government to bring this forward?
Councillor Chowney replied that he was hoping to get all Leaders from East Sussex to write a joint letter. The fairer funding review has been long overdue
Councillor Chowney
Councillor Patmore
Bathing Pool Site- Back in October it was said that we were close to signing the terms of the lease for the Bathing Pool Site. Has this happened?
Councillor Chowney replied that this didn’t happen within the 2 weeks stated at the time due to complications. Lease is now ready to be signed but he wants to look at it first before it goes to the board of directors.
Councillor Chowney
Councillor Turner
Doctors shortage- a number of residents can’t get on a doctors panel and many surgeries are not taking on new NHS patients. When he meets the new MP can he ask her to help with getting better primary services?
Councillor Chowney replied that we are currently 15 GPs short in Hastings which has caused a serious problem. Thankfully the walk in centre was saved. It’s a general problem the country is facing. He will raise this with the new MP.
Councillor Chowney
Motion (Rule 14)
Minutes:
None received
Membership of Committees
To give effect to any request received from a political group for a change in their representation on committee(s).
Minutes:
No changes requested
Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy PDF 125 KB
Additional documents:
- Full Council - Appendix A Draft Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy , item 99. PDF 182 KB
- Full Council - Appendix B Homelessness Review Draft , item 99. PDF 439 KB
Minutes:
Councillor Batsford proposed the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy as set out in the agenda. This was seconded by Councillor Davies.
RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Council does accept the recommendations as set out below:
1.To the draft Homelessness Review and Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
Strategy is adopted and published
2. Delegated authority is given to the Assistant Director, Housing and Built
Environment, in consultation with the Lead Member for Housing and Leisure, to agree any minor changes to improve the layout and readability of the strategy prior to publication
3. An action plan to implement the strategy priorities is developed with partners
4. An annual performance update is submitted to Cabinet, setting out progress against the strategy priorities and action plan
Reasons for Recommendations
The council needs to consult on a new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy prior to adoption.
Reports of Committees
a) To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during the discussion of any items considered while the public were excluded by the relevant committee because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in the respective paragraphs of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 referred to in the minutes of the relevant committee.
b) To receive and consider the recommendations and any decisions of the following committees.
(Table Goes Here)
Notes:1. The Mayor will call over the minutes and members will rise and indicate those items which they wish to have discussed.
2. No discussion shall take place at this stage upon part II minutes covered by the resolution 9a) above. Any such discussion shall be deferred to item X on the agenda.
Minutes:
The Mayor having called over the minutes set out in the agenda, none were reserved for discussion.
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