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Agenda item
Questions (if any) from:-
- Meeting of Full Council, Wednesday, 18th February, 2015 6.00 pm (Item 24.)
- View the declarations of interest for item 24.
(a) Members of the public under Rule 11
(b) Councillors under Rule 12
Minutes:
Questions to the Leader, Deputy Leader and other Lead Members were asked and answered in accordance with rule 12.1 as follows: -
Question and Councillor
Subject
Reply Given by Councillor
Atkins
High Speed Rail Connection will the Deputy Leader join with him in welcoming a recent rail summit on the rail service, and will he ensure the council is fully supportive of efforts to improve the local rail service?
Councillor Chowney replied that the council was involved in developing a business case, to support efforts to improve the local rail service. He added that developing a high speed link to London would be extremely expensive, and it was therefore important that the council and its partners developed a strong argument for the electrification of the line between Hastings and Ashford.
Chowney
Street
Hastings Local Plan with the local plan nearing completion, will the Deputy Leader advise how much this process has cost the council?
Councillor Chowney replied that the local plan had cost approximately £3 million to produce, including council officer time, external studies and the necessary public consultation. He added that the process was more costly due to changes in relevant government legislation throughout the process. The costs to the council in producing the local plan were similar to those experienced by other local authorities.
Chowney
Rogers
Programme of local festivals is there an update on the planned programme of festivals for 2015?
Councillor Chowney explained that the town would continue to host a busy year-round programme of events. This included Jack in the Green, the St Leonards Festival, Old Town Week. The town would also host a number of cultural events, including Coastal Currents and Hastings Storytelling Festival. Ideas for new events continued to come forward from local community groups, and the council was already planning a series of events to mark the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 2016.
Chowney
Edwards
Statue of Prince Albert would the Lead Member provide an update on plans to restore the statue of Prince Albert?
The Lead Member for Leisure and Amenities responded that the council was open to considering a variety of options to restore the statue, if the necessary funding could be secured.
Poole
Cooke
Proposed Discretionary Selective Licensing Scheme for Private Rented Homes in Hastings will there be exemptions within the new scheme for charities?
The Lead Member for Housing and Community Services replied that Members had been sent a briefing note on the proposed scheme. A public consultation had also been undertaken on the proposals, and the comments received would be addressed before the matter was considered by Cabinet.
Forward
Batsford
Hastings Parking Board would the Lead Member agree that a recent decision by Hastings Parking Board to subsidise certain bus routes within the town, which were no longer supported by East Sussex County Council, shows the importance of these arrangements?
The Lead Member for Leisure and Amenities said that Hastings Parking Board had a valuable role to play in local transport provision. The council would continue to ensure that the board met regularly to seek improvements to local transport.
Poole
Scott
Screwfix would the Leader of the Council join with him in welcoming the opening of Screwfix at Theaklen Drive?
The Leader of the Council welcomed the opening of Screwfix. He explained that the unit Screwfix now occupied had been refurbished using funding from the Answers in the Carbon Economy (ACE) programme, which aimed to make industrial units more environmentally sustainable.
Birch
Clark
Universal Credit will the Lead Member explain how the introduction of Universal Credit is likely to affect vulnerable residents?
The Lead Member for Corporate Services replied that the first phase of changes would only apply to single people of working age with no other dependents. Initially, enquiries would be dealt with by the local job centre. He acknowledged that the application process for universal credit was complex, and staff would need to be aware of both the local and national implications of the changes.
Cartwright
Charman
Switched on Hastings is there an update on the latest round of the Switched on Hastings campaign?
The Lead Member for Corporate Services explained that 108 authorities had participated in the latest round of collective energy switching. In Hastings, 208 residents had signed up to the scheme, achieving an average saving of £190.00. The council’s anti-poverty poverty officer had worked with local housing associations to raise awareness of the scheme amongst their tenants.
Cartwright
Pragnell
A21 improvements is the council still seeking improvements to the A21 between Hastings and London?
The Deputy Leader replied that the council was a member of the A21 steering group, which lobbied for improvements to road on behalf of a number of authorities along the route to London.
Chowney
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