Agenda item

The Leader of the Council, and other members of the Executive, will report on their work since the last meeting of the Council and will respond to questions from Councillors on that work.

Councillor Mark Crane, Leader of the Council

The Leader of the Council presented his update on the work he had recently undertaken as outlined in his report and added that a seminar on the recent announcements regarding local government reorganisation (LGR) in North Yorkshire would be held for all Councillors very soon. The Leader also expressed his disappointment that such a decision had been taken.

Members asked if any further information regarding LGR was available; the Leader explained that there was none at present asides from an email from the Leader of North Yorkshire County Council, and the expected upcoming presentation to be given at the meeting of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) board the following day.

Queries were raised regarding the potential effect of working from home on staff performance, whether working from home would continue to be supported in the future and if Selby District had taken in a proportional share of the recent refugee families from Afghanistan.

The Leader confirmed that refugee families from Syria and Afghanistan had been housed by the Council; every authority in North Yorkshire had been offered refugee families and all had taken some in, apart from Ryedale District Council. Two houses had been prepared for them to the same level as any tenant, but extra monies had been received from central government which had been used for additional furnishings in the properties.

Performance of the Council had been maintained whilst staff had worked from home, but those members of staff who wanted to come into the office could do so. Moving forward, the Leader felt that he would want staff members to come into the offices at least once a week, as it was important for teams to see one another and stay in contact; but there would be no compulsion for them to come in.

Further queries were asked of the Leader relating to the availability of tenant services and work on adaptations following the pandemic. The Leader confirmed that the amount of work being done in people’s homes had reduced due to the pandemic, but that the backlog was being reduced with most types of jobs able to be done. The Leader informed Members that he would need to take away the query around adaptations and respond to all Members in due course. The Leader also made the point that some tenants still did not feel comfortable having staff in their homes to do repairs, and as such, these were still outstanding. Most void properties needed a great deal of remedial work.

Councillor Richard Musgrave, Deputy Leader of the Council and Lead Executive Member for Place Shaping

The Deputy Leader of the Council presented his update on the work recently undertaken as outlined in his report and added that 44 potential development sites had been agreed for consultation at the last meeting of the Executive held on 8 July 2021. The consultation would take place until 13 September 2021 as part of the work on the Council’s next local plan.

Members asked about the proposed highways model, which would be critical during the development of the next local plan, reviewing allocations in the plan to ensure they fitted with highways capacity and the performance of the Council’s Development Management Team, including the monitoring and signing off of applications by Officers.

Councillor Musgrave emphasised the importance of a new local plan for the district, and how highways and transport was an essential part of that; there was a risk that infrastructure would not always follow development. Stage one consultation of the local plan’s development was currently in progress online, with the Council moving towards the next stage. The site allocations in the local plan would be reviewed to see if they fitted with current highway capacity; it was hoped that development would be mostly focused on areas in the district that already had suitable infrastructure. Lastly, Members were informed that the Council’s planning department was now fully staffed.

Councillor Cliff Lunn, Lead Executive Member for Finance and Resources

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources presented his update on the work recently undertaken as outlined in his report and added that the provision of laptop devices to Members may need to be looked at again following LGR.

Members asked questions around long-term borrowing by the Council and how this would stand following LGR. Councillor Lunn explained that the new authority would take on all the Council’s debt, assets or borrowing, meaning that all residents of the new unitary authority area would carry the debt. There was a degree of the unknown in terms of the full financial implications of LGR for the people of the district.

Councillor David Buckle, Lead Executive Member for Communities and Economic Development

The Executive Member for Communities and Economic Development presented his update on the work he had recently undertaken as outlined in his report and added that four new electric vehicle (EV) charging points had been installed in Selby’s Micklegate car park. The public visiting the town were paying for around three hours of parking, and feedback from local shops was that customers were spending more but shopping less often.

Members asked about the £430k pledged by the new Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) and how it would be used to increase security in the district, and why it was being focused on certain villages such as Carlton and Camblesforth. Councillor Buckle explained that some of the money would be used to improve the protection of farms, and that there were to be several different phases to the scheme that the PFCC had introduced. It would be possible for the Council to bid for further funding for other areas in the district under the later phases of the scheme.

Some Members felt that the PFCC’s spending in some areas had not produced a reduction in crime and queried whether the funding was directed at areas of the district where the crime was, or if the decision to focus on certain areas or villages first had been taken at random. Councillor Buckle resolved to raise this query with the PFCC on the Council’s behalf.

A further query was raised about the number of studies undertaken to look at regeneration and development in the district, and that there needed to be more action ‘on the ground’ to follow them up. There was also some concern around the Selby Station Gateway project and if this could be delivered before the proposed LGR changes due in 2023.

Councillor Buckle acknowledged Members’ comments and that following the recent LGR announcements, such work would need to be sped up. When most of the projects and work began in 2017, the Economic Development Team had needed more resources; these were now in place and as such Councillor Buckle was confident that the various projects and studies could start being delivered and leave a legacy for the future, such as the Selby Station Gateway project. Members asked that details of the regeneration and economic development work being done be sent to them directly in the future.

Councillor Tim Grogan, Lead Executive Member for Health and Culture

The Executive Member for Health and Culture presented his update on the work recently undertaken as outlined in his report. Councillor Grogan emphasised the importance of local takeaways being held responsible for the disposal of their rubbish, and asked Members to familiarise themselves with the recently released branding for the Selby district ‘Heart of Yorkshire’ initiative for local businesses.

Following a question about events in the district, Councillor Grogan explained that the Council’s Events Officer was doing some excellent work and enhancing the stories of the district, which extended over the whole area.

RESOLVED:

                        To receive and note the reports of the Executive.