Agenda and minutes

Members of the Council took the opportunity to remember and pay their respects to Former Councillor Tony Brewer, who sadly passed away two years’ ago.  A minute’s silence was held in his honour.

No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 27 January and 3 March 2022, as now submitted, be received and approved.

The Leader of the Council made announcements in respect of the following:

Devolution Deal

A joint bid for an East Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority had been submitted on Friday, 25 March for a 'Level 3' deal, which, if successful, would give the region 23 new powers, handed down from central Government. To secure such a deal a mayoral combined authority would be required.

Council leaders from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire had recently met with Ministers who had said that the Government was very encouraged by the level of ambition shown and success in relation to the bid would be announced shortly in the first round or via a second round in the Autumn.

Leaders from the local District and Borough Councils continuing to challenge the process and governance of the bid at every stage and Members would be updated as to progress as it emerged.

Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Review

The recent peer review undertaken by the LGA regarding the Council’s response to Covid during the pandemic and its subsequent recovery plans, had now been concluded with submission of the draft report.

Council was advised that the draft report made for excellent reading, and staff should again be congratulated for their ongoing courage and commitment towards the continued delivery of Council’s services during extremely difficult and challenging times.

From Pam Lewis, Kirkby in Ashfield

“Why didn’t the District Council contact the County Council’s Archaeologists regarding a site that is on Ashfield Council’s Heritage list and is in the Green Belt.  Heritage Assets should be taken into account as part of the Local Plan.  This was going forward in the last Local Plan.”

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the following question had

been submitted by Ms. Pam Lewis:

“Why didn’t the District Council contact the County Council’s

Archaeologists regarding a site that is on Ashfield Council’s Heritage

list and is in the Green Belt. Heritage Assets should be taken into

account as part of the Local Plan. This was going forward in the last

Local Plan.”

Due to the fact Ms. Lewis was unable to attend the meeting, the Chairman read out the question in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.7.

The Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Planning, Councillor Matthew Relf, responded to the question and acknowledged that because the site being referred to was not identified, it was difficult to determine if the query related to archaeology, a listed building or a building on the Council’s local heritage list.  However, assurance was given that Nottinghamshire County Council was always consulted on planning applications as required.

In relation to the Local Plan, any site put forward was assessed through the Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment which included whether heritage assets were located on or adjacent to the site in question. The Sustainability Appraisal, which informed the Local Plan, also identified as one of its objectives ‘To conserve and enhance Ashfield’s historic environment, heritage assets and their setting’.  Within this context, the Council is required to assess the benefit of any proposed development against the potential harm to any heritage asset.

It was stressed that the Draft Local Plan was at an early stage and the responses to the public consultation were currently being analysed, including the responses from Historic England and the County Council. Where appropriate, additional evidence base work would also be undertaken through a heritage impact assessment.

As announced previously, progress had been paused on the next draft of the Local Plan while a response from Government was awaited regarding requests for clarification on upcoming changes to planning legislation indicated by the Prime Minister and Michael Gove’s comments on the subject.

Once clarity had been achieved, the cross-party Local Plan Working Group would be able consider the changes alongside consultation feedback to determine what changes would need to be made to the Draft Local Plan before it goes back out for the next round of consultation with the public and statutory consultees like the County Council.

Ms. Lewis would be forwarded a written transcript of the Portfolio Holder’s response accordingly.

(None received for this meeting)

No petitions were submitted for consideration.

No reports were received for consideration.

(None received for this meeting)

No recommendations were received for consideration.

The following Cabinet Members gave updates in relation to their portfolio

activity:

Councillor John Wilmott - Portfolio Holder for Licensing, Environmental

Health and Regulatory Services

Councillor David Hennigan, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Improvements, Corporate Communications and Cross Portfolio Support

Councillor Matthew Relf – Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Planning

Councillor Tom Hollis – Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council and Social Housing

Councillor Helen-Ann Smith – Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for

Community Safety and Crime Reduction

Councillor David Martin – Portfolio Holder for Finance, Revenues and

Benefits

Councillor Rachel Madden – Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Health and

Wellbeing.

(None received for this meeting)

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 5 (Urgent Items), the Council

received an emergency notice of motion moved by Councillor Helen-Ann Smith and seconded by Councillor David Hennigan as follows:-

“SAFER STREETS

Ashfield District Council notes that we were successful in securing £500,000 in Round 3 of the Home Office Safer Streets Fund.  This Council further notes that Round 4 of Safer Streets Fund closes on May 13th, 2022.  It is therefore urgent to complete the bid.

Ashfield District Council would like to thank staff in our Community Protection team for fighting for and securing large amounts of funding under Round 3 of the “Safer Streets” programme to improve local safety.

This year, Ashfield District has seen a 23.85% fall in Anti-Social Behaviour, in comparison to the previous year. (January 2020-January 2021).

Over the past year, Ashfield District Council has created the partnerships responsible for obtaining the approval for a Public Spaces Protection Order to manage localised problems - from street drinking, dog fouling to gating off areas renowned for anti-social behaviour.

That through joint working, Ashfield District Council has taken significant strides to reduce anti-social behaviour and to protect vulnerable people across the district through a host of measures and interventions.

This Council welcomes that:

·         Task force groups that have been put in place to manage perpetrators of crime and anti-social behaviour and dedicated vulnerability programmes have been established to allow repeat victims to get the help and support they require.

·         Further to this, this Council notes that specialist initiatives has been put in operation to divert young people away from anti-social behaviour through the use of youth diversionary activities and delivery of healthy relationship programmes within local schools. A dedicated safeguarding and disruption group has also been devised to help prevent exploitation, county lines and organised crime.

·         Days of action and community events have taken place to build and foster positive relationships with members of the public.

·         CCTV has been installed for 42 businesses across Sutton and new cameras have been confirmed for Kirkby and Hucknall to continue to prevent and detect anti-social behaviour and promote feelings of safety.  This Council has installed ANPR cameras, 42 commercial CCTV devices, 8 deployable cameras across Sutton alongside 10 cameras in Kirkby over the past 10 weeks alone.

This Council re-affirms its commitment to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour, remains committed to ensuring the safety of its residents, congratulates the Community Protection Team and recommends that we prioritise completing the Round 4 Safer Street’s application before the 13th May 2022 deadline and continue to look for external funding to ensure safer streets across the Ashfield District.

Having been duly debated, the emergency motion was put to the vote and it

was

RESOLVED

that the Council re-affirms its commitment to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour, remains committed to ensuring the safety of its residents, congratulates the Community Protection Team and recommends that it prioritises completion of the Round 4 Safer Street’s application before the 13th May 2022 deadline and continues to look  ...  view the full minutes text for item C.86

(None received for this meeting)

There were no questions submitted by Members.

(None received for this meeting)

There were no questions submitted by Members.