Agenda item

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 9.2 to allow Members to ask questions about Council activities.  The replies to any such questions will be given by the Chair of the Council or relevant Committee or the appropriate Cabinet Member.  Questions must be received in writing or by email to the Monitoring Officer by 12 noon twelve clear working days before the meeting. 

The following questions have been received.

Question ‘A’ – Proposed by Councillor A Dale to Councillor S Pickering, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Place

I'm sure the Cabinet Member will join me in praising our brilliant refuse staff, who do a fantastic job all year round, but particularly so over the Christmas period, in difficult circumstances. However, following complaints in previous years around the coordination of collections, which left some residents without certain bins being emptied for nearly three weeks at one of the busiest times of year for rubbish being generated, there was an apology and an acknowledgement at the time that we needed to reconsider this in the future to avoid as much as possible these problems happening again. My colleagues and I were therefore concerned that pretty much the same issues have happened again this year, resulting in similar complaints from our residents. Can the Cabinet Member please confirm how we ended up in this situation, what steps were taken to improve the coordination before issuing the bin calendars and whether he will commit to review this again moving forward?

Question ‘B’ – Proposed by Councillor S Reed to Councillor S Pickering, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Place

At the last ICT committee members learnt about £500k government grant, related to improving planning and Automation/AI, which NEDDC and Bolsover Councils each secured.

The committee were informed that Bolsover’s project showed great promise but was ultimately shelved. 

Can the portfolio holder advise/report the following on NEDDC’s grant;

A. What project was the grant used for

B. Current status of the project or expected completion date

C. What benefits have been realised/expected.

Question ‘C’ – Proposed by Councillor S Clough to Councillor K Rouse, Portfolio Holder for Health and Leisure

Recently I have been in receipt of information that has highlighted some concerns that relates to Killamarsh Active.

The subsidy currently stands at £354k, this is around the same as it was under the Parish Council before the Pandemic in 2020 and doesn’t seem to be reducing even though there has been £1.9m investment and it was presented at Communities Scrutiny Committee, as being well used and exceeding its potential at this point in time. 

The high Subsidy has given rise to concerns among residents that the centre is at risk, So could reassurance be given that plans are in place and work is being undertaken to reduce the high Subsidy and give a guarantee that there are no plans to close or reduce the centre when the Parish Council Tapered Lease Subsidy expires next year or when the final payment is claimed from Killamarsh Parish Council in 2026/27?

Question ‘D’ – Proposed by Councillor M Foster to Councillor N Barker, Leader of the Council

Can the leader of the Council please provide his views on the recent Government announcements that they intend to direct all two tier areas to undergo Local Government Reorganisation into new unitary authorities?

The Chair confirmed that four questions had been received.

Question ‘A’ – Proposed by Councillor A Dale to Councillor S Pickering, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Place

I'm sure the Cabinet Member will join me in praising our brilliant refuse staff, who do a fantastic job all year round, but particularly so over the Christmas period, in difficult circumstances. However, following complaints in previous years around the coordination of collections, which left some residents without certain bins being emptied for nearly three weeks at one of the busiest times of year for rubbish being generated, there was an apology and an acknowledgement at the time that we needed to reconsider this in the future to avoid as much as possible these problems happening again. My colleagues and I were therefore concerned that pretty much the same issues have happened again this year, resulting in similar complaints from our residents. Can the Cabinet Member please confirm how we ended up in this situation, what steps were taken to improve the coordination before issuing the bin calendars and whether he will commit to review this again moving forward?

Councillor S Pickering responded that he would not begrudge the staff time off at Christmas, but it did mean there was disruption to the schedule.  There were regular black bin collections and extra burgundy bin collections over the Christmas period.

Councillor A Dale agreed that he also did not begrudge staff time off at Christmas but asked if the coordination could be considered again for next year as a number of issues had been raised with him.

Councillor S Pickering responded that it would be kept under review.

Question ‘B’ – Proposed by Councillor S Reed to Councillor S Pickering, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Place

At the last ICT committee members learnt about £500k government grant, related to improving planning and Automation/AI, which NEDDC and Bolsover Councils each secured.

The committee were informed that Bolsover’s project showed great promise but was ultimately shelved.

Can the portfolio holder advise/report the following on NEDDC’s grant;

A. What project was the grant used for

B. Current status of the project or expected completion date

C. What benefits have been realised/expected.

Councillor S Pickering responded that funding applications of several authorities had been conflated in the question. The Council had received £90,000 which had been used for automating the call for sites process.  The project was ongoing and it was hoped that further funding would be received to be able to continue the project.

Question ‘C’ – Proposed by Councillor S Clough to Councillor K Rouse, Portfolio Holder for Health and Leisure

Recently I have been in receipt of information that has highlighted some concerns that relates to Killamarsh Active.

The subsidy currently stands at £354k, this is around the same as it was under the Parish Council before the Pandemic in 2020 and doesn’t seem to be reducing even though there has been £1.9m investment and it was presented at Communities Scrutiny Committee as being well used and exceeding its potential at this point in time. 

The high Subsidy has given rise to concerns among residents that the centre is at risk, So could reassurance be given that plans are in place and work is being undertaken to reduce the high Subsidy and give a guarantee that there are no plans to close or reduce the centre when the Parish Council Tapered Lease Subsidy expires next year or when the final payment is claimed from Killamarsh Parish Council in 2026/27?

Councillor K Rouse responded that the value of a leisure centre was more than just financial and there were no plans to close the facility. She would write to Killamarsh Parish Council with a further detailed response.

Councillor S Clough said it was good to hear there were no plans to close the facility.

Question ‘D’ – Proposed by Councillor M Foster to Councillor N Barker, Leader of the Council

Councillor M Foster withdrew his question as the matter had been covered during other items on the agenda.