Agenda item

To receive questions from members of the council under standing order 12.

1.         Question from Councillor Jenny Hannaby to Councillor Reg Waite, Cabinet member for Waste Services:

Will the cabinet member agree with me the loss of the Vale’s position as Top Recycling Council in the country is most regrettable?

2.         Question from Councillor Jim Halliday to Councillor Matthew Barber, Cabinet member for Grants:

On 5 October 2012 all Councillors were sent details of the Capital Grant bids submitted by local organisations. In December the four area committees considered the majority of the bids and decided what if any grant should be awarded.  However, a number of applications were excluded from the area committee agendas as apparently they were considered to be Vale-wide - for example: Age UK Oxfordshire who bid for £2714, Oxfordshire Association for the Blind who bid for £570, and the Oxfordshire Chinese Community Advice Centre who bid for £5000. 

Please could the Leader list all such Vale-wide applications and for each state whether a decision has been made whether to award a grant, who made the decision, and the amount awarded? 

3.         Question from Councillor Tony de Vere to Councillor Matthew Barber, Cabinet member for Grants:

How many festival grant applications were received in 2012/13 and what was the total sum requested?

4.         Question from Councillor Tony de Vere to Councillor Matthew Barber, Cabinet member for Finance:

What allowance for inflation have you made in the budget in each of the years 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17?

5.         Question from Councillor Ron Mansfield to Councillor Roger Cox, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services:

How much money was spent helping low-income families procure the services of pest-control companies in 2011/12 and 2012/13?

6.         Question from Councillor Jane Hanna to Councillor Matthew Barber, Cabinet Member for Finance:

Will you undertake to continue to make payments to Parish and Town Councils in 2014/15 and beyond to offset the effects of the new Council tax reduction scheme? 

7.         Question from Councillor Tony de Vere to Councillor Reg Waite, Cabinet member for Waste Services:

Would the Cabinet Member care to comment on the poor condition of a number of Bring Sites around the Vale? 

8.         Question from Councillor Jerry Paterson to councilor Mike Murray, Cabinet member for planning policy (including the local Plan):

In what way is the list of strategic housing sites in paragraph 13 of agenda item 11 of 8 February Cabinet agenda, set out in italics below, different to that consulted on by the council over two years ago?

The allocation of the following strategic housing sites (which are in addition to those already identified in the current Local Plan, such as Grove Airfield) and details of the development they will accommodate, and infrastructure and services that will be sought

·        ValleyPark, Harwell (2,150 homes)

·        Crab Hill, north of Wantage and east of Grove (1,500 homes)

·        Monk’s Farm, north of Grove (750 homes)

·        Land on the northern part of Harwell Oxford Campus (400 homes) and

·        Land on the south side of Park Road, Faringdon (350 homes)

(1)       The chairman reported that question 1 submitted by Councillor Jenny Hannaby had been withdrawn. 

(2)       Question from Councillor Jim Halliday to Councillor Matthew Barber:

‘On 5 October 2012 all Councillors were sent details of the Capital Grant bids submitted by local organisations.  In December the four area committees considered the majority of the bids and decided what if any grant should be awarded.  However, a number of applications were excluded from the area committee agendas as apparently they were considered to be Vale-wide - for example: Age UK Oxfordshire who bid for £2,714, Oxfordshire Association for the Blind who bid for £570, and the Oxfordshire Chinese Community Advice Centre who bid for £5,000. 

Please could the Leader list all such Vale-wide applications and for each state whether a decision has been made whether to award a grant, who made the decision, and the amount awarded?’ 

Councillor Barber agreed to provide a written reply outside of the meeting. 

(3)       Question from Councillor Tony de Vere to Councillor Matthew Barber. 

‘How many festival grant applications were received in 2012/13 and what was the total sum requested?’ 

Councillor Barber agreed to provide a written reply outside of the meeting. 

(4)       The chairman reported that question 4 submitted by Councillor Tony de Vere had been withdrawn. 

(5)       The chairman reported that question 5 submitted by Councillor Ron Mansfield had been withdrawn. 

(6)       Question from Councillor Jane Hanna to Councillor Matthew Barber. 

‘Will you undertake to continue to make payments to parish and town councils in 2014/15 and beyond to offset the effects of the new Council tax reduction scheme?’ 

Councillor Barber reported that medium term financial plan (this formed part of the budget papers to be discussed later in the meeting) included £602,000 to offset the effects to parish and town councils over the next five years. 

Councillor Hanna asked a supplementary question.  Would this amount completely offset the effects of the council tax reduction scheme? 

Councillor Barber replied that there were no guarantees as the level of funding depended on the council tax reduction scheme in place at the time.  The government grant was unlikely to completely offset the cost of the change.  The council had allocated £400,000 to offset the effects to parish and town councils. 

(7)       Question from Councillor Tony de Vere to Councillor Reg Waite. 

‘Would the Cabinet member care to comment on the poor condition of a number of Bring Sites around the Vale?’    

Councillor Waite replied, stating that he had been concerned with the poor condition of many of the council’s ‘bring sites’, some of which he believed were dirty and out of character to what the council wanted.  Various actions had been taken to improve the situation.  Clearer signage informed users what the sites were for, and enforcement action had been taken against several people and businesses. 

Bring sites were introduced over ten years ago but since the introduction of the council’s new recycling contract and wheeled bins for residential properties, use of the bring sites had changed.  Many bins had been vandalised and there were many incidents of fly tipping, with 33 per cent of the fly tipping in the district occurring at bring sites.  Consequently, a large proportion of material left at these sites was contaminated and could not be recycled.  The material then went to landfill, resulting in an additional cost to the council. 

He believed that bring sites had never portrayed a good picture.  Even when the bins were full, people continued to dump rubbish around them.  He wanted this to change.  He reported that he wanted all recyclable material to be recycled and not sent to landfill.  The Vale was the top recycling council in the country and he wanted this to continue.  To assist, he was currently carrying out a review of bring sites in the district. 

Councillor de Vere asked a supplementary question.  Did this mean that Councillor Waite intended to close the bring sites? 

Councillor Waite replied that a review was taking place and a decision on the future of the Vale’s bring sites would be made later.  However, he reported that some other councils had closed some bring sites and there had been no complaints or additional fly tipping. 

(8)       Question from Councillor Jerry Patterson to Councillor Mike Murray. 

‘In what way is the list of strategic housing sites in paragraph 13 of agenda item 11 of 8 February Cabinet agenda, set out in italics below, different to that consulted on by the council over two years ago? 

The allocation of the following strategic housing sites (which are in addition to those already identified in the current Local Plan, such as Grove Airfield) and details of the development they will accommodate, and infrastructure and services that will be sought

·        ValleyPark, Harwell (2,150 homes)

·        Crab Hill, north of Wantage and east of Grove (1,500 homes)

·        Monk’s Farm, north of Grove (750 homes)

·        Land on the northern part of Harwell Oxford Campus (400 homes) and

·        Land on the south side of Park Road, Faringdon (350 homes)’

Councillor Mike Murray agreed to provide a written reply.