Questions
In accordance the Council Procedure Rules, opportunity is provided for Members of the Council to ask the Mayor or the Chair of a Committee any question about a matter which the Council, or the Committee has powers, duties or responsibilities.
At Council meeting, there will be a maximum question time period of 30 minutes. A period of two minutes will be allowed for each Councillor wishing to ask a question. The Mayor will have the discretion to vary this requirement where they consider it appropriate.
Minutes:
Cllr Q Abel referred to climate change and asked if Cheshire East had a water management plan for drought, possibility of wildfires and the potential for huge quantities of water falling in a short period of time causing extensive damage. He asked if, as the lead flood authority, the Council had applied for and received grants, how any grants had been spent and which committee did this responsibility sit under.
Cllr C Browne, Chair of Highways and Transport Committee, responded that the Council did have a water management plan. As a lead local flood authority, the Council had a statutory duty to participate in a six-year cycle identifying flood risk areas, and there was also a flood risk management plan, which was a national strategic plan, that had measures or actions that were identified in flood risk areas. The flood risk management plans were published by the Environment Agency, who obviously work closely with the Council, but also with other risk management authorities as well to produce them. In addition, the Council itself had a local flood risk management strategy that considered measures to help reduce flood risk including everything from better planning of new developments to ensuring emergency responders had a better understand where the greatest risks are. In relation to the question about where the responsibility sat, Cllr Browne reported that this was recently the subject of a report which went to the Highways and Transport Committee for consideration entitled ‘It’s Not Just Water’ and the Committee unanimously agreed that at this particular time oversight of that statutory function was retained under the remit of the Highways and Transport Committee. Cllr Browne undertook to provide a written response in relation to the grants received and how the money had been spent.
Cllr J Clowes referred to the Council receiving nearly £4.5m of additional Household Support Grant funding and asked how the Council would implement these additional funds and, in particular, take advantage of the examples of good practice that the Government had identified that all local authorities should take on board where applicable.
She also asked when she would receive a definitive answer on the transfer of maintenance of the closed church yards in Wybunbury to Cheshire East Council.
In response Cllr A Stott, Chair of the Finance Sub Committee, stated that the funding had come through very recently and the scheme was similar to previous covid 19 schemes, so although the funding would not impact on the Council’s budget as such, it would impact on workload. The Council would be responsible for passporting the funds out to residents as appropriate.
Cllr D Edwardes referred to EV charging points and asked what grants the Council had applied for to allow the instalment of chargers, how much money had been received, and did the Council have a policy on charging infrastructure in Cheshire East.
In response Cllr C Browne, Chair of Highways and Transport Committee, stated that the Council had a policy, which was adopted by the Highways ... view the full minutes text for item 77