Issue - meetings

A period of 20 minutes is allocated for questions to be put to Cabinet Members by members of the Council. Notice of questions need not be given in advance of the meeting. Questions must relate to the powers, duties or responsibilities of the Cabinet. Questions put to Cabinet Members must relate to their portfolio responsibilities.

The Leader will determine how Cabinet question time should be allocated where there are a number of Members wishing to ask questions. Where a question relates to a matter which appears on the agenda, the Leader may allow the question to be asked at the beginning of consideration of that item.

Councillor D Flude asked if the former Leader of the Council had begun the process of purchasing Leighton Grange Farm. The Leader undertook to send a written reply.

Councillor Flude also asked about the Council’s stance on all schools becoming academies and whether the Council had any proposals to set up a multi-academy trust. The Leader replied that it was not possible to give an answer on multi-academy trusts at the meeting as there had been no policy paper on the matter, and that therefore either a written reply would be given or a report on the matter would be submitted to a future Cabinet meeting. The Portfolio Holder for Children and Families added that a meeting with head teachers to discuss the matter was planned for June.

Councillor Flude also asked what plans the Council had for Lincoln House. The Portfolio Holder for Adults and Integration replied that now that Lincoln House, Hollins View and Mount View were closed, they would revert to the Assets Portfolio. However, that process had been put on hold whilst discussions were taking place with the Council’s health partners over where the integrated care teams might be situated.

Councillor B Walmsley asked if the priority for the link from the Middlewich Bypass to the waste transfer site on Cledford Lane could be raised. The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Highways and Infrastructure replied that if a waste station were built at Cledford Lane it would be important to provide access to it. However, this needed to be dealt with as part of a wider transport study across the whole of Middlewich to ensure that everything was properly connected. Item 10 on the agenda relating to the Middlewich Eastern Bypass would deal with the matter in greater detail.