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 S Corcoran referred to a proposal in the budget report to close the squash courts at Sandbach Leisure Centre to extend the gym facilities before the renewal of the arrangements with the school. He asked how the consultation responses to this proposal had been taken into consideration, since the proposals remained unchanged.

The Portfolio Holder for Communities and Health replied that all responses to consultation were taken seriously but that different respondents had different views and preferences, and it was necessary to consider the matter in the round. The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Highways and Infrastructure added that from the work that the Everybody Sport and Recreation Trust had done there was a better use for the squash courts for residents.

Councillor Corcoran also referred to the possibility of the Council facing  judicial review if it was found to have predetermined a matter which was the subject of public consultation. In this respect, he made specific reference to the consultation on the Arclid waste site where all four options involved the closure of the site.

The Chairman replied that the final decision on the budget proposals rested with full Council and not the Cabinet. The Portfolio Holder for Regeneration added his assurance that no predetermination had taken place with regard to the Arclid site and that any objections received during the consultation period would be taken into account and a decision would be taken at full Council.

Councillor A Moran referred to the inclusion within the overall Council tax increase of a 3% precept specifically for adult social care and commented that this would be inadequate to deal with the demand for such care. He asked Cabinet to agree with him that care for the elderly was a national issue and that the Government should provide adequate funds.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Assets replied that he understood that the Government had ruled out the setting up of a Royal Commission or an independent commission to look at the funding of the NHS and adult social care in the long term as it believed there was already sufficient funding available to the NHS and local authorities to meet current need. The Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Integration added that the Government was looking at work done by the Kings Fund relating to national insurance but that those kinds of solutions would take time. She acknowledged that the Council tax contribution would not meet all the needs of adult social care but she felt that Cheshire East was in a better position than other authorities and she was confident that there would not be a deterioration in the services that it offered to adults and older people with care needs.