Agenda item

In accordance the Council Procedural Rules, a total period of 30 minutes is allocated for members of the public to speak at Council meetings. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 2 minutes, but the Chair will have discretion to vary this requirement where they consider it appropriate. 

Members of the public wishing to speak are required to provide notice of this at least three clear working days’ in advance of the meeting and should include the question with that notice.  Questions should be submitted to: katie.small@cheshireeast.gov.uk or brian.reed@cheshireeast.gov.uk.

Petitions - To receive any petitions which have met the criteria - Petitions Scheme Criteria, and falls within the remit of the Committee. Petition organisers will be allowed up to three minutes to speak.

Mr R Slater referred to the decision to remove cash payments from the majority of car parks in Macclesfield and asked what research had been undertaken to assess the potential damage to retail businesses in Macclesfield as shoppers may be opting to shop out of town or on-line.  He asked what the reduction in car park revenue was since cashless payments had been introduced and stated that the more vulnerable were more likely to fall victim to theft or scam or have their phones or cards stolen at the ticket machine.  Mr Slater referred to the decision to remove the access road to Whalley Hayes Car Park and the car park entrance ramp from the gritting route, which had led to parking difficulties particularly during snowy conditions and asked how this decision was justified as it had directly affected shoppers, who were unable to park, and the car park likely generated a substantial amount of revenue.

In response Councillor M Goldsmith, Chair of Highways and Transport Committee, stated that contactless payments were popular with consumers and retailers with only 12% of transactions now in cash and this trend was likely to continue. A full Equalities Impact Assessment was undertaken to ensure no one was discriminated against or adversely effected. Anybody with a Blue Badge does have to pay to use the car parks.  Shoppers had the ability to pay by smartphone and the Ringo App, which they could do so safely in their own car.   In terms of overall revenue, payments were down across Cheshire East because of the weather affecting all car parks and people staying at home.  The Whalley Hayes Car Park revenue was £1500 a week and the severe weather may have cost only a few hundred pounds in lost charges.

Mr P Roos asked why it was continually being stated that changes to bin collections will/could go to 3 weekly.  He stated that he lived in a block of 26 flats with almost 50 people.  The flats had 4 recycle bins and 4 general waste bins and that these got full on fortnightly collections and worse still when tenants move out and new ones move in.  He stated missed bin collections were a frequent occurrence, with Fridays being the collection day and if they were missed it was not possible to report it until Monday and then if lucky a clean-up crew might come by the following Friday, and it was therefore unacceptable to even think about going from 2-week to 3-week collections.

Councillor M Warren, Chair of the Environment and Communities Committee, responded that the Environment and Communities Committee had approved the move from two to three weekly residual waste (black bin) collections at its meeting in November 2024. This change would be implemented in parallel with the introduction of weekly food waste collections, which are mandated by legislation to be offered to all households from April 2026. Cllr Warren stated that as part of the same proposal residents would see an increased level of service related to missed bins which would mean that the Council would return within three working days rather than the five days the policy states now. The Council would continue to closely monitor the performance of the service as the changes to waste collection frequencies are implemented.

Mrs V Scaresbrook, speaking on behalf of Congleton Sustainable Travel, which is part of the Congleton Climate Action Group, asked if council members and officers were aware that Council continued to contravene the law, namely the Equality Act 2010?  She stated that the Council’s shortcomings in equality issues were highlighted last year, by the Local Government Association’s Peer Challenge report and that her group was very aware of this weakness.  She stated that if the Council had an effective Equality and Inclusion Strategy, then volunteers would not be fighting various departments over existing obstructions to those on foot, with pushchairs, or using mobility aids and that if the Council took note of the law, many would not be so disadvantaged when going about their daily lives. She asked if the Council were preparing the new 2025-29 strategy and requested that it would be precisely written with clear direction, so that officers and members understand that their decisions and implementations complied with equality laws.

Councillor N Mannion, Leader of the Council, responded that the Equality Act 2010 legally protected people from discrimination in both the workplace and in wider society.  The Public Sector Equality Duty meant that bodies like Cheshire East Council had to consider all individuals when carrying out their day-to-day work, such as shaping policy, delivering services and in relation to our own employees, and that the Council took this responsibility very seriously. He stated he was aware that Mrs Scaresbrook had raised formal complaints about some specific street furniture, railings and bollards in Congleton, which Mrs Scaresbrook consider to be an obstruction for people with mobility aids such as scooters and that the Council had agreed to remove one set of railings which although not considered urgent would be scheduled into the work programme for completion before the end of March.  It was not the intention of the Council to be discriminatory and it needed to ensure the safety of all users as well as our responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Council was developing a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy once the new Cheshire East Plan has been approved.

Mr R Douglas stated that based on the Council’s own figures the total S106 monies potentially outstanding from developers was £93.9 million. Many, if not most, of these monies were indexed for inflation, so, that total must surely exceed £ 100 million. Of this £79 million related to agreements signed before 2020.  He asked now much of the £93.9 million had now been paid.  He stated that the Council had advised that a new software system had been introduced to monitor Agreements more effectively and a key priority is to monitor and recover any overdue monies and asked why the software had not been used to recover the £800,000 from Stewart Milne in respect of the Thistle Way development before the developer went into administration in January 2024.

In response, Councillor M Warren, Chair of Environment and Communities Committee, stated that the Council had introduced a system to record s106 agreements to increase effectiveness and efficiency of monitoring of those agreements and significant progress had been made in transferring previously held information onto this system.  The potential outstanding figure of £93.9m was no longer relevant and had been superseded because of the ongoing work and the ever-changing flow of monies received or spent. The new potential outstanding figure was £166.2m but that figure included all sites including those that have not started development.  At present there was £52.5m in agreements where development had not yet started. Total monies paid to the Council was £100.7m with £94.9m allocated to actual projects, £55.5m of which had already been spent in delivery of those schemes.  Officers were continuing work to allocate all received funding to viable projects.  Outstanding monies totalled £9.8m, which were being pursued as a priority, using legal enforcement powers as appropriate, and there was £20.5m attached to sites now under construction which were currently being targeted.

Mr M Unett stated that S106 monies were important for improving communities, education, healthcare, provision of services or a particular piece of infrastructure.  He stated that he believed that Alsager alone had over £800k in S106 monies, which if not spent in a certain period the developer could claim back.   He asked if the relevant member of the administration or relevant officers could meet with him and other Alsager representatives to discuss the unspent S106 monies, receive regular updates and get the process started to utilise the S106 monies.

Councillor M Warren, Chair of Environment and Communities Committee, in response stated that he would provide a written response and engage with Mr Unett regarding the requested meeting.

Ms S Helliwell referred to speculative planning applications being put in across Cheshire East and asked if the Council had a 5-year housing land supply and, if the Council had not removed sites from the SADPD adopted in 2024, what would the housing supply be now.  Ms Helliwell referred to the announcement that the Council would no longer be funding My Cheshire Without Abuse from 31 March and asked what involvement did the Chair and/or the Children and Families Committee have in the ending of the My Cheshire Without Abuse Contract.  

In response, Councillor M Warren, Chair of Environment and Communities Committee, stated that based on the increased housing targets within the new national planning policy and the status of the existing housing land allocations in the current Local Plan the Borough no longer had a 5-year housing land supply. He stated that this position was not exclusive to Cheshire East but would be addressed as the Council continued the process of developing and ultimately adopting a new Local Plan over the next few years. The removal of a small number of housing allocations from the draft SADPD would not have made any material difference to the current supply situation.

Councillor C Bulman, Chair of Children and Families Committee, responded as there were a number of questions relating to domestic abuse, she would respond to all the questions in one response.

Ms L Lancaster spoke of her experience of domestic violence and the support she and her daughter had received from MyCWA and asked that the Council continue funding the services they provided.

Ms S Parr asked what advocacy services would be provided for clients if the domestic abuse services were brought in house?

Ms A Blake stated that she was a survivor of domestic abuse and spoke about the support she had received from MyCWA and asked how the Council planned to effectively replace these indispensable services and continue to provide the holistic, compassionate support that MyCWA has consistently delivered.

Ms A Young referred to the Council and Councillor Bulman’s statement on 17 January 2025 outlining that the new domestic abuse service provision from April 2025 would provide a “robust suite of in-house services” that offer “comprehensive” support to the whole family including perpetrators of domestic abuse. She asked if any clarity could be provided upon why the recent domestic abuse strategy delivery plan that had been shared with partner agencies outlined an external  provider as responsible for the behaviour change interventions moving forward and why My CWA were not given the opportunity to bid for this contract.

Mr M Young referred to the decision to not extend the MyCWA contract to provide refuge provision and domestic abuse services and stated that Councillor Bulman was on record confirming that the correct democratic process had been followed by a cross-party committee with a decision being made at the November 2023 Children and Families Committee meeting. He stated that he had reviewed all minutes since November 2023 to date and listened to all recordings of the above committee and could find no evidence of this.  The only comments appeared to be at the last committee meeting where a number of councillors raised concerns over the process that had been followed with suggested improvements for future decisions.  He stated that he had asked to be provided with any minutes or relevant briefing papers and had not received a response.

In response Councillor C Bulman, Chair of Children and Families Committee, responded that Third Sector organisations played an important part in the provision of local services, and the Council recognised the valuable work MyCWA and other partners continued to provide in the region, alongside our own Cheshire East staff and partners.  MyCWA had a contract with the Council for safe accommodation alongside a contractual number of interventions to support standard/medium risk perpetrators, adult victims and children. This contract came to an end in March 2024 and was then extended for two 6-month periods until March 2025. All partners were aware that the extension was in place to allow for the new Domestic Abuse Strategy to be developed, in light of the gaps in provision highlighted by the extensive Needs Assessment commissioned during 2023.   The Council would always be required to review contracts and the services they offered as those contracts came to the end of their term. This was the everyday work of commissioners and lead officers. There continued to be weekly meetings to manage the transition between MyCWA and officers. 

Councillor Bulman continued by saying that moving forward, following the contract with MyCWA coming to an end on 1 April 2025, the support for standard/medium risk adults and children would be offered through an integrated provision, offering group and one-to-one support based within local community buildings delivered directly by the Council.  She stated that this may be supplemented by external commissions, but this was subject to development of service delivery models. Support was offered via statutory and voluntary services in addition to the dedicated domestic abuse service.  Those that were suitable to receive medium risk support (and therefore did not meet Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference criteria) would continue to have support from the Council’s in-house Domestic Abuse Family Safety Unit Medium Risk Independent Domestic Violence Advocate/Advisor team and would be offered group and one-to-one recovery work.   The Council had qualified staff to deliver behaviour change interventions (known as the Engage provision) and also offer a High risk/High harm DRIVE intervention programme. The Council was not the only commissioner of services for behaviour change work and MyCWA would continue to deliver across Cheshire as commissioned by other public bodies. 

Councillor Bulman stated that services that the Council have previously commissioned MyCWA to provide did not include delivery of all aspects of homelessness support, addiction services or food and clothing banks. MyCWA was a charity and may provide these services in their own right under contract to other public sector organisations or third-party funders, but this delivery was separate from and not funded by the work they did under contract to Cheshire East Council.  All of these additional services were available locally though other providers, and the Council shared information about all the options available on the Council’s Livewell website. 

Councillor Bulman continued by stating that within housing legislation any individual/family fleeing Domestic Abuse could approach any Council for assistance irrespective of whether or not they had a local connection to that Council.  The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced new duties on Councils to ensure that all victims of domestic abuse and their children could access the right support in safe accommodation.  Cheshire East Housing had a clear Domestic Abuse Policy which set out how the Council would support survivors of domestic abuse. The Council had dedicated officers who would work with victims/survivors, and they would assess their circumstances and provide temporary accommodation whilst this was carried out. This could be temporary accommodation (owned by Cheshire East), supported accommodation or other specialist domestic abuse refuge out of area.  Cheshire East Housing had access to the Gold Book which was the national refuge online service where they can see current refuge vacancies and make referrals.  Officers work closely with the Cheshire East Domestic Abuse service and link with them to get further specialist advice, information, and support.  In addition to the housing offer, the Council provided a range of services specifically for victims of domestic abuse and currently commissioned some provision externally, including safe accommodation.  It was this additional offer that the Council commissioned MyCWA to meet, in conjunction with the internal services within Housing and DAFSU (Domestic Abuse Family Safety Unit). Following the contract coming to an end in March 2024 and during the extended two 6-month periods, until March 2025 there was an open Procurement process (in which MyCWA was involved), for the safe accommodation contract which unfortunately failed, due to a provider withdrawing from the process prior to award.  The Council was meeting with the current provider on a weekly basis, as well as internal partners, to consider all available options for ongoing delivery of the service. The current tenants would be secure in their accommodation and the main focus would be on ensuring current and future safe accommodation clients’ needs were met.