Leader's Announcements
To receive such announcements as may be made by the Leader.
Minutes:
The Leader highlighted a number of issues of key importance to her as Leader of the Council which were as follows:-
PLACE
Waste & Environmental Services
• The Council had moved from landfill to an “energy from waste” solution, with new waste contracts and the opening of Cheshire East Environmental Hub.
Customer Services
• The Council had been a Finalist in “Go Procurement” awards for its compost facility procurement.
• Redesign and refurbishment of Crewe and Macclesfield Customer Service Centres had taken place.
• The Council had been shortlisted as a finalist for Contact Centre of the Year.
• The Council had retained its top 4* ranking for the Cheshire East website.
• There had been a 3% increase in participation in the annual Summer Reading Challenge.
• Refurbishment of Macclesfield and Wilmslow libraries had taken place.
• Improvements to leisure facilities, including a new Fitness Gym at Sandbach Leisure Centre had taken place.
Rural and Culture
• Tatton Park had successfully launched its Farm ‘Field to Fork’ project, The Gardener’s Cottage at Tatton park had been voted ‘Cheshire’s Tea room of the year’, Green Flags, Green Heritage flags and heritage flags had been awarded across the Council’s parks.
Housing
• The Council had recommissioned the ‘No Second Night Out’ Service and increased the number of beds from 4 to 6 with new temporary accommodation provided in Crewe for the homeless.
• Policies and procedures had been updated and a restructure of Strategic Housing Services had been undertaken in order to ensure that there were sufficient resources to deal with the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
Highways and Infrastructure
The following highways schemes were moving forward:-
• Congleton Link Road, Poynton Relief Road, Middlewich Eastern Bypass and dualling of the A500.
• During the winter, the Highways Service had received 18,914 enquiries of which 17,481 had been resolved. In addition the council exceeded its target for the year to upgrade 9,000 street lighting columns with LEDs.
• The Council continued to work collaboratively with Government and Network Rail to develop a preferred concept for an enhanced Crewe HS2 Hub station.
• The Council had also completed its Supported Bus Service Review with a series of changes made to bus services from 1st April 2018.
Planning
• Over 6,000 applications, with 92% of major applications had been determined within target timescales and 90% of non-major planning applications determined within target timescales.
• Earlier in 2017/18 the Council’s Local Plan Strategy and Design Guide was adopted.
PEOPLE
Local Government Chronicle Awards 2018:-
• Emotionally Healthy Schools had been shortlisted in the ‘Children’s Services’ category.
• LSCB Neglect Campaign had been shortlisted in the ‘Campaign of the year’ category and the LSCB Neglect Strategy/Campaign had been launched in April 2017.
Early Years
• Entitlement to free early education for working parents of three and four year olds changed from September 2017 from 15 to 30 hours per week. Take up of the 30 hours in Cheshire East was one of the highest ... view the full minutes text for item 11