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 an estimate he had given at the previous meeting of the numbers of premature deaths resulting from poor air quality in Cheshire East; a figure which at the time had been questioned but which he stood by. He asked if the Leader would now either accept his estimate or provide one of her own. The Leader undertook to provide a written response.

Councillor D Flude referred to HS2 and asked who sat on the Crewe Joint Board and when it met. She also asked if the meetings of the Local Transport Board could be recorded as with normal Council meetings. The Leader responded that the Local Transport Board was a subsidiary of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership; she had no issue with raising the matter of recorded meetings but indicated that the meetings were well attended by members of the public. At the Leader’s invitation, the Executive Director Place commented that the Joint Sponsor Board for Crewe was chaired by a senior director of Network Rail and the Council was represented on the Board by the Executive Director Place. Transport for the North were also represented on the Board. The focus of the Board was on ensuring a joined up approach to track layout and station design.

Councillor B Walmsley commented that the main traffic congestion problems in Middlewich were caused by traffic bound for Cheshire West. She therefore asked that the Council support a Middlewich southern bypass to address the problem. At the Chairman’s invitation, Mr C Hindle of the Council’s Highways Team responded that at the last meeting of the Local Transport Board of the LEP, it was recommended that a Middlewich southern bypass be entered as a concept for consideration into the work programme for this year.

Councillor M Deakin referred to the re-application for 68 Close Lane, Alsager, which was an application for 16 homes. When the appeal came to be re-assessed, this resulted in no claim for primary education services in the area, the Council referencing the sufficiency of S106 provisions already secured. He asked if this would have an impact on educational provisions for future planning applications in the Alsager area such as the reserved White Moss application. The Portfolio Holder for Housing, Planning and Economic Regeneration undertook to provide a written answer.