Issue - meetings

In accordance the Council Procedure Rules, opportunity is provided for Members of the Council to ask the Mayor or the Chair of a Committee any question about a matter which the Council, or the Committee has powers, duties or responsibilities.

At Council meeting, there will be a maximum question time period of 30 minutes. A period of two minutes will be allowed for each Councillor wishing to ask a question.  The Mayor will have the discretion to vary this requirement where they consider it appropriate.

Councillor L Anderson asked what the Council was doing to encourage companies to generate renewable energies in Cheshire East to help the Cheshire East residents move away from fossil fuels and become net zero.   Councillor N Mannion, Chair of Economy and Growth Committee, responded that all were aware of support schemes for energy bills for households. The government had indicated, but not provided details of support for small and medium enterprises. Councillor Mannion undertook to provide a written response.

Councillor S Brookfield on behalf of Councillor L Smith stated that Children’s Services, along with other essential services, had been operating in a context of significantly reduced funding from central government for over a decade whilst demand had continued to rise.  She stated that the government were failing to support children as early as needed which could lead to greater problems in the future.    She asked if it was about time that every single member of the Council called upon the richest in society to pay their tax which they could well afford and stop expecting everyone else to foot the bill.  In response Councillor K Flavell, Chair of Children and Families Committee stated the reduction year on year of funding for the council has caused tremendous pressures in children’s services and adults etc. and yet many of these services were statutory so there was no choice but to provide these services, - 70% of council tax was spent on services for adults and children.  The government had continually cut funding, and many Councils were facing financial difficulties because of the lack of funding in areas of high needs. so yes, I would agree we need to call for better funding for children’s services from the government.

Councillor S Gardiner stated he wanted the committee system to work and that if it was going to be effective, councillors’ needed to be properly prepared in advance of those meetings by reading the papers and attending the briefing meeting. However, agenda papers were not always received in time to do this. Cllr Gardiner asked if consideration could be given to this matter.    Councillor S Corcoran, Chair of Corporate Policy Committee, responded that, ideally,  agenda papers should arrive in time to allow member to read them before the briefings but due to issues with the postal service this was not always happening.  He reminded Members that agenda papers were always available online and, for climate change reasons, he encouraged members to access their agenda papers this way to save on paper and printing costs.

Councillor A Gage stated he have visited Delamere House - a multi-use Cheshire East office block in Crewe. When he had reached the floor of his destination, he found that 50 desks were occupied by roughly 4 individuals and on visiting the floor above had found this to be a similar experience. He asked what percentage of usual desk staff were currently not at their desks and what methods were being used to monitor and measure the performance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46