Agenda item

To consider the attached reports to Council from the Corporate, Place and People portfolios.

Members are reminded that:

·         The Lead Executive Member has up to three minutes to present the report, after which there will be a period of no longer than 25 minutes per report for questions/comments (a green card will give a one minute warning, red for the end of the debate).

·         There will be three minutes per question/ comment from any Councillor on anything within the portfolio and no limit to the number of times a Councillor can ask a question.

·         There will be a period of up to 25 minutes for responses from any Cabinet Member on their area of responsibility at the end of the questions/ comments for each report.

The Council received reports from the Executive Lead Members on work undertaken in the Corporate, Place and People portfolio areas. The reports covered corporate, strategic and policy issues, together with work being undertaken in transforming services and with partners.

Questions, comments and debate were invited from all councillors on each of the report areas.

Notes:

1.     Councillor Taylor, Deputy Leader of the Council, agreed to provide written responses to:

·       Councillor Clapham with details of any ongoing Council projects which had been affected by external budget pressures and were overspent against the original budget as a result of those rising costs;

·       Councillor Galley on whether there were any plans to submit a new funding bid to create a “People’s Promenade” integrated event space;

·       Councillor Galley regarding the Foxhall Village development project and what the alternative options were for the west site if completion of the scheme was delayed / unviable;

·       Councillor M Scott to provide assurance that all housing provided and managed by the Council was fit for purpose and free of damp and mould, and that enforcement was supporting private tenants to ensure their landlords were also providing damp and mould free homes.

2.     In relation to a question regarding Lancashire 2050 the Chief Executive agreed to respond to Councillor Galley directly as to what the delivery framework would be and what role elected members would have in the project.

3.     Councillor Hugo agreed to:

·       Provide Councillor R Scott with details of the Planned Preventative Maintenance regime for the drainage system and to respond to his suggestion that contractors involved in the installation of 5G masts were requested to organise for the drains to be cleared of rubble and debris following completion of the work;

·       Provide a written response to Councillor Stansfield as to when the weeds in Stanley Park Lake would be cleared in order that the whole lake was made useable again.

4.     In response to a question from Councillor T Williams, who referred to the large number of bollards on Edward Street and a lack of trees, Councillor Hugo agreed to ask Councillor Smith to provide a written response with an update on the Council’s “Quality Corridors” programme.

5.     In relation to comments from Councillor M Mitchell regarding the closure of the Art B&B it was agreed that Councillor L Williams, Leader of the Council, would provide a written response as to what had led to the failure of the business and whether there had been any strategic oversight from the Council which had provided funding for the project.

6.     In response to comments from Councillor Sloman regarding the demand on the Council from the number of “out of area” looked after children in care in Blackpool, Councillor Hobson agreed to confirm with the Director of Children’s Services as to whether other authorities had been written to to request that children from their areas were not placed in Blackpool as it was unable to meet their needs and to respond accordingly.

7.     Councillor Cox left the meeting following the presentation of the Corporate Portfolio report.

8.     Councillor Cross left the meeting during the presentation of the People Portfolio report.

9.     Members of the Council agreed a short adjournment for ten minutes following the presentation of the Executive Member reports.

10.  Councillor Kirkland left the meeting during the adjournment.