Agenda item

Councillor Markham, as the Leader of the Council submitted her Cabinet Member report and elaborated thereon. She welcomed the new Chairman of Northampton Town Football Club (NTFC), Mr Kelvin Thomas, and congratulated the football club on their current position at the top of League Two. On the 11^th December 2015 the Memorandum of Understanding was accepted and the administration petition was withdrawn.Councillor Markham noted that the Police, External Auditors and the Audit Committee, supported by Internal Auditors, were going to examine where the funds had gone and what had happened. She confirmed that the budget was being compiled and would be available later in the week and commented that she was delighted to see that St Giles Street had won the city category of the Great British High Street competition. She further reported that she had attended the first AGM of NPH and noted that it would be a year since they had been established on the 5^th January..

In response to questions asked, Councillor Markham explained she would gather information from NPH about the movement of staff and report back. She further answered that there would be a full and robust investigation into the money loaned to NTFC. In response to another question it was explained that there was a number of private hire vehicle operators who had not renewed their operator licenses but that there were various reasons for this and not all of those who had not renewed were uninsured as they may not have been actively working as taxi drivers and continued to thank the Licensing department for their work.

Councillor Hallam submitted his Cabinet Member report and noted that the Chancellor had set out the Government’s spending plans which would see a continued reduction in public sector spending. He reported that the draft Budget for 2016/17 and the Medium Term Financial Plan 2016-21 for both the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account would be presented to Cabinet on the 16^th December 2015 and thanked officers for their hard work. 

In response to questions asked, Councillor Hallam commented that there were no plans to look at referring the decision to enter into a contract with LGSS, as the contract had so far reduced spending by £4 million with another £2 million anticipated to be saved in the next two years.

Councillor King submitted her Cabinet Member report and elaborated thereon. It was noted that there had been a vast amount of work undertaken by the Forums and they included a week of Action on Hate Crime supported by an event being held on the All Saints Piazza. It was further noted that an event had been held in the Guildhall to commemorate 50 years of the Race Relations Act.

In response to questions asked, Councillor King confirmed that whilst there was no longer a Hate Crime Unit, there was still a Hate Crime officer who was responsible for the recording of Hate Crime incidents. In response to a question asked about uninsured private hire vehicles carrying passengers, she explained that the authority were responsible for sending out renewal letters to operators, but that it was hoped that this could be expanded to a 5 year programme and enquiries were being made into accessing a new IT system which would generate automatic reminders. Responding to further questions, Councillor King explained that there had been an increase in the number of recorded instances of violence against the person as people were reporting more and some crimes could be recorded, such as those carried out through social media. She also mentioned that she worked closely with Women’s Aid and worked closely alongside them.

Councillor Hadland submitted his Cabinet Member report and elaborated thereon. He stated that the St Giles Street award achievement was very much welcomed and noted that there was a report on the agenda to adopt the Duston Neighbourhood Plan.

In response to questions asked, it was explained that car parks were inspected daily and noted that the new pay on foot parking machines were hugely successful; the cost of which had been provided through the capital programme. Responding to questions relating to the recent Ombudsman report in relation to Planning, he commented that there was no criticism of the decision that had been made, but of the processes. He further commented that the Greyfriars scheme had gone through a vast array of consultation exercises and that there had been several expressions of interest.

Councillor Eldred submitted his Cabinet Member report and explained that there had been a total of 134 grant payments made to the Councillor Community fund since April 2015. He urged Councillors to consider applying for grant payments as there was still some money left over for small grant applications. He further noted that the Fireworks display on the Racecourse had attracted in the region of 18,000 visitors. Councillor Eldred proceeded to congratulate the Customer Services team who had been awarded the Customer Excellence Accreditation and a ‘Compliance +’ rating, the highest score that can be received.

In response to questions asked, Councillor Eldred explained that members were not formally invited to floor walks with the Customer Services team, but offered to arrange for any member to pay a visit at an allotted time. Responding to questions with regards to the expansion of the Museum, Councillor Eldred stated that they were currently waiting for the contractors to get back to them before they progressed. He also stated that with regards to Blackymoor Community Centre, it was anticipated that once the freehold had been signed, they would be able to transfer the land.

At this point, the allocated time had been met.