1) Question from Cllr Lorraine Brown to the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth and Economy:
Funding was allocated and a location identified for new business units in Calverton but nothing further has happened. Could the Portfolio Holder provide an update on when these new business units will be built and opened in Calverton?
2) Question from Cllr Mike Adams to the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services (Operations):
What is the annual cost to the Borough and per resident for clearing up fly-tipping?
3) Question from Cllr Lorraine Brown to the Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Natural Habitat:
The Football Foundation has identified Calverton Top Club as an ideal location for a 3G pitch which will cater for several football teams in and around the village. Calverton Parish Council has allocated £50,000 towards the cost. Will GBC allocate Officer time to work alongside the Parish Council, Cllr Walker, Cllr Elliott, and me to secure additional funding to help deliver this much needed pitch?
4) Question from Cllr Helen Greensmith to the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth and Economy:
Each year, this Council spends over £200,000 of taxpayers’ money on B&B temporary accommodation with the average stay over four months. 85 affordable rent properties are expected at the Rolleston Drive development in Arnold. What impact, if any, will that site being ‘on hold’, while the manufacturer of the factory-built homes is sold, have on this Council’s housing waiting list and what financial implications will that pose?
Minutes:
A question was asked of the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth and Economy from Councillor Brown:
“Funding was allocated and a location identified for new business units in Calverton but nothing further has happened. Could the Portfolio Holder provide an update on when these new business units will be built and opened in Calverton?”
Response from Councillor Hollingsworth:
“In 2019 the Council identified the opportunity to extend the number of business units at the Hill Crest site. A planning approval was secured in 2020 to build 4 additional units and funding applications were submitted both to the ERDF and D2N2 programmes in 2019/20 and 2021 respectively. However, both programmes were oversubscribed and the Council was unsuccessful. The business case viability has always and continues to be dependent upon grant funding with funders requiring a match contribution from the Council.
In June 2023 D2N2 released the Economic Growth Fund Capital Programme and the Council submitted an application to this fund on the 30th June 2023. The project costs are anticipated to be £1.388m and an application of £0.694m has been submitted to D2N2. The Council’s contribution is anticipated to be funded from a combination of both borrowing (£0.534m) and reserves (£0.16m), subject to Council approvals. It is to be proposed that the capital programme as part of the Q1 monitoring be adjusted and Hillcrest is to be reinstated as a project. If the grant application is successful a report will be submitted to Cabinet in August and to Council in September seeking approval to proceed with the scheme. A requirement of the grant is that works need to commence prior to the 31 March 2024. Preparations are also in place to resubmit a planning application in view of the expiry of the permission.
We are aware that there is a high demand for industrial units for start-ups and SMEs which is reflected in the low voids for these units across the Council’s business/industrial parks. If the Council is successful then subject to approvals building works will commence in early 2024 with completion late summer and occupation in the Autumn 2024.”
A question was asked of the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services (Operations) from Councillor Adams
“What is the annual cost to the Borough and per resident for clearing up fly-tipping?”
Response from Councillor Paling:
“The total clean-up costs for Gedling Borough Council was £189,200 during 2022/23 which makes the cost to each resident roughly £1.61 annually.
The costs also depends on the job as each brings specific issues with them. Jobs containing asbestos for example can cost anywhere between £300 and £500 per occasion as they require a specialist contactor to attend to remove it.
The larger fly tips can come out at approx. £256.00 per occasion if we have to carry out resulting investigations into evidence of ownership and clean them up. The smaller ones, which usually are around 2/3 black bags being left can cost as little as £58.00. Some clean-ups can be done in half an hour, others take 3-4hrs.
Labour costs are billed to the general overall’ staff labour’ budget codes in ‘agresso’, so it would be difficult for finance to arrive at a figure without someone to go through all the Wardens and fly tip removal teams timesheets to collate the data.
In terms of fly tipping customer complaints during the financial year, the figures are below: please note these may include duplicate reports of the same fly tip:
18-19 – 1745
19-20 – 1812
20-21 – 2319
21-22 - 1379
22-23 - 1220
To confirm, we don’t collect all of those fly tips as some fly tips reported to the Council are on private land and therefore it is the landowner’s responsibility to remove them. The number of fly tips that the Council has removed is below:
18-19 – 1191
19-20 – 1369
20-21 – 1894
21-22 - 1379
22-23 – 1220”
A question was asked of the Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Natural Habitat from Councillor Brown:
“The Football Foundation has identified Calverton Top Club as an ideal location for a 3G pitch which will cater for several football teams in and around the village. Calverton Parish Council has allocated £50,000 towards the cost. Will GBC allocate officer time to work alongside the Parish Council, Cllr Walker, Cllr Elliott and me to secure additional funding to help deliver this much needed facility?”
Response from Councillor Wheeler:
“The Health Development Officer in the Communities Team will be available to offer advice to the Clubs involved and signpost to any relevant funding options. That officer has already been in open dialogue with Calverton Miners Welfare FC about additional funding options. Finding additional funding for football facilities, beyond Football Foundation, unless they are part of a wider multi-sport approach remains incredibly challenging.
As part of its Strategic Review of Communities Facilities, the Council is currently reviewing the Playing Pitch Strategy and this will determine future priorities for investment in all outdoor sport provision based on a comprehensive assessment of the quality, quantity and demand for sport locally. Future investment will rely heavily on securing external funding. The local clubs based at Calverton Miners Welfare have been consulted as part of that process and we are now working with our partners Sport England, Nottinghamshire FA and the Football Foundation to finalise the priorities within the Strategy.”
A question was asked of the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth and Economy from Councillor Greensmith:
“Each year, this Council spends over £200,000 of taxpayers’ money on B&B temporary accommodation with the average stay over four months. 85 affordable rent properties are expected at the Rolleston Drive development in Arnold. What impact, if any, will that site being ‘on hold’, while the manufacturer of the factory-built homes is sold, have on this Council’s housing waiting list and what financial implications will that pose?”
Response from Councillor Hollingsworth:
“The news that Ilke Homes went into administration was a shock to the council. The collapse was not foreseen by the council and came less than 2 weeks before the first properties were due to be occupied. It will obviously have a negative effect on an already stretched housing waiting list as those people who has been allocated properties will now have to be housed elsewhere.
The Rolleston Drive development was due to provide 85 affordable homes - these properties would have been allocated to 85 households from Council Homesearch Housing Register.
There are currently 604 live applications on the Homesearch system. 80 off these are in the highest priority Band 1, with 266 in Band 2 and 258 in Band 3.
The allocation of 85 properties would have seen the current number of households on the Homesearch waiting list reduce by 14%. Clearly this is not a true reflection as new applications are received daily and the full allocation of properties was not do to be concluded until January 2024.
Homeless applications rose from 567 in 2018/19 to 874 in 2022/23 with figures set to rise. As at the 10th July 2023, the Housing Option section has already received 227 new applications for financial year 2023/24.
The council would like to recognise and acknowledge staff who work tirelessly with social landlords and mortgage providers to present people becoming homeless wherever they can.”