Minutes:
Councillor Kathryn Fox (Community Development)
· Successful school holiday activities were delivered by the Council and its partners.
· A feasibility study on the mineral railway line was now complete and further information would follow.
· The Gedling show and Carlton play day were recently held and well attended.
Councillor David Ellis (Public Protection)
· Councillor Payne (on behalf of Councillor Ellis who had given apologies) praised the quick thinking of staff that spotted a fake taxi license plate which led to the perpetrator being jailed for 21 months.
· A new CCTV camera was, following the granting of planning permission, to be installed on Collyer Road, Calverton.
· There had been little recent change in the levels of reported crime figures for the area.
Councillor Michael Payne (Resources and Reputation)
· The Council was in the process of completing the sale of housing land at Teal Close which would bring in a capital receipt of in the region of £3 million. Katie Walters, the Council’s Estate’s Surveyor, was thanked for her work on this.
Councillor Jenny Hollingsworth (Growth and Regeneration)
· The Council’s development partner Keepmoat had recently held a series of consultation events for the development of the former Gedling Colliery site which were very well attended and informative.
· Affordable housing projects at the former Grove pub, Dunstan Street and the Blue note pub were all either under construction or progressing towards the construction phase very well.
· The refreshed local planning document would be presented to the Cabinet meeting in December.
· Works to refresh the appearance of Arnold marketplace would commence very soon.
· A planning department improvement plan was written and would be shared with members soon.
· 2 interns had recently been appointed to the Economic Development Team.
Councillor Peter Barnes (Environment)
· The Council’s Transport Fleet had recently been awarded an eco-star
· Developments to enhance Gedling Country Park were still on-going.
Councillor Henry Wheeler (Housing, Health and Well-being)
· Officers were praised for their quick action following a recent incident at the Richard Herod Centre.
· Online ticket sales were now live for the Bonnington Theatre.
· Floodlights at the Redhill Leisure Centre had been recently removed due to them being structurally unsafe. Replacement lights as well as work to resurface the outdoor playing surface would be in place soon.
· Funding of £120,000 had been secured to deliver “Girls make it happen”, a sports development programme for women, thanks to the work Jane Ansell in Community Relations for successfully bidding.
· The Council would be supporting the “Stoptober” campaign wherever it could.
· Further dementia friendly courses were being planned as well as the Alzheimer’s memory walk which would take place soon.
· The Clinical Commissioning Group was currently consulting on the cessation of gluten-free foods being made available on prescription which was causing some concern.
· A decision was due soon on the closure of Broom Hill House and some concern had been expressed about the closure of such a vital service.
Councillor John Clarke (Leader of the Council)
· The leader said that he was keen to learn of the experience of residents in the rural areas of the Borough and how services could be tailored for their needs.
· The Chief Executive updated Cabinet on the issue of refugees. The national picture, he said was unclear. Central government had announced that 20,000 Syrian refugees would be settled into the UK over the next five years and funding would be made available to local authorities for one year to help with this. Beyond this initial funding allocation the situation was unclear. It was also not known whether Gedling would be allocated any families to resettle.
· Local residents had made a number of offers to help refugees and a meeting of Nottinghamshire Council Leaders was planned to see if a co-ordinated response could be made to the wider issue of refugee resettlement.