Announcements of the Leader of the Council.
Minutes:
Councillor Steve Flitter, Leader of the Council, made the following statement:
Chair – I thought someone was going to relay to members Cllr Burton's good wishes, unfortunately he is not well but he will update members when his health improves and his activities as Civic chair.
Due to some verbal reports, it appears that since taking office we have done very little, so I thought the theme of tonight's announcements would concentrate on what a very busy couple of months we have had.
We said we would take a fresh look at and place our mark on the local plan that was fit for the future, that paper was taken to C & E and accepted, we have also prepared papers for pollution and biodiversity. We are progressing with reports on public conveniences, gypsy and travellers, economic development and partnership working.
We have yet to submit draft papers on Housing and the corporate plan however meetings are planned.
We also wish to develop the Leaders Advisory Group and the Joint Consultative Group.
Partnership working- LGA conference was interesting with discussions on Waste, Leisure, planning and housing. I also brought back for discussion details of the Sutton Green Enterprise and South Tyneside pledge, both which are worthy of thought. I was also a speaker at a political fringe meeting and networking was the key word.
DCN – Baroness Taylor in the house of Lords tabled that districts should be full constituent members of the new mayoral arrangements. 162 for 157 against. DCN
urging government to retain when discussed by the commons after the recess.
East Midlands Council – The meetings main considerations revolved around regional infrastructure and investment, Asylum and refugee resettlement and HS2 but I had the opportunity to speak on the lack of and insufficient consistency of funding from government to rural local authorities suggesting a 3 or 4 year settlement.
County – We continue to play our part in the D2 Economic prosperity committee, Vision Derbyshire county deals and devolution, whether we agree with the devolution or not we have to ensure, if we can, the best solution for our residents.
More Locally – Paul Wilson and myself met with the Peak Parks CEO and chair and we hope to have a member joint briefing, attended the Peak Park think tank and the National Stone centre project group.
We have also been asked to meet with two hoteliers in the near future to discuss the difficulties the industry is facing and how this council can assist through our tourism policies.
Ashbourne reborn, we have had a meeting with DCC and our MP in relation to the chair of the project board. Unfortunately, his was not very constructive despite the Facebook video that followed as comments reflecting that this council was small and not able to meet the challenges of the project. In all I thought it was negative and unhelpful.
But this is a new beginning, and my door is always open for everyone.
We have also been dealing with the recent floods again not just Matlock but district wide and that takes officer time away from normal duties.
To conclude I would like to say a big thank-you to the excellent work of our parks staff in achieving the green flag awards in Matlock and Bakewell, unfortunately Ashbourne just missed out, but an appeal is under way.
Finally, one of our members of staff is about to leave us, this is James's last meeting, Since joining us James you have been like a breath of fresh air, welcomed by all, members and staff alike, your contributions have been unquestionable your professionalism has been unquestionable. We will all miss you however we cannot stand in the way of progression, wish you well in your new post, but we hoped you could stay a little longer.
Thank-you Chair.