Questions, if any, from Members who have given notice.
Minutes:
Question from Councillor David Chapman to Councillor Steve Flitter, Leader of the Council:
“Will this Council be requesting a portrait of King Charles III to hang in the Town Hall?”
Councillor Flitter provided the following response.
RESPONSE:
On 15th November, the Council received a letter from the Department for Levelling up Housing and Communities offering a free, framed portrait of his Majesty the King to celebrate the new reign. The Council placed an order on 24th November with delivery expected before April.
Question from Councillor Susan Hobson to Councillor Steve Flitter, Leader of the Council:
“Why is the full membership of Derbyshire Dales District Council being denied the opportunity to discuss the report into the independent investigation of the complaint that was sent to all councillors, and why is this information only to be discussed at committee level by 9 councillors ?”
Councillor Flitter provided the following response.
RESPONSE:
Thank you for your question.
Members agreed to the terms of reference for the Governance and Resources Committee at Council in July 2023 further to the hard work undertaken by the Constitution Working Group. In it the terms of reference clearly state that the business of the Committee is to look at ‘issues identified of significant strategic importance’. It also clearly states the functions of Council business that the Committee has responsibility for are complaints, HR and corporate governance. It is therefore right and proper that this matter is looked at by the Governance and Resources Committee.
Elected Members are free to attend any Committee meetings and I am confident that Cllr Wilton as Chair would welcome that attendance.
None of the ten allegations made were fully upheld. Four were partially upheld and that is essential to recognise. This Council must and will learn from this complaint and I have full faith in the Governance and Resources Committee to lead on that improvement.
Question from Councillor Dermot Murphy to Councillor Steve Flitter, Leader of the Council:
“In recent months there have been major concerns about drainage and flooding issues relating to planning applications presented to the planning committee for consideration. Matlock and Ashbourne applications have come in for intensive scrutiny as two areas that suffer from ever increasing flooding events. Severn Trent Water have responded to applications stating they have capacity to handle ever greater amounts of drainage and sewage demand. Ward Councillors have brought to the attention of the members of planning committee the reality of the Severn Trent Water systems failing.
The evidence is undeniable. The cumulative effect of all the new developments in recent years makes members wonder where is all the new infrastructure to cope with the ever increasing demand. I would like to ask Councillor Flitter in his role as DDDC leader to request STW attend a meeting with all councillors to explain how they process requests for further demands on their systems. The evidence in recent years makes one really question their responses to our planners.
I am sure Councillor Flitter will agree flooding is a soul destroying experience for our residents and there is very little as a local authority we can do. Further concerns surrounds the sight of human waste and other detritus which has been proved to make local school children ill in one example. As Councillors we have a duty of care for our residents and with a heavy heart we often have to approve applications that we really have little confidence in?”
Councillor Flitter provided the following response.
RESPONSE:
Thank you for your question.
Members may know that our Scrutiny Committee has already set out its intention to look in detail at this very issue. I understand that the Scrutiny Committee has agreed to establish a politically equal Task Group to move this work forward and correspondence to Group Leaders has been made to establish the Task Group.
As part of that work, I am more than happy to support colleagues on that Task Group by writing to Severn Trent requesting that they attend a meeting to give evidence. I will take the advice of my Task Group colleagues as to whether such a meeting would be best served by the attendance of all Members or whether it should form part of the planned work of the Committee. As Councillor Murphy has a keen interest in this issue I would encourage him to have a close interest in or take part in this enquiry, directly.