Agenda item

Councillor Nunn presented his report as Leader of the Council and highlighted the salient points. He noted the upcoming Remembrance Sunday and stressed the importance of the public staying at home and watching the virtual event instead. In response to questions, Councillor Nunn stated that the burden on the Environmental Services team was significant, but staff were coping under the circumstances and capacity levels were under constant review. Regarding the E-Scooter scheme, Councillor Nunn advised that progress had been made, they now had registration numbers so that the public could report them if they were found in unsuitable locations. Councillor Nunn stated that a more positive dialogue had been opened with NCC; the Council had made numerous responses, both formal and informal to consultations, including a “delivery robot” initiative.

Councillor Larratt presented his report at Deputy Leader and highlighted the salient points. In response to questions, Councillor Larrat advised that he would raise capacity issues regarding Democratic Services with the Monitoring Officer at their next meeting. The Community Governance Review Cross-Party Working Group would be considering asset transfers in due course. He advised that members of the public were entitled to postal votes and any applications for a postal vote would be duly processed; an all-postal vote election would require a change in legislation and there was no desire in central government for this to be done presently. Councillor Larratt assured Members that a member briefing on rail issues was being worked on. He also confirmed that Countywide Traveller Unit would continue on a county-wide basis following post-unitary.

Councillor Hallam presented his report as Cabinet Member for Environment and highlighted the salient points. He noted that his report had been written before the latest lockdown announcement and thanked officers in Environmental Health, Neighbourhood Wardens and Park Rangers for their continued hard work. In response to questions, Councillor Hallam advised that parks were maintained and updated on a rolling basis. Stats on missed bin collections and fly tipping were reported to Cabinet in regular monitoring reports. He confirmed that whilst there had been a number of isolated incidents, business compliance regarding Covid guidelines was generally very high. He advised that the Neighbourhood Wardens were effectively doing 2 jobs currently, however their hard work several months prior contributed to keeping Northampton from entering a local lockdown. Regarding fly tipping, Councillor Hallam stated that the evidence suggested a direct link between criminal gangs and organised fly tipping which was a difficult issue to resolve. He echoed comments made by Councillor Russell congratulating the local Park Ranger and community at Bradlaugh Fields on its Green Flag award.

Councillor Hibbert presented his report as Cabinet Member for Housing and Wellbeing and highlighted the salient points.

At this juncture of the meeting, the Mayor announced that the time limited for Cabinet Member reports had been reached and no further Cabinet Members would elaborate on their reports.