Agenda item

(Copy herewith)

Councillor Markham, as the Leader of the Council submitted her Cabinet Member report and elaborated thereon. She noted that a Service Level Agreements was being developed with organisations that would be funded this year through the Partnership Grant. The Leader noted the commitment of the Administration of rejuvenating the Market Square to encourage and attract people and business into the heart of the Town. It was also reported that the final draft of the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) was out for consultation and subject to the results of the consultation, it was anticipated that the order would be in place by November 2016.

In response to questions asked, the Leader confirmed that the sustainability of the voluntary sector was being looked into and it was hoped that a 4 year plan could be an avenue to be explored. She further stated that they were working with Market Traders, through the Markets Advisory Group, to explore ways to improve the Market Square. It was confirmed that the benches that had been installed by the fountain in the Market Square had been removed due to issue with anti-social behaviour.

Councillor Nunn submitted his Cabinet Member report and elaborated further

noting the achievements of the Town Centre Strategy Partnership which would focus on developing Town Centre with other stakeholders. He commented that he had recently met with the lead organiser of the Association of Far Cotton Enterprises (AFCE) who sought to bring together the commercial community of Far Cotton. He further noted that the Market Advisory Group had met twice since June 2016 with a lot of marketing and PR work being undertaken to advertise and promote the market.

In response to questions asked, Councillor Nunn commented that Members would be kept up to date with the developments of the AFCE.

Councillor Hadland submitted his Cabinet Member report and commented that a public information event was due to be help from the 18^th to 20^th July on the final submission from the developers on the Greyfriars site and encouraged Members to attend the event. He noted that the commercial kitchen at Delapre Abbey was due to open on the 27^th October 2016.

In response to questions asked, Councillor Hadland explained that there were no other plans to provide more public toilets as there was one at the Bus Station and that further provisions would have to be made through the commercial sector. On the matter of social housing, he confirmed that some providers struggled to ‘pepper pot’ the social housing in new developments as the management of properties could be difficult when spread about.

Councillor Eldred, submitted his Cabinet Member report and commented that the Councils Draft Statement of Accounts for 2015/16 had been signed off by the Chief Finance Officer and had been published in advance of the 30^th June 2016 deadline and had been passed to the external Auditors (KPMG); the draft Accounts would be presented to the Audit Committee in July 2016.

In response to questions asked, Councillor Eldred commented that Brexit was unlikely to have a direct impact on the finances of the Council as they received no funding from the European Union.  He noted that there had been an overspend on staff in the Revenue and Benefits department but that it was necessary to ensure that the workload was manageable. He also explained that the provision of £100,000 would help with the costs of the Tree Programme and tree maintenance.

Councillor Hibbert submitted his Cabinet Member report and elaborated further by noting the on the 13^th July 2016 the Leader had launched ‘Together we change lives’ – a multi-agency strategy for ending the need for people to sleep rough in Northampton. He noted that the Councillors private sector housing team had established a good practice alliance with the University of Northampton as part of the strategy to improve student housing.

In response to questions asked, Councillor Hibbert stated that Housing Associations were contributing to social housing and that efforts were being made to organise more building of homes with Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH). He also confirmed that there was a ‘HIMOs hotline’ and that Councillors would be emailed information relating to it.

Councillor Bottwood submitted his Cabinet Member report and elaborated thereon and stated that he was unhappy with the service that had been provided by the contractors with regards to the cemeteries, mentioned by the public speakers. He noted that it was not purely environmental factors, such as the weather, that had impacted on the service but that there had also been some mechanical failures of machines. Responding a another question asked, Councillor Bottwood noted that there was no right to light or TV reception but that it could be a policy that could be adopted and he would explore ways in which this could be done.