Good evening evening apologies for my beautiful voice again I think too much Carling I’ve been attending too much of a Carl service welcome to this our pre- Christmas meeting of the council may I remind everyone in the chamber that we are live streaming this meeting on the council’s YouTube
Channel as a reminder for us all please press your microphone button when asked to speak and press it again when you have finished speaking in order that the cameras can focus on you given the length of the agenda I imagine it may take us sometimes to get through tonight’s business and hopefully
My voice will with that in mind I wanted to make you aware before we get going that I may make the call to adjourn the meeting in order for us to have a comfort break at an appropriate point in the proceedings and for those of you beautiful visitors we have lots of
Visitors this evening we are or are in the public Gallery firstly may I thank you very much for joining us tonight thank you so much it is important for me to inform you that these meetings are filmed by our live stream video and you may appear on the recording with that in
Mind if you choose to remain in the public Gallery which I hope you will and or if you speak during the meeting you are consenting to being recorded and acknowledge that the recording will be placed on the council public YouTube channel is that okay everyone chief executive do we have any
Apologies for absence or Declarations of interest thank you Madame mayor we have apologies for absence from councilors Lloyd Brisco uh Graham Lawrence Joan Lloyd and John Duncan thank you Madame mayor thank you chief executive and before I start I will give a shout out to those who are watching the YouTube um
Live streaming especially to Mr and Mrs Glover I have met them yesterday um and Mr Glover also attended the age concern uh Carl service so hello Mr and Mrs Clover and are there any Declarations of interest from the members so we have to go to item two the minutes
Of the council meeting on 18th of October 2023 the minutes of the council meeting held on 18th of October have been circulated and may be filed from page seven of the agenda can we all agree them as a correct record okay thank you item three the mayor Communications so just bear with me
Because last time I know I had a short communication but it has been a busy month for me so it has been a fantastic 73 mayoral engagement since the last time I talked to you all here in our council meeting last October about the mayor events and activities so all
Together from 150 events we have now now more than 220 mayoral engagements on my six months it’s amazing right and seven months in few days as your Stephen H mayor it may sound too much to some but I would say it’s a great honor and a great privilege to be invited to those
More than 220 engagements as the first citizen of our beloved Steven H toown I will not be able to do it of course without the very efficient team of the mayor’s office Tracy and Sheila with the support of Chloe and Democratic Services Lisa Zoe Ian and
Everyone thank you to you all I really hope and pray that Tracy will still be able to cope with me for another six months it’s Tracy here Tracy is there she’s smiling so I’m sure she would still be okay I am also grateful to you Jim our deputy
Mayor for your support and attending the engagement that I can’t attend and for being there when John my concert was not available or sometimes not able to cope with my many engagements and to you all my fellow counselors who are always there uh with your support and
Encouragement thank you all so much to you all 39 counil s in this point I probably shout out to the leader was always there but I have to mention all the executives as well so thank you everyone all your work and dedications for our town are truly noted and in
Every chance I could get at the right time and platform I always made sure that our community are aware of the public service that you all do I’ve been here and I know it’s not easy so I’m really grateful that all of you 39 councilors are here dedicated to the
Public service for our town and to all our officers and staff who are working behind the scenes most of the time I truly appreciate all your support to the many groups communities individuals and organizations who extended the invitations to the mayor thank you you are all inspiring me and the whole
Community it’s truly inspirational to meet the winners and the nominees of this year’s Steven H Pride Awards we also have invited many visitors to The Parlor and the engelheim loue I have attended so many Christmas Carol service and I can’t help it I’ve been singing so that’s probably this voice and being a
Part of the group singing carols at some care homes meeting the front line stuff while cleaning our streets or cutting trees are one of those things that I love to do too when I have my free time and I always made sure I shout them out and always posted in our social media
Platform and yes of course meeting the King King Charles in Steven AG Coptic church that was an expected and a great honor to be invited together with our chief executive Matt I didn’t know he was invited until 3 days before the event because Tracy and I were given the strict instructions to
Keep it private for security reasons even my husband and my son and my daughter I really want to tell them because I was excited but unfortunately I was not allowed to do it I was particularly impressed when King Charles spoke to me about my NHS work and even
Laughed with with my reply which I will not go in details here but you can see the video in the Royal Family Channel we have achieved this one I am very proud to announce and most of you probably are aware that we have achieved the recognition of stepen AG in becoming
A dementia friendly Community last month with thanks to the hard work of Lorna warmal our SBC Le Leisure and health officer with her team and Julie chch House of the Alzheimer Society with her team together with our many organizations and individuals who have been working passionately to receive this
Recognition we are also pleased and proud to receive this recognition and personally I hope that I will be able to encourage the other Mayors in hard for che as well so we’re not only focusing in Sten age but also in our County Hartford Shield our plans
For the next 6 months are to continue to promote all dementia activities and support the available resources in Steven age we will be working with Julie and the Alzheimer’s Society to put on dementia friends training for our Frontline staff and to you all council members so I hope I will have your
Support again and our partner organizations we will also be looking to create a tool kits for local businesses and taxi companies within Steven AG to continue to make stevenage dementia friendly we would like to create a dementia Hub which can support residents to find out what services are available
For people living with dementia their families and carers working in partnership with Wanita from Everyone Active we aim to host this within the healthy h at the leure center so there are many more to come so I’m looking forward for the next 6 months so before I end a big shout out
To Steven H postbox neers for supporting the Steven H mayor Charities and also for those who have given uh their donations individually and some organizations congratulations also to our indoor market team for achieving the 50th year I was told that there was the BBC News who actually came today to um
Uh interview them and that’s all for me thank you very much and I’m looking forward for the next six months as your stepen H mayor I would now like to invite the youth mayor and Deputy Mayor to give us the deputy youth mayor to give us a brief update on their activities since
Taking up their roles in May 2020 um 2023 over to you Ella and Ana good evening all I hope you’re well as your youth mayor and Deputy youth mayor of stevenage we would like to share our journey so far on our Mar maral year for 2023 and 2024 our journey began with an
Introduction to our roles meeting various staff members including the Regeneration team who introduced us to remarkable stevenage better initiative leaving us thoroughly impressed by the town’s past achiev ments and future objectives the summer conven the summer convened with stevenage day an event brimming with inter interactions engaging with residents speaking with
Charitable organizations enjoying captivating performances and connecting with the vibrant vibrant Leisure and events team June took me to Orton for the annual Town twinning event an enriching experience where we not only explored beautiful locals but also engaged in a roundt discussion warmly welcomed by by accommodating dignitaries the latter part of the year
Has been a whirlwind of activity among our engagements we took part in significant events including heading the inaugural stevenage Youth Festival with an opening speech a platform to launch this the festivities and engaging with Incredible partners and supporting the town’s youth attending the pride Awards celebrating diversity through captivating acts and proudly presenting
The youth The Young Person’s award alongside councilor sanal participating in this year’s remembrance Sunday an honor that included inspecting the troops alongside the mayor s an immensely touching experience etched in our memories recently we witnessed the spectacle of the Town Center Christmas light switch on featuring remarkable performances from Nala the station cat
And Junior Andre hosting our annual Christmas card design competition off offering a student from one of the Town School schools the opportunity to craft our Christmas card fostering creativity and Community involvement our journey this year has been full of connections engagements and meaningful experiences amplifying our dedication to the
Community and its ongoing development thank you thank you Ella and Ana and for item four the community presentation which we don’t have this evening item five the petitions and deputations we have received a petition containing over 1,000 signatories in respect of the installation of lighting within Fairland Valley partk please
Could I ask the lead petitioner Jennifer hon to present the petition Jennifer please could you come to the lect turn and you have five minutes good evening my name is Jennifer and I live in Chels and you may remember that at the last meeting I already asked the council to install wildli friendly
Lighting in Fairland valy Park after that meeting I realized that Steven nbor Council wouldn’t Grant the investment of wildlife friendly liting for just one resident this petition proves that there’s a wide Community need to dates the petition has received over 1,300 signatures but first let me remind everyone of why Fairland belly Park
Needs lighting you might remember this picture from last time so the lanes are pitch dark you can’t see the path and you can’t see your surroundings someone might be coming toward watchs you or they might not you won’t know until they pass you or you need to pass them you
Also can’t see the edge of the path so you may slip trip or slide and that’s really unsafe for a high use such shared path you have no choice but to trust your surroundings without being able to see it and for many people this is not a reasonable ask and they would rather
Avoid the park so when I started this I did so from my personal perspective of wanting to feel safe while exercising but I now know that Fairland Valley Park which is the most valued Green Space in Steven is so much more than a place to be physically active
To explain why I will share what I learned from other people who supported this petition an older man who goes to Fen valelly Park nearly every day for his regular exercise routine said that he would not go after dark because he can’t see the path well and he would feel
Particularly nervous around the bridges in the park I met a woman with her two daughters who were out for a walk in the park around dusk they shared that they had just been saying to themselves they should only go for a short round because it’s darker than expected I met a man in
The park who Cycles the full length north to south every day to go to work in Networth and this is the case for many people who work in and around stevenage because in the Roaring mag retail Park I spoke to a number of businesses whose staff use Fairland FY
Park specifically the lane along the showr to go to and from work but it goes further the studio space next to Costello’s Cafe in the park is used for dance classes I spoke to the parents who were waiting for their children and their teacher I learned that parents do not feel
Comfortable walking through the park or do not want their children to do so to get to or from classes many of these families actually live near the park but rather than walk or cycle they take the car and this is a common occurrence people start using their car for short
Journeys because they don’t feel comfortable or they make detours to get home or to work teachers working at the schools bordering the park have actually told me so the this petition is supported not just by individuals but also by local community organizations notably by cycling UK Steven Fairland Valley
Spartans running club and Steven strider’s running club they also don’t use Fairland Valley Park this time of year for Spartans the session that in summer months starts at fairlands moves to the main cycle ways in autumn and winter they told me that if lighting was marketly improved they would certainly
Consider using the park more often in the evenings and it would make their rul easier to connect likewise Steven sters running club have summer and winter rules because of the lack of lighting I also have two statements that I would like to read from a local business and from cycling UK stevenage
So I’ll move away from my introduction very shortly um the first statement is from Daniel Nyland he’s the assistant Community manager at co- space in the Town Center unfortunately he couldn’t be here tonight but he’s given me a statement to share with you he says as a member of the local community and
Someone who commutes through Fairland Valley Park several times a week for work I knew that this initiative would be important to me personally in the daytime I feel secure and at ease while walking through the park however especially during the winter when visibility is po I must consider whether
It is wise to take the risk of walking through the park or take a longer route home that would add an additional 30 minutes to my commute while I appreciate the efforts made by the council to keep the park looking great more needs to be done to improve the lighting and
Encourage more people to use the park regardless of the time of day this is a common concern shared by many members at co- space where I co-manage a building with over 300 people some individuals are impact is even more significantly as they alter their work schedules to leave early in
Order to walk home while they’re still daylight increasing accessibility will not only benefit the community but also help preserve the natural habitat for wildlife in the park it is my hope that this initiatives receiv receives full support and that appropriate action will be taken that was the statement from
Daniel from co- space the statement from cycling UK stevenage in support of brighter path safer steps petition from a cycling point of view the north south routs through Farland valy Park form a crucial spine connecting our cycle Network we have 45 km of segregated cycleways but most run from east to west
Indeed between six Hills ways and Fairland way the route through the park is the only north south route to the east of the Town Center more than 20 years ago the CTC Now cycling UK campaigned for cycling to be allowed on the Millennium pathway through the show ground it is now a
Well-used route for leisure utility and commuting when the park is dark it is difficult to cycle safely even with good cycle lights it is very hard to discern the path surface is edges and other users alternative routes use busy roads such as Chels way and valleyway way with
Hazards such as part cars chicanes and ride turns all these discourage people from choosing to cycle and in turn leave more cars on our roads elsewhere in the town routs through Shel shury Park hamson Park Simon green and alongside Rubik Woodlands are all lit but fairlands is not if we are serious about
Encouraging people to walk or cycle for short Journeys the route through Fairland Valley Park needs to be lit so that our cycleway network has The connectivity to enable it isues throughout the year this was the statement from cycling UK St now finally um let’s turn to the motion that’s
Waiting for the council and the debate surrounding this petition and I trust that you’ll have read the councilor briefing so I won’t repeat that um but what I want to say is that stevenor Council Prides itself on Resident Le design and you made it a key pillar of
Your corporate plan this petition is exactly that increased usage of fairin FY Park will help the council achieve a number of priorities including a modal shift to active travel which helps with achieving climate change targets and improves health and wellbeing of our communities it would also help address
Some of the current parking issues at school with more children being encouraged to walk it’s worth keeping in mind that from the start this petition has requested Steven war council to install Lighting in a wildlife conscious way we are not asking you to light up the entire park with street lights working
Within the colleges as part of the installation is expected would follow advice to minimize disruption to Wildlife thank you Jennifer do have 30 seconds to finish thank you thank you advancements in lighting solutions should make this possible in considering lighting options I must stress that reflect the strips
Would not be enough to meet the request of the petition and I expect the council to agree and kindly request that as part of the motion for consideration a business plan for the installation of an appropriate lighting solution for Fen belly Park should be created it thank
You thank you Jennifer sorry we extended for two minutes before we debate this matter I would like to refer you to the motion submitted by councelor Simon spell and seconded by councelor Lorraine Rosati in response to the petition which was published on the supplementary agenda for the meeting standing orders allow for a
15minute debate upon petitions but in view of the fact that the motion has been submitted I am prepared to exercise some flexibility regarding the debating time for this motion councelor spell to move the motion please uh thank you very much uh Madame mayor and can I first of all
Thank Jennifer very much she and her petition team who caught me on the way to watching The Mighty bar uh and as I duly noted the petition but I would have had the declare conf itive interest if I’d signed it but I would recognize that you did good
Business on that Saturday um thank you Madame AED I get six minutes but I don’t want to use six minutes um I have some quite strong positions on this and I think I need to set them to one side but I will let you know what they are first
Off I’m probably the resident counselor who actually the only one who actually lives on the park my position at 45 Shackled and spring is right on Shackled and spring wood I know that Tom Ren lives quite close and Janette Thomas lives quite close but I think you’re not
Actually on the park that’s my first position secondly I am a member of cycl UK and I am pretty much in support of everything cycl UK is trying to do to bring cycl to everybody uh we’re all human beings and some of us cycle rather than we’re all cyclist so we can be
Stereotyped out of existence third thing I’m a former Runner uh I’ve only ever belonged to Steven shanor Hearts Athletics Club but I think I’ve been a longstanding support particularly in your role Madame mayor uh and supporting Striders and ferin Valley Spartans who do a brilliant job getting numbers and
Getting people actively involved using our wonderful park at last point and this might go slightly against but I will share it with you uh I spent 10 years as District commissioner for Stevens District Scouts and I’m personally responsible for the institution of the canyon Adventure Center for scouting we and Scouts when
We do night hikes don’t go around looking for you too much lighting people like former mayor Margaret notley who would have attended the odd night hyp we know we try to use our night vision so there is a bit of me that is a country dweller of Village origin in Devon that
Prefers Dark Skies to Urban lit Skies I’ll just put that to you so I I just want to go through the barebones of the motion uh and then hopefully throw it out for debate and I hope this debate is open uh and committed and in the spirit
Of this uh very successful petition for what it’s worth we think certainly since the Modern Age of 1999 onwards in the cabinet system this is by far the most popular petition we’ve ever received so it’s worth recognizing that I also would like to open by saying it’s timely
Because those of you who followed my advice to look at the website we see we have now started our strategic review of our large green spaces in stevenage in fact many of you I served with on scrutiny environment economy we consistently raised issues about our open spaces and at last we’re beginning
That piece of work so it is timely the motion really is in four PE parts and when I sum up there will be one or two uh bits as a portfolio I have a fair bit of discretion about tweaking but the motion I think stands quite well first
Part says that we ought to take the feedback we’re getting from all these residents on board as part of the public consultation of the Green Space strategy and I respect that Jen and her group will want to do uh their own work in parallel with that review not just as
Part not just as part of the review secondly the second part of the motion asks to identify budget costings for the installation of reflective edine in markers well I think that my take on that would be that’s a bit too restrictive I think we will need to look
At costings for what Jen and a petitioners call is wildlife friendly lighting now I say that without prejudice but I think the debate will understand that just to go for small lwh hanging fruit cost cutting measures is not going to help a review of the biggest and most popular Park in
Stevenage the third part of the motion seeks to explore the views of the police and the hearts of middle sex Wildlife trust uh regarding Community safety ecology and Wildlife considerations I would obviously add and any other agencies partners and groups were aware of for example we have friends of the
Earth uh in Peter with us tonight and I would welcome all the feedback we will get right across the board on all aspects of this very interesting motion um the fourth bit is subject to the conclusions of the consultation strategic review which is due to finish according to the website
Uh around the summer of next year um and I think that would be timely because as I shared with Jen separately that’s the time when we begin to do our revenue and capital budget work so the the to that timing so that we as members select committee and scrutiny and other
Members can have their full say about how this weighs up with all the other priorities we need to consider going forwards and then I think the last bit and this is uh uh an important one but actually not as lucrative as I hoped it might be Phil looking over at you as
Supremo of Highways and I might withdraw my my Dy about you being pothole F if you can come up with some readies but my last point is we would look for external funding opportunities I have pointed a petitioners towards their County counselors because you do have quite generous locality Bots and my
My last comment on opening far more generous than we at Council have and uh I will one day vow that we get them back to the level they deserve to be for the power Council and on that Madame mayor I move the motion thank you very much thank you councelor spell you
Actually have a remaining 30 seconds so no penalty you know the 40 pounds so from councilor Lorraine Rosati to second the motion please thank you Madame me um stevenage was designed with a a great deal of emphasis on Green Space and that’s we all know that’s essential to
Maintaining uh a thriving community and a healthy one and Simon mentioned the development of a parks and Open Spaces strategy and a Tre and Woodland strategy and they’ll underscore the council’s and the community’s commitment to ensuring that we have well-used well-loved and well cared for spaces that can be enjoyed by
Everyone with opportunities for health and well-being Wildlife culture and learning and it’s the wildlife in Fairland Valley Park that I’d like to focus on tonight the petition asked the council to install eco-friendly Wildlife conscious lighting and I’m pleased that there’s a recognition of the wildlife that inhabits the park residents who
Have sign the petition and uh on social media are rightly concerned about the animals and plants that inhabit the park and the impact of lighting um on natural habitats and behaviors and if there’s more lighting there’s there will be more people uh they realized that lighting
Can have an adverse effect uh impact on Wild life including acting as a lure to migrating birds uh and they may become disorientated as a result attracting high levels of insects resulting in Predators taking advantage of the gathered prey uh that sounds creepy uh drives away nocturnal pollinators
Reducing the ability of plants to bear fruit and it increases the proportion of microorganisms in freshwater sediments that are able to photosyn the size under low light levels and the lakes have already suffered from that over the years uh disruption of circadian rhythms altering the timing of sleeping foraging mating and
Migration um so there’s potentially quite a significant impact on the Flora and FAA in the park but lighting can be carefully designed to minimize intrusion uh and light pollution can be reduced through use of motion sensors and timers and LED lighting soft lighting um and use of available
Technology um and that will support the overall well-being of the wildlife proper Wildlife oh sorry proper lighting leads to happier and healthier inhabitants all around um that’s why it’s essential that we work with the wildlife Trust on the design and installation of a appri lighting along the main through routes that safeguards
Both people and the other Park residents and uh there’s mention in the petition of uh sustrans uh and that was very interesting and I’m sure that as Simon said we could work with a number of other organizations uh and uh we’ll certainly look into working with srains thank you
Mayor thank you councilor Rosati we shall now debate the motion so just to remind each may speak for 3 minutes with the exception of course of the leader of the council and the leader of the opposition so um I know Phil you want to speak first Phil absolutely thank you Madame mayor I
Mean as opposition it’ be easy to jump on the bandwagon on this one but um in this occasion we’re not going to because we feel the motion actually strikes the right balance sympathizing with petitioner for the want of safety and enjoying the um the active travel and
The wildlife Etc but also conscious of The Wider picture and challenges there are three challenges here I’ve listed down the first is funding I mean obviously there’s a challenge for all local authorities with funding we’re not talking just about the installation we’re talking about ongoing energy costs
Here um as Fen Valley cycling does not featuring The Local cycling and walking infrastructure plan or LC whd for short it’d be very difficult to just ify external funding it’s the only thing I could suggest is perhaps some s funding maybe or some crowdfunding might help us
To to raise some money here but we’ve also got to think about the ongoing energy costs and yes uh locality budgets can be used for certain degree but they can’t be used for ongoing finance and that’s a bit limited there on the wildlife um issue obviously the petitioners wish to enjoy the wildlife
So do we all and obviously as as has been mentioned advice needs to be taken from um the professionals on Wildlife friendly lighting and I think um the C Rosetti Googled the same as I did and found out about circadian rhythms but I won’t so I won’t repeat her but I I will
Actually mention that just that that affects nocturnal and dial animals as well not just the night dials um so perhaps low level strip lighting and I think Simon you’ve already um suggested this and I’ve actually seen that F quite successfully in Cambridge so low level strip lighting to actually
Light the edges of the pathway could be the answer the last point is um I don’t think anyone’s really mentioned this is the carbon issue um we don’t want to put um Lighting in our parks and don’t forget that if we lit fairin Valley there’s a precent there for other parks
In Steven as well and we don’t want to actually um get ourselves into a carbon generating um facility so um perhaps solar wind power lighting might be an issue might be an answer there you might be aware that the County council with ringway or their lighting Consultants
Are actually triing um solar and wind powered lighting but they are normal street lighting definitely not Wildlife friendly but that’s something that may be looked at perhaps that technology can be developed so there’s three issues there it’s not an easy answer but um I think something that should be
Considered and so therefore Madame mayor we will support the motion thank you councelor Phi BB councilor Sarah thank you um I am committed to our own biodiversity policy as it exists and um should our partners in the hearts Wildlife trust advise against this lighting I wouldn’t be in in favor of it
Um the kind of outdoor lights that are classified as acceptable a low pressure sodium 590 nanom Amber LEDs that have to be fully shielded which means a minimal backlight and no uplight and they’re expensive so um listening to this potshot ideas of in the existing challenge of our financial climate of um
Crowdfunding and whatnot um that doesn’t fill me with um optimism about ongoing maintenance or um something that we could even afford in the first place so um I I want to meet the objectives of the petitioner um I’m concerned about the word of use of the word safe um and
And hope that that that isn’t a kind of guarantee of person against person safety because lighting does not do that and there was an interesting letter in the Comet last week that highlighted that very thing so um I invite anyone to to read that so perhaps the the
Compromise may come in an affordable route with that um said lighting um and the the other kind of objective of the thing about um falling off the edge of paths and bridges or whatnot we might consider those photol luminous crystals that glow in the dark and because they
Don’t use any energy they’re um charged by the sun UV light admit for up to 10 hours um there’s no batteries involved and then on top toxic um keep in the dark sky for those who have an interest in astrology even for those one-off events you know when it comes on the
News that there’s going to be a meteor shower are the only times I do go to the fitland valley at the night time and then I’m I’m glad to have that dark space we have got quite a lot of light pollution in stevenage as is um so as much as um I want
To meet the objectives of the petition signatories um I’m also aware there hasn’t been perhaps the opportunity for people who might not want it to to to voice their concern so the consultation will still need to remain open as Simon says um for the cycling Network um I
Think that it’s there’s no doubt about it the cost of living crisis is crunching people so much we get we are reaching the point where people won’t be able to afford a car so um it’s it seems prudent to make Headway in provision for for the Cy
Cyclists I think of all the different points we’re raising we need to find a a compromise to meet all of those objectives thank you councelor Sarah me councelor Michael Cony I I speak in support of the the motion Madame mayor when I came to stevenage in 1968
The first campaign I got involved in was to prevent stevenage Development Corporation putting a dual carriageway from the top of the valley in ch’s way right down to Broad hallway the one relic of their attempt to do that is the totally functionless roundabout at the the bom of the valley
Dennington Folly it became called after the name of the then chair of the Development Corporation um we won that battle a rare Victory against Road building in those days thanks to the fact that although hartfordshire County Council only had to provide less than 10% of the funding
Their consent was acquired it came to the County Council just at the point that the late councelor Brian Hall became chair of County highways committee and he stopped it and uh Council Hall can be forgiven a many things for that significant achievement um so I think that that just to say that
The the valley is an asset that had to be fought for in its present sense because had had it been changed it would not have been the facility that we know and use today I think this motion is important it reflects the fact that significant numbers of citizens not just living
Around the valley but all over the town use and cherish fa fairland’s Valley and the motion I think quite rightly as has been said is is is a balanced one but what it does do is ensure that the protection of the valley comes to the top of
Top of the agenda and that whatever we end up doing we will remain committed to ensuring that uh the thoughts and the resources such as they are of the council but we have to think not just in Financial Resources but human resources and involving the people of the town in
This are used to ensure that fand Valley something people outside stevenage many in other towns Envy remains um a significant resource for us and our successors as citizens of stevenage thank you councelor dowy councilor Robin Parker thank you uh Madame May um we agree with the thrust of this petition
And we certainly be voting for the motion um but first I also want to say Well done to Jennifer Hogan for producing the petition which takes quite a bit of work to do um because it’s you know the biggest and probably most important petition we’ve had for a while
I hope I pronounced your surname correctly Jennifer um the only other time I’ve come across the name hyan is the hyan wave theory in physics and that’s how we pronounce it in physics anyway um now in 2012 I’ve got some questions because in 2012 um as the county councelor for ch’s
Division I had all the foot part lights left on all night we had a one-off opportunity to do that and I did it took quite a bit of work to do but I did it and I sorted it so and some of those were in ferland Valley Park certainly
Not all but somewhere and I’ve tried to find out since who owns Which lights because stevenage Council say they own some or at least are responsible for some um but those same lights it seems or a number of them are on the HCC mapping system for highways so presumed
That they’re responsible for them as well now I have inquired with HCC waiting for a response but what what we need what I need anyway is a clear map please of the lights in ferland Valley which confirms who that is HCC isy or maybe some of
Private who owns Which one and then we can get a better idea of what what the situation is and what it will cost to correct it I was told by the way by an officer that it was only this petition was only about lights in the car park in
Ferin Valley but I believe that isn’t true um so but that’s what I was told so that was a bit more confusion to add to the mix um also you know new lights are very expensive I know that because I’ve provided many in my HCC andc from my HCC
Andc budgets in my division over the last 10 to 12 years and they cost thousands of pounds each of course the cost depend excuse me the cost depend on the length of the cing needed and trench digging and all that sort of thing so the question I have on this is what
Budget will be used if that sort of work is needed what will the total cost there be and whose budget will be used also in the response that the officers I think or maybe Council spell made it talks about Edge markers um yes Simon Spell’s response to
Edge markers and I think the petitioner is asking for a bit more than Edge markers which presumably are just luminous strips and anything luminous only works for its subject to consider amount of daylight beforehand of course solar powered lights are a possibility my questions there are that solar
Powered ones are not usually very bright you see them in people’s Gardens sometimes and they look a bit wilted um so that’s one question and also most solar powered lights are fairly low standing things which could be or would be a target for vandals so there are possibility but there’s questions over
Them so what I think we need is a full officer report at some point fairly soon to come back on all the options because there be other options as well as those I’ve mentioned and some of the answers about funding and who owns the lights
And if that can be provided then it can give us a basis for a proper factual discussion rather than a few ifs and buts and may be because we’re all a bit um feeling around in the dark on this one so we get the facts clear thank you thank you councelor Parker councelor
Andy minin uh thank you very much um Madame May first foremost just kind of like to Echo counselor Parker’s um uh congratulations and and thank you to Jennifer and and for all of the people who supporting uh the petition uh you know it says a lot about people that you
Come knocking once and you come getting because you got the the wrong answer and that persistence uh says a lot about you and the um the validity of this course so congratulations and and well done and keep up the hard work on this um it’s also I think the um the briefing that
You pull together is very balanced uh measured evidenced and really kind of showcases the the kind of the the real gaps in some of the kind of the key travel routes which we know that a lot of um our res uh uh want to make I think it’s really
Important as as as Simon said and his counselor as Sarah meet said is that actually as a runner though not for a while du to uh knew the fatherhood I actually quite like running in the dark but that’s my personal preference I know and from listening to uh from colleagues
And also local residents that actually is really dangerous people don’t feel safe whether they are walking walking their dog pushing their pram in a bike whatever they might whatever you know mode of transportation they want to do walking in the dark is just not safe
People won’t do it and if we want people to to um to uh use the park or or matter of the day in an appropriate way we need to put in the evidence and the hard work to make sure that we can do that um I can appreciate from a kind of a
Petition’s point of view that uh we know we’re all saying we we’re very supportive of the issue but some of the kind of the caveat often feel like excuses and reasons not to do something rather than actually putting all the the fluff aside and saying and having the
Political will saying this is something we’re going to put our stamp on and this is a really important uh kind of objective uh for the town so what I would like and it’s very kind of uh um important and thank you very much for
For um for Simon and also L to of you know putting down the motion for listening and taking that on I really do hope that uh we can go a bit further than kind ref reflecting edging in an appropriate way and I think you know uh
Getting officers to having a you know a formalized report to look at the options look at the costings and really take it to the next level because you know this is something that our local residents need and it’s something that I think will be the benefit of our park and so I
Hope we can kind of put the kind of the the C the caveat aside and and take what what it should be is a really positive great idea to the next level thank you thank you councelor Andy mckines baroness Dr Sharon Taylor thank you Madame mayor and can I
Echo the thanks to Jennifer and all those who have contributed to the briefing and to collecting the signatures I wanted to speak in favor of the motion that Council spellers moved and um I’ll say a few things about Fairland Valley but before I do we’ve had a long-standing campaign in
Stevenage to have our street lights on at night because makes people feel unsafe and I just want to mention that we’ve campaigned on it we’ve had petitions on it they’re still not back on um so so far unsuccessful but we will keep working on that um if we’re ever in
Any doubt of the uh of the treasure that felen Valley is you only have to look at social media to see the beautiful photographs produced by people like Paul hones and Brendan FY and it really is an absolutely beautiful uh feature that we have in the town and I think the
Consultation the Green Space strategy consultation is a really exciting Way Forward and I commend uh Council spell for his leadership on that and and the rest of the executive counselors and I think um having that consultation as a good Cooperative council with our Cooperative values and including our residents Wildlife organizations because
For all the reasons that Council aati set out there are likely to be genuine reasons why that’s an issue and the police is really important but can I just remind Council that it was only a few years ago when in the long convoluted road to pulling together our local plan the conservative County
Council put forward their proposals for uh where houses should be cited and that would have meant building on much of our Green Space in stevenage Green Space that as a new town was in the Visionary design built in as part of our town for leisure nature and biodiversity as part
Of being a healthy Town um and that’s uh as important now as it was when our town was designed in the last century this review uh the review that’s taking place now at our green spaces are so important and this will update our Green Space work uh to ensure that it
Continues to meet the needs of our resident residents and remain the pride of stevenage as our green spaces always have been thank you Madame May thank you barones Taylor so councelor spell you have the right to reply um how much of my allowance did I use Madame mayor the first time round
Yeah you have 30 seconds so he can now use 30 minutes three minutes I will be now I will be very brief because I think as Jen saidu the petition we’ve had plenty of time to read it you’ll remember in October we had a long discussion I did a an answer to a
Question and it still occupied two pages of our of our committee report so you know we we we are just really following up uh some of the concerns raised at the last meeting I I think the balance is is the key thing everybody’s understood that we want to uh progress this
Petition recognize the energy commitment and passion of Jennifer and her support and the 1,300 plus people who signed a petition something that’s very very very rare and must be taken on board having said that democratically we are an elected Council we have a whole r range of consideration to take on board not
Least as as Phil said actually there is a funding stroke resources aspect to it you know I mean hypothetically you could come up with a bundle of costings and you might be asking yourselves what other things would you forego in order to do the liting now I’m elected to
Serve the people of shepper and I think Sarah spoke for shepper around we would be uh quite happy to move the spirit of this motion forward but not at the expense of our wildlife and not at the expens of the dark St Dark Skies of that
Part of the valley it seems to me if I may sum up there’s three Fairland valleys we’re talking about there’s the bit from the uh camps Hill uh Bridge which is the one near marot’s School up to the top to the sh surgery which was a
Very thin sliver right by the main roads which are of course very well lit the middle part of the valley runs from that bridge down to six Hills way that is an urban park it’s an urban park you could recognize anywhere that is supposed to Victorian New Town Park and then the the
Big bit of the value which I think might prove very interesting and may be difficult to square the uh various objectives of the study will be the bit that runs from six Hills down to the fairground site i i m that for you because I want to say it’s complex it’s
Difficult and it might be challenging not least financially but I would just sum up by saying Madam can I thank everybody for their contribution and congratulate Jennifer in particular for putting this in front of us and it’s down to us it’s our civic duty to honor her petition and deliver what we can
When we can how we can with what we can find thank you very much Madam mayor I move thank you councilor spell we will now take a vote on the Motions those in favor please show by raising your hand thank you okay so everybody so thank you everybody voted so
Thank you the motion is carried and I would like to thank Jennifer for bringing this matter to the council’s attentions congratulations Jennifer and thank you everyone so item six there is no questions from the youth Council and item seven so we don’t have any questions from the
Public and um and for those who came for this motion I just want to say thank you you for joining us this evening have a good evening everyone and item eight the leaders updates so councelor BB as leader of the opposition has the right to raise one
Item relevant to the borrow that has been raised since the last meeting so councelor Phil B thank you Madame mayor uh I think to say our concern is a bit of an understatement when I was advised um that the council had fallen short in dealing with a vulnerable residents
Issue with a secured um uh door inry system the Ombudsman Fel uh found in favor of the complainant and I’d just like to say it’s one thing having a a sound complaints procedure which I know has been scrutinized in the past it’s another thing officers in that chain
Actually recognize when the council has fallen short and something needs to be done urgently so can we have assurances please that this sort of thing will not happen in future councelor Richard Henry to respond thank you Phil um if you’ve read the um the letter from Gove you all know
That this is an outstanding from 2019 soon as I became aware of it I think it was when we got the letter um I did approach the chief executive and asked for um an urg ENT um assessment into this um just say we haven’t acknowledged the letters that have been
Received from the Secretary of State Michael Gove and the housing Ombudsman um who have previously committed to writing every so to every social landlord and who is awarded an adverse finding of severe M Administration and have recognized that there were missed opportunities to avoid the failures identified in this case we
Have rightly apologized to the tenant around the failings that occurred the regulator for social housing has concluded from its own investigations the case does not indicate a systemic failing and that the consumer standards have not been breached and will not be taken any regulatory action as is the case with other
Registered providers the work of the housing Ombudsman service continues to support us in driving forward improvements to our services we have taken on board the learning from this case um which resulted in several actions and I hope this answers your question about immediate action um we are looking to improving
Our housing complaints handling policy and processes and that’s with all members of Staff we’ve introduced a team of dedicated strategic complaint managers each responsible for an area of housing who work together on a cross service case ensuring a thorough and holistic approach to complaint handling we’re also establishing a
Member-led housing management board that will continue to Monitor and drive good performance compliance resource allocation risk management and tenant Communications and engagement alongside this we’re holding fortnightly complaints clinics with the aim to ensure effective member and management oversight and to look to continuously improve complaints handling across the housing
Service we’re also committed to further improve the council’s repairs and void services to ensure they are cost effective and respond to the needs of our tenants Improvement in this work is underway and he been led by our assistant director for building safety and housing Property Services and have
Been championed by the cabinet member for housing councelor Janette Thomas thank you madam mayor thank you councelor Henry I shall Now call upon councelor Richard Henry again leader of the council to give his updates thank you Madame mayor uh we move on to um some good news um from Council um
Portfolio holders and first of all um councilor sad speller who is going to update us on graffiti Blitz and climate change Community funding schemes thank you very much uh Richard and Madame mayor um the graffiti Blitz uh is started in Earnest and will run for the rest of this year um members
Will know that there’ve been long longstanding concerns about graffiti in various parts of the town on our assets and also on hars County Council assets like cycleway andares and many of you over the last few months indeed last few years have raised these issues so um the statistics which um are quite impressive
Is reducing the amount of graffiti that is reported and identified and captured on our system has been quite impressive but I’d like to take this opportunity saying that uh when the blitz is effectively over we don’t want to go back to where we were we want to be able
To say between March and maybe those of us who are on the council in June July next year that there’s been a substantial downturn over a longer period of time the last comment about graffiti is to trying to persuade our County Council colleagues and partners that they should actually pay for us to
Do their underpasses at the moment not for caving field but we would keep challenging you about making sure that we can do all our Assets in stevenage not just the B Council ones I’d also like to pay particular tribute to councelor line Rosati because uh she’s helped enormously with artworks on
Various boxes and she will happily uh give you the full details beyond my competence and capability to explain thank you thank you Madame n we now move on to councelor Sandra bar who will update us on uh cooperative councils and pin green Association Sandra thank you leader the annual CCI
That’s the cores council’s intervention Network Conference was held on the Wednesday the 1st and Thursday the 2nd of November in Sunderland I attended with members of the community development team over the two days this is the second CC annual conference that I have attended following on from a trip
To tford last year since that trip I myself joined the CC values and principles board as the burough council’s representative the Conference was held at Sunderland City Hall and we were treated on the first day to the tour of sunderland’s historic City Center visiting two locally run cooperatives the pop wreck focused on
Music and the Sunshine Cooperative focused on food one might say one was food for the soul one was food for the stomach this was followed by reception at the fire station cic as the name suggests it was a repurposed fire station that has been turned into live music and performance
Value venue the conference on Thursday included the CC CCI annual general meeting in the morning followed by a variety of fantastic workshops we were free to attend to the close of the day we also saw the launch of the art and culture of of social cohesion policy lab
Which we partnered in supporting our close Neighbors in North Hearts who led on the policy lab alongside Cardiff and Olden city councils um the um confidence in you you might ask what benefit is it to us but it opened my eyes to the possibility of voluntary groups in this town becoming
Cooperatives and trusts they don’t necessarily have to become cic’s and Sunderland um had over 40 cooperatives run by voluntary services within their Town it was amazing when you think how when the ship lot yards went this was an area of of deprivation and through through cooperativism they’ve turned it around
And it’s a really lovely place to visit and go and I I recommend you go there and see for yourself the next part of my report is that I pleased to confirm that both Steven SE Cadets and the Fifth Fifth stevenage Scouts have now vacated their buildings in sheel View and have happily
Moved into the Ping green play center site alongside Claire’s little Bear’s preschool and a forest School with support from SBC officers the three groups over the past few months have set up a con a constituted Community Partnership called ping green partnership agreement team the inaugural
AB AGM was held on the 16th of November and included the election of six board members two for each group the groups are working really well together they are organizing events to get to know each other as well as community events to public publicize their new partnership the council will continue to
Support them and remain directly involved as an independent body member to provide support advice and guidance the plan is to provide support in this initial year as an incorporated Association stabilizing the board and the groups into solid organization and then year two moving them towards the formalized establishment as a Cooperative thank you
Very much thank you Sandra and um can I thank you for your work on this but also um councelor Simon spella who became an honest broker in the complex discussions around this um Arrangement so thank you both for um enabling that to come to fruition um now move on to councelor
Janette Thomas who ironically will be uh telling us about a housing award thank you Richard I’d also like to uh congratulate on the work that’s been done with the groups in ping green and look forward as the council rep on the Ping green Community Association to
Working with said groups on some of the events in the park that we do so that would be good right I’m pleased to announce that stevenb Council has won Council or combined authority of the year at the affordable housing Awards run by inside housing this was for our
Housing first project and i’ would like to thank all those involved in this this project for their dedication and hard work the housing first project has helped people who have been rough sleeping or homeless and need support to get them back on their feet again and I
Have to say that one of the people that was housed first in the oats cross housing first project has recently taken on a tency of one of our new Flats at kennworth close so there is hope for the these people they don’t stay there very long they just stay there long enough to
Get on their feet again and move forward and this was recognized by inside housing and the work that we’ve been doing thank you thank you Janette Now we move on to councelor Lorraine Rosati who will update us on the new customer service center arrangements and an Arts and
Heritage update Lou thank you leader um performance across the customer service center has been improving this year um and it’s something that we really wanted to focus on um as particularly uh impacted by covid customers were customers I don’t like the term residents um and citizens were
Telling us that it we could do a lot better and we are uh the average waiting times have reduced from uh for telephone calls have reduced from 8 and a half minutes in May to around 2 and a half minutes in November and answer rates have also
Improved from 75% in April to 86% in November um customer satisfaction has also improved as a result of that and that’s gone up from 86% to uh 91% uh now that’s good but we can do better and we will do better uh so listen up for uh more updates in future
About how we’re doing better um you’ll all be aware that the new customer service center reception opened on the 1st of November uh and after a month having reviewed its operations and feedback from members and residents the team will be making some modifications to that area and uh to the
Layout of the reception and we’ll be be uh moving furniture around and making making a permanent uh layout of that area and uh we also want to improve the Wi-Fi performance which are uh the other another part of my portfolio is information technology uh and so I’ve got my uh eyes
On that one too now within the staff Atrium area the new setup was improved cross team working and Richard and I went there uh with Senior Team on the the day opened uh and it’s really buzzing in there really really buzzing and the the staff talking to each other
And learning from each other sharing their experiences working together in multi- uh disciplinary teams uh to solve complex uh issues on behalf of our residents it it’s really good work uh and that collaboration is leading to uh not only better outcomes for our residents but faster outcomes U and
We’re really pleased with that success but as I said we are going to be looking at how we can make that even better on to Arts and Heritage um councilor spella spoke about graffiti and uh thank you for your kind words C councelor spella on the art side uh when
We want to Target graffiti and tagging um we have uh we’ve come up with a an art project and we’ve got some funding uh to work with Junction 7 creatives our Arts collaborative in the town um and uh in partnership with the open reach uh now you know that their cabinets their
Media cabinets around the town can be prone to tagging uh open reach have been very good at working with us and with our officers and uh respon uh they did they did a blitz clean of all their cabinets and now they they are responding very quickly to any reports of
Graffiti um but they’re also uh they also have a a scheme where you can paint their cabinets so we’re starting off uh with just three cabinets to see how it goes see how it works and with the theme of only connect which of course those of you who red forer uh will recognize
Um and yes you’ve probably had to study it for a level like me so we’re painting three two in the Town Center one on graceway and um what I will say to everybody is if there is an open reach cabinet and the uh if if you want to identify an open reach
Cabinet let me know because I’ve got the pictures of the locks that are open reach and the locks that are verging that’s the only way you can tell the difference is the Locking mechanisms on the cabinets uh let me know and I’ll I’ll send that to you but um if you want
To have a cabinet painted in your ward and you want to use some of your LCB to contribute to the cost of that uh please do let me know um I want to I want to paint the town um and uh willing with school also interested in in working with us so
We’re going to identify with them uh a a cabinet near the school and they have a resident artist uh who uh can work with the the children in the school to paint something close to their their school and make them proud um on to uh regeneration teamwork
We’ve got an updated Heritage Trail um and there are several routes uh planned um allowing for different levels of Engagement and uh difficulty and cycling and walking um we’re discussing with artists and designers ideas for newly commissioned artworks as well uh so that I look forward to uh to that being uh
Published and to uh walking the trail following the success of the street art paintings in the underpasses near roaring me we’re also working with the uh talking to hars count Council about opportunities for cleaning and painting other underpasses in the town and I can’t say which ones they are yet
Uh and I’ll update as Council as soon as I can uh again working with the junction 7 creatives we’re also in the process of writing an artist brief for the bus interchange artwork so all good stuff thank you thank you um and yeah you’re right about the new customer services Arrangements I think
When we had a look around there was some staff that had um worked for the council for quite a number of months and they were meeting people for the first time from other team so that and the the enhanced team working I think is um fantastic but like any new Arrangement
Or project you’re going to have some teething issues um Now we move on to councelor Jackie holwell um an update on the no more service and safer streets Jackie yeah thank you very much leader I hope you’re all aware that uh recently we’ve had 16 days of activism activism against
Domestic abuse there’s been a lot in social media about all of that and sard I know have been putting out a lot about that it’s a hard time for some people this time of year but we need to make sure that people know that there is help
Out there for people so please do reach out but tonight I want to tell you about bit about evolve which is the domestic abuse perpetrator support arm of the no more service evolve supports stevenage people in a onetoone safe place whilst working through a staged H session Intervention Program tackling their
Offending behavior and complex needs the support worker can assist the person with additional issues that may exacerbate their situation for example addiction mental health housing and debt the person learns to look at the triggers to their behavior and work through mechanisms to support their behavioral change and if you if you like
Jargon it’s also a Solutions focused approach the service has supported residents who have had complex issues with substance abuse Health vulnerability access to their children personal wellbeing offending employment finances accommodation gambling use of time the list goes on as well as building relationships with their family
Members and I’m sure you agree with me that this is another way in which we help to tackle domestic abuse by trying to tackle the behavior of perpetrators as well going on to uh where previously I’ve talked to you about safer streets and I’ve updated the Council on
Stevenage been successful in the current round of funding which we’ve used to support the work around clear B the clear hold build project in the Bedwell area the funding is going to focus on the three tower blocks in Bedwell and any crime and antisocial Behavior connected to them the power blocks which
Are set adjacent to the Town Center Park area and garage blocks have been unfortunately blighted with antisocial Behavior rough sleeping and low-level crime including environmental crimes such as fly tipping the the substantial funding which is over 600,000 will help to increase security to the tower blocks and garages increase
And upgrade the CCTV coverage in the area including the use of mobile cameras that can be used to tackle hotspot areas as as part of the 15-month project we will have specialist patrols to support the work of the police and the council and dedicated wardens who will engage
With the residents and consider other community solutions to work this is a very exciting and an Innovative way of tackling crime and antisocial behavior in the area and I hope that if it’s successful and I’m sure it will be and we have the available funding that we
Can roll out this model throughout other parts of the town thank you thank you Jackie um and now a couple of updates from myself um I’m delighted to share the news with members that Airbus defense and space have secured £ 3.9 million pound funding from the UK space agency
To create a new space Catalyst here in stevenage this funding will help create a new Catalyst facility on the Airbus campus opening up lab space Test Facilities and access to highly skilled Specialists to work together on vital space and defense and Communications projects with approximately a third of
Sat all satellites designed and built in stevenage there is no doubt of the importance of this project to the town and to the UK’s economy and security stevenage is a proud home to two world class clusters one focused on Space defense Communications and advanced manufacturing and one based on
Life sciences and as the Regeneration of the Town continues my priority is to help make sure we open great skills and career development opportunities for our young people secondly securing inward investment um the eag among you may have seen stevenage recognized as a case study Within in the recent Harrington
Review of direct foreign investment in a challenging National economy the review highlighted that the UK generally secures 50 billion Less business investment each year than similar countries highlighting the need for government to find ways to secure greater business investment and for the country to benefit from upskilling higher tax receipts for public services
And better jobs the Harrington review set out to help identify steps that could be taken to achieve this and I’m pleased to let the council know that stevenage was one of a very small number of local places highlighted as a case study for the positive work through our regeneration
And planning efforts to secure the 65 million pound new alterus headquarters in stevenage toown Center thus creating 400 new jobs and stevenage was chosen over meryland in the USA so congratulations to our teams our local Partners including Harts County Council Hartford local Enterprise partnership and the stevenage development board to help secure this
Investment and for working hard to secure a brighter future for our town thank you Madame mayor thank you everyone and thank you councelor Richard HRI does the leader of the opposition have any comments just one comment thank you I mean interesting uh that You’ two of you have mentioned the um painting of
Subways something the County Council is very happy to work with um Local Schools local councils and artists to actually create one of the byproducts of course is that um the Finish is normally a graffiti proof surface unfortunately that hasn’t worked on one of the ones in
K m which we’re having to try and sort out but uh I know graffi is a big problem it’s almost the reverse of pages of fourth Bridge you clean it off and some put it back again but anyway I note the comments thank you thank you councelor bb councelor Henry
Do you wish to respond only to say um thank you to um Phil for um you know working together on this project I know that um Lorraine and Simon and myself and other members when we go around and visit any other town or country we’re always looking for either graffiti or
Really good street art and I think um you know this project is one that we can all work together on for the better betterment of our town thank you thank you and and also I may have to add you know as a stepen ag mayor one of the
Things that I really enjoy is actually having the council meeting with all the beautiful and the positive updates and at the same time you know when we debate the motions and you can see the passions and I hope everyone who’s watching the video the live stream they will see how
Passionate we are as counselors and to hear all this good news so thank you everyone so next item um item nine update from the scrutiny chairs may I ask councilor ly Martin hope to give us an update on the work of the overview and scrutiny committee thank you madam mayor I can’t
Promise to show any great Passion um and as always it will be very short um so we’ve had two meetings including one last night of the overview in scy committee since the last pool council meeting in October and as always we look in deta at decisions of the executive and that
Inevitably includes lots of um budget monitoring and quarterly reports and so on um at last night’s meeting we looked at the draft housing revenue account budget setting and rent report for 20242 and that I think for me personally that’s always one of the more interesting um documents that that we
Look at and and discuss um however a particular interest to many of the committee members was a presentation which we had in the November uh meeting and that was on select and it was a small uh selection of data collected in the 2021 census um so we
Heard about some of the changes which have taken place in the town in terms of the nine protected characteristic groups um and those changes from both 2001 and 2011 and then uh within the data in 2021 um a lot of the the members were particularly Keen to try and drill down
And look at the um Ward data the sort of Ward level data but that’s actually quite a difficult thing to do because of the way that the data is collected in the census and it’s not always easy to pull it together into um a nice little envelope which says this Ward or that
Ward however um it it certainly piqued our interest and I hope that that um we’ll be able to do a bit more uh with that uh before the end of this Municipal year that’s my report thank thank you I can still sense the passion there so thank you counil
Le thank you so may I now ask councelor sarid to provide an update on the work of the community select committee which on of my favorite committee obviously thank you um the community select committee met on the 14th of November we received a really well informed presentation from the
Assistant director Denise Lewis um who a recent appointment so far um I’d like to thank her for her transparency and Readiness to work with us and the presentation was on the ridge independent housing specialty review um the report emphasized and the important for us to improve Communications um which is no different
From our own findings and formalization of processes policy and procedures um however I’m confident that this work has already begun and there’s already um a plan in place um which is very heartening um and we interviewed our our very own portfolio holder for housing and with a specific focus on the Journey
Of complaints and um I’m also confident that the portfolio holder um is looking to improve this process thank you thank you councelor sarid and finally I will go to councelor Rob broom to and ask that he provides an update on the work of the environment and econ select
Committee thank you Madame mayor the environment economy committee has completed a one-off piece of pre-s scrutiny work on the proposed cycle hire scheme for stevenage the Hope being that the scheme will be rolled out in late spring 2024 24 a full conversation took place involving SBC officers local
Representatives of sing UK and members this is an exciting development which will enable sten’s residents to move quickly cheaply and enjoy the added health benefits of cycling when moving around our town the committee will be considering the work of bus the bus review it’s recently
Done and the cost of living work that it did last year shortly in January also there will be a meeting of the environment and economy committee with members from planning in February 2024 to consider the sbc’s biodiversity strategy an opportunity to learn more about what can be done to continue the
Important work of supporting local wildlife habitats and maintaining and respecting our green spaces as shared assets built on a sustainable relationship with nature thank you thank you councelor Brom committee okay I haven’t been to the environment maybe next time so before we go to item 10 I am
Conscious of our youth mayor and Deputy Mayor are you still I would like to ask a five minute five minute I’m sure it’s okay five minute break for our Deputy Mayor and Deputy us mayor to leave and for those for a comfort break of course thank you five minutes okay
I think everyone is here Sandra Oh sorry I didn’t realize okay oh there’s a good excuse Claire just told me are we live already yeah oh sorry okay there’s a good excuse for women because um there’s something going on there okay so I think that’s a good excuse
So okay all right okay so let’s go to um item 10 the notice of motions one motion has been submitted for consideration at this meeting the motion submitted by the conservative group concerning supporting voter ID is detailed in the order of business for this meeting councilor Brett Facey to move the motion
Please thank you Madame mayor I think the introduction of voter ID in this country is long overdue showing ID has now become necessary for so many tasks in people’s everyday lives whether it’s opening a bank account applying for benefits buying alcohol or even collecting a parcel from the post office
It is necessary to own and produce a photo ID for all of these mundane tasks yet when it comes to voting one of the most important things we do as a free and Democratic Society all you previously had to do in order to vote was give your name and address someone
Could look at the Electoral role which is a public document pick a name and address from it walk into the relevant polling station and say they are that person there was no further check required this was also very different to a postal vote where many more checks
Were required I believe in the Integrity of the voting process is of critical importance and as we’ve seen in other countries is a very very fragile process personally I have complete confidence in the voting process in this country and more locally I have every confidence in our very capable returning officer and
Our equally talented elections team here at Council but that doesn’t mean things should not be improved and the recent introduction of voter ID has increased the security and integrity of the voting process I also believe Madame mayor that is important no one gets left behind due to the recent voting requirement reforms
That is why the motion highlights specifically the availability of free voter Authority certificates which are free IDs issued by the council as the election overseer this removes the question of someone’s financial situation impeding their ability to have an ID to participate in an election I think the council has been doing very
Well to highlight the need for voter ID to our residents the fact that over 99% of Voters in the May 2023 Steven bar council elections successfully voted when including the it second attempts after initially being turned away speaks to the success of the council’s comms operation that level of compliance on a
First attempt really is incredible but I challenge the council that we need to do even better next time we can work even harder to communicate voter ID information and the free resources available to voters facing challenging circumstances that way we can help get the small number of Voters who were
Excluded last May successfully into the ballot boost for this coming May let’s support this change which will safeguard our electoral system against voter fraud let’s commend but also challenge our elections and comm’s team to redouble their efforts to ensure every voter knows about the ID changes and finally
Let’s make sure people are aware of the free provision of voter IDs from the council for those who need them Madam mayor I move the motion thank you councelor facy councelor Phil BB to Second motion I’m happy to Second motion Madame mayor and reserve my right thank you councelor bb we shall
Now debate the motion uh I will call a counselor Michael down oh um I wish to speak against the motion check Madam um certainly in there have been times and places where voter fraud has has been an issue I first took part in elections parliamentary elections as a student in a parliamentary general
Election in Dublin and Westminster by elction in well fast especially in the latter it was an issue the most popular slogan used to be vote early and vote often um and Northern Ireland was Notorious for the corruption of its uh electoral system about which successive British governments did nothing until
Events forced them to do so so that’s somewhere where action should have been taken but wasn’t it certainly was true a few years ago that in certain parts uh certain mainly urban areas in in this country there were problems with uh with voter ID they were dealt with Not By
Heavy-handed changes in the law but by sensible action undertaken by both local politicians local government officers acting together successfully I don’t believe this is a problem there are problems in participation in elections which we ought to be concerned with declining participation not just in this country but in elections through throughout
Throughout Europe that’s a much wider issue a political as much as an administrative one I believe this is a solution in search of a problem and I do not believe we should be wasting resources on it but concentrating on ensuring better participation there was already some evidence last year that this system
Was deterring people from voting this is not what we should be aiming for and we should be I think rejecting this motion and looking at different ways of dealing with the electoral system thank you councelor Downing councelor Richard Henry thank you Madame mayor um I’m speaking against this motion
Um for a number of reasons one is um I think it’s not about ID requirements I think it’s about voter suppression um this government um you know with with Boris Johnson wearing the Grimsby Town Football Club hat which I take personal exception to it’s about distracting the public from what’s going on nationally
Um and I think you know the Tory opposition here are trying to distract U members of the public from what goes on in stevenage Michael is absolutely right this is a a solution looking for a problem and um the other thing that RS me is the the third bit of the motion
Which suggests that the council do not do their level best to encourage people to vote um I know um because it’s in my portfolio now that the council both digitally and in paper and in the leaflets that go around to every household talk about how people can vote
And they have taken on board the uh unnecessary requirement for voter ID um in in that in the way that they’re talking to residents of this town um the experts and I know this government has problem with experts um The Association of electoral administrators and the Electoral commission have both challenged the
Government on this um particularly in terms of the types of ID required and by limiting the number of um items of um identification required it does stop people from voting um so um I agree um with Michael um this is a a sledgehammer to crack a
Very very tiny nut and so I will not be voting for this motion I’ll be voting against it and I hope the labor group will follow me thank you there thank you councelor Henry councelor Robin Parker thank you Madame mayor um we should be voting against the motion as
Well um in fact it looks to me this motion as if it has come from conservative central office um leaving that aside the important bits of the motion are after the words this Council resolves which is at the top of the uh second page this Council resolves
Um because although the second and third bullet points of that those words are this counil resolves are basically okay because it’s just talking about uh informing residents and so on the first bullet point after that in the last part of the motion to put on record uh to put
On record its support for the election act blah blah blah we are definitely against that and so we should be voting against it and um as far as fraud is concerned I mean fraud has certainly happened in some areas not in stevenage but there’s been quite large fraud in
Other areas of the country sometimes but the point is it’s been detected how do we know about that fraud because the present system um and laws detected it so we know about it so the present system does protect against fraud we know that and if there’s any fraud getting through now
Then it must be fairly minimal also there’s always was a fairly small amount of real serious fraud I wonder if there’s ever been any real serious fraud in voting detected in stevenage not certainly In My Memory although I have to say just an anecdote at the local elections in
1990 long time ago now but some of us remember it um we analyzed the people who voted in what was then called mobs award and went through it in great detail uh or a party worker of of our did and she found that a dead bloke had
Voted which was a bit worrying it’s 30 years ago now but there you are iect he well and truly dead now but that that was possibly one well certainly one bit of fraud that got through the net but one person in 30 years isn’t too bad so these these things that the government
Have done recently ID for uh voting they’re basically an an unnecessary obstacle to voting um I’m more interested in how many voters were actually turned away at the May 23 elections because they didn’t have the ID um and also there used to be quite a bit of fraud I think involved with
Postal voting but that’s now been largely eliminated so I’m told and I Believe by this business of having ID and signatures checked electronically incidentally if you’ve not seen the checking process that goes on when the postal votes come in then I recommend you should do so because it’s
Quite interesting and quite um uh reassuring shall we say so I do think this motion has more to do with uh well yes possibly voter suppression as Richard Henry said and face saving for the government and probably more to with scrabbling about to find a good news
Story for the stories or one that they regard as new as good rather um or at least you know as far as they’re concerned it’s not a story that’s yet another bad news story so we’re against it for those reasons Madame May thank you councelor Parker councelor CLA
Paris thank you madam mayor um I’m I won’t be supportive in this motion but what I want to point out really is to be able to vote in any election is democratic right of all our citizens and in the local elections of made 23 this fundamental Democratic right was removed
For a number of people across the country it’s been found this had a negative effect on some demographic groups propensity and opportunity to vote electoral commission Research indicates that those renting from a social landlord the unemployed over 85s and the disabled are less likely to have
One of the accepted forms of ID they also found that people with visual impairment learning disabilities and the trans Community had multiple and compounding barriers to engage with voter ID policy and why are student IDs or rail cards not allowed to be produced as voter ID surely not to disenfranchise
The young people deciding who their local and National governments are the Electoral commission data shows only seven allegations of attempted impersonation in Poland stations in 2022 with no police action taken and where electoral fraud has occurred in the UK it’s intended to involve election expenses manipulation by parties
Therefore why the rush to implement IDE to to enable a person to vote the Electoral commission warned press in ahead with the new rules in the May 23 elections was too soon but the government did so anyway and robing approximately 14,000 people were turned away in England in May by not having the
Appropriate ID however there were greeters outside the polling stations reminding people of the ID and there was no number of those that were turned away and did not return why the rush surely not political motivation why not do this in in a cross-party way discussing inclusively with the groups who
Understand the barriers this was implemented badly in a non-inclusive way and I’m not supporting this motion thank you councelor Paris councelor Tom Ren thank you Adam mayor um this motion quite frankly is nonsense um the the Tory party have fallen nobody uh with the real reasons for voter ID um these
Voter ID laws were brought in for one reason only and that is the suppression of Voters who are less likely to vote conservative um this is typical of the uh this is typical of the current Tory party methods to gain any advantage they can to uh cling on to power um other
Examples include increasing election expenses um limits without any consultation uh changing electoral systems for maral and police and crime commissioner elections uh and even at a local level proposals to uh to change parts of uh sheward the more affluent streets into Long Meadow um it’s just
What you’d expect from a party of lies sleev and Corruption uh there is no merit in this motion and I will be voting against it thank you thank you councelor R councelor Alex for uh thank you um I I would say get the tin full hat off already um thank
You madam May um our nation is known across the world um for its Democratic credentials anything that could add robustness to that reputation I fully support yet the labor party nationally have opposed our measures to strengthen security at The Ballot Box there’s considerable precedent for voter ID 33
Out of 37 European countries use it already and I thought labor and the libdems wanted more closely aligned relations with with Europe or if they flip-flopped yet again voter ID is available free of charge from councils meaning there is no reason why anyone cannot vote suggesting otherwise would
Risk causing people to think that they can’t vote when they actually can councilor fa is already referen stevenage statistics so let’s take a look at North Hart’s 2023 elections only 3% of Voters didn’t have the ID required to vote it’s important that we encourage those remaining 3% to get the ID they
Need for next time and it’s the first election that this was brought in 99.7% compliance is actually pretty good what’s the number of prosecutions for VES of fraud is low as this is a crime that is very hard to prove 1,386 allegations have been made in the last few years we take that
Seriously after all we are the party of Law and Order but to H what shall I continue continue councelor Alex thank you I will continue before I was rudely interrupted but hang on to a single figure prosecutions being the only element this is ignoring how prosecutions work for example 82% of
Burglaries go unsolved in the metropolitan police area does that mean that they didn’t happen of course not on a side note the Mets unsolved burglary figure is markedly higher than the rest of the country which is why we should all hope that Susan Hall becomes mayor of London next May let’s ensure that
Everyone knows that they can still vote free of charge and signpost them to these resources that’s the decent thing to do and that’s why I am voting for this motion thank you madam thank you councelor Alex Fon call councelor Jim Brown uh thank you I’ll try and follow
That um thank thank you madam mayor um the first thing is um the council debated this at length on the 19th of October 2022 item 13 much of this we’ve already gone over now if you’ve got the rare resource of being able to propose a motion to the
Council why now do you want to repeat the discussion which we’ve already had it’s not that your motion is out of order that was more than 6 months ago and all the rest of it but it does beg the question there nothing else that you want to talk
About than have a rerun when we established that you were trying to use a sledgehammer and the nut was so small we couldn’t even find the thing now some of the concerns of course we talked about before because it’s a repeat this sort of fraud as opposed to
Expenses fraud or the other ones almost never happens also so we’ve established that some groups of young people for example are not able to use forms of identification old people are why that unfairness um suits me I can now count as an older person but that is
Unfair it has a chilling effect on participation some will call that voter suppression others will say it’s it chills participation there’s also been change is making it harder to vote by post changes making it harder to get appr proxy vote the background of course is that
Shall we say in very rough terms if you’re lucky 37% of people vot in local elections and again if you’re lucky 75% vote in general elections there’s a kind of bigger issue here somewhere isn’t there you’re talking about your 0.3% in North Arts what can we do
Between all of us to get more people engaged actively in taking part in democracy finally I I hear what you’re saying about this 99% who actually got through the door of the polling session the reality of last May’s election of course is there’s a number of people who did not get past the
Greeters and therefore are not counted in those figures and then there are many many people faced with the new reality did not even leave home I can tell you in at least one polling District No matter how hard I tried in one polling district there were 30 people on P
Polling day gave up and did not even leave home so your 99% figure I’m afraid is wildly optimistic thank you councelor brown councelor Margaret Nutley thank you madam mayor I am in favor of the voter ID motion the need for voter ID was recommended by the independent electoral commission the new
Requirements for voter ID will protect and Safeguard our important democratic system as well as reduce the risk of voter fraud in recent years there has been a surge in identity for so it is vital that we protect the Integrity of our electoral system in the modern era the need to provide ID
Photo ID has become commonplace and is a typical part of a daytoday life people have to produce ID to prove they are over 18 in order to buy alcohol and most retailers and pharmacist require people to produce ID to prove their age to buy paracetamol or our booing over the
Counter of course we must not forget that the labor party requires photo ID for delegates to attend and vote at their party conferences surely if it is good enough for the labor party then it is good enough for our electoral system furthermore many European countries and many Commonwealth Nations
And even the world’s largest Democratic Nation India use voter ID I think it’s time we took this extra step to protect our voters I am glad that changes in the law also require local councils to provide voter Authority certificates free of charge which ensures that people who are facing
Financial hardship will have no barrier to voting I commend the elections team and and our Communications officer for all the publicity they have run to inform our residents about voter ID but I I support the the Motions call for officers to double down and ensure the message is Thoroughly
Delivered thank you Madame mayor I shall be supporting the motion thank you councelor Margaret Nutley councelor Adam mckines thank you very much Madame May I’d like to thank the conservative group for bringing an early Christmas present to me so now I don’t have to wait to
Christmas to open up my cracker to read the joke of the seasonal year um the only thing the only line that I agree with this motion is the f is one of the first lines says the threats to the Democratic process must be combed and protected uh for the Integrity our
Democracy I completely agree with that but the only threat to our Democratic process and and our British democracy is the conservative party not voter ID three unelected prime ministers um ever since uh Boris Johnson’s and probably before that bring in the um bring in our Democratic process and British democracy
Into the gutter through their cultural wedge issues dividing rather than bringing Society together ensuring they are gandering the political process at every OPP every opportunity um so it’s because we want to um protect our Democratic process that we want to get rid of things like a
Part-time MP um um we want to make sure that we’re ping people’s voices the heart of the democratic process so the best thing we can do uh and I’m sure the labor party and also the liberal Democrats will be doing this in the next general election is um to protecting our
Democratic process and getting rid of the conservatives at the earliest opportunity thank you councelor Adam mckines councelor Steven boo thank you Madame man I will try and be brief because I think we’ve kicked this around for long enough really the in a democracy is participation of the
People you want to do the minimum to discourage them from elect from from taking part in an election getting voter ID is not a process uh without individual cost because you’ve got to come into the center of wherever your uh your rural District or County
Council um has its offices to um to hand in your um request for a voter ID and if you’re low wage that is going to take time off work and it’s going to cause cost as you use public transport only the Tory party would come up with an ID scheme introducing additional
Bureaucracy to local government and individual citizens there is evidence from around the world that shows that forcing voters to bring photographic ID to the polling station just makes it harder for people to vote in the US there is disproportionately disadvantage to already marginalized groups because so many people there
Don’t have passports because they cannot afford to travel Beyond um their country and many many people don’t dve drive and if you don’t drive you don’t have a driving license turning to elections in the UK and I’m quoting here mainly from the Electoral reform society which I
Have followed for nearly 50 years I think um elections are well run here anybody who’s been involved in local elections or parliamentary elections will see that the whole process is open to public gaze with the exception of what you do in the actual public polling station in the little polling Booth
Uh it’s all well run it this is as somebody’s already said a sledgehammer to crack a nut requirements to show idea polling stations will only stop people pretending to be somebody else in order to cast one fake vote this is an incredibly rare crime because it is such
A slow clunky way to steal an election and requires levels of organization that would be easy to spot and prevent and on the question of um voters thinking that they have the correct ID I can remember in the local election this year in jails we had somebody who was turned away even
Though they had photo ID and was a member of the the police force she was a dog hander and she had photo ID but that that wasn’t on the list so it’s it’s not just those without ID that will have to pay the cost of this the government’s own figures
Suggest the scheme will cost £180 million over the next decade who will pay we all pay this is one more of the incompetent government that we have at the moment of forcing costs onto onto all of us this is a pointless idea without evidence and devoid of good old British common
Sense thank you Madame mayor thank you councelor Steven boo councelor Nas Chri thank you Madame mayor um I’ll be speaking against this motion uh my parents they’re originally from Bangladesh a country which follows voter ID and I can tell you one thing it does not work in fact if it’s anything it’s a
Barrier to democracy um not every body um as Council mentioned not everybody has a passport not everybody has a driving license um and not to mention the cost that’s needed additional cost to man a voter ided election um you know just recently we were discussing budgets
And how tight things are how are we going to fund this um if we were to allow for um voter ID um it’s everybody’s right in this country to vote and to suppress that I could not I cannot U believe in it um another added complication uh some people’s IDs might
Have their maiden names in it um what what would happen if they were to turn up um and it didn’t match with their um name on The Electoral register would they be told to turn back as well so yeah I I wouldn’t be supporting this motion thank you thank you councelor nas
Coun Sarah me okay so I I am genu I’m genuinely completely Bamboozled I actually I feel like I’ve traveled back in time um the planet’s facing a crisis we’ve got a cost to living crisis the world is facing a security crisis um the UK government is facing a
Crisis but here I am debating something that I thought was in place because last elections I took along my ID um I did have um a man in my ward Furious that he he didn’t have the required ID yes he did um I did point out to him it was it
Was widely publicized he could get this from the council but um to to give you some illustration of of why people might not do that um some people are facing like big challenges in in their life so let’s take Mom Mom doesn’t have any idea anymore she’s um given in a driving
License um we we don’t have a passport so we don’t go anywhere we’ve got our council tax which we pay and trust me if we didn’t pay it the council know exactly who we are to to run after us to get it and they’ll post out the the voter forms
Um so some people are very unhappy with it some people are fine with it what whatever whatever it’s not my point um I’m I I’m genuinely confused because I thought this was already a thing um so then it runs through my mind why have you bought this to me my mistrust you’ll
Have to forgive me I can’t it’s ingrained in me are you suggest is this some kind of precursor to a national ID card um is is that what we’re getting at um and if we’re so concerned with the fraud that you suggest without evidence um broaders surely are not
Going to stop it not then fraudulently creating IDs cuz that that’s a thing too I’m I’m just I’m I’m completely confused I’m forgive me Madam mayor thank you councelor sarid councelor field BB Adam mayor I’d like everyone to use their imagination imagine we were asked to set
Up a new democracy ignore which party you belong to we are going to have one vote per person we say then who can vote everyone over 16 or 18 depending on your views well can anyone turn up to vote we say yes all you have to do is
Turn up at the polling station match with the name and address on the list and you can vote if you’re honest about it no one would set up a system like that we found we find ourselves in a strange situation of outdated Victorian principles that everyone will play the
Game fairly of course most people do but the number of people playing the game fairly is reducing we need a bow work against the problems seen in other countries if we were setting up a system for from scratch we wouldn’t even de be debating this all we hear is false arguments from other
Parties Madame mayor it’s entirely logical that we should need ID for voting and every sensible person would expect it thank you madam May thank you councelor bb our baroness Dr Sharon Taylor thank you Madame mayor and um it’s been an interesting debate to listen to and a lot of points already
Covered but um having listened to a further extension of this which I’ll go into in a minute it seems that having wrecked our economy our public services our reputation in the world the conservatives are now determined to threaten our precious democracy as well there are new things uh going through
Parliament at this very moment which uh involve extending the voting rights to those living overseas for an indefinite period so if you’ve lived abroad for 40 years or 50 years or even longer you will still have a vote in UK elections um and those new rules create a huge
Loophole in our donation law laws so um you know leaving uh our election uh Finance system dangerous it dangerously weakens the restrictions on overseas political donations at a time when we know there are Bad actors trying to influence our UK democracy and worse than that it leaves no one individual body responsible for
The enforcement of election Finance laws so um the National Crime agency has a role the uh electoral commission has a role but there is no one agency responsible for the enforcement of that the uh processes that have been put in place for assessing the right of overseas voters to vote as incredibly
Complex and there didn’t seem to be any understanding by the government that in most authorities where election work is done there will only be one or two officers uh managing the whole election proc process and this um huge burden of this additional uh registration of Voters is very considerable so um I will
Not be uh supporting uh this motion um because I think it’s just another step in a number of steps that this government has taken to try and create voter suppression of those that it doesn’t want to vote and to make life easier for those who uh will vote for
Them even if they haven’t lived in this country for many decades thank you barones Taylor um I just want to say that there is an indication that a um a member of the public would like to say something if it’s my is it you Mr Clark if it’s my discretion as a stepen
H mayor I would welcome you to speak but our chief executive has been checking the Constitution unfortunately I’m not allowed to let the public speak on this motion so my apologies Mr Clark councilor FY has the right to reply thank you I mean I find this this concept of suppression baffling when the
Law mandates the council to give a free ID which you can get up to 5:00 p.m on polling days so that’s that’s an interesting idea the definition of suppression in my mind for for years we’re knocking on doors on polling Day More residents and not have asked me what type of ID they
Should bring to vote when I used to tell them I didn’t need an ID to vote they didn’t see they didn’t that they didn’t need the election number they were amazed in many voters Minds the precedent for ID was already there I mean on a wider context Northern
Irelands required an ID to vote for many years it’s hardly an alien Concept in the UK I’m slightly surprised by how oppos the labor group art of otor ID for it to be described as suppression is really quite astonishing this policy according to labor is so bad so awful
Yet the published rules for labor party parliamentary selection meetings State you must have a for form of ID to enter and participate in the meeting so voter ID is a requirement within the labor party’s internal rules isn’t that bad after all clearly Madame mayor the security of the voting process is
Paramount voter ID reforms will help keep our Democratic process secure and trusted I hope members will do the right thing and show their support for the strengthening of our election process and the redoubling of the council’s comm’s effort to inform voters of the change thank you thank you councelor fy
We will now take a vote on the Motions so those those in favor please show by raising your hand thank you those against please show by raising your hand thank you any extensions please show by raising your hand thank you everyone the motion is lost let’s go to item 11 questions from
Members to committee chairs and portfolio holders each of the questions are set out in the agenda order of business the responses to the questions have been circulated to all members and may be found on the supplementary agenda on the council’s website each questioner may ask one supplementary question question a concern the swing
Gate house structure collaps during the demolition Works councelor nle they have a supplementary question thank you madam mayor um yes and thank you councelor Henry for your original answer um But continuing with the theme of building safety has a report been prepared detailing if there
Is a risk of rat Concrete in any of the buildings within sbc’s corporate estate and if so when would it be shared with councilors thank you counil Richard Henry to respond uh well firstly Margaret thank you for that um and the report you were requesting in the original question obviously doesn’t
Exist because they health and safety exec didn’t write a report and I thought we’ve reported that at a previous meeting uh in terms of rack I know there’s um investigations going on but I don’t think there’s anything we haven’t found any on our state as far as I’m
Where um Mr chief executive um so if we haven’t found any there isn’t a report to write but thank you for the secondary question thank you councelor Henry question B concerns enforcement action taken by the council over the past two years councelor M mcin do you have a
Supplementary question I do thank you very much uh Madame May and thank you very much to uh Council Holly pulling the we getting officers to dust off the archives and pulling together the the data for this um the purpose of the kind of question kind of digging into this is
Essentially around uh not enforcement but also successful enforcement uh and in my uh kind of small years of the council um is that that we do particularly poor in uh in enforcement and and making sure that you know kind of wrongdoing or poor poor behaviors um are um is essentially tackled or
Addressed and that particularly around enforcement so I wonder whether um Jackie H put it in writing about it’s good to hear that there’s 225 cases that are opened but I do wonder how many successful prosecutions enforcement actions or further actions have been taken out of those
225 open cases and whether that um uh uh supplementary question could also extend to all the other um uh kind of subcategories around successful enforcement action please thank you councelor Jackie Hollowell to respond y we right you thank you question C concerns the feast charg to owners of council manage garages
Councelor facy they have a supplementary question yes thank you thank you for your answer councelor Thomas I don’t disagree with the principle of what you’ve said but in practice we’re not always getting it right several Long Meadow residents who pay this charge have told us that there is no evidence
Of the council visiting their garage blocks since it was introduced in June 2022 at one garage block in Wood Drive a resident said a large pile of leaves from last Autumn were only removed in mid November of this year that’s despite the council’s website promising a quarterly sweeping of garage blocks as I
Said I’m not against the principle of the charge but I am against poor value for money what Performance Management can take takes place to ensure residents are receiving the service they’re paying for councelor Janette Thomas to respond thank you Brett for your question um at this point in time I’m
There there isn’t any I am I’m looking at the schedules uh I am one of those garage owners who has to pay the fee um unless you’re actually in the garage block when they come around it’s very difficult to uh prove that they’re going around uh I
Have the schedule and I have to believe that they’re doing that uh if any Resident is saying that they’re not then they should be reporting it and it can be followed up in that respect thank you thank you councelor Thomas question D concerns the use of land currently
Occupied by garages condemned due to asb’s contamination councelor farco harison they have a supplimentary question yes thank you madam May um and thank you Janette um glad to see a reference um to review for greater parking opportunities and just on that thought um a number of these contaminated garages are in the
Long Meadow W particularly around the Oaks cross area these streets already suffer from a chronic lack of parking before the loss of these garages in several roads these garages were practically the only dedicated residential parking area the council has a track record of demolishing garages only to build dense flat blocks with
Limited parking which only worsens the situation will you commit that the land these contaminate contaminated garages occupy will remain dedicated to residential parking will sever the long-term fate of the current garage structures councilor Janette Thomas to respond um I don’t think I can guarantee that as yet I haven’t actually built any
Flats on garage block spaces I’ve only built on other types of Brownfield sites so uh we haven’t built blocks but that was on an Old Pub site part of it was the garages related to that it wasn’t a carow park as such we will look at the at each
Block individually to determine what is the best use of it it may well be to provide ongoing parking it may well be to replace the asbesto garages with new garages it may well be to sell that site off or it may well be that we do look at some for housing
Development but we can’t guarantee what any of them will be used for we have to look at them each individually thank you thank you councelor Thomas question is about time skilles for responding to and dealing with issues raised by counselors counselor ren do you have a supplementary
Question yeah I do thank you Madame May and thanks councilor Roti for the uh response um I’ve got a few examples of I have dropped a few of my list since it’s quite late in the day but um abandoned cars in Elliot Road uh reported in July
This year Chase three times no action um all maintenance on campill Lane cycle path causing a hazard to cyclists reported in March this year Chase three times still no action um uh planning breaches from state agent signs across the town reported in August this year no action uh abandoned cars
And fly tipping garages in tford Road dating from last year overgrown Hedges blocking foot paths on chill’s way uh again dated from last year Chase many times still no action um I appreciate they’re all quite small you know not the most important um issues for this Council but it’s really
Frustrating when we report things in and and have to have to chase them up multiple times have to get back to Residents to say what what’s been gone when you when you go past um something in your W you think oh I reported that three three months ago I thought it was
Fixed and and it’s still there I I just wonder is there any way we can you know look at our complaint system that sort of tracks when issues are actually resolve rather than they they responded to there’s there’s no Central to respond jump in the gun there um there isn’t a
Central um means of tracking counselors inquiries uh because if you’re like most counselors I will go to some of my favorite officers and and ask them to uh deal with a problem um I also use your say and uh through your say we can track uh members inquiries um
Now officers should be prioritizing and uh um looking very quickly into members inquiries that doesn’t necessarily mean that they can deal with the issue uh quickly what they should be doing is coming back to you and saying this is a complex issue it’s on on our
List of repairs etc etc and it we anticipate it should be done by such a point and if it isn’t uh explain why and and I think um I have a lot of sympathy for your question counselor uh because uh I think we’ve all had issues over the last year
Um it’s something that that I am uh quite Keen to uh improve on all our behalf and on our residents behalf uh so um I’ll take this up with our officers and uh um hopefully we’ll see some improvement in the uh coming months thank you councilor Rosati question f is about the traffic
Enforcement around Local Schools councelor Ashley do you have a supplementary question I do thank you first of all thank you very much uh councelor s for your response and I really do recognize the efforts of the parking enforcement officers I think they’ve got a horrendous job trying to
Deal with the magnitude of repeated illegal incidents around schools this really has an adverse effect on the safety of pedestrians and is a constant sort of complaint source of complaints to schools I just think believe that we need need to maintain our a watch you know a watchful eye on this and be
Mindful of the issues involved and and it would it be possible to receive data from the parking enforcement agencies because on when I’ve reported sometimes they’ve actually said stevenage is quite strange in that they will go and ticket police areas but then they have to go back again and they’re doing exactly the
Same job whereas in some other areas in hartfordshire they go then it resolves the problem so I just would like to work with them and support them so thank you very much councilor to respond thank you Julie as you know it’s probably not my area of expertise because I’m jumping in because councelor
Brisco isn’t here to answer ask those questions but I’m very happy to get back to you um I would look around the room and and ask colleagues here how many of you as school Governors quite a few um last I knew issues surrounding specially Local Schools uh management of schools it’s
Down to the governing body to take up culs if they are are they really concerned about the stuff and I get your point about the modal shift we should be encouraging good school Governors would also be trying to put things in place to make sure that there’s you you know
Areas that they can kids can part the bikes up or um there’s some schools that have the uh pedestrian train that that that the little children can join on to so but I’m very happy to support any school Governors that are here so it’s something we might like to do to get
Together sometime and and talk about if your school you have a concern about your school and children parents parking sadly we do live in a a Time time where then two parents are not as lucky as I was my husband and I were able he was
Able to say you can be a stay-at-home mom um the parents these days don’t get that choice so if you have a child that you need to drop off and be at work you have a very small window of opportunities to be able to do that so I
Have a deep empathy with the parents as well so perhaps those of us that are Governors let’s put our heads together and see that what we can do to come up with a a solution in the future thank you that’s brilliant thank you councelor bar question G is about the use of the
Council’s geographical information system councelor Booth do you have a supplementary question yes I do Madame mayor um can I first of all thank councelor ratti for a very detailed response there uh GIS has been something that I’ve been involved in or On The Fringe of for more
Than 30 years and when it was first uh launched when it first came to public attention it was a little more than what we call digital mapping the critical thing with with GIS is not so much the mapping it’s the information that you put into the system
The uh assets and their position what I would like to know is um who is charged with updating the gis um I assume that it’s only a small number of members of the council staff is there a GIS team and when uh users of the system discover anomalies and incorrect data what effort
Is made put in to update the data because that’s the key to G to GIS it’s really such an important tool that local authorities and government and public sector can use but it does rely on really good underlying data thank you councilor L to respond please thank you for that supplementary
Councilor Booth I don’t have that answer ready to hand uh we’ll write to you thank you question eight concerns the Christmas Tre in the Town Center councelor snail do you have a supplementary question uh yes thank you very much and I’d like to thank thank the leader for his answer I hope it
Doesn’t appear that I’m anti- Christmas just just look at me um uh although I would dispute the benefits of the carbon saving reported there was a recent program on radio for talking about this subject and it was different to the answer I was given but I would like to know if the so-called
Tree is now SBC property or if it or if it is on iron and how much is costing in comparison with a n natural tree a written answer would do me very nicely thank you very much and lastly where’s the star on the top councelor Richard
Henry thank you grman yeah I I quite like you jumper um yeah I mean in terms of your original question we we’ve um received a number of very positive responses from the public there’s always a balance when people have change um they don’t like it in terms of um the
Location obviously the Town Center management company who work very closely with retail and business in the town um were were very much consulted certainly any feedback on the tree its decoration and its location will be um taken into consideration for next year because we do own the tree and
It I think in in my answer it did say about um it’s easier to store and um so therefore the implication was it is hours it’s not on I have to say it does look a bit lonely in the in the Square thank you thank you yeah sorry if you’re
Allowing him to come back I’ll come back as well Madame mayor yeah no you’re absolutely right um and I didn’t know of it’s appearance until it appeared um and you know um I would hope that next year we can make it a little bit more um colorful and um certainly a star
Or something else on the top might be uh something to look forward to next year but thank you for the question thank you see everything is important question I concerns Communications to tenants regarding asbest contaminated carriages councelor Mitchell do have a supplementary question yes please and and thank you councelor Thomas for your
Written response to my first question um I’ve been approached by um garage tenants who have used garages for many years decades in some cases and been told that that long-term use won’t be a detriment to their health and yet now the the the garages are dangerous I’ve
Also been approached by tenants who have said that although there’s asbestos in the garage if it’s undisturbed that they should be fine and and there should be no risk through them I’ve also been told by other uh residents that they’ve just been told to get out because the place
Is dangerous so um could you please let us know if asbestos garages are dangerous to health or not and Could you um guarantee um sort of more um uh more measured and more sort of um constant respon response in our Communications to our residents so that
They can know one way or the other thank you I’ll hello Janette Thomas to respond thank you as I’m not an asbestos expert I will have to get you a written answer to that Adam sorry thank you councelor Thomas question g j concerns plans for the Bley Hill play center site counil
Kby do you have a supplementary question thank you for the response and I’m really pleased to hear that the um site is still going to be used for child care and that’s great thank you and I’m glad that it’s going to be soon as well
It’s looking a bit rund down and sad so thanks for the response and no further questions thank you do you have councelor Sandra bars you and I go on a little visit shall We thank you so there’s a happy one there question K concerns the censation of the live streaming of scrutiny meetings councilor Parker do you have a supplementary question yes thank you thank you Madame May yes um and thanks for the answer and thanks the officers for voluntarily doing the streaming work
Um which they have been doing uh for a long time and the resources to do more streaming should of course be provided and incidentally members weren’t told of the decisions to stop streaming overview and scrutiny the supplementary question I have is this uh will uh I mean scrutin
Is important so will you look into allowing an opposition member to occasionally chair a scrutiny function or a scrutiny committee um it’s an important change it would be at absolutely no cost to the council um and it’s one you should and could and should consider uh to make the scrutiny system
More answerable and who knows uh it may even Elevate interest in the scrutiny function at stevenage note I did not say I did not say that it had to be a liberal Democrat member doing this I said an opposition member that’s my supplementary question thank you thank you councelor Parker
Councelor Richard Henry to respond thank you madam mayor um thank you Robin yeah of course we um we’re looking at um all the options available I know around the country um various councils do have opposition members um chairing scrutiny um I think that the vice chairs of the scrutiny committees
Are opposition on the whole I think that’s the case um yeah of course we’ll review um these and um um but I can’t make any promises at the moment thank you thank you councelor Henry so now we are in item 12 the mid year treasury management review 2023
2024 so this report has been circulated with the agenda and may be found at page 23 chief executive M do you have anything to add thank you Madame mayor and nothing to add thank you thank you councelor Janette Thomas to move the recommendations thank you Madame mayor
And in view of the uh lateness of the hour I will just formally move the motion thank you thank you councilor Richard Henry the second thank you Madame mayor I’ll formally um second the motion reserve my right to speak thank you does anyone wish to speak councelor Steven boo thank you
Madame mayor and very very briefly can I just draw uh well particularly the uh um Director of Finance to page 26 where we have chart one treasury management strategy statement um I just wonder who uh thinks or what is going to happen at the end of
June I think 25 2025 where we’re still paying 4.3 4.1% of the pwb Because by the following September it’s all down to 3% that seems a very uh um interesting forecast I just wonder if anybody can throw any light upon it councelor Janette councelor Janette CLA will come back to you with a
An answer around that thank you Stephen and I have it so right to reply okay councelor Henry you have okay all right okay so we will now take a vote on the motion so those in favor please show by raising your hand okay thank you the motion is
Carried so item 13 polling districts and polling places review so this report has been circulated with the agenda and may be found at page 41 chief executive they have anything to add thank you Madame mayor your voice is just about holding out so far so we’re
Almost there uh yes so has been quite widely consulted uh upon to include discussions with the uh group leaders uh and presentations to them as well the draft report was also shared with group leaders prior to it being finalized and no further comments were raised so I’ll stop there Madam mayor thank you
Councilor Richard Henry to move the recommendations thank you Madame mayor I’ll formally move the recommendation thank you councilor Clair Parish the second I for me second this thank you thank you does anyone wish to speak councelor Andy mcin uh thank you thank you very much Madame mayor um I know that well first
To say thank you very much uh to the chief executive and to Luke and his team for a really comprehensive report uh I know they can accuracy validity and comprehensiveness off officer reports are really important to my group so it’s only kind of due process to really kind
Of call out and congratulate when you know a really good piece of work is done it is widely consulted and I think that the the um the the point about there’s only two people actually asked a few questions around that that really points to um how well thought out well briefed
And the excellent work has done on this so thank you thank you councelor mckines councelor Henry has the right to reply thank you Madame thank you Andy and I think it is Testament to Luke and his team um in the way they put this together obviously a number of members
Did approach them informally about concerns they had and that was taken into account when they drew up that um report so uh just thank you um we will now take a vote on the Motions those in favor please show by raising your arm thank you yes thank you motion is
Carried item 14 the audit committee minutes the minutes of the audit committee meeting held on 8 of November 2023 are on page 129 of the agenda and are here for information only as this body is an advisory committee of the council does anyone wish to speak no thank you so everyone oh
Hold that concludes the business of the agenda thank you all for your attendance and contribution at tonight’s meeting as I’ve said as your stepen H mayor I always enjoy the council meeting and with all the passions from everyone as this is our last full council meeting of
The calendar year I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year and I hope to see as many of you tomorrow for the Christmas social gathering in the ingelheim L and for me personally thank you all for your support
And your help I am I really proud and a very happy Stephen H mayor so have a safe journey home and good evening everyone thank you and thank you all the M please stand thank you thank you