To deal with supplementary questions arising from the attached questions of which written notice has been given.
Notes:
(i) Answers to written questions shall be circulated at the commencement of the meeting.
(ii) The Lord Mayor will have regard to the list of questions and the political composition of the Council in calling on Members to put their supplementary question to the Leader of Council and Portfolio Holders.
(iii) A period of up to 30 minutes shall be available for supplementary questions to Members of the Executive.
1. Councillor Carol Thirkill
Can you outline the work undertaken by the council to reduce the number of empty homes in the district?
2. Councillor Sally Birch
Given the increasing number of high profile organisations including The Equality and Human Rights Commission, the BBC, the Government’s Equality Office and numerous Government Departments to name but a few, opting to withdraw from the highly controversial Stonewall Equality Index, what benefits does the Council believe will be achieved by continuing to pursue this “accreditation”?
3. Councillor Jeanette Sunderland
Figures reported by the ADASS (Association of Directors of Adult Social Services) show a “rapidly deteriorating situation in relation to social care for older and disabled people and for carers.” Their (ADASS) Rapid Survey shows that whilst Councils are delivering more care and support in people’s homes, people are waiting longer for assessments and reviews. In the light of this report can you inform members of Council either the Council’s response to both the Rapid Survey and the Spring Survey or confirm for our District a) How many people are currently awaiting social care assessments, care and support or reviews and if there has been an increase in the last three months compared to the figures for the last three years, b) How many people have been waiting for more than six months for each of the last three years c) How many people are waiting for a review of their existing care and support plans and how long have they been waiting and d)How many people have been offered care and support that they would not have chosen due to recruitment and retention issues?
4. Councillor Matt Edwards
What meetings have taken place since May 2021 between the portfolio holder, any councillors and Council Officers regarding the plans for ‘improvements’ to the A650 Tong Street? When will ward councillors be consulted on current plans? – and most importantly when will the public be consulted?
5. Councillor Nussrat Mohammed
The Council closed off Shay Lane in our ward to make it safer for cyclists as part of temporary road changes during the pandemic. I’ve been getting lots of positive feedback from residents and requests to make it permanent, so could the portfolio holder advise if that’s an option?
6. Councillor Taj Salam
What more can we do to press the government to help with the transition to electric vehicles given the financial burden that people and businesses will face – in particular taxi and other vehicle operators? I’m concerned about the purchase price of EVs but also the cost of charging – surely the government should put in place a price cap on energy firms’ excessive profiteering from charging EVs? Can’t the government also offer better financial incentives to encourage the switch to EVs and reduce the charging costs for small businesses?
7. Councillor Debbie Davies
Whereas most libraries in the district re-opened fully earlier this year Baildon library continued with a click and collect service only because of structural problems with the building. Last month we were told it has now re-opened for limited visitors which is obviously great news but was it kept closed unnecessarily for six months as Officers have confirmed there have been no material changes to the condition of the building?
8. Councillor Nazam Azam
What are the next steps in Bradford’s bid to be UK City of Culture?
9. Councillor Vanda Greenwood
Can the portfolio holder outline the key points from the social care white paper and what it means for the people of our district? Also do you share my concern that the government’s approach shockingly puts the burden on the least well off and fails to deliver the real reforms we need?
10.Councillor Debbie Davies
Could the Portfolio Holder for Healthy People and Places please provide an update on the Covid Hub team – how many people are there, where they are based, what they are doing and what are the future plans are?
11.Councillor Alun Griffiths
Of the 582 cut down lighting columns listed in the answer to my question at the last council meeting, how many have been replaced since then? How many of the 19 in Idle and Thackley Ward?
12.Councillor Shakeela Lal
Does the Leader join me in congratulating the University of Bradford’s business school for being named best in the country at the Times Higher Education Awards?
13.Councillor Nussrat Mohammed
Double parking is an ongoing problem raised by a number of constituents and it is a worry that emergency vehicles could struggle to get past. Can the portfolio holder outline what powers local authorities have on this and what actions are we able to take to tackle the problem?
14.Councillor Geoff Winnard
Could the Portfolio Holder for Healthy People and Places inform members of what the Council is doing to ensure that the health and social care needs of our district will be heard and taken into account in the proposed statutory Integrated Care System for West Yorkshire and will the new arrangements provide an opportunity for joint commissioning of services with the NHS?
15. Councillor Taj Salam
The government is finally catching up with Bradford Council’s approach on EV charging points. The Prime Minister has announced plans for all new-builds to have EV charging points. Can the portfolio holder confirm how many years we’ve had this policy in Bradford and what successes it’s achieved so far?
16.Councillor Caroline Firth
Can the leader explain what communication the council’s emergency response team had from Northern Power grid after power was knocked out in various areas across the district due to Storm Arwen? What help did they put in place for residents and what offer of support was made to the council from Northern Power grid to aid our residents? What is the learning from this incident? Will she join me in thanking and praising residents and council staff who stepped up and helped those affected?
17.Councillor Bob Felstead
We note that Bradford Council support the West Yorkshire Mayor’s White Rose Forest scheme which seeks to remove carbon from the air and also to address the issue of natural flood management in the Aire Valley and should be grateful if the Leader of Council would guarantee a similar commitment to support the excellent work carried out by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, which will also remove CO2 from the atmosphere and also fulfils the Council commitments to improve natural flood risk management along the Wharfe Valley, which affects homes in the district.
18.Councillor David Warburton
Can the portfolio holder give an update on Wyke Sports Village?
19.Councillor Paul Godwin
I welcome that the Leader has called on government to bring an end to the environmentally damaging practice of heather burning on our moorlands. Has the Leader had a response yet from government and what are the next steps?
20.Councillor David Heseltine
Given that young people want to feel safe and be able to use play facilities such as Skateparks and MUGAS in the dark days of winter, would it not be sensible, while upgrading our street lamps to LED, that BMDC consider lighting play facilities to allow them to be used for more of the year?
21.Councillor Matt Edwards
Following the Schools Street Pilot, can you provide a breakdown of each school site and whether the pilot has been deemed to have succeeded or requires improvements, or indeed has failed.
22. Councillor Hassan Khan
We have badly ageing hospital buildings in the Bradford district and yet we’ve not seen the same government grant funding here that other parts of the country have seen. I know the Leader has lobbied strongly on this and is supporting our district’s bid for brand-new hospitals to replace Airedale, Lynfield Mount and the BRI. When will we hear back from government?
23. Councillor Zafar Iqbal
What actions are we taking together with the police to help women stay safe on nights out and in other public spaces?
24.Councillor Mike Pollard
As a result of performance shortcomings in respect of years prior to 2020/21, the Council’s delivery of the ‘Families First’ programme was placed on a ‘Recovery Plan’ with increased MHCLG (as then named) intervention and scrutiny, due to not meeting its targets of the numbers of families being worked with in a ‘whole family’ way and the number of family outcomes achieving significant and sustained progress. Could the Portfolio Holder please quantify the monetary resource lost to the Council over the period of the underperformance identified (the benchmark to be used in that calculation being the 100% achieved in 2020/21)?
25.Councillor Jeanette Sunderland
Does the Portfolio Holder think that the current arrangements for scrutinising the work of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Mayor are sufficiently robust to give confidence to residents that the governments “levelling up” agenda will indeed work for Bradford?
26. Councillor Mohsin Hussain
Does the portfolio holder have an update on timescales for delivery of the Towns Fund projects in Keighley?
27.Councillor Taj Salam
As we head into the cold winter months will the portfolio holder outline our current actions to support rough sleepers off the streets and into accommodation.
28.Councillor David Heseltine
Further to the last Council meeting what progress has been made on the "priority" that is resolving the ventilation and now flooring problems, to allow Bingley Youth Cafe to open again and as Bingley Pool is destined to close due to Bradford Council being unwilling to offer up a serviceable facility for a CAT, what plans are there to ensure Bingley Youth Cafe has a permanent home in the town?
29.Councillor Aneela Ahmed
Can the portfolio holder give an update on how the Darley Street Market and Bradford Live regeneration schemes are progressing and how many jobs they are expected to create?
30.Councillor Mohammed Shafiq
Can the portfolio holder update me on the progress made in children’s services?
31.Councillor Rebecca Poulsen
Could the Portfolio Holder for Childrens’ Services inform members of what incentives have been given consideration as part of a recruitment package to attract experienced children’s’ social workers to work for Bradford MDC?
32.Councillor Nussrat Mohammed
Will the portfolio holder give an update on how we are progressing with delivery of the new streetlights programme, the main benefits in terms of maintenance, cost savings and the environment and how it’s being rolled out across the district?
33.Councillor Kyle Green
Could the Portfolio Holder for Healthy People and Places advise when the council will look to invest in Ilkley Pool and Lido to provide adequate family changing facilities, modern equipment including gym facilities?
34. Councillor Geoff Reid
Is the provision of traffic signals at the junction of Moorside Road and Harrogate Road, Eccleshill, still on the agenda? If so, at which point in the construction of hundreds of houses on the Fagley Quarry site are they likely to appear?
35.Councillor Matt Edwards
What is the status of plans for a truck rest stop in Bradford South and what action does the Council plan to take to assist residents who are seeing their roads becoming “unofficial” rest stops and being subjected to round the clock disruption from HGVs parking for extended breaks outside their homes?
36. Councillor Debbie Davies
Would the Leader of the Council inform colleagues why, instead of spending £27.5m on One City Park for 56,000 square feet of office space, the council doesn’t just buy The Interchange building which is £4.2m for 60,000 square feet of Grade A office space and available now?
37. Councillor Jeanette Sunderland
Will the Leader join me in commending local people in Idle and Thackley ward and elsewhere who have fund-raised to enable the installation of defibrillators in public spaces? Will she then advise what plans does the Council have to help with the installation of defibrillators in community used buildings and spaces?
38.Councillor Kevin Warnes
Would the Leader please (a) update Council on the School Streets pilot programme currently being trialled across the District; (b) agree to circulate minutes from the meetings of the working group that – I understand - is made up of the Council’s Highways and Public Health Teams and which was established to guide the process moving forward; and (c) provide some details about how the Council has engaged with school, political, and other key stakeholders such as the emergency services over the past six months?
