To provide an opportunity to pose questions to Cabinet Members in line with Standing Orders.
Process:
No more than 10 minutes will be allocated at the Council meeting for questions to each Cabinet Member.
Members must submit their proposed questions in writing in advance in accordance with Standing Orders. If members are unable to ask their question orally within the allocated time, remaining questions will be answered in writing. The question and response will be appended to the minutes.
The question must be addressed through the Mayor or the person presiding at the meeting and not directly to the person being questioned.
Questions will be posed to Cabinet Members in the following order:
i. Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education and Early Years
ii. Cabinet Member for Community and Wellbeing
iii. Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Regulation and Housing
iv. Cabinet Member for Social Services
v. Cabinet Member for Organisational Transformation
vi. Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Bio-Diversity
vii. Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Assets
Minutes:
Question 1: Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Assets
Councillor Reeks:
The proposed 2024/2025 budget is looking to raise revenue by increasing charges across car parks including the Kingsway Centre car park by 9%, potentially putting off more shoppers from heading into the city centre.
Would the Cabinet Member not agree with me that by better managing the car park itself, such as not having the lighting running all night and opening up the car park on all Rodney Parade match days to bring more trade into the car park, then potentially more revenue could be raised, and shoppers would not be penalised for bringing their trade into the city centre?
Response from Councillor Lacey:
Kingsway car park provides an excellent facility for visitors to the city, being a modern car park close to the City’s attractions. The facility, which utilises energy efficient lights, operates emergency level lighting when the car park is not in use. Along with our other work in reducing the carbon emissions of the Councils activities such as the increase in our own EV fleet, we are currently progressing a scheme to install a solar panel system on the roof of Kingsway that will provide energy for the car park.
The car park is typically open everyday bar Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, with opening on Boxing Day being considered on an annual basis. As such, any demand from Rodney Parade match days would be accommodated apart from those two days per year. In the event of Kingsway being closed, the Council’s other surface car parks will be available.
Question 2: Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Biodiversity
Councillor Mogford:
Within the previous NCC corporate plan (2017-2022) it was stated “We have restored the “Pride in Newport” waste and litter programme and established zero tolerance initiatives for fly tipping throughout the city.”
In a recent response to my ‘question at any time’ regarding worrying levels of fly tipping in the city the Cabinet Member simply stated “With regards to fly tipping Newport has the second highest successful prosecution rate in Wales”
However, if we look closely at the statistics for the previous period 2022/2023 (source Welsh Government) there were 5,631 investigations carried out by NCC and less than 40 fines issued (of which only 14 prosecutions made).
Can the Cabinet Member confirm that continuing on as part of the corporate plan and now on their watch; this NCC administration has really established and maintained a zero-tolerance approach to fly tipping and if so, why does the Cabinet Member think the trend remains one of increasing fly tipping across Newport?
Response from Councillor Forsey:
The Council has, over the last few years, increased the resources available to tackle fly tipping, with the expansion of the waste engagement and enforcement team. There has also been increased work with partner organisations and volunteer groups, and a number of key projects such as covert operations or the successful Road to Nature project.
The Council actively encourages people to report fly tipping, and the waste team carry out proactive routes and monitoring of hotspots. While all this can lead to an increase in the number of incidents recorded and reported, it is the right approach to ensure fly tipping incidents are adequately managed, and more importantly it has resulted in a significant increase in the number of actions taken as a result.
Actions cover a wide range of activities and in many cases, officers cannot reach the Fixed Penalty Notice or prosecution stages due to the lack of evidence, as there are set rules that need to be followed and the legal process is complex. This is why the level of sanctions issued across UK has traditionally been and still is low, however Newport City Council has improved dramatically over the last few years and this trend continues.
This concluded the meeting of full council. Date of next meeting for Council would be Thursday 29 February 2024.