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Agenda item

Questions to the Leader of the Council

To provide an opportunity for Councillors to ask questions to the Leader of the Council in accordance with the Council’s Standing Orders.

 

Process:

 

No more than 15 minutes will be allocated at the Council meeting for questions to the Leader of the Council.

 

The question must be addressed through the Mayor or the person presiding at the meeting and not directly to the person being questioned.

Minutes:

The Leader gave the following announcements, before proceeding with questions:

 

The New Leader took the opportunity to thank Baroness Wilcox and her colleagues for their support during the nomination for Leadership.  The Leader also thanked her family, and the community of Malpas for their support, which meant a lot, especially as she was a Newport resident, born in Malpas. 

 

The Leader named three individuals particularly, including her father, David Taylor and Ron Jones.

 

The Leader continued addressing the Council with mention to the difficult and challenging times faced by the Council and the need to work together.

 

Leader’s Questions

 

Councillor M Evans thanked the Leader and continued with his question in relation to budget proposals, requesting that the Leader would extend the consultation period, as Caerphilly Council had started their consultation period much earlier.  In addition to this it was suggested that apart from any rise in inflation, there would be a freeze on Council tax increases to council.

 

The Leader could not comment on activities of other authorities and advised that officers were still developing proposals around the draft budget. Therefore, it would not be appropriate for her to comment at this stage.

 

Councillor M Evans was invited to ask a supplementary, where he reiterated that he hoped for the sake of Newport residents that the only increase to the council tax would reflect the rate of inflation with no further increases by the Council.

 

Councillor Whitehead congratulated the New Leader on her appointment and referred to the antisocial behaviour in Bettws and the lack of provision for youth and children, such as youth clubs. 

 

The Leader was aware of challenges faced by youth across the city.  There was a mobile youth service in place and the contribution from volunteers across the city was valued, this included the help of Councillor Cleverly.  There was a scheme at Newport High were former Captain of Newport County Captain, David Pike was working with young people to build confidence and self-esteem.  The Leader would be more than happy to speak with Councillor Whitehead at length regarding this issue, if he would like to make an appointment.

 

Councillor C Townsend asked if there was an update on an all Member seminar on litter and street cleaning as discussed at July Council.  There will still a high amount of litter and fly tipping within the City Centre and not one ward could claim to be litter free and it was a public health hazard.

 

The Leader acknowledged that it was an important question and would arrange an all member seminar in the near future. The Leader also mentioned that it would be remiss of her not to acknowledge volunteers that help keep Newport tidy, including Councillors Forsey and Councillor M Evans.  Hygiene factors were very important and all members needed to be aware of all the activities.

 

Councillor Hughes requested an update on regeneration across the city.

 

The Leader highlighted the progress on some of the projects across the City, this included the Commercial Street development by Pobl which was specifically being developed for over 55s, and was transforming the appearance of the area. The design of the building was iconic and the Leader had received many positive comments.  The project was contributing to the regeneration of the City Centre, making it a place where people wanted to live and encourage the day and night-time economy.  The former IAC Building was on track to be completed in Spring 2020.  The former Chartist Tower was almost complete in its transformation into a four star hotel, the Leader had recently visited the building, which boasted stunning views of the City.  The regeneration projects within Newport were slowly leading to a positive transformation to City Centre and surrounding environment.  The Market Arcade regeneration project was also underway with funding from Heritage Lottery Funding and the Welsh Government.  The Market Arcade had independent business in that area, which contributed to the night-time economy.  There was also funding from the Welsh Government thematic strand of the tri funding scheme to support owners to regenerate their facades. These projects helped to create the vibrancy and thriving atmosphere across Newport.  The Leader was very pleased with the progress of the schemes and was looking forward to bringing more projects to the Council in due course.