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 shared the following announcements with Council:
· Levelling up fund
Earlier this month, Cabinet supported a proposal to make a significant bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund with the aim of further boosting the regeneration of our city.
It was a competitive bidding process and up to £20m of capital funding was available for regeneration and cultural investment schemes. There was no guarantee that we would be successful, but an ambitious bid, for the full £20 million would be submitted, which would see the further transformation of the Northern Gateway area of the city centre.
A number of transformational schemes were already underway or were in the pipeline in this area including the refurbishment of the Newport Indoor Market and Market Arcade, the proposed creation of a co-working and incubator hub in the Information Station building and the provision of a new active travel footbridge between Devon Place and Queensway.
This additional money would be used to enhance the public realm in this area, it was hoped that when people arrived to Newport, that they would be met with a view that reflected the quality of the place that Newport actually was, that represented our ambitions and was positive and welcoming for visitors and investors alike.
There would be a focus on green infrastructure, active travel, the wider Newport Offer and of course reflecting the ethos of the Placemaking Charter.
The Leader would provide a regular update on the bidding process at it progressed.
· Clean air day
Earlier this month the Council marked Clean Air Day 2021 with an excellent event at the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome for Wales.
The purpose of Clean Air Day was to highlight air pollution, build awareness of how it affected health, and explore some of the things that could be done to tackle the problem.
Every year, air pollution caused?up to?36,000?deaths in the UK.??The World Health Organisation and the UK Government recognised that air pollution was the largest environmental health risk we faced today.
The Leader was delighted to welcome Lee Waters MS, the new deputy minister for climate change, to the event where we showcased some of the work that both the council and our public sector partners were doing to improve the air quality in the city.
This included installing renewable energy generating solar panels on 27 of our buildings, including the largest rooftop installation in Wales at the Velodrome itself.
The showcase also featured a number of electric vehicles, which included our electric refuse collection vehicle, the first of its kind in Wales, one of Newport Transport’s electric buses, and an electric taxi.
We still had a long way to go in making our air cleaner for future generations, but there was a lot of good work already throughout Newport, and the actions being taken today would deliver a greener, healthier city for tomorrow.
· Success of No Mow May
Another project we have recently taken part in that focused on sustainability in Newport was No Mow May.
The campaign encouraged individuals, councils and stakeholders to support bees, butterflies and other wildlife by letting wild flowers grow on lawns and green spaces throughout May instead of mowing them.
We pledged our support in recognition of our status as a Bee Friendly City, and on our duty to enhance nature and take actions that helped counter the impact of climate change.
The move to support the campaign also followed successful trials of different programmes of grass management, and different wildflower seed mixes in our designated ‘leave to grow’ pilot sites.
As a direct result of reduced mowing, we saw some lovely examples of flora including beautiful Bee Orchids blooming on our verges.
We would review this year’s experiences and learn from them, but had every intention of continuing to support such schemes that benefitted the environment across our city.
· Generation rent
Together with campaigning body Generation Rent, we recently launched a new project to improve engagement with people who were privately renting their homes.
While most properties in the city were in good condition, a number of landlords broke the law by renting out homes that were substandard or not fit to live in.
A survey was currently running that aimed to get a better understanding of the challenges faced by private renters as well as discover what they understood about their rights.
Initially, it would be seeking the views of people living in the Stow Hill, Victoria, Pillgwenlly and Lliswerry wards where there were high numbers of privately rented homes.
After the consultation ended, the project would move to stage two with focus-group discussions and forums with private renters.
The Leader urged residents to take part and share their views by visiting: Newport.gov.uk/haveyoursay
· Foster care fortnight and Carers week
The Council recently celebrated Foster care fortnight and carers week. Both events were marked with some excellent reflections and communications around the amazing commitment shown by these groups of people.
Around 580 unpaid carers were known to us, but the 2011 Census reported that about 16,500 people in Newport said they were caring for someone.
They included young carers who were helping to look after a parent or sibling; parents looking after children with additional needs or serious conditions; "sandwich" carers juggling the needs of parents and children and anyone caring for someone who could not manage without help.
The Leader wanted to take the opportunity to encourage carers to get in touch so that the could offer help and support.
Foster carers, who did so much to support some of the most vulnerable young people in our city should also be commended.
Unfortunately, Newport was always in need of more foster carers and the Leader also I urged anyone who may be considering it to get in touch and find out more about what could be an immensely rewarding experience.
· EUSS
Finally, the Leader wanted to repeat the reminder that the deadline for applications to the European Settlement Scheme was the end of this month.
The Council had heard that the government would allow some exceptions for late application, but we did not want anyone living in our city to face any difficulties in staying or in their everyday lives due to a late application.
Support was available and if anyone knew of someone in this position, the Leader asked that they to get in touch, either online or through the contact centre; we were able to help.
Questions to the Leader
Councillor M Evans
Councillor Evans referred to the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure’s statement in February where it was mentioned that the conservative group had not put forward an alternative budget since elected in 2012 and advised that this was not the case and fully costed alternative budgets were put forward up until 2016/217. Councillor Evans therefore asked whether the Leader thought that the Cabinet Member should apologise.
The Leader mentioned that it was interesting to note the feedback from members during the budget consultation and that it was important to hear from a range of people. If an alternative budget had been put forward for the budget and this was evidenced, then the Leader would acknowledge this and move on.
Supplementary Question
Councillor M Evans said that he assumed that was a yes and that she apologised. The councillor went on to mention promoting high standards in conduct and referred to Councillor Truman provided an apology when he had got something wrong. . Councillor Evans thanked the Leader for her answer and hoped that he would get a full and frank apology from the Cabinet Member.
Leader replied that Councillor M Evans might want to reflect on the recording of her answer to see what actually said rather than reframing the Leader’s response.
Councillor K Whitehead
Councillor Whitehead had tendered a motion that David ‘Bomber’ Pearce receive a posthumous Freedom of the City Award to the previous Leader, Baroness Wilcox. Unfortunately, this was not possible but the Baroness actively encouraged councillor Whitehead to look into the Spirit of Newport Award. There was however no progress on this, the Rocky initiative was still ongoing and a young sportsman had been granted funding. Councillor Whitehead therefore wondered if this process would be revisited.
The Leader commended the collective community spirit in erecting the statue for David ‘Bomber’ Pearce. The Spirit of Newport award however, was put on the back burner because of Covid but the Leader would look into this and the criteria, sometime in the near future. The Leader was keen that a way should be found to acknowledge the contribution for a range of citizens, especially during the pandemic, small acts of kindness should be acknowledged as well. The Leader reiterated that this had not been forgotten and that the pandemic has raised the need for some form of recognition.
Supplementary Question
Councillor Whitehead also mentioned that people under the Rocky legacy, had supported the homeless and therefore hoped that David ‘Bomber’ Pearce would get his recognition.
Councillor C Townsend
Councillor Townsend asked if the Leader could update council on the Friars Walk situation.
The Leader advised that the Council was faced with challenges during pandemic and following on from it, and that the Council needed to prepare for the economic impact One of the challenges for Newport was that the majority of the property in the city centre was in private ownership. We had limited discussion with the owners at Friars Walk and they were looking into a number ways to revive Friars Walk and a number of units had been let, there were ongoing discussions but it would not be appropriate at this stage to disclose the commercially sensitive information in this public forum. An update however would be provided to councillors as discussion progressed.
Councillor T Holyoake
Councillor Holyoake asked if the Leader could provide an update to the Council on the Covid 19 recovery strategy.
The Leader advised that she attended a recent strategic recovery group and across Gwent there was a huge response to move towards recovery. There were four strategic recovery aims: 1) To support education and employment and the challenges Covid presented such as loss of business and vulnerable learners. 2) The environment. 3) The health and wellbeing of citizens and 4) To support citizens post Covid 19. The Leader had worked closely to support schools to safely re-open and continued to work closely with them. From the middle of June onwards, lateral flow test kits had been made available for staff in schools and was important for recovery. Around 7,000 Digital devices in were being distributed to schools and there was still degree of uncertainty but blended learning was ongoing. The council was also aware of the need for learners to have access to internet and ensured that pupils had that access.
Job opportunities was also a priority, one example of this was that the Leader was working with The Celtic Manor, who had a number of vacancies and would be linking these with our Youth Academy to help people find employment.
The Cabinet had also put in a number of bids towards the Community Renewal Funding to help towards the Covid recovery.
The Council was also able to continue to distribute grants to small businesses and regulatory services had to be commended for their work they were undertaking.
The Leader also invited colleagues to view Cabinet via the Live Event where regular Covid recovery updates were provided.