Agenda item

Members Questions under Council Procedure Rule 12

Members question time will last up to 30 minutes, with questions being taken in the

order of receipt and in rotation from each political group on the Council. The deadline for submission of questions is Friday 13 December at 12 noon . Questions to be submitted to democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

 

Questions can be asked of the following:

a) The Mayor

b) A Member of the Executive

c) The Chairman of any Committee

d) The Council’s representative on any outside body

 

Questions cannot be asked in relation to the following:

a) A specific planning or licensing application

b) A specific staffing appointment, appeal or Standards determination

Minutes:

The Mayor announced that the Proper Officer had received 2 questions from Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12. She advised that one supplementary question could be asked which must arise out of the original question, or, the reply.  

 

Questions would be asked in rotation of the Groups represented in the Chamber and there was 30 minutes allowed for questions with 1 rotation of speakers possible. At the end of 30 minutes the Mayor explained that she would extend the time to conclude the current rotation of questions.

 

The Mayor announced that the following Councillors had submitted questions:

 

Councillors Martin McCabe and Sally Smith

 

The order would be 

 

First rotation:  Councillors Sally Smith and Martin McCabe 

 

First rotation: 

 

Question from Councillor Sally Smith to the Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing

 

The Labour Group welcomed the decision to accept funds of up to £60,000 from WSCC as a short -term funding measure to address risks associated with young people who may be  drawn into serious violence. As we understand that a plan needed to be made within a short timescale, could the Executive Member provide us with an update on this important issue.

 

The Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing replied that a plan for this work was being developed with the Councils partners to utilise this short term funding, focusing on three areas: 

 

  • Parents and their awareness of serious violence and tools to prevent this;
  • Multi-agency professionals - focusing on developing awareness and skills to enable them to work with young people in short term ways
  • Young people at risk of serious violence- referred by the Schools - who will receive short-term brief interventions.

 

The funding had to be spent by the end of March and therefore it was likely that not all of it would be spent within the time period.  The Council was working closely with WSCC, the CCG, the Voluntary Sector, Police and Schools to develop and implement various strands of work within the timescales and to learn from this work.

 

It was important to note this formed one small part of the work the Council was doing around young people that was currently under development on a longer term basis.

 

Councillor Smith’s asked what plans there were for preventative work in relation to knife crime as a supplementary question. 

 

The Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing replied that it was a complex issue and required a lot of work by the Community Safety Team.  

 

Question from Councillor Martin McCabe to the Executive Member for Digital & Environmental Services

 

"To help combat climate change, will you join me in supporting the doubling of tree cover in Worthing by 2045 at the latest?"

 

The Executive Member for Digital & Environmental Services replied that there were a variety of projects and aspects connected to tree planting that the Council was exploring and working with partners on that had the aim of increasing tree cover, diversifying the tree stock to help towards bio-security and adaptation to climate change, looking at connectivity of our landscapes and green corridors as part of this process as well as ensuring that the existing woodland areas were healthy, productive woodlands from an ecosystem service point of view.

 

The Council also needed to be mindful of some of the other valued ecosystems within the area such as chalk grassland to ensure that the Council did not have a detrimental effect on other habitats and ecosystems as part of its approach to tree planting.      

 

Councillor McCabe’s supplementary question asked whether the Executive Member for Digital & Environmental Services would meet with Councillor McCabe to take this forward.  

 

The Executive Member for Digital and Environmental Services replied that he would.