Agenda item

Name of Councillor asking Question

Name of Cabinet Member Responding

Councillor Fiveash to the Leader of the Council

I feel that with the answer I’ve been given by Councillor Lamb that I would like to state that with regards to the officers of the council I haven’t sneered at them, I believe they’ve done a wonderful job, both over the course of the pandemic and in general. My questions were about the comments ending the pandemic and about what work the council had done to do that. I can see from Councillor Lamb’s response that I assumed we all knew what a pandemic was but clearly that’s not the case. I realise that’s not a question but a statement, so no I don’t have a question.

Councillor Bob Burgess to the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing

I wish to thank the Cabinet Member for his answers but within his answer it states that the total cost of the petanque pitch both installation and maintenance was £5315 and over time this figure will rise. Given the financial pressures the council is under (not just with the pandemic), how can the Cabinet member justify this continued outlay especially when there are no usage figures?

Councillor Mullins, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing

There was a delay in the pitch being built in the winter season of 2018 and that was prior to the pandemic. Obviously because of Covid there hasn’t been a lot we’ve been able to do with marketing and publicity.  A new facility will take time to establish and hopefully once we are through the pandemic usage and demand will increase.  I did want to do a lot of charity and mayoral events there.  It is a minority activity and interest but in Crawley we try to accommodate everyone.  There is a cost associated with the pitch, but it is not extortionate and involves simple maintenance and it was built with good intentions.

Councillor Purdy to the Leader of the Council

At the Cabinet meeting of 10 March 2021 Councillor Mullins expressed the view “any future housing development in Crawley could be council housing. I think we really have got enough private housing in the town and we should be able to concentrate on council housing”. I, and my fellow members of the Conservative group feel the future housing, albeit in our very crowded town must be a broad mix of house types and tenures and we should not be sending the message to our aspirational residents that if you want to own your own home you need to move out of Crawley. Is the Leader of the Council in agreement with his fellow Cabinet member and if he is, how does he propose that all future houses will be council houses, how does he propose to circumnavigate the planning laws to achieve this?

Whilst I understand much of what your answer was about, I don’t believe you actually answer the question which was do you believe we should actually break planning law by only permitting affordable housing within our town?

Councillor Lamb, Leader of the Council

You can do whatever you can around planning and preparation but I’m delighted to hear Councillor Purdy’s remarks.  Affordable housing is one of the biggest challenges we face as a local authority. When this town was built the majority of the housing was council housing. To try to claim that there’s a shortage of private housing is to ignore the fact that the majority of it has been sold off. And it was sold off at an undervalue now we find ourselves as a local authority with a list of over 2000 on a housing list. To try and maximise the affordable housing is an ongoing duty and when furlough ends and we see the true effect of the pandemic we are going to be swamped with people wanting an affordable place to live.  Private housing can be taken on by anyone. Council housing has to be taken on by someone already living here with a long term local connection. Any housing being built should be going to those that need it.  There are many private homes already available if that’s what people want but what people write to me about is the lack of affordable housing. Within the Local Plan in 2015, we put forward 40% affordable housing and I think Councillor Mullins was speaking on behalf of the great majority of this town once again being about affording housing at a reasonable price.

Neither Councillor Mullins nor I believe that. Councillor Mullins was expressing the desire to catch up with the housing list to be in a position to provide people with housing they can afford in the town which we are trying to provide the maximum amount of affordable housing within current rules.

Councillor Crow to the Leader of the Council

Last month we passed the budget, his 7^th as Leader (6 entire Labour budgets). The first in 2015 was a council tax freeze then the subsequent five have all been around 2.5%. However over the same period, inflation has been in all those years, lower than the amount of council tax rise than this local authority has imposed.

For example, in 2015 inflation was 0.37%

2016 1%

2017 2.5%

2018 2.3%

2019 1.74%

2020 0.77%

Last month 0.4%

What is my interest in council tax rises and inflation rises? I and many people in Crawley have seen a Facebook feed a claim from the Crawley Labour party that under Labour this council has actually delivered an 11.2% council tax reduction in real terms compared to inflation. Although the actual post also doubles the amount of inflation since November 2012 when Katy Bourne became PCC.

Could the Leader confirm what have been the council tax rises compared to inflation over the time he’s been setting the budget and does he agree with me that the Facebook post is entirely misleading and inaccurate?

Would the Leader be able to provide me with the inflation figures that he is using as he must be assuming that inflation must have been over 2.5% for the last few years, which obviously is not the case, so the figures and how this relates to council tax increases would be very helpful.

Councillor Lamb, Leader of the Council

I don’t have the inflation figures to hand.  I can say that inflation figures the Labour Party used elsewhere were sourced from the Bank of England’s own inflation calculator. In terms of this council’s own council tax increase, they tend to be far lower than other districts/boroughs. If looking at the breakdown of the council tax, 78% of WSCC and 11% of Police and Crime Commissioner and when you look at what’s happening to their increases over time you can clearly see how is putting up the council tax bills by percentage terms.

I will provide a hyperlink to the necessary details.

Councillor Jaggard to the Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Sustainability

I understand the aim of the Licensing fees and charging scheme is for it to be self-funding.  That is for it just to cover the costs of the administration. For most licences, eg horse riding establishments, animal boarding, kennels, tattoo parlours this is in fact the case. At the last Licensing meeting we were told that Crawley Borough Council ie Crawley taxpayers are subsidising one type of licensing business by over £5,000 in 2017, which was then increased pre-Covid to £25,000 for the year 2019 and it is now in 2021 heading towards £55,000 for a business sector which is still able to trade during the lockdown. This is a subsidy of council tax payers’ money. What are you doing to address this? Is the aim for all licence applications to be self-funding and if so how are you planning to achieve it?

Councillor Jhans, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Sustainability

Thank you for your question.  I am aware that at the last Licensing Committee meeting, it was voted in favour to increase the fees by 2%. Around the technicality of the subsidy I’m afraid I do not have the full individual details to hand. However I am happy to provide a written answer to you.  

Councillor Sudan to the Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Community Engagement

The Leader of the Conservative Group is to be commended for devoting the whole of his column in the Crawley Observer this week to the critical issue of women’s safety, both in the home and on our streets, and the importance of urgent and robust action of central government. With that in mind, can the Cabinet member for Public Protection and Community Engagement please tell the women and girls of Crawley what action she’s now taking locally to guarantee their safety both night and day as they go about their daily lives in and around our town.

Councillor B Smith, Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Community Engagement

I can’t claim to be taking any personal action to ensure people, particularly women are safe. I think we have to rely on the good officers of the police and they are doing the good job that we expect from them. I do not believe it is a personal responsibility of mine. But I am content at this time with the actions being taken to project women, girls and men also.

Councillor Pendlington to the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing

My question is about the community centres. Obviously the council has lost a lot of income with facilities being closed for the majority of the last 12 months. What is your plan now to ensure people start using them again and to start making that money back?

Councillor Mullins, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing

Clearly, it’s much wider that the community centres, it’s a similar situation with K2 Crawley and the Hawth.  It is a problem that we have to get back to normal when the government give us permission to do so. We cannot simply book centres again which are small areas where large numbers of people would potential gather, for parties or meetings.  Once we get the licence to proceed we can look more closely at how we can operate safely. There’s lots of scope for the community centres as I’m sure people may want to meet up or continue their regular booking slot in some form, but they are only some of the venues within the portfolio to consider.