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Lewes and Eastbourne
Councils

Agenda item

Questions to the Leader of the Council

To deal with questions (if any) which Councillors may wish to put to the Leader of the Council. It will be at the Leader’s discretion to re-direct questions to relevant Members of the Cabinet. This item is limited to a maximum of 5 questions, with no more than 1 question being asked per Councillor.

 

A Councillor wishing to raise a question must notify the Chair of the Council by email of the text of the question prior to the commencement of the meeting (by 4.45 pm for a remote meeting).

 

Minutes:

The Chair of the Council advised that he had received three questions to the Leader as follows:

 

1.    Question from Councillor Denis:

“I note that the Department for Transport recently announced those successful applicants to the Restoring Your Railway Fund, the railway and station re-opening scheme, which will award up to £50,000 to successful applicants from a £500M pound pot to help develop a clear business case towards actual re-opening. Congratulations to all those who got through this round of funding.  What this also revealed is those schemes which did not get through. This included the most recent proposals to re-open the Lewes – Uckfield line - a much needed link which would not only ease pressure on the existing network but make more sustainable travel options available to more people across the region.  This is hugely disappointing.”

 

 “Would the Leader agree that this approach to rail investment is hardly the much heralded ‘Reversing Beeching’, rather it is a missed opportunity for our District and the wider region? And would he be minded to ask the Minister on behalf of the whole Council to take forward the Lewes-Uckfield link at the next opportunity?”

 

Response - Councillor MacCleary agreed that this was disappointing news. The administration was committed to encouraging investment in sustainable transport networks including rail.  He confirmed he would write as the Leader of the Council to the Government Minister as requested.

 

2.      Question from Councillor Adeniji:

Following the recent statement on the proposed Seaford Health Hub, according to the statement Lewes District Council has helped the two Seaford GP surgeries to secure a viability study of the Dane Road site for delivering new GP premises.  Is the Leader able to share the viability report/study with any interested Seaford District Councillor and will the Leader agree to keeping all Councillors updated on any progress on this matter?

 

Response - Councillor Nicholson responded at the Leader’s request. She advised that following the recommendations by the Council’s Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet decision, the Council had worked with NHS partners and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on the feasibility of Dane Road building and car park. The Council’s role was to support the CCG to complete the piece of work, so it was not the Council’s report, but she would find out from partners if it could be shared publicly. She confirmed that if the Council was engaged in any further discussions with the Seaford practice, she would keep Members updated. 

 

3.    Question from Councillor Linington

I recently received a leaflet in the post - 'Celebrating a year in the life of Environment First'.  Whilst supporting the wish to acknowledge the excellent work of Environment First, it seems an unwarranted use of council taxpayers’ money to produce these leaflets. I'd like to know how many of these leaflets were printed and at what cost; to whom were they sent; and why couldn't the leaflet be sent as an attachment to an email and/or put on the Council's website so saving the cost of printing and posting.”

 

Response - Councillor MacCleary responded that the booklet was developed as an internal document to thank the Neighbourhood First Team, including the Waste and Recycling Team, for their contribution in the community during the Covid 19 crisis and recently in cleaning up Seaford Beach.  Councillor MacCleary advised that the booklet was produced internally, from existing resources, and that spare copies had been sent to Councillors with other post, so at no additional cost.  However, he confirmed he would provide a full breakdown of the costs to Councillor Linington. At the invitation of the Leader, Councillor Carr added that the booklet included a reproduction of the many notes/compliments that were left for the team during the Covid 19 crisis.