Minutes:
Question 1
From Councillor McCarthy
“The Cabinet Member for Regeneration stated at the last Assembly meeting on 25 November 2014 that £190m had been brought in for the London Overground extension to Barking Riverside. However, the Chancellor George Osborne only announced a government loan of £55m to support the scheme at the last Autumn Statement. Could the Cabinet Member for Regeneration please explain the shortfall in funding and how the financial gap will be addressed?”
Response from Councillor Geddes, Cabinet Member for Regeneration
“Cllr. McCarthy is correct in that, when the Chancellor announced in the Autumn Statement that he was providing funding for the project, it was on the basis of providing a loan for only £55m of the project's total costs of around £190m. Nevertheless, this sum bridges the remaining funding gap and means that progress can take place.
The Government contribution constitutes roughly 30% of the total project costs. The GLA via TfL are contributing about 45% of the costs, Barking Riverside Ltd. are putting in another 20%, whilst Barking and Dagenham's loan of £9m provides the remaining 5%.”
Supplementary question from Councillor McCarthy
“What written guarantees does the Cabinet Member have that the £55m will be forthcoming?”
Response from Councillor Geddes
“Although there is not to my knowledge any formal sign off of the monies from the GLA to which I will seek to secure, I am confident they will honour the funding commitment they have made. Furthermore I and officers are continuing to make representations to attract more funding for Barking Riverside for a range of new facilities such as health as the housing development grows apace.”
Question 2
From Councillor P Waker
“Could the relevant Cabinet Member tell the Assembly if Council officers have been given delegated powers that allow officer bodies such as Departmental Management Teams etc. to set new fees and charges for residents?”
Response from Councillor Twomey, Cabinet Member for Finance
“Not to my knowledge nor approved at any Cabinet meeting I am aware of.”
Supplementary question from Councillor Waker
“I have been told that a Divisional Management Team has set charges for car parking for flatted communal areas. Can I ask that going forward where such considerations arise that the views of ward councillors be taken into account?”
Response from Councillor Twomey
“I am happy to look into the specifics of the issue highlighted by Councillor Waker.”
Question 3
From Councillor Gill
“What actions is the Cabinet Member for Housing taking to deal with the urgent problems such as the deteriorating condition of the service roads and continuous daily fly-tipping at the Council owned Longbridge Road flats?”
Response from Councillor Ashraf Cabinet Member for Housing
“Following a visit by the Interim Director of Housing to Longbridge Estate in December Housing have commissioned a survey from Highways that will provide up to date condition information on estate service roads across the Borough The Highways report will assess roads and pavements on housing land and submit recommendations on what works are needed and the priority in which they should be addressed. Once the list is confirmed, I will share it with colleagues.
Some funds have been allocated to a newly established budget for 2015/16 that will fund estate service roads renewal. This will be allocated in accordance with the condition information as revealed in the survey that is being conducted by engineers in Highways.
It should be noted, however, that tenant priorities for stock investment are focused upon kitchen and bathroom renewal and major block and property modernization rather than on the resurfacing of estate roads and our resources for other works are inevitably quite limited.
Regarding the fly tips, as part of the Caretaking service returning to Housing Management, we now have two crews who, on a daily basis, visit housing estates to collect bulk items from agreed points. Having said that, fly tipping is a borough wide issue which we all need to tackle together with a combination of policy, education and enforcement.
I have confidence that my colleagues, the lead members for Environment and Enforcement are looking at addressing this.”
Supplementary question from Councillor Gill
“Just today I walked one of the service roads that prompted my question and noted that although repairs to pot holes had been undertaken, the standard is very poor. Seeing that the Council has secured European investment funding of £150m of which approximately £89m is being invested in the Gascoigne ward surely the Council can find of the order of £100k to repair the service roads in Longbridge ward?”
Response from Councillor Ashraf
“My understanding is the road to which Councillor Gill refers is possibly private and that the repairs may have been undertaken on behalf of leaseholders. I am asking the officers to investigate it, in the light of which I will respond to Councillor Gill.”
Question 4
From Councillor Gill
“The failure to install the traditional Christmas tree and decorations over the festive period in Longbridge Ward that have been present for over 5 years was upsetting too many local residents. Could the Leader of the Council please explain who made this decision and what consultation took place?”
Response from Councillor Rodwell, Leader of the Council
“I am a bit surprised to receive this question seeing Councillor Gill made the same enquiry to officers before Christmas and he will be aware that a response was sent in a letter dated 31 December 2014. That said I am happy to answer his question. With the significant pressure placed on already stretched budgets and taking into account the freeze on all but essential in year spend, and bearing in mind that the Council has no budget set aside for any Christmas decorations, the decision was taken to maintain at the Town Hall and Civic Centre and in Barking Town Centre. Putting that in to context are Christmas decorations and trees more important than our children’s safety and welfare? I do not think so.
Going forward I am more than happy to meet with local shop owners and other local businesses to find ways to share the cost of Christmas decorations/trees so that in future years displays are not limited to only that the Council can fund.”
Supplementary question from Councillor Gill
“I raised the question here because it was similarly raised with me by residents from the Leftley Estate. Is the Leader saying that despite the significant budget pressures on the council he is able to find an additional £100K to fund the cost of a full time Chief Executive but not a small amount of money to pay for an additional Christmas tree?”
Response from Councillor Rodwell
“The decision to appoint a full time Chief Executive is an invest to save initiative seeing one of his key objectives will be to attract significant inward investment in the borough which in turn will create new employment opportunities for our communities. That I suggest cannot be compared to spending money for a Christmas tree in the Longbridge ward.”
Question 5
From Councillor Reason
“Could the relevant Cabinet Member assure the Assembly that the proposed Council closure of Roycraft House will mean that no Council services, whether supplied directly or through joint ventures such as Elevate, will be operated from that building?”
Response from Councillor Twomey, Cabinet Member for Finance
“I cannot give that assurance to the Assembly.”
Supplementary question from Councillor Reason
“Why?”
Response from Councillor Twomey
“The Cabinet at the meeting on 16 December 2014 agreed to dispose of Roycraft House to Agilisys with leaseback of two floors for Council office use. In so doing it will secure necessary office accommodation but remove the running costs of the building from the Council”.