Agenda item

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

 

Under Procedure Rule No 10, Zoe Jarratt, of Tamworth will ask the Portfolio Holder finance, Risk & customer Services, Councillor Marie Bailey the following question: -

 

As well as getting £4,607,700 in non-discretionary funding for the energy rebate scheme, Tamworth Borough Council also received £133,050 in discretionary funding to help their most vulnerable residents.

 

Can you please tell me what progress has been made to date around the scheme to distribute this discretionary funding and when vulnerable residents will be able to apply?

 

Councillor Bailey provided the following written reply response

 

To date the focus has been on issuing the £150 energy rebate payments to council taxpayers in bands A – D under the provisions of the mandatory scheme.  In order to start administering payments from the discretionary fund, we are dependent on the scripts being developed by our software suppliers and made available for testing and implementation. Once these scripts are released which is expected to be June, it is the intention that the scheme will target those considered most vulnerable. However it should be noted that the scheme will need to be modelled within the available grant funding and then approved by Members.

 

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC NO. 2

 

Under Procedure Rule No 10, Mr Ron Brown, of Tamworth will ask the Portfolio Holder Environment, Entertainment and Leisure  Councillor Rob Pritchard, the following question:-

 

How many vehicle-capable surfaced areas are there around Tamworth which are specifically subject to Borough Council maintenance?

Councillor Pritchard provided the following written response

 

The authority has over 1120 records of Council assets which could be accessed by cars.

 

These include all borough owned roads, carparks, pathways, sports pitches, drying areas, parking areas in Housing Revenue Account estates, shop frontages, industrial unit parking and service areas, other commercial property service area, local shopping centres parking and service areas, areas of public open space such as the Castle Grounds and local parks.

 

 

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC NO. 3

 

Under Procedure Rule No 10, Mr Ron Brown, of Tamworth will ask the Portfolio Holder, Planning, Economy and Waste, Councillor Stephen Doyle, the following question: -

 

What proportion of a Ward's Electorate are required, by written petition, in order to oblige the Planning Department to reject a planning permission application in that Ward, regardless of all else?

 

ANSWER

 

There isn’t a number of signatories that would oblige the Planning department to reject a Planning application regardless of all the petitions that have been and are relevant to changing minds in Government and industry but do not have a formal role in the Planning process. The Planning process is governed by specific laws and procedures, these require the application to be determined in accordance with the policies of the Development Plan unless material consideration indicate otherwise.

 

So to determine a planning application based solely on the number of people either supporting or proposing an application would therefore be unlawful.  Although people are allowed to contribute towards the decision-making process both applicants and those opposing an application are entitled to submit their views to the Planning department.

 

These are viewed by Members of the Planning Committee when reviewing an application and so long as they are material in consideration of the application they will be taken into account.  In this way a single objection raising a planning concern carries significantly more weight than any number of rejections that do not. 

 

If I can refer you to the Tamworth Borough Council website and the planning section, there is a good deal of information on how this works.

 

 

Mr Brown asked the following Supplementary Question

 

What concerns and remedial plans does the Council have with respect to every wards electorate complete lack of self determination on all Council Planning issues. 

 

Councillor Doyle gave the following answer

 

We do have a process.  Applications received goes to the Planning Officer.  It is displayed for all to see on the Council website.  Notifications are then put up.  It then depends if it is a decision taken by officers based on the criteria or it goes to planning committee where it is decided by a panel of your peers in the Committee.  So that’s how it works, the Applicant as a right to appeal and it can be taken to the Bristol Planning office where it is evaluated and then a committee will be convened back at the local office where the applicant can put their point of view based on the decision made at Bristol. 

 

 

 

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 1

 

Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor Sheree Peaple will ask the Leader of the Council, Councillor J Oates, the following question:-

 

Can the Leader of the Council please confirm when Tamworth residents, many of whom are struggling with the current devastating cost of living crisis, can expect to receive their £150 Council Tax Rebate?

 

Answer

 

The Revenues Team made the first payments to 18,513 residents (out of approximately c.30,000 properties in the borough) on 20^th May – following the required assurance processes. This represents 90% of the direct debit payers, and with the planned rollout of the post office bar code letters by the end of May, this should mean the vast majority of people will have had the opportunity to have their payments by the end of May.

 

A total of £2,776,950.00 in energy rebates has been paid into bank accounts to arrive 20th May, a total of 18,513 payments of £150.00. This is approximately 90% of qualifiers who pay by direct debit, and represents those council taxpayers who have paid at least one direct debit between 5th April and 5th May. The remaining 10% are at present subject to further validation checks as required by Government guidance which the Revenues team are working on.  For example, where there are changes in circumstances to be processed or a council tax bill is paid by someone other than the person named on the council tax account.

 

For those who have recently set up a direct debit for first time collection on 18th May or later, the Revenues team will confirm that payment has successfully been received before the energy rebates are processed for payment into these bank accounts.  Once processed and the necessary checks completed, those council taxpayers will receive their rebate in June.

 

Non direct debit payers and those where it cannot be confirmed that the direct debit is paid by the council taxpayer will be issued with a bar code letter from the Post Office which will enable the resident to be able to redeem the £150 at any post office. It is anticipated that letters will be issued later on in May.

 

It should be noted that the end date to receive this money from the Post Office is 31 July 2022. If council taxpayers receive a letter and do not collect the £150 by this date, it will be credited to their Council Tax account.

 

Councillor Peaple asked the following supplementary Question

 

There are posts that people on social media will see that residents of North Warwickshire and Lichfield received their rebate long before Tamworth residents, so can the Leader please explain why people who are struggling and on the bread line have had to wait so long.

 

Councillor Oates gave the following answer

 

As I mentioned in my first answer we performed an assurance process and the reason for this was that we could ensure when we did hand the cash out it went to the correct people and only went to those people once.  There is a number of authorities I have been told about anecdotally that they paid the same individuals multiple times, there are some who paid the £150 and took it back out the next day and there as been a while raft of horror stories and I appreciate the increased pressure our delay may have put on people but it was about ensuring the payment got to the right people and we did the process correctly first time rather than pro-long the agony that some places had done with the problems they had. 

 

 

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 2

 

Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor Sheree Peaple will ask the Leader of the Council, Councillor J Oates, the following question:-

 

 

Can the Leader of the Council please confirm the number of complaints received, by phone. letter or email, about the new blue bag recycling scheme since its announcement?

 

ANSWER

 

As of Friday 20th May we have received the following communications for the whole joint waste service

 

Directly to the Tamworth tell us scheme:

 

0 complaints

29 contacts classified as grumbles/comments/suggestions

1 compliment

 

Received by our partners Lichfield District Council who operate the contact centre for the service

 

164 complaints (6 formal complaints and 158 other contacts (emails/calls) that have been classified as complaints)

 

As context the service collects from approximately 80,000 properties per week across both district/borough areas.

 

In preparation for a peak in demand once the service was announced, we revised our outgoing telephone message to signpost customers to our Frequently Asked Questions page on our website.

 

I have looked at customer interaction data within the first week of the new system being in place. We experienced a significant increase in demand, with many expressions of dissatisfaction – no blue bag, blue bag too small, what goes in what bin, too heavy to carry, nowhere to store - among them.

 

 

 

 

 

Our role is to signpost customers to Lichfield as the managing authority but on occasion it was an hour wait on LDC’s helpline and customers were return calling us.

 

We had enquiries across all channels which peaked and abated within a couple of days as social media communications were updated.

 

However, we have emerging issues to contend with since the new collection regime was introduced – the main one being ‘missed rounds’ as the operatives are getting behind and pushing some collections into the following day.  This has been a steady issue at around 3 x per week.   

 

Other customer feedback during May gives an idea of residual issues following introduction of the new system from 18th April   :

 

-              How to recycle shredded paper

-           Blue bin not been emptied or amnesty sticker (x 8) (if I don’t know what was wrong in my blue bin how can I put it right?)

-           What can I now put in blue bin

-           Not been issued with blue bin(x 16) (also state on hold for over an hour)

-           Want bins collecting from house (x 3)

-           Wants larger blue bin

-           Bin men leaving paper rubbish on street when emptying

-           Is this blue bin a trial or permanent - if permanent want a smaller blue bin

-           No blue bag so are you expecting me to separate once I get one

-           I have two blue bins can I not just dedicate one to card

-           Disabled/too heavy to carry

-           Need extra bags (x9)

 

Councillor Peaple asked the following Supplementary Question:

 

Is the Council Leader is aware there have been a number of issues with regards to this scheme.  Obviously there was a major issue with the blue bag and I’m told anecdotally that it wasn’t the correct size, shape etc. Can I ask the Leader to give is assurance that the way this scheme as been implemented and the methodology behind it is going to be reviewed as a matter of urgency?

 

Councillor Oates gave the following answer

 

The completion of the roll out of the blue bins is scheduled for Friday this week, so at that point everybody who should be in receipt of a blue bag should have received it and its not until that point that we would like to implement a review of the implementation and the operation of the scheme, and we will be starting that immediately.  The reason that Friday is significant it concludes the roll out and the roll out is taking up some capacity in terms of staffing.  We can then take a compete review of the implementation and the operation of the service.  I have seen some social media posts and have had similar rants, I have concerns about how the scheme is rolling out however until we have completed the roll out we don’t have the figures.  What I will say though is popularity of a change isn’t a good measure if it is a suitable change, it doesn’t mean it’s necessary the wrong thing to do and sometimes we have to do the right thing for the right reasons.  The review will take place after Friday and that will be fed back and any learning or adjustments will be fed back.