This is an opportunity for Members of Council to ask the Mayor, Members of the Executive or the Chairs of any Committee or Sub-Committee a question on notice under Procedure Rule 10.2.

The Mayor reported that 7 questions had been received under Procedure Rule 10.2.

(a)    Councillor Bunting asked the following question for which he had given notice:

“I have recently had concerns raised by a Trafford resident that the care package for her adult son was delayed due to lack of action by Trafford. The resident complained about “a lack of clear communication and some very mixed messages given, which has left both me and my son upset and confused.” Given the recent Ofsted Report into children’s social care, will the Labour Administration state what it is doing to ensure adult social care does suffer the same fate?”

For reasons of confidentially, Councillor Harding, the Executive Member for Adult Services, indicated that as the Member would be aware, it was not appropriate to discuss individual cases in a public forum and sought to address the wider point stating that a very skilled and dedicated team were set key priorities to deliver improved outcomes for Trafford residents. The Executive Member thanked all the staff that work across Adult Social Care (ASC) in Trafford for rising to the challenge of ensuring the care the Council offered was safe, of high quality and accessible.

In her first year as Executive Member, improving quality was set as a priority as there was a significant issue with some of the homes that cared for the most vulnerable people. As a result of intense and focussed work, quality of care homes had improved by 18% in the past 12 months but there was still much more to be done.

Councillor Harding and the previous shadow portfolio holder both recognised that ASC was a cross party area of work and had worked closely together in this area, particularly on the Council’s response to the Green paper. ASC was the Council’s biggest spend area and potential risk and having made herself available to Health Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Harding would also welcome questions about the work she was taking forward in this area.

Welcoming Councillor Bunting’s interest and suggesting that he may want to support her as she lobbied central Government to ensure that the Council received what was necessary to care for Trafford residents, at a time in their lives when they might need support, the Executive Member indicated that she was happy to share any planned areas of work with the Shadow Member for ASC.

Councillor Bunting asked as a supplementary question whether the Executive Member could write to all Councillors detailing the actions to ensure ASC remains robust. In response and further to the offer to share information with the Shadow Executive Member, Councillor Harding was happy to share this with all Members.

(b)    Councillor Boyes asked the following question, the first of three questions for which he had given notice:

“The 2018 Labour Group Manifesto suggested that there was to be a Borough wide Road Safety Survey. Please could the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change indicate whether this survey is now complete and if not when it will be and that when complete its full results will be fed back to residents and members?”

Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change advised that the surveying, monitoring and reporting of road accidents and statistics was undertaken by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The most recent survey results were published on their website on 2 July 2019 and Councillor Adshead indicated that he would provide Councillor Boyes with the relevant link so that he may access the information. The statistics would be reviewed over the next few of months and a summary report produced to inform the budget setting process and the proposed local road safety schemes which may be required in Trafford as a result.

Referring to the introduction of 20 mph zones outside all primary schools, Councillor Boyes asked as a supplementary question, when could those schools without expect them to be introduced. Councillor Adshead advised that further to the proposal reported to the Executive in March 2019, a report considering all the issues, including public safety and public health was expected to be submitted to the Executive in Autumn 2019.

(c)    Councillor Boyes asked the following question, the second of three questions for which he had given notice:

“There is often very negative publicity about the amount of rejected waste placed into Trafford recycling bins, particularly black bins. Knowing that a 1% increase in recycling across Greater Manchester would result in savings of £1 million please could the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change advise, separately for each colour of bin, what percentage of waste in each of the black and green bins is currently rejected within Trafford?”

Responding to the question, Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change reported that in 2018/19 Trafford refuse collection vehicles had the following material rejected by the treatment facility:

-          Black bins, co-mingled dry recyclables 2.6 tonnes which equated to 0.02%

-          Green bins, food and garden waste 18.74 tonnes which equated to 0.07%

-          Blue Bins, paper and cardboard 2.36 tonnes which equated to 0.02%

Waste from Trafford’s black bins which should contain plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars and metal cans was transferred to the Materials Recycling Facility at Longley Lane, Sharston where it was mixed with recyclable waste from across Greater Manchester. The contamination rate for all of the mixed recycling collected from across Greater Manchester currently stood at 18.8%.

As a supplementary question, Councillor Boyes queried what publicity there was about what can and cannot be recycled in black bins. The Executive Member confirmed that the information was widely available on the Council’s website, distributed with the recycling calendar, presented in libraries and could be obtained from the Council and its contractor Amey who could be contacted for advice.

(d)    Councillor Boyes asked the following question, the third of three questions for which he had given notice:

“The Trafford Highway Inspection Policy, available to residents on the Council’s website, gives details of the criteria for repair of highways, including potholes, on each of an immediate, medium and long term basis and is dated as approved on 29 October 2012. Given that this was before the instigation of the Amey contract, it is clearly right to carry out a review and to make the resulting revised policy widely known to all residents. I am pleased to learn from the Executive meeting Agenda for 15 July that a revision has taken place but am disappointed to note that the revisions seem only to concern the frequency of inspections of roads, albeit by ward in reverse alphabetical order, whilst there is no current revision to the parameters to be met to instigate repair.

Might I request that the existence of this document be widely advertised to all residents which thereby, in respect of noting its parameters for repairs, will explain to many of them why, when they report potholes nothing is done, yet the entry via Access Trafford is marked completed because the particular pothole fails to meet the designated criteria for immediate or even medium term repair?”

Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change reported that the revised and updated Highway Inspection Policy would be published on the Council’s website with communications on social media to ensure residents and members were made aware of its contents. There would also be improved information included on the website to make residents aware of the repair criteria that was used when identifying potholes and other defects on the highway for repair. Councillor Adshead assured the Council that the repair criteria was reviewed and was in line with national guidance used by all local authorities across the country and adopted across the Greater Manchester districts, with the repair criteria for footways in Trafford exceeding the national standard. Acknowledging a limitation regarding the standard responses given via the on-line reporting system, a review was being undertaken to improve the level of feedback, which it was hoped would be in place in the next couple of months.

As a supplementary question, Councillor Boyes asked for a specific review of the criteria for repair, focused on reducing the number of potholes and poor road surfaces which were becoming a serious health and safety risk to cyclists. The Executive Member advised that the precise investigatory levels and criteria for carriageways and cycle lanes were detailed in the report to the Executive on 15 July 2019 and if Councillor Boyes was aware of any concerns, invited him to bring them to his or officers attention.

(e)    Councillor Jerrome asked the following question for which he had given notice:

“A petition of 619 signatures was brought to Council in March 2019 by Eleanor Horner a Year 8 pupil at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls and requested improvements to the crossing outside St. Margaret's Church on Dunham Road in Altrincham. The Council Leader assured us that a traffic survey, avoiding the Easter period, would be undertaken. Can I ask what progress has been made?”

Councillor Andrew Western, the Leader of the Council reported that a pedestrian and traffic survey was undertaken by Transport for Greater Manchester on 1 May 2019, outside of the Easter period, to determine if the location warranted further detailed investigation. The results of the survey were just below the threshold to automatically recommend a full assessment, however, due to the specific circumstances it was considered that the location justified further investigation to identify a solution. Work was currently ongoing to produce a feasibility design and costings for a controlled crossing for potential inclusion within a future capital investment programme.

In response to Councillor Jerrome’s supplementary question regarding the anticipated timescale, the Leader of the Council advised that it was reliant upon the outcome of the feasibility study and should it become apparent it was an absolute necessity the Council would seek to implement.

(f)     Councillor Brophy asked the following question for which she had given notice:

“Please can I ask the Executive Member what is Trafford Council doing to support and resource schools, prevention groups and relevant organisations (such as the police) to prevent crime, particular the carrying of knifes and knife crime that is currently impacting our children and young people?”

Firstly in response, Councillor Slater, the Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing and Equalities referred to an incident that afternoon in the Stretford Ward and placed on record the Council’s thoughts for the family and the victim who required hospital treatment.

Councillor Slater advised that the Home Office, Personal, Social, Health, and Economic (PSHE) Association and teachers had been working together to create a new and improved school curriculum around knife crime. A total of 20,000 PSHE teachers were provided with new lesson plans on 5 June 2019 which aim to further equip teachers to challenge myths and communicate to their pupils the realities of carrying a knife. Trafford Council’s Community Safety Team and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) neighbourhood teams would assist schools in these lessons and projects.

The Council was re-launching the Junior Neighbourhood watch scheme in all schools in Trafford to deliver a wide range of lessons on all subjects including knife crime and drug related issues and would be talking to head teachers to plan events in schools for a 12 month period.

In 2018/19, the Trafford Community Safety Team engaged over 5500 young people in schools on knife crime over 94 school sessions and there was an ongoing programme of events, tailored to the individual schools and relevant age groups.

The Council was successful in its bid from the Early Intervention Youth Fund and through this had commissioned Gorse Hill Studios to run a campaign to be delivered in 7 schools, highlighting to over 2500 school children the issue of knife crime, criminal exploitation and criminal sexual exploitation. The contract would also deliver to parents and teachers of the schools, showing how to look for signs and how to report any issues to the appropriate authorities.

In addition, GMP had recently received additional funding to put more officers on to the streets in an effort to prevent the carrying of knifes and improve residents confidence. GMP and Trafford Council were listening to residents, for example, through the Community Cohesion forum which recently brought together 30 local people to discuss knife crime, and are working to keep Trafford the safest borough in Manchester. The Council, GMP and Safer Trafford partners were working together to develop a Knife Crime Action Plan to coordinate and track delivery of these projects, which was anticipated to be finalised by September 2019.

Responding to Councillor Brophy’s supplementary question about the investment in Trafford Youth Services to engage with young people and prevent knife crime, Councillor Slater indicated that she would be happy to meet with her to discuss the issues together with the Executive Member for Public Safety, Governance and Reform.

(g)    Councillor Coggins asked the following question for which she had given notice:

“With the news that Manchester has made only a 2.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the last year, compared to its minimum target of 13%, can Trafford confirm the total reduction in emissions we have had since our climate emergency declaration in November 2018?”

In response, Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change reported that Trafford established a climate change task and finish group following the Council’s declaration of a climate change emergency in November 2018 and that a number of actions and recommendations from the group would be fed back to the Executive later in the year. The report would detail how Trafford was managing its emissions relative to targets that had been set.

As a supplementary question, Councillor Coggins asked whether the Executive Member would agree that the Council’s response was not acceptable given that 8 months had passed since the climate change emergency declaration. The Executive Member stated that the fact nothing had been reported did not mean work was not proceeding and assured Councillor Coggins that Members would suitably be notified of the results.