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 11 questions had been received under Procedure Rule 10.2.

 

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

 

“In 2019, Trafford Council spent £50.8 million on acquisitions and made loans of £102.6 million as part of its property investment strategy.  How confident is the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration that the anticipated returns on investments will be achieved?”

 

Councillor Ross, the Executive Member for Finance and Investment confirmed that the matter was within his remit and reported that he had provided the following written response to Cllr Myers prior to the meeting:

 

“Strategic Investments are governed by the Council’s Asset Investment Strategy which has been developed in conjunction with external advisors CBRE. The Strategy seeks to acquire a balanced portfolio of investment assets capable of providing sustainable income streams to support the Medium Term Financial Plan, facilitate development and regeneration and support local authority functions.

 

All investment decisions as part of this strategy are made by the Investment Management Board which is a cross party board comprising the Leaders of Conservatives, Greens, Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party as well as the Lead Member for Finance and Investment and the Executive member for Housing and Regeneration.

 

Risk is an integral part of making investments and the Council and Investment Management Board have adopted a prudent approach to investment:

 

-          All opportunities are appraised for their portfolio fit and alignment to our investment strategy by our external advisors CBRE.

-          Due diligence is performed on every investment and the outcome of that review is presented to the IMB as part of their decision making process.

-          Every investment recommendation to the IMB comes with a robustness statement from the Corporate Director of Finance and Systems and a view from the Council’s Monitoring Officer on the legal aspects.

-          The Council’s policy is also to set aside a risk reserve in relation to every investment which is usually about 1% of yield to assist in protecting the Council against market fluctuations.

-          Performance of the asset investment strategy is reported to the Executive in the regular Budget Monitoring reports and an annual review of all assets and investment has just been conducted by CBRE and will be reported to the next Investment Management Board.

 

All of these measures help reduce the Council’s exposure to risk however there will always be an element of market risk and we will be monitoring our investments very closely over the coming Brexit period.

 

The cross-party approach to investment combined with expert advice, due diligence and other measures puts us in a strong position to manage our risks.”

 

Councillor Myers asked as a supplementary question that given the increase in interest rates and downturn in high street footfall, the closure of retail stores and the failure to find tenants for existing property assets, how would the Executive Member improve the yield on property investments, particularly in the retail sector?

 

Recognising the challenges the economy continued to face, Councillor Ross advised that the Council would continue its cross-party approach with the Investment Strategy and maintain a balanced investment portfolio, conscious of the risk, would spread its investments and give due diligence on investments before they were agreed. The Executive Member assured Councillor Myers that the Council placed great importance on caution when considering investments, whilst also being grateful for their yield which went back into the Council’s Revenue Budget.  

 

(b)    Councillor Dr. Barclay had given notice of the following question:

 

“Labour's disastrous re-organisation of the bin service has led to the Council completely failing to meet its contractual and moral obligation to assist many of our senior residents and disabled residents with the collection and emptying of their bins. These groups of residents are often totally reliant on an assisted service. My casework is full of vulnerable residents who have not had their bins emptied for weeks.  In every case I have been struck by the distress it has caused. Please can the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change tell me what action is being taken to ensure that a reliable assisted bin collection service will be restored without delay?”

 

Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change had provided the following written response in advance of the meeting:

 

“The Council has been monitoring performance with Amey on a daily basis and identified the provision of assisted bins collection as a key failing of the service. The Council has asked Amey for their solution to the issue. The issue has been caused by unfamiliarity with individual collection points for the assisted collection and entry methods which need to be embedded in the crews. Other issues have been centred around crew behaviour.

 

Amey have stated that they recognise that assisted and repeated missed collections can affect the most vulnerable residents of Trafford. The procedure for handling of missed bins, particularly repeat and/or assisted collections has been reviewed and the following steps implemented;

 

1.   First failure – Supervisory intervention and investigation to understand the root cause. This can include access, vehicle breakdowns, roadworks and crew behaviour. The outcome is that the team fully understand the measures to be implemented to avoid repetition. 

2.   The next collection checked off by the responsible supervisor.

3.   Second, or further failure – full investigation and disciplinary action, if crew behaviour is an issue, will be taken as appropriate.

 

This will be further supplemented by the reintroduction of the incab system now that the complete rounds have been balanced. This roll out commenced on the 20 January.

 

The Council has in recent days seen an uplift in performance due to the procedure being implemented but will continue to monitor it closely to ensure it returns to normal for the residents affected.”

 

Councillor Dr. Barclay asked as a supplementary question how the Executive Member might assure the public that the incab system would work given problems experienced by her ward residents since it became operational on 20 January.

 

Councillor Adshead indicated that lessons were being learnt and that he was monitoring on a daily basis. Affirming that it was a matter he was taking very serious, the Executive Member appealed to Councillor Dr. Barclay to inform him of any unresolved assisted collection service issues and stated that he would be happy to meet with her anytime.

 

(c)    Councillor Evans had given notice of the following question:

 

“A report in the Manchester Evening News from last year reported how Bev Hughes, the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester with responsibility for policing, has repeatedly failed to meet with councillors from Manchester to discuss policing and crime in the city.

 

With additional funding from central government been released to recruit the first phase of additional officers for Greater Manchester Police, it is vital that Trafford receives its fair share of policing resources.”

 

Can the Executive Member for Public Safety, Governance and Reform, therefore, invite the Deputy Mayor to give a briefing before a Council meeting to update Members on her plans to keep Trafford as the safest district in Greater Manchester?”

 

Councillor Freeman, the Executive Member for Public Safety, Governance and Reform had provided the following written response in advance of the meeting:

 

“Thank you for your question regarding Trafford receiving its fair share of policing resources from the additional Police Officers GMP will be allowed to recruit as a result of additional funding being provided by the Government. I am happy to confirm that I will write to the Deputy Mayor for Police, Crime and Fire, inviting her to attend a briefing session to update Councillors in Trafford on her plans to keep Trafford as the safest district in Greater Manchester and will provide you with a copy of that invitation.”

 

Councillor Evans asked as a supplementary question whether the Executive Member could assure him of his support in ensuring that Trafford Councillors are not treated the same as others throughout Greater Manchester by the Deputy Mayor responsible for policing.

 

In response, Councillor Freeman advised on the allocation of money for England and Wales and the numbers of extra police officers for Greater Manchester, however, cautioned that the government grant report was not due to be discussed and voted upon in Parliament until the next month.

 

The Executive Member explained that the police force allocated officers to its Divisions in accordance with the problem solving index, which covered a number of factors, including deprivation data and police incident and crime figures to determine relative levels of complexity in policing. Importantly, Councillor Freeman stressed that if Trafford was to get substantially more police officers it was vital that residents report crime and suspicious incidents to the police.

 

Having outlined the budget and staffing reductions in Greater Manchester since 2010, the Executive Member declared that, in terms of being able to expand operational policing, the only new money Greater Manchester Police had received over the past 5 years was as a result of the precept and not through the actions of central government.

 

(d)    Councillor Butt had given notice of the following question:

 

“Can the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change tell me what Trafford’s Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting was in the financial year 2018/19?”

 

Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change had provided the following written response in advance of the meeting:

 

“Trafford’s percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting in 2018/19 was 57.3%. When broken down this was made up of 24.06% of arisings sent for recycling and 33.23% sent for composting.”

 

Councillor Butt asked as a supplementary question, for the Executive Member to explain what steps were taken, why they failed and whether or not he would apologise to Trafford residents for breaking one of his group’s 2018 key election pledges: 23 to actively encourage recycling and remain the best performing borough in Greater Manchester.

 

Councillor Adshead refuted Councillor Butt’s claims by stating that Trafford remained one of the top performing boroughs in the North West and the country.

 

Referring to a downturn in the 2018/19 figures, the first year of the garden waste collection charge, the Executive Member evidenced that the following year as a result of the pledge to make the service free again, green waste collection rose and residual waste reduced. Another factor in 2018/19 was the record temperatures which impacted upon grass cutting.

 

Councillor Adshead reported that recycling rates were forecast to increase again and indicated there were plans to increase the capacity of black bin and food waste recycling. The Executive Member recapped that the points Councillor Butt had made were not consistent with the actual record and thanked residents, as without their endeavours, Trafford’s excellent performance in this area would not have been possible.

 

(e)    Councillor Anstee asked the following question, the first of two questions, for which he had given notice:

 

“Under the previous Conservative administration, there were 7 Executive Member roles plus the Leader who received £125,202.01 in Special Responsibility Allowances. Last year, under Labour there were 9 Executive roles plus the Leader who received £149,294.84 in Special Responsibility Allowances.

 

Can the Executive Member explain why the administration felt it necessary to spend an extra £25,000 of Trafford taxpayers’ money on Labour Councillors?”

 

Councillor Andrew Western, the Leader of the Council responded by stating that the figures quoted were entirely incorrect and that in fact the former Leader of the Council had 8 Members on his Executive in 2017/18. There were also 3 Deputy Executive Members at that point, therefore, when factoring in the total cost of Executive arrangements, last year the total cost under the Labour administration was almost £7000 less than under Councillor Anstee’s tenure as Leader.

 

As a supplementary question, Councillor Anstee asked does the Leader not agree that the message being sent to Trafford taxpayers is that when it comes to the priorities of this administration, the Labour Party will always prioritise itself over front line services in the borough?

 

Councillor Andrew Western responded that as stated not only had they reduced the number of Executive and Deputy Executive roles that were in place but furthermore had consequently spent less in the year referred to. Indicating that it was difficult to answer questions when the figures quoted were incorrect, the Leader apprised Council of the Conservative Executive arrangements in place at that time totalling £128,323, excluding the Leader’s allowance. The total for last year under Labour was £121,572, excluding the Leader’s allowance which remained unchanged, therefore, Councillor Andrew Western was perplexed as to how Councillor Anstee could suggest that Labour had increased allowances when the overall reduction was there for all to see. As to where the Leader of the Council stood on overall services, he thought it incredulous given his thoughts on how the previous administration had impacted services in the borough.

 

(f)     Councillor Anstee had given notice of a second question as follows:

 

“Members across the Chamber have been inundated with complaints from residents since the changes to domestic waste collection rounds in October. Some residents have complained that they are receiving no collections at all for 6 weeks at a time. The situation appears to be worst in the Hale, Bowdon and Timperley areas, with Conservative Councillors from those area’s inboxes overwhelmed with resident complaints.

 

Recently we had the strange spectacle of the Council writing to its own contractor to admit it cannot manage them following collection round changes it itself was party too and shouldn’t have allowed to happen. Can the Executive Member explain what steps are being taken to restore the service back to the levels that residents rightly expect?”

 

Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change had provided the following written response in advance of the meeting:

 

“The Council has written to Amey to express its dissatisfaction with the issues with the service throughout the route optimisation programme. A number of targets have been set to decrease complaints in several areas by the 31 January.

 

These include a range of triggers to

·    reduce the amount of stage 1 complaints to pre-route optimisation levels by the end of January;

·     maintain stage 1 complaints at that level from February onwards;

·    stop escalations to stage 2 by thoroughly investigating and communicating findings of stage 1 complaints;

·     reduce the number of service requests to baseline levels;

·         improve the Assisted Collections by putting in a performance procedure as answered in Question 2;

·    implement further performance enhancements from 1 February to decrease the number of service requests to show real improvement in the service going forward.

 

Amey have committed to supply the resource needed to bring the service back on track included support to back office staff and in excess of twenty waste collections operatives, with six extra vehicles. They have acknowledged that the service was disrupted during the Christmas period, and have confirmed their commitment that resource will continue to be maintained at the required level to deliver the transition.

 

Recognising that challenges were encountered in some key areas, particularly in the Hale Barns and Flixton wards, the provision of the incab systems is key to improving performance. The rounds were initially designed using existing data, computer modelling and input from crews, however, these needed to be refined before inputting into the system. This exercise has now been completed with the final re-balanced rounds formatted for the in-cab system. The upload of these rounds to the system has started, with the in-cab roll out schedule to commence on Monday 20 January with the full roll out being achieved within ten working days. The in-cab system provides live feedback on street (zone) completions and the reporting of collections that could not be undertaken e.g. missed bins, contaminated bins or ones not presented.

 

Following the roll-out of the in-cab system, Amey shall provide a fortnightly Councillor update from February. This shall include a considered reflection of service delivery alongside a forward look at forthcoming actions and areas of focus.”

 

Given that changes had long been discussed between the Council and its contractor and the measures now being taken, as outlined in Councillor Adshead’s response, Councillor Anstee asked as a supplementary question, why the Executive Member allowed changes to be made before the technology was in place, rather than wait for it to go wrong in the first place.

 

Councillor Adshead implied there was an assumption that the problems were not there beforehand, something that he wished to dispel. There had been issues for a number of years for which optimisation was necessary. Admittedly, difficulties had been encountered and Councillor Adshead appealed to Councillor Anstee to support and help be part of the solution, indicating that he was happy to meet with him to discuss matters in his area. The Executive Member apologised for the problems causing concern and wished to assure the Council and public that he was working hard to resolve them.    

 

(g)    Councillor Morgan asked the following question for which he had given notice:

 

“Can the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration provide an update on procuring a joint venture partner to redevelop Altrincham’s Grafton Centre?”

 

Councillor Wright, the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration advised that the scheme was currently in the procurement phase, being managed by STAR Procurement with 2 bids having been received which were subject to ongoing evaluation and due diligence. Recommendations to appoint a successful bidder were anticipated early February 2020.

 

As a supplementary question Councillor Morgan referred to media reports of Council plans for Altrincham’s Shopping Centre and asked whether the Executive Member could announce when these plans would be shared with Members as well as the residents of Altrincham.

 

Councillor Wright confirmed that the Council was in talks with Bruntwood, the Council’s joint venture partner, about plans for the site which would be forthcoming over the next few months and that he would keep all members informed of the developments.

 

(h)    Councillor Holden asked the following question for which he had given notice:

 

“In the light of recent and on-going representations concerning residential and infrastructure developments across Carrington Moss, could the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration confirm that the Council is still minded to allow and encourage the possible development of the area?”

 

Councillor Wright, the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration advised reported that the new Carrington site was proposed as part of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) to which all the ten local authorities in Greater Manchester were working in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority towards producing. The site would make an important contribution to the overall GMSF growth targets with the potential to deliver approximately 6,000 homes in total and up to 500,000 sqm of employment floor space.

 

Work was currently underway to prepare a comprehensive masterplan for the site which would help to inform the New Carrington policy in the next Draft GMSF, scheduled for consultation in Summer 2020. All residents, landowners and businesses would be able to submit their representations on the Draft as per the previous consultations. A number of evidence base studies were also underway for the site that included a Transport Assessment, consideration of active travel, public transport and highways; as well as studies relating to the ecology and biodiversity of the site, historic environment assessment and development viability.

 

The Council was continuing to engage with local groups and residents on the New Carrington site.

 

Councillor Holden referred to the highway plans for the open area of Carrington Moss and asked as a supplementary question when the Council anticipated taking proper plans to residents to give those that would be affected by the development and operation of the road network an opportunity to comment.

 

The Executive Member advised that the Council had to wait for the next draft GMSF to be produced before any plans could be taken forward but naturally the Council would consult with local residents and local campaign groups to discuss any particular route that may go along Carrington Moss. Councillor Wright confirmed that the Council was committed to public consultation and provided an assurance that it would happen, although at the current time a date could not be given.

 

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

 

“30 new 1-and-2 bed social rent homes were approved by the planning committee on Carrfield Avenue in Timperley on 16 January 2020 which is good news. Are these homes now owned by Trafford Housing Trust and are they subject to Right to Acquire? Does this Council have the means or power to stop affordable and social homes being sold off to private ownership and not kept in perpetuity?”

 

Councillor Wright, the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration reported that the properties on Carrfield Ave, once built, would be owned by Trafford Housing Trust. Right to Acquire was National Legislation that would apply to the properties as long as the tenant wishing to purchase met the qualifying criteria and had been a housing association tenant for 3 years. There were no powers that would allow the Council to stop Right to Acquire, as it was governed by national regulation, applying to England only and most affordable homes built by Registered Providers with public subsidy since 1997, were covered by that right.

 

Councillor Wright indicated that he would be happy to write with more information on the criteria for Right to Acquire, should that be a help to Councillor Jerrome.

 

Councillor Jerrome asked as a supplementary question whether a Section 106 agreement could be used by the Council to ensure that the route of Right to Acquire or Right to Buy was not used?

 

In response, the Executive Member understood that there was not a Section 106 option due to national legislation, however, advised that within Greater Manchester and the Housing Commission there was action to lobby the government to end Right to Acquire and Right to Buy and the Council would continue to support lobbying action as it was the only course of action at the current time.

 

(j)     Councillor Newgrosh had given notice of the following question:

 

“We can all acknowledge the bin route optimisation has not gone nearly as well as we had hoped. I, as I am sure many other Councillors here, are inundated with reports of missed bins, and piecemeal collections. In light of Trafford Council’s recent threat to take back control of this statutory service from Amey One Trafford, what marker has the Council set that would trigger this contract break?”

 

Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change had provided the following written response in advance of the meeting:

 

“The Council is continuing to review the contractual remedies available to it, including the imposition of penalties in order to enable it to take positive action against Amey should the poor performance on waste continue. A number of strong targets have been set to secure a decrease in complaints in several areas by the 31 January.

 

These include a range of triggers to:

·      reduce the amount of stage 1 complaints to pre –route optimisation levels by the end of January;

·    maintain stage 1 complaints at that level from February onwards;

·    stop escalations to stage 2 by thoroughly investigating and communicating findings of stage 1 complaints;

·    reduce the number of service requests to baseline levels;

·    improve the Assisted Collections by putting in a performance procedure as answered in Question 2;

·    implement further performance enhancements from 1 February to decrease the number of service requests to show real improvement in the service going forward.

 

The Council will review performance up to the 31 January against these measures and will re-assess what powers to use under the contract at that point should performance not have reached the target set.”

 

As a supplementary question, Councillor Newgrosh asked what provision had the Council put in place to take control of the mandatory Council service?

 

In response, Councillor Adshead advised that he had been monitoring reports on a daily basis and specific actions had already been taken with regard to sickness absence over the Christmas period. The Executive Member indicated that he would be happy to discuss issues further with Councillor Newgrosh and would certainly be meeting with senior officers over the next few days to discuss the possible plans they had formulated and once a position had been determined it would be made available to members. Councillor Adshead was particularly concerned about assisted collections and assured the Council that he was working hard to resolve issues.

 

(k)    Councillor Coggins had given notice of the following question:

 

“14 months on from our climate emergency declaration, what actions has the Council taken to implement the recommendations of the task and finish group, given to the Executive meeting in September last year?”

 

Councillor Adshead, the Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change had provided the following written response in advance of the meeting:

 

“Actions taken by the Council following the climate change emergency declaration in 2018 and the submission of the report and recommendations of the Task and Finish Group submitted to Executive on 26 September 2019 have included the following:

 

·          The Leader of Trafford Council becoming Green City Region lead for GMCA and Chair to the Green City Region Board.

 

·          Appointment of consultants to lead on the development of a ‘Carbon Neutral Trafford’ framework, programme of stakeholder engagement and development of a carbon budget linked to the GM carbon neutrality target date of 2038. This work reports to the Council’s Corporate Director of Place.

 

·          Establishing a cross-service working group to look at decarbonising the Council’s estate in terms of land and buildings, with support from consultants working on the GMCA ‘Decarbonising the Public Estate’ work stream, linked to Friends of The Earth/Ashden produced ’31 Climate Actions for Councils’. This work focuses on identifying the top consumers of energy, whilst identifying potential projects that might reduce energy the Council’s consumption and carbon footprint.

 

·          Participation in a Government-funded pilot to develop specific carbon literacy training for staff and elected members to identify and commit to actions that will contribute to reducing our carbon footprint.

 

·          The Leader of the Council contacting the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to request a position statement on the potential impact that divesting from carbon intensive assets will have on this fund and to recommend working towards divestment alongside a proactive approach to utilising the funds for local green growth.

 

Over the Coming months we will continue to pursue this agenda and embed it within our projects and services at every opportunity.”

 

As a supplementary question, Councillor Coggins asked whether the lack of action four months , particularly as most of the recommendations, even the no cost recommendations, had not been implemented, along with the Council’s recent £70 million loan for offices and a car park at Manchester Airport, were utterly incompatible with Trafford’s climate change responsibilities.

 

The Executive Member acknowledged the point that seemingly some matters don’t appear to move but highlighted some of the linked Council actions undertaken or agreed through reports which contributed to the global picture. Councillor Adshead accepted that the Council could do more and would do more and reasoned that it perhaps needed to publicise its contributions.