Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council can ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The time allocated for receiving and disposing of questions shall be a maximum of 30 minutes. Any question not disposed of at the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members the following working day unless withdrawn by the questioner.

Three questions, on notice, have been submitted by Members on this occasion.

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council could ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

Three questions on notice had been submitted by Members on this occasion as set out below:-

Question One

Councillor Alan Coley asked Councillor Michael Talbot, the Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space:

“This Council has made a firm commitment to reducing carbon emissions and thereby reducing Greenhouse Gases and improving Air Quality in our District.

I am sure, we all welcome the return of TDC supported events such as the Car Rally, the Airshow, and the Tendring Show etc.

So that the Council cannot be accused of conspiracy in ‘Greenwashing’, can the Portfolio Holder provide details of what meaningful Carbon Off-Set mitigations the Organisers and Service Suppliers of these events have committed to, and in particular, where those offsets will be found?”

The Environment & Public Space Portfolio Holder replied as follows:-

“Thank you, Councillor Coley, for your question. I share your positive comments about the return of a full Clacton Airshow this year, together with the Harwich Illuminate Festival, Corbea Seats Rally Tendring and Clacton, the hugely successful Tour Series and all the other quality events planned in Tendring this year. They have a huge benefit to our local economy, and I am delighted to see them back on the calendar.

I am pleased to say that the Council has an ongoing tree planting scheme which offsets the carbon footprint of the Clacton Airshow. That results in around 300-400 trees being planted every year. This autumn that will include an additional one hundred trees as part of the Clacton 150 celebrations and further details will be made available in the next few months. Further to this, the organisers of the Rally are also planning a tree planting scheme as mitigation for their event.

The above is the official answer Alan, but the matter is so important in our overall Climate Change objectives in Tendring, that to show potential critics, that ‘Off-Setting’ is not just an easy excuse to allow such events to take place with a clear conscience, I will pursue more definite information about promised off-setting action by both ourselves and others involved in these activities in Tendring, as such action emerges over the period ahead.”

Councillor Coley then asked a question of clarification to which Councillor Talbot then responded.

Question Two

Councillor Ivan Henderson asked Councillor Neil Stock OBE, the Leader of the Council:

“In the Leader of the Council’s Budget speech he confirmed that his administration was adopting a policy of voting against all budget amendments but that any such amendments would then be considered through the new Corporate Investment Plan.

One such amendment, tabled by me on behalf of the Labour Group, sought to utilise £144,000 of the existing Tendring Community Fund to allow each Member to make available £3,000 of support funding to local charities and organisations assisting vulnerable residents through the cost of living crisis.

The Leader instructed his administration to vote down this much needed amendment that would offer vital, targeted support to those experiencing genuine hardship within our District.  Will he please inform Members as to when he is going to make good on his promise to bring this budget amendment before the board overseeing the Capital Investment Plan?”

The Leader of the Council replied as follows:-

“I would like to thank Councillor Henderson for his question and in particular for raising the issue of the cost of living. We all recognise that this is something that every resident in Tendring is experiencing, whether it is the cost of heating at home, food bills in the local supermarket, or the cost of petrol and diesel at the pumps. Costs are going up and are expected to keep going up for some time to come.

It is also worth correcting the perception given that we simply voted down the amendment as that completely ignores the very important and financially prudent point that I made on the night; we should not be taking amendments to the budget on the night that have not been through the rigorous scrutiny and decision-making process of the rest of the budget – they need to be considered against the Council’s overall financial position and take account of all the other challenges we face. Ideas put forward on the night may be perfectly reasonable, but they have to be judged and prioritised within a much wider financial context, which I am sure everyone will agree is the sensible and pragmatic approach to take. That is what the Corporate Investment Plan is designed to do. Members may have had the chance to read the Financial Outturn Report that Cabinet will be considering on Friday, which starts to highlight some of the significant challenges that lie ahead. This provides a timely reminder of the need to manage our finances as carefully as possible in 2022/23 and beyond.

Within the same outturn report, the availability of £850k from the New Burdens COVID 19 Grant we received from the Government is highlighted. As I have said before, I would like to see this money help the district recover from the COVID 19 pandemic, which includes the cost-of-living issues that our residents are faced with. I am happy to reconfirm this commitment tonight and I have asked Officers to explore a range of further options that we can consider as part of the next iteration of the Corporate Investment Plan that Cabinet will be considering in September. The scheme put forward by Councillor Henderson remains on the Corporate Investment Plan and it will need to be considered against a number of options available to support our residents.

Although subject to further development by Officers, I would like to see how we can use the funding I have just mentioned to extend the Tendring Community Fund with the costs of living issues in mind, along with revisiting the potential to introduce a lottery within the district. This could provide a long-term legacy from the funding made available by the Government and a way to support local groups on an on-going basis.

I would also like to see Officers explore how we could support the cost of solar panels to reduce the cost of heating for all residents in Tendring. This could also include how solar panels could help reduce the cost of energy for the council and reduce carbon emissions.

I would like to thank Councillor Henderson again for highlighting this crucial topic, and I would like to ask for his and all members support in developing further options to support our residents through the current increases in the cost of living.”

Councillor Henderson then asked a question of clarification to which Councillor Stock OBE responded.

Question Three

Councillor Mick Barry asked Councillor Neil Stock OBE, the Leader of the Council:

“At a meeting of full Council on 15^th February 2022 I proposed an amendment to the underlying base budgets for 2022/23 calling for re-instatement of the budgets for Brightlingsea and Harwich Sports Centres which had been withdrawn.

The amendment was lost and the Leader, in speaking against the amendment, said: ‘We have not taken a decision to close any sports facilities.’ He went on to say that he was ‘happy to guarantee as Leader that these facilities will stay open.’

The reality is that in Brightlingsea the Sports Centre has now got very limited opening times with early weekday closures and no weekend opening. Community access has shrunk from nearly 70 hrs per week to less than 15 and the expectation is that it will be fully closed during the six weeks school holiday.

Does the Leader feel that his guarantee given in February has been kept in respect of the sports facilities at Brightlingsea?”

The Leader of the Council replied as follows:-

“I am disappointed that you have misquoted me so egregiously. At no point have I made any guarantee that the facilities will stay open. I could not make such a promise as the Sports Centre is not a facility over which this Council has any control or authority. It belongs to the school, and the school is owned and run by the Sigma Trust.

What I did say, which is entirely different, is that I would do all I can to ensure that the facility remains open, and as you yourself acknowledge that has been achieved.

I am advised that the Sigma Trust, as the owners of the Colne Academy, do intend to close the buildings during the summer holidays, this I understand, is primarily because they have building improvement works underway as part of their ongoing and wider investment in the school, which will require the centre to close while works are carried out. It is of course entirely sensible and usual for a school to do this in the summer holidays.

The opening hours have changed but the Centre remains open when the majority of clubs want to book it out. The benefit of the facility comes from its use rather than its opening hours, and I understand that around 50 bookings have been using the centre regularly, so it still acts as a hub of sporting activity in Brightlingsea.”

Councillor Barry asked a question of clarification to which Councillor Stock OBE responded.