Publication

Community Services Minutes Signed 03-04-2023

Posted on

Attendance:

Councillor P Winter (Chairman)

Councillor R Hood

Councillor J Borda

Councillor P Hulbert

Councillor A Drummond

Councillor M Jefferys

Councillor J Harvey

Councillor K Yarrow

Also Present: C Whitaker – Town Clerk, T Symonds – Deputy Town Clerk, J Ashton – Minute Assistant, Cllr Perry as a Member of the Public, 1 Member of the Press and 5 Members of the Public

Minute

C/23/04/1 Chairman to Read the Fire Safety Notice and Announce that Proceedings May be Filmed or Recorded
The Chairman opened the meeting, read the fire safety briefing and announced that the meeting may be filmed or recorded.

C/23/04/2 Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Cllrs Ferries and Lay. Cllrs De’Ath and Hall were absent.

C/23/04/3 Declaration of Member’s Interests and to Remind Councillors of the Need to Keep up uo Date Their Register of Member’s Interests and to Consider Any Requests Received for Members Dispensation
None noted. There were no requests for dispensations.

C/23/04/4 To Receive and Confirm for Accuracy the Minutes of the Community Services Committee Meeting Held on Monday 6th February 2023 and Any Matters Arising
Members received the minutes of the Community Services Committee meeting held on 6th February 2023 and the following was agreed:

C/23/04/4.01 Resolved
That the minutes of the Community Services Committee meeting held on 6th February 2023 be adopted and signed as a true record by the Chairman of the Community Services Committee.

There were no matters arising.

C/23/04/5 Public Open Session
A member of the public gave thanks to Councillor Jefferys for his years of service to the Town Council and Newmarket and also reported that the SCC SEND transitioning service is still not available.

Cllr Perry spoke from the public area to item 9 and reported that she had experience of applying for trees to be planted on land owned by SCC that are then maintained by WSC; and that the application had been rejected due to WSC not being insured to maintain them.

Two members of the public added that potentially, a local organisation had agreed to help with planning the planting and advising on the sustainable species with the lowest maintenance requirements.

The Chairman proposed that item 9 be brought forward and the following was agreed:

C/23/04/5.01 Resolved
That item 9 – Trees be brought forward.

C/23/04/6 Trees
A proposal to plant 700 trees in Newmarket gifted by a local business was considered and the following was agreed:

C/23/04/9.01 Recommendation
That the offer of the kind gift to plant 700 trees be supported in principal and that efforts be made to enable the planting and maintenance.

Cllr Drummond agreed to contact SCC to find a solution to the maintenance issues.

The Chairman suggested a meeting with Town Clerk, Cllr Perry, representative of a local organisation, the businessman and his representative.

C/23/04/7 To Receive the Accounts
The accounts for March 2023 were received and noted.

Cllr Perry left the meeting
C/23/04/8 Speed Indicator Devices
A verbal update on the progress regarding councillor involvement in location planning of devices was given and a request was made for the outstanding reports to be submitted.

A report on the latest data from the SIDs was noted.

C/23/04/9 Allotments
Town Clerk reported that a meeting had been held with the Allotment Association Chairperson, where the muntjac issue was discussed and they were happy with the NTC decision not to cull the deer.

C/23/04/10 Referrals from Performance & Audit Committee
The following Neighbourhood Plan Community Actions were considered:

B1 – Newmarket Community Hospital – how NTC might lobby for expansion of services at the hospital was considered and the manager will be invited to a full Council meeting to give details of the plans for the hospital.

B3 – SEND Provision – including discussion of delivery failures in Suffolk – Cllr Hood reported that SCC had been working on improving the service and that more funding had been allocated. Additional school spaces were now available and more would be added in the future. Cllr Yarrow reported that the transitioning service is a nationwide problem due to the lack of professional staff. However, SCC have yet to pay compensation to families.

Cllr Hood agreed to provide a report on the work to improve the services, the transition service and paying compensation to families.

The Newmarket Vision Steering Group will be asked to have an agenda item regarding SEND provision in Newmarket at a future meeting.

A member of the public left the meeting
B4 – Learning Hubs – Newmarket Charitable Foundation will be invited to attend a meeting to discuss.

B12 – Public Seating – an audit on the current seating and locations in all areas of the town will be conducted with a report back to this committee with suggestions and funding details.

C/23/04/11 Correspondence
YBR/WSC – lobbying for a WSC Yellow Brick Road revenue line in future budgets was noted; although had not been acknowledged as yet. Town Clerk reported that a line will be added to the NTC budget for 2024/2025.

C/23/04/12 Date of Next Meeting
Monday 5th June 2023 at the Memorial Hall.

Meeting closed at 7:40pm.

Signed: By the Chairman             Date: Monday 3rd April 2023

Summary of Recommendations

Recommendation Recommendation Wording
C/23/04/9.01 Recommendation That the offer of the kind gift to plant 700 trees be supported in principal and that efforts be made to enable the planting and maintenance.