To answer questions received under Council Procedure Rule 6.2.
NB In accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 6.2.9 there will be a maximum of 30 minutes allowed for questions and answers. Any question not answered within the 30 minute time limit will receive a written reply within 5 working days.
Minutes:
The following questions were asked under Council Procedure Rule 6.2.2:
(a) Councillor Andrew Eade asked the following question of Councillor Lee Carter, Leader of the Council.
“Will the Leader of the Council guarantee that local elections in Telford and Wrekin will go ahead in 2027 despite any potential Local Government reorganisation?”
In response, Councillor Carter said he wished to make it absolutely clear to Councillor Eade and to those who may have been reporting on this, that the current administration had never sought any action that prevented residents exercising their democratic right, nor would it ever do so.
He recognised that did not align with those who had political advantage in suggesting that local Councils or councillors were doing so however, that was the material for conspiracy theorists.
Decisions about whether elections took place were not matters for the Leader of the Council. At present, the Council was not part of any local government reorganisation process and if it was, he was clear that the Council would not merge with Shropshire.
He confirmed that elections in Telford and Wrekin would proceed in 2027 in the normal way.
In response to a supplementary question from Councillor Eade, Councillor Carter reminded Councillor Eade that there were Councils led by all political parties involved in local government re-organisation.
(b) Councillor Andrew Eade asked the following question of Councillor Lee Carter, Leader of the Council.
“Will the Leader of the Council join with me in writing to Baroness Anne Longfield CBE as Chair of the Grooming Gangs Inquiry to urge that her promised consultation on Draft Terms of reference, plus additional information, promised for January this year be provided as soon as possible?”
In response, Councillor Carter said he had checked the current position in relation to the National Grooming Gangs' Inquiry, which was still current and widely available on the internet earlier this evening.
The draught terms of reference had already been published and were subject to public consultation, which would close on 6 March. In those circumstances, he did not consider it necessary to write to the Chair of the Inquiry to urge her to do something that she had already done.
In response to a supplementary question from Councillor Eade, Councillor Carter said the Council would absolutely do anything it could to support the Government, the first government to have had a national inquiry into grooming gangs and was sure that it would deliver all the recommendations from that inquiry.
As to the point about being included within the scope of the Inquiry, Councillor Carter said Councillor Eade would recall that the Council had written to the Government asking that it be included following the inquiry in Telford and Wrekin, which was in depth and went back for over 40 years, there was a lot that the Council could share with the country, including best practice, about tackling that horrific crime.
(c) Councillor Peter Scott asked the following question of Councillor Richard Overton, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Highways, Housing and Enforcement.
“The recent icy weather has led to more potholes appearing on our roads. I am pleased to see the Council is out there making repairs. Is the Council confident that all reported potholes will be repaired to a high standard and be long lasting?”
In response, Councillor Overton said like many areas across the country, the winter weather had frustratingly increased the number of potholes, but the Council had deployed additional crews as well as extended working hours to ensure that every pothole could be repaired as quickly as possible and was committed to repairing all reported potholes to a high standard.
He asked members to note the periods of intense bad weather such as that seen over the last few weeks and said that temporary repairs were sometimes unavoidable. Where a pothole presented an immediate safety risk, the Council had to act quickly to make the road safe however, these temporary fixes were exactly that and the Council would always return to undertake a full permanent repair on a planned basis once the conditions and programming allowed.
The Council would also closely monitor the performance of repairs to ensure they met the high standards expected. He was pleased to say that over 98% of all repairs were completed first time and had remained defect free. In the small number of cases where repair did not meet the required standards expected, the contractor would revisit the site and put this right.
In response to a supplementary question from Councillor Scott, Councillor Overton said that if a resident was unhappy with the repair, they should report it to the Highways Team which would then get to go out and revisit it to make sure it met the right requirements. Where it did not, the contractor would revisit the site and put a full repair in place.
(d) Councillor John Thompson asked the following question of Councillor Ollie Vickers, Cabinet Member for the Economy and Transport.
“Please can the Cabinet Member outline the planned changes to the fare cap on bus services across Telford and Wrekin, which was announced last week ahead of the Budget debate this evening?"
In response, Councillor Vickers said that members of this chamber would have heard last week that the current administration's proposal to introduce a flat £2 fare across bus journeys within Telford and Wrekin as part of its budget for 2026-27 recognised that affordable, reliable transport played an important role in people's daily lives, which was why the Administration took the bold step in 2022 to develop and bring forward the Council’s Travel Telford bus routes.
The Chamber had been updated previously on how these affordable routes had evolved, which was founded on valuable feedback from the borough’s residents.
The Council’s commitment to affordable and well-connected public transport had seen these services, routes 99 to 104, grow in popularity and was well on track to reach a significant milestone in completing one million passenger trips on these services by the summer.
The £2 single fare currently applied to only Travel Telford Council operated services, which made up around 24% of the local bus network. It was the Council’s intention to extend the flat fare across all journeys within Telford and Wrekin, which offered a consistent single journey fare for passengers across the borough. This would be a game changer for residents across the borough, would save regular bus users hundreds of pounds a year and was only possible because the borough had an MP, a Government and a Council working hand in hand with each other to deliver positive change for people across the town.
For the past two years, the Council had maintained the lowest single bus fare in the Midlands and one of the lowest in the whole country with the Travel Telford routes. Extending this offer borough-wide would support more people to make regular journeys confidently and affordably and once plans were finalised, it would make bus travel simpler and more affordable for residents.
Buses were not just about getting from A to B, they connected people to work, school, healthcare and family and the Administration would continue to improve public transport across Telford and Wrekin.
(e) Councillor Lyndsey Parker asked the following question of Councillor Ollie Vickers, Cabinet Member for the Economy and Transport.
“I have seen the positive impact that the Pride in Our High Street programme has had across the borough, including in Dawley High Street which is within my ward. I welcome the efforts by the council to reduce empty shop units in our high streets and bring more footfall into our market towns. Please can the Cabinet Member for the Economy and Transport provide an update on the progress this council has made through the Pride in Our High Street programme in Dawley and the rest of our borough?"
In response, Councillor Vickers said that here in Telford and Wrekin, the Council understood that when the borough’s high streets thrived, its people thrived.
The pride in the Council’s high street programme was about more than investment and was about belief in the borough’s businesses, communities and its future. That was why this programme had been a priority for the current administration and had been a success. While the national vacancy rates on high streets persisted at around 13%, in Telford and Wrekin it sat at just 3.3% and the Council had awarded 74 start-up grants to bring new businesses to the borough's high streets, which would create an additional 441 good jobs in the town. Also, 88 eco grants and 27 digital grants had been awarded to support the borough’s local businesses in becoming sustainable and efficient.
In addition, the Council had further awarded 82 diversification grants and 47 facade grants to ensure that all of the borough’s high streets were diverse and vibrant places for people to shop.
Councillor Vickers said that both Councillor Burford and Councillor Parker had been community champions for Dawley's High Street and had worked with the Administration to secure over £1m of investment into the high street there to ensure that businesses and the local community flourished.
The Administration would always support thriving businesses, strengthen local economies and revitalise the borough’s towns and local centres.
(f) Councillor Eileen Callear asked the following question to Councillor Carolyn Healy, Cabinet Member forNeighbourhoods, Planning and Sustainability.
“My ward members and I welcome the designation of Hurley Brook as a Local Nature Reserve, and we recognise the importance of protecting and enhancing green spaces for our residents. The report highlights that these new designations will mean that Telford and Wrekin, under the Labour administration, will have over four times the minimum recommended standard of Local Nature Reserve area per person. Can the Cabinet Member explain what this minimum recommended standard is, who sets it, and how it is calculated, so that residents can clearly understand how significant this is for us locally?"
In response, Councillor Healy said that Natural England, the Government’s advisor for the natural environment, set the standard. It was the accessible natural green space standard, and this covered a whole range of types of open spaces and aimed to provide high quality, accessible natural spaces that were managed for biodiversity, nature conservation and public enjoyment.
It set out areas and proximities to green spaces and where people lived. The national standard for local nature reserves was one hectare per thousand people. In Telford and Wrekin, with its new designations, it had just over four hectares per thousand people i.e. four times the amount.
The Council was also held up as best practice by Natural England for green infrastructure due to the Council’s our designation and expansion of the green network and green guarantee sites. The 89% of the borough’s population were within 300 metres of a green space, two hectares or more. That made the borough one of the greenest places in the country and the Council was held up as a best practice example.
The Council was commended on the way that it prioritised the natural environment and that mattered to people because it meant that they lived in a green area that was good for their health and well-being, they could get close to nature, enjoy those spaces and also it benefitted Telford and Wrekin as a borough as it made it an attractive place for inward investment and that brought jobs as well.