Minutes:
Councillor Watt to Councillor Sue Burke, Portfolio Holder for Reducing Inequality
Question
Could the Portfolio Holder comment on the effectiveness of the council’s information campaign and distribution of aid to people in Lincoln with regards to the cost-of-living crisis?
Reply
In terms of cost-of-living challenges, the Council was a direct deliverer of some schemes but it was a communicator/co-ordinator/facilitator/’sign poster’ for other schemes, helping to support and assist other organisations to deliver wherever possible. Angela Andrews, Chief Executive and Town Clerk co-chaired a countywide Cost of Living Challenge Stakeholder Group.
In terms of schemes directly delivered:
· Household Support Fund payments for first two schemes to Lincoln residents:
- December 2021 to March 2022: £427,542
- August 2022 to September 2022: £318,570.
· Council Tax Energy Rebate:
- April 2022 to November 2022 (mandatory scheme): Almost 40,000 households
- September 2022 to November 2022 (discretionary scheme): Entire government fund of £196,950 allocated.
· Discretionary Housing Payments:
- Up to the end of October 2022, over £93,000 paid out for 2022/23.
It was also noted that there were a large stock of posters available within the Members’ Room on the cost of living crisis for distribution by councillors across their respective wards.
All staff involved in the support and above mentioned schemes were thanked for their hard work.
Councillor Mark Storer to Councillor Nannestad, Portfolio Holder for Quality Housing
Question
Following the inquest into the tragic death of the two-year-old-boy, Awaab Ishak, in Rochdale, please can the Portfolio Holder outline what steps the Council is taking to ensure that it protects its residents from mould within its own social housing stock?
Answer
The Council was taking its responsibilities as a landlord very seriously, and this included making every effort to ensure its tenants lived in a safe environment. The Council had information on its social media channels on how to manage airflow, ventilation and any mould and damp appearing. When the Council was asked to visit customers properties due to their concern over mould and damp issues, the Council provided leaflets and face to face advice on ventilation and airflow around the home.
Due to the understandable, significant additional demand for mould and damp surveys since the incident in Rochdale the Council had set up a short-term intervention team that had a range of specialised skills in order that the Council could respond more quickly and provide customers with the reassurances they required. Customer services had been asked to put mould and damp enquiries through to a repair ticket immediately, so the Council triaged, prioritised and ensured the correct categorisation for response.
Supplementary
How many council-owned properties had reported damp or mould?
Answer
The total number was unknown and was not available to the Portfolio Holder at the meeting however, it was noted that enquiries had increased tenfold since the incident in Rochdale. The Portfolio Holder agreed to share this information with the Council once known.
Councillor Rachel Storer to Councillor Bushell, Portfolio Holder for Remarkable Place
Question
What progress had been made with the Yarborough Swimming Pool ceiling repairs?
Answer
In January 2022 the Council had made the decision to close the swimming pools at Yarborough Leisure Centre following a routine inspection of the ceiling and roof void. This inspection had raised concerns regarding the structure of the suspended ceiling. Further exploratory investigations had revealed that this was limited to the main pool only, so the learner pool was reopened shortly after and Active Nation had delivered an intensive programme of lessons and public use in that pool.
Work then quickly progressed to identify the issues and solutions to allow the main pool to be reopened and the final works consisted of –
· replacement of the existing suspended ceiling,
· ventilation to reduce the humidity in the roof void, improved and easily accessible lighting,
· moving the pool ventilation tubes to more easily accessible areas for maintenance.
The project had been complex.
In July 22 on site works had started including boarding across the entire pool and erecting scaffolding covering the entire area of the pool and pool surrounds, from ground floor to the suspended ceiling, including some bespoke support trusses.
The Portfolio Holder was pleased to report to Council that the ceiling had now been replaced, new ventilation equipment had been installed, and the scaffolding had almost been completely removed.
The Council was now finalising installation of the new lighting system and waiting for the new ventilation unit to be sited on the pool roof, which should be completed shortly. The project was on target for the pool to reopen by the end of December 2022 and in use by 2 January 2023.
Supplementary
Has the project remained within the allocated budget?
Answer
The Portfolio Holder confirmed that the project had remained within the set budget.
Councillor Thomas Dyer to Councillor Bob Bushell, Portfolio Holder for Remarkable Place
Question
Could the Portfolio Holder update the Council with its progress to net zero by the deadline it set itself of 2030?
Answer
The Council was delivering on its commitments, as set out in the Climate and Environment Emergency Declaration, which included, working with the Lincoln Climate Commission to prepare a road map to reach net zero carbon for Lincoln by 2030. In September 2022, the Lincoln Climate Commission had produced the ‘Lincoln 2030 Climate Action Plan’ and accompanying ‘Journey to Net Zero’ documents that committed to the vision of a carbon neutral Lincoln by 2030, which drew upon expertise in the community (industry, commerce, education, health etc.) and general public to set out the objective, targets and actions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. The documents had been published on the Council’s website.
The Council’s Climate Vision Group had been working on delivering the Council’s Decarbonisation Strategy and Action Plan, and actions had been updated in November 2022 and would be available on the Council’s Zero Carbon Lincoln webpage.
The Council continued to work with its partners and had recently completed a ‘Lincoln Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy’, as well as being the lead authority to produce the Lincolnshire Climate Impacts Profile which would be updated annually. Both documents would be published on the Council’s Zero Carbon Lincoln webpage as soon as possible.
Supplementary
Given the Council’s desire to achieve net zero, how does the Portfolio Holder anticipate this would be achieved given its financial challenges?
Answer
The Portfolio Holder acknowledged this was a challenge but the Council was committed to achieving the target. The Portfolio Holder commented that he was pleased to see that the Government had taken a move away from fracking however, it was felt that funding was required to insulate homes.