In accordance with the Constitution, Members of the Council may answer questions from the public of which notice has been given.
i. The following question was received from Mr Mark Faulkner :
‘Following the licensing decision to inspect
all of my vehicles following a spurious complaint. How many other vehicles have
subsequently been inspected by the licensing team? As I was told other vehicles will be called
in for inspection.’
Councillor John Illingworth, the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Regulatory Services, to respond.
ii. The following question was received from Mr Gareth Batchelor:
‘Regarding concerns for improved patient care and another Doctors’ surgery for Melton and due to current pressures on the local health service and the expected increase in housing as a result of the bypass, what progress has been made by the Council in securing this provision with professional healthcare services and developers?’
Councillor Joe Orson, Leader of the Council, to respond.
Minutes:
In accordance with the Constitution, Members of the Council may answer questions from the public of which notice had been given.
(a) The following question was received from Mr Mark Faulkner. Mr Faulkner was present at the meeting and read out his question :
‘Following the
licensing decision to inspect all of my vehicles following a spurious
complaint. How many other vehicles have subsequently been inspected by the
licensing team? As I was told other
vehicles will be called in for inspection.’
Councillor John Illingworth, the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Regulatory Services, responded as follows :-
‘I am informed that an initial complaint was
received from a member of the public in respect of diesel fumes emanating from
two licensed vehicles. A further
complaint was received in respect of a vehicle failing to comply with the
policy. The Council’s policy stipulates
that it will check that vehicles are suitable for the purpose, safe to operate
and maintained to the appropriate standard and that authorised officer may
carry out checks at any time, it was clearly necessary for the Council to
investigate this further.
In light of the fact that there were only 9
vehicles in the fleet in consultation with the company a decision was taken to
inspect all 9 vehicles to ensure that the vehicles were suitable and to
mitigate any further complaints. The
inspections proved useful as a number of minor defects were identified and
advice was given. No formal action was
necessary and the complaints were ultimately not upheld.
In the past 12 months the two Licensing
Officers have inspected approximately 14-15 vehicles, totalling approximately
30 vehicles. Since this particular
complaint was received, two further vehicles have been inspected.
The Council has however recognised that the
Licensing Team require additional resources and as part of the developing
Corporate Strategy is making commitments to boost our ability to take
enforcement action and increase administrative resources. The administrative
capacity of the Licensing team has recently been increased and on Wednesday
30th October Cabinet agreed to the creation of a new Enforcement Officer who
will assist with these issues, and in the meantime the existing Environment
Enforcement Officer offering support. Cabinet also decided that the Licensing
function will be included in a new dedicated Regulatory Services team, within a
newly formed directorate for Governance and Regulatory Services providing focus
and priority to this area of our work. We are confident this will ensure we can
be more effective and proactive in these matters in future.’
Mr Faulkner asked the following supplementary question :
‘According to Kieran Stockley,
for the council to investigate complaints, some evidence is required to
corroborate the process. Please can you
tell me what evidence and corroboration was sought before the decision to
investigate was taken? To my knowledge,
no vehicle was being used illegally and neither complainant had travelled in
either car.’
Councillor Illingworth advised that a full written response would be provided to Mr Faulkner following the meeting.
(b) The following question was received from Mr Gareth Batchelor. Mr Batchelor was not present at the meeting, therefore in accordance with the procedure rules, the Mayor read out the question :
‘Regarding concerns for improved patient
care and another Doctors’ surgery for Melton and due to current pressures on
the local health service and the expected increase in housing as a result of
the bypass, what progress has been made by the Council in securing this
provision with professional healthcare services and developers?’
Councillor Joe Orson, Leader of the Council, responded as follows :
‘The question is very
timely. Working with the CCG to secure a
second GP surgery for Melton will be one of the aspirations within our new
corporate strategy. We have already
started on working to achieve that aim and only two weeks ago, the Council’s
Deputy Leader, Chief Executive and Assistant Director held a very productive
meeting with the Chief Operating Officer for the CCG responsible. We have made a strong case for a second GP
surgery in Melton and whilst the decision will ultimately be a matter for them
and naturally there are a number of factors they will need to consider, we know
they are listening to us and are keen to work with us in finding the best
outcome for our residents. We will
naturally be having further important discussions over the coming months and I
will keep Council appraised as things develop.’
There was no supplementary question.