Councillor Update - 28th July 2020 Full Council

Report from Councillor Terry Jermy (District & County)

 

Tuesday 28^th July 2020 – Thetford Town Council

 

 

Norfolk County Council

 

·      I have participated in a virtual meeting of the Corporate Select Committee on 13^th July and the Corporate Asset Management Strategy Working Group on the 30^th June 2020 and 15^th July 2020. I also attended the Full Council meeting on 20^th July 2020 and spoke in the debate about Food Poverty. This provided me with an opportunity to highlight the work of the food Out Friday initiative that I have been involved in. Just before the end of the school term I was pleased to visit Diamond Academy and pass on £500 worth of vouchers for the school to distribute to families. Diamond Academy prioritised the support for families that often fall under the radar, which included families that had previously been in receipt of free school meals, but became ineligible by working themselves out of the benefits system, but resting just above meant they were often more disadvantaged. The recognition and support was very well received.

 

·      On the 1^st July 2020 I completed the Council’s training in relation to Corporate Parenting.

 

·      I submitted written questions to the Norfolk County Council Cabinet meeting on 6^th July 2020 in relation to the former Cosy Carpets building and the ongoing legal dispute about this.

 

Breckland Council

 

·      As a Breckland Council representative I participated in the virtual meeting of the Greater Thetford Partnership Board on 8^th July 2020 and met on a 1-2-1 basis with the new Greater Thetford Partnership Manager. I spoke about the need to not ‘re-invent the wheel’ and use existing data, consultant reports and studies to ensure the Board delivers a number of quick wins. I’ve encouraged the Board and the new Partnership Manager to focus on walking and cycling improvements locally given the comprehensive walking and cycling report and positive messages (and funding!) from Government on this aspect.

 

·      I attended the Breckland Council Cabinet meeting on 13^th July 2020 and spoke in relation to the Council’s finances and the near ¾ million pound overspend in the last financial year, primarily in relation to housing and homelessness. I asked what the longer-term plan was to ensure we did not have to rely on hotels and B&Bs to house homeless residents.

 

·      I attended the Breckland Council Scrutiny meeting on 16^th July 2020 and spoke in relation to covid19 and the Council’s response to this and general support for businesses – I have asked that the Council do more to support local businesses and have requested a future agenda item to look at a local procurement policy.

 

·      I attended Breckland Full Council meeting on the 22^nd July 2020 and tabled a written question in relation to the Breckland Local Plan. No members of the opposition sit on this committee and only committee members are permitted to speak which is causing some consternation. I asked the Leader to write to the Secretary of State to ask why Thetford was turned down for Government funding (Towns Fund) despite it scoring higher in the assessment stage that other areas that were allocated funding.

 

·      I completed a Ward Walkabout with Councillor Chris Harvey on 9^th July, 13^th July and 17^th July. We currently have 35 pieces of casework submitted, primarily related to street scene related issues; fly-tips, broken street furniture, obsolete signage and general maintenance issues.

 

General Point: All County and District meetings are being held virtually and broadcast live, with recordings available to watch at your leisure. I would encourage people to watch the meetings if you are able as they are currently far more accessible than normal.

Thetford misses out on Government funding

Question to the Leader; Last year Breckland Council submitted two funding applications to the Government’s Towns Fund to provide much needed support for both Thetford and Dereham Town Centres. Sadly, both those applications were unsuccessful. Yesterday, the National Audit Office published a report into the Governments decision making process, criticising how bids were selected, the report revealed the scores for all bids that were submitted, the Thetford application scored more highly than both the Norwich and Ipswich bids which were awarded funding and the Dereham bid scored more highly that Norwich.

 It has been noted that 2/3rds of the successful applications were in Tory marginal parliamentary seats ahead of last year’s general election.

Will the Leader commit to writing to the Secretary of state to see why our Breckland towns were overlooked for this funding, despite their high scores in the assessment process?

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/cromer-thetford-and-dereham-lose-out-on-25m-government-funding-boost-1-6757522

Breckland Full Council - 22nd July 2020

Here's the link to watch the whole of Breckland Council's Full Council meeting yesterday. New (probably temporary) arrangements mean that Council meetings are being conducted online so whereas you would normally have to drive to Dereham on a weekday morning, now you can watch the meeting from the comfort of your own home, and you can even watch it after the event and pause it as it is saved on Youtube. Yesterday's meeting is well worth a watch. The meeting was dominated by discussions about the Local Plan Working Group which discusses and coordinates policies relating to house building across the District for the next two decades. The 'Group' is made up of Councillors purely from the Conservative group. They refuse to allow any opposition members to participate and they are not even allowed to speak at their meetings. What have they got to fear? a more open and transparent process developing the local plan is surely better for our District and surely having maximum and buy in and support from all members of the Council, utilising all skills and talents, would be advantageous? Guess not! Labour Councillors raised questions on support for businesses and people that are furloughed, plus, the Thetford bus services, and asked the Leader to enquire why Thetford has missed out on millions of pounds worth of funding despite a report revealing that Thetford scored more highly than both Norwich and Ipswich who did receive funding! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-55bIpwRTY8&fbclid=IwAR3vXciHoxtbuq97u_SNJhJ9C8Y8D32EO9Se81LHjXlu3drUkMxWIKPwCO4

Recent Casework Successes - July 2020

Food Poverty Speech At Norfolk County Council - 20th July 2020

My speech to Norfolk County Council today on Food Poverty - I've posted the text of the full motion at the bottom;

Thank-you Chairman. I am pleased to speak in support of this motion. The issue of food poverty is very real, it existed before covid19, it was exacerbated during covid19 and it will no doubt continue to be an issue moving forward.

Over the past few weeks I have supported a survey of Thetford schools which revealed that 100% of those that responded were concerned about ‘holiday hunger’ and children not being able to access sufficient food during the Summer break.

I also know through talking with teachers that there are significant issues in Norfolk with children being able to access regular and nutritious meals and that malnutrition is a major concern which inevitably impacts upon the education of children in our county.

It’s a sad indictment of our country today that schools are concerned about children being hungry during school holidays and that we’re continuing to see people’s basic needs not being met. I am obviously pleased that the Government u-turned on the decision to not provide additional support during the summer holidays. However, this only affects those families in receipt of free school meals. There are many more families just above this threshold who are struggling financially due to Covid19 and the financial uncertainty. I would hope that we would all agree that No child in Norfolk should be left hungry.

A report by the Children’s Society estimated there to be over 20,000 children in Norfolk living in poverty but less than half of them were in receipt of free school meals. There are likely to be more than 10,000 children missing out and no doubt their health and wellbeing impacted as a result.

This week I have been to my old junior school in Thetford and provided them with £500 worth of gift vouchers as part of the County Labour Group’s Food Out Friday initiative - vouchers which the school distributed to families that do not receive free school meals but where they are aware of issues and challenges and where additional support is needed. It’s important I feel, to trust the teachers and the schools who know those children and their families best and trust the families to make responsible decisions. In addition to the practicable and immediate support I was able to collate together an information sheet detailing various other forms of support across Thetford and Norfolk so that families could be signposted to more sustainable and longer-term forms of help. A significant number of these support services are provided by charitable organisations and rely on the goodwill of others which is why as this motion requests, that we publicly thank volunteers in our county who make such a vital contribution and provide practical support to voluntary and community groups.

This sort of support should not be necessary but if it is necessary, it should not be limited to one area in isolated examples. We should not have to rely on the goodwill of volunteers at foodbanks and schools being creative with their budgets. I believe we need greater support from this Council and the Government to address food poverty and make absolutely certain that there is no hungry child in Norfolk.

Food Poverty

Norfolk has experienced the profound multiple impacts of Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic. Evidence shows that this impact has not been shared evenly, with those in the county’s most deprived communities suffering hardest. One very visible

example of this has been the rocketing use of foodbanks which have multiplied and provided critical support to those facing the difficulties of food crisis. As the city now begins to emerge from the pandemic special focus to provide support for those most at risk from hunger should be considered.

Council resolves to:

Ask the leader of the council to;

a) publicly thank the volunteers, groups, organisations and partners who have worked so tirelessly to provide emergency food, support of other provisions across the county, acknowledging the vital difference this has made.

b) write to the Secretary of State at the Department for Work and

Pensions and the county's Members of Parliament to request, with

specific reference to alleviating child poverty, that child benefit is

immediately raised by £15.00 per week, per child as an alternative to parents using the current inefficient, ineffective and often inaccessible voucher service.

(1) acknowledge the impact of a decade of deliberate structural austerity in driving people into hunger through the weakening of social security and other systemic measures which have fuelled poverty across Norfolk,

(2) use the powers available to ensure that the recovery of the county economy must address the root drivers of poverty with special reference to creating new, inclusive and sustainable growth, tackling endemic low pay and working with the newly formed Good Economy Commission; and

(3) Consider and implement the agreed Recovery Plan, working with partners, to enhance and develop strong and sustainable food networks to better provide support to those most at risk of hunger.

(4) Request that the Local Resilience Forum takes responsibility for continued of monitoring of and support for food banks in Norfolk and that continued food supply through any second spike of Covid-19 and the exit from the European Union forms a key part of the Emergency Plan

(5) Ensure all schools and colleges are informed of foodbank provision across the county before the end of this term 95

(6) Ensure that volunteers from the newly emerged foodbanks can access safeguarding training