Agenda item

The following question has been submitted by Councillor Ted Strike for response by the Leader of the Council:-

 

“Can you confirm that my amendment to this year's budget would have resulted in a balanced budget?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“The alternative budget proposed at Council on 22nd February 2023 produced a balanced budget for 2023/24 but I need to qualify that as if we had accepted that budget we would lost £1.4 million Arts Council grants for 3 years for the SIRF festival and the festival of Thrift so in the end we would have actually lost money.”

 

Councillor Ted Strike asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“If it was a balanced budget how could Cllr Nelson’s comment about losing £300k for 3 years be true so therefore it wouldn’t be a balanced budget and the amendment should have never been allowed?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“We would have lost £1.4 million and we would also have lost the two festivals for 3 years and probably forever as the Arts Council were funding these events. The £300k you are talking about is the cost of the festival as if you don’t have them, you will still need to spend that money.”

 

 

The following question has been submitted by Councillor Ted Strike for response by the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing:-

 

“Can the council advise me of the current cost of rebuilding Splash, also what is the estimated cost of demolishing Splash?

 

How much is still owed on the current Splash facility?

 

And what do the Council intend to do with the land, how much do they expect to receive for the land if they sell it?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing responded with:-

 

“The current approximate cost for delivering a new leisure centre at the Stockton Waterfront Development is £15m as set out in the report to Cabinet in July 2021. Work is ongoing to progress the design stage of the new leisure facility and therefore update the project cost. There has been some initial design work to RIBA stage 2 undertaken and we are currently working through the procurement exercise to appoint the architect for the detailed design work.  We will have final designs and cost details in the summer and then there will be a further report to Cabinet.

 

The original Splash build was funded through lottery and other grant funding, the extension costed £2.7m in 2008 which was funded through a combination of SBC resources, Sport England Grant and prudential borrowing. The timing of when the Council takes out external borrowing is driven by cashflow requirements and the treasury management strategy, we do not enter into individual loans for specific schemes.

 

Options for the future use of the existing Splash site, as well as the other sites vacated as a result of the moves to Dunedin House, are being considered alongside the Council’s asset strategy. Any costs associated with the future use, including potential demolition costs will be identified as part of this work.  This work is also covering the asset value of the existing site and all of this will be brought back to Cabinet.”

 

Councillor Ted Strike asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“The figure of £15 million is obviously 2 years old now and the cost of building materials etc have now gone through the roof. Therefore, the figure is more likely to be a 40% increase in cost so until we find out the full cost, I sincerely hope that this Council are going to put this on-hold and not jump straight in and bring something back to full Council?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing responded with:-

 

“Cllr Strike has clearly little understanding of project management. I’m certainly not going to speculate in a meeting where there are members of the public and press about the future costs. In my original answer I said we would be bringing a report back to Cabinet once we have a programme of costs. That is the process we apply to all of our schemes. A new modern fit for purpose and efficient leisure centre on the new Stockton waterfront development will provide the best value for money use of a brownfield site. Also, it’s close proximity to the NHS Diagnostic Centre and access to cycleways, walkways and the new wellbeing hub is something we would all welcome. This Labour Cabinet and Group is delivering on the Council Plan that was approved earlier this evening, we have a clear vision unlike Cllr Strike and the Conservative Group.”

 

 

The following question has been submitted by Councillor Tony Riordan for response by the Leader of the Council:-

 

“Can the leader please outline what training has been provided to members of this council in managing budgets, negotiating, and securing major grant funding, recruitment of senior officers, delivering projects with schools and communities, negotiating contracts, and finally the designing of community spaces?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“Members have a personal responsibility to identify their own personal support and development needs.

 

This Council provides a range of training opportunities for new and existing members through the induction programme which will run later this year, following the elections.

 

The programme has been put together incorporating the views of elected members through feedback received after the last induction programme, the Members Advisory Panel and Cabinet. The programme is there to ensure that members are able to fully discharge their role as elected councillors.

 

There is a requirement for members sitting on some of our committees to undertake mandatory training in the role of those committees, for example the planning committee or Licensing Committees or the Appointments Panel.

It is important for us all, as elected members, to recognise that the role of members and the role of officers is different but complementary. Our protocol on member officer relations helps explain this.

 

With the exception of the recruitment of senior officers, where there is a defined role for the appointment panel and where members must have mandatory training, the other areas for training raised in this question are operational topics, for which the responsibility to give professional advice and procedural guidance to members rests with officers.

 

It would therefore be unusual if members were raising a need for the training mentioned in the question within their personal development needs. Clearly through cabinet and member briefings, and the advice provided at committees, members are provided with the professional support and guidance they need to undertake their roles and make decisions.”

 

 

Councillor Tony Riordan asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“If I could take you to a Facebook page belonging to IBIS and its updates to the Stockton and Darlington Bicentenary celebrations dated 8 February this year. It says “We IBIS have a budget £1.3 million from SBC” that’s not true, it also says “We IBIS have just got confirmation of significant grant from the lottery which includes work in Darlington as well Stockton and we are IBIS finalising a £1 million contribution from the TVCA, we IBIS are also receiving funding from the Arts Council, and we IBIS are in the process of recruiting Bicentenary Director”. My question talks about recruitment of senior officers and what training members have had, IBIS don’t take part in any recruitment of any senior officers within this Council, they are not on any Appointment Panels and yet they are reporting of residents of Ingleby Barwick. It would have been easier if IBIS had said this is a straight lift from the SBC website but they have made out that they have done all of these things.”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“You are obviously staring your election campaign early. You are trying to say that IBIS Councillors are not representing their residents. For the last 18 years IBIS have been securing investment for Ingleby Barwick by working in partnership with other groups and officers. I think you are mixing up the role of SBC Officers and SBC Councillors. As Councillors we have to make an informed decision, Council officers are highly skilled and work many hours and one area they have recently been successful is the case for the NHS Diagnostic Centre and thanks to the vast majority of Councillors the plans have been backed for the Castlegate redevelopment which means that Stockton can offer a brand new facility which was one of the factors in the bid. If it was left to the Conservative Group there would be no Castlegate development, no Globe, no hotel and no NHD Diagnostic centre.”

 

 

The following question has been submitted by Councillor Ted Strike for response by the Leader of the Council:-

 

“Can the leader of the council advise me what finances, if any were allocated from Stockton council's budget to the building of All Saints school and Ingleby Manor free school?

 

This does not include the extension of All Saints.”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“All Saints Church of England started 01.09.2003 and all costs were funded via the PFI scheme, there was no Council budget allocated to the scheme.

 

Ingleby Manor Free School started 01.09.2014 in a temporary building then moved to current site.  All costs for the school were funded by Government, the was no Council budget allocated to the scheme.”