To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on 19^th July 2017

DECISION:

1.            That the unrestricted minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Wednesday 19 July 2017  be confirmed as a correct record and the Speaker be authorised to sign them accordingly.

(Action by: Matthew Mannion, Committee Services Manager, Democratic Services)

RESOLVED:

1.            That the unrestricted minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Wednesday 19 July 2017  be confirmed as a correct record and the Speaker be authorised to sign them accordingly.

The questions which have been received from members of the public for this Council meeting are set out in the attached report.  A maximum period of 20 minutes is allocated to this agenda item.

The following questions followed by a supplementary question were put and was responded to by the relevant Executive Member:-

6.1       Question from Ahmed Hussain about Project Stone and the impact on current leaseholders and freeholders of the estate.

6.2       Questions from Natasha Bolter about bullying.

6.3       Questions from Kabir Hussain about empty properties in the Borough

Question 6.4 was not put due to the absence of the questioner.  A written response would be provided to the question.

(Action by:– Matthew Mannion, Committee Services Manager, Democratic Services to arrange written response)

The following questions followed by a supplementary question were put and were responded to by the Mayor or relevant Executive Member:-

6.1       Question from Ahmed Hussain

1. Argent wants to make the most money out of the regeneration 2. OHG wants to increase its stock as much as it can and wants to borrow money against OUR property 3. The council wants to shift some of its residents from the waiting list to the newly built homes (even though they will not get the preferred 35% out of this regeneration); they also want to increase their receipt on council tax All of the above are supported by the council under the current Mayors Executive Power

But what is the council doing to ensure:

1. The current leasehold and freeholders will get a like for like property; surely the council needs to be fair for all and not just look after itself, housing association and the developer?

Response of Councillor Rachel Blake,Cabinet Member for Strategic Development and Waste:

I fundamentally disagree with the assertion within the question and as far as I know so does the Mayor that all of the above are supported by the Council under the current Mayor’s executive power. Not only does he not have the power on this but also I don't believe it to be our vision for the Island. Of course we will and we have acted fairly on this issue. One of the things I was most concerned about when we first came into administration was the lack of attention provided by the previous administration on this very issue. As far as I could tell they had done nothing to hold One Housing Group to account on some of the plans that they had brought forward. It is interesting that so many of them have left, they don't even want to hear our conversation now about what is to be done about some of these plans that lack consultation and that lack, frankly, common decency in terms of how they have related to residents. I would like to be really clear that I dispute your assertion that parts one, two and three of your question are supported by the Council and I look forward to what you have to say next.

Supplementary question from Ahmed Hussain:

If there was a chance I would probably rewrite my question, but that is not the option here today.

The things that the Mayor and yourself are doing our brilliant and especially what Candida Ronald is doing with the four estates forum, which I attend, but there is more to do. The thing is, that it is our houses. It is our livelihood and you really need to take that in consideration and my supplementary question is, if the last administration could deliver a like-for-like for the Blackwall Reach regeneration on Robin Hood Gardens, then surely you can do that too or at least put some pressure to this regeneration to include like-for-like?

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6