Minutes:
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Neighbour – Members may well have heard that the Government will be providing a White Paper on Local Government re-organisation in September. This appears to be aimed at further unitarisation and an expansion of the combined Authority System. They have asked for expressions of interest over the summer. I have been in communication with the Leader of the County Council as well as the other Hampshire Districts. Our collective view is that the current arrangement works and that this would be a distraction during the current public health crisis.
The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, Councillor Radley - Members will be aware later in this meeting we will be discussing the motion which I am bringing forward to adjust our budget in order to allow both Leisure Centres in the district to open tomorrow. While I regret that this item shall need to be discussed in confidential session due to the inevitable need to discuss the financial affairs of a third party organisation and because we touch upon contractual negotiations, I do hope that all members will support the council's efforts to get these important facilities open again.
Cabinet Member for Digital, Councillor Ambler - You all received an email from me last with information about the rollout of the new Committee Services software Modern.gov. Thank you to all the members who responded but there are still quite a number who we haven’t heard from. Please could you respond to Steven Bennett as soon as possible with confirmation as to whether you have access to a portable device and information about that device.
The reason that we are asking the question is, that the new software is in the process of being rolled out and we need to ensure that all Councillors are going to have a suitable device to run the software on.
This will streamline the work of Committee Services and improve members access to documents needed for meetings, as well as other exciting new features. Eventually, we will return to the council chamber for meetings, which is why it’s essential that all members have access to a suitable mobile device.
We plan to start phased member training on the application from September and are keen to sign up ‘early adopters’ for the program so again, please can you contact Steven if you are happy to be included in this first phase for training.
The Cabinet Member for Community, Councillor Bailey – No announcement.
The Cabinet Member for Place, Councillor Cockarill – No announcement.
The Cabinet Member for Regulatory, Councillor Kinnell – No announcement.
The Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Oliver - New subscriptions for our Green Waste service will be accepted from the 3rd August. All Hart controlled waste and recycling services are now back in full operation. The Green Waste service can now be extended to new or re-joining residents as volumes being collected are starting to approach pre-pandemic levels and we can be confident of providing a reliable service to our current subscribers.
The Cabinet Member for Commercialisation, Councillor Quarterman – No announcement.