Issue - meetings

The Minutes from the meeting of the Environment & Leisure Working Group held on 10 December 2020 are attached and contain the following recommendations for Cabinet to consider:

·         Minute 20 [Safer Arun Partnership] – to view the Officer’s report – please click on this link - Report and Appendix

·         Minute 21 [Tree Planting Strategy] – to view the Officer’s report – please click on this link - Report

Cabinet considered the minutes from the meeting of the Environment & Leisure Working Group held on 10 December 2020 and approved the recommendations at:

Minute 20 – Safer Arun Partnership Review

The Cabinet

            RESOLVED – That

(1)          The work of the Safer Arun Partnership is endorsed and the importance of partnership working in contributing to reducing anti-social behaviour and addressing crime and disorder in Arun is recognised; and

(2)          Recognition is given to the work of the Safer Arun Partnership in contributing to the delivery of the Council’s strategic priority ‘Supporting you if you need Help”

Minute 21 – Tree Planting Strategy

The Cabinet

            RESOLVED

            To endorse the principles outlined in the report which would form the basis of the Tree Planting Strategy 2021 to 2031 and an associated planting plan which would both be presented to the relevant Committee.

The Chairman alerted Cabinet to the minutes from the meeting of the Environment & Leisure Working Group held on 10 December 2020 and confirmed that they contained recommendations for Cabinet to consider.

The Chairman firstly invited the Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, Councillor Mrs Yeates, to present the first set of recommendations at Minute 20 [Safer Arun Partnership] and it was explained that this was the annual report of the Safer Arun Partnership and that Chief Inspector Carter had attended the meeting to provide a further overview to the report and to respond to questions asked by Councillors. 

The Cabinet

RESOLVED – That

(1)          The work of the Safer Arun Partnership be endorsed and the importance of partnership working in contributing to reducing anti-social behaviour and addressing crime and disorder in Arun is recognised; and

(2)          Recognition is given to the work of the Safer Arun Partnership in contributing to the delivery of the Council’s strategic priority ‘supporting you if you need help’.

The Chairman then invited the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, Councillor Mrs Staniforth to present the recommendation at Minute 21 [Tree Planting Strategy].  Councillor Mrs Staniforth explained that the Tree Planting Strategy was a 10-year plan covering over 90 sites across the District.  The Tree Planting Officer had attended the Working Group meeting to work through the detail of the report and the tree planting strategy.  This was an exciting project for the Council as it would help to address some of the climate issues and the aims of the Council in tackling its Climate Emergency declared last year.  The Plan detailed where trees would be planted and what species of plants and trees would be involved. Councillor Mrs Staniforth explained that the Council had a very experienced team of Officers working on this Strategy and that they had been working on planting initiatives for a very long time.  It was highlighted that there had been a lot of debate on the content of the full plan resulting in the Working Group asking if this Strategy could go ahead and be progressed but that a Plan be formulated in terms of what should happen being returned to the Working Plan before the Strategy was approved.  Councillor Mrs Staniforth confirmed that she would like to approve the Strategy with the understanding that it would come back to the Working Group when a Plan was in place for Members ‘ to comment on and to tweak if necessary and she asked if the Director of Services if Cabinet could approve this now rather than to support the full request from the Working Group.

The Director of Services provided some reassurance confirming that the Council’s Tree Officers were all very experienced and had been involved in a massive range of successful tree planting schemes in the past. Once the Strategy had been worked up it could then be brought back to the Working Group or appropriate Committee and that this was the right way forward.

In view of the points raised,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 406