To consider the report of the Council Leader and Members' questions on the report
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council began his report by echoing the Chairman’s congratulations in respect of Derby being the successful bidder for the headquarters of Great British Rail. He expressed his gratitude to all of the officers that had been involved in the process.
He referred to the announcement in the recent budget around investment zones which had been allocated to Combined Authority Areas which had also included Derbyshire and this was very good news for Derbyshire and its residents.
Finally, the Leader acknowledged the £4.23m worth of pothole money allocated to the County which would be spent over the coming weeks and months.
The following questions were raised and responded to:-
Councillor Ford:
“As the Derbyshire County Council representative on the Rail Forum, which is based in Derby, I too applaud the decision by Government to bring the Rail Forum to Derby. Does the Leader of the Council agree with me that the decision should make a tremendous difference and give the SMEs who work in the rail industry in and around Derbyshire a real boost?
Councillor Lewis responded as follows:
“Yes, I do believe it will make some pretty unique opportunities for our SMEs. What we need to be doing I think both as a local authority but right across the region is making sure we can maximise those opportunities for all our SMEs to be able to access those opportunities in the future and I look forward to working with colleagues to do that.”
Councillor Fordham:
“Can I attach myself to the congratulations on securing the railway bid for Derbyshire and Derby specifically. As the Leader probably knows the National Railway Museum in York hold a large number of railway items relating to Chesterfield and Derbyshire, notably a statue of George Stephenson, plaques to him submitted by other countries at his death, stained glass of a number of railway stations, signage and more from across Derbyshire. Will the Leader be willing to help establish a dialogue with the Railway Museum in York to get some or all of those restored back to Derbyshire and possibly even Chesterfield?”
Councillor Lewis responded as follows:
“It has not come across my radar as a potential proposition. I am always interested in our county’s heritage, anything we can do to enhance that. If it is sensible to consider that dialogue then by all means I am open to it but I am sure they are in safe hands where they are for the time being until perhaps we can put together a sensible proposition otherwise.”
Councillor George:
“I agree with welcoming Great British Rail to Derbyshire which is excellent. You also mentioned the potholes. We have been doing a huge amount of pothole filling in the last few weeks. I went to see some of them that were done in my Ward two weeks ago. They are already starting to gouge out and the stones to be dislodged causing problems blocking up the grids and causing more erosion. They haven’t even had a seal around the edge of each pothole. Can we make sure that the quality is there in the work that is done so that it lasts longer and put the proper investment into decent repairs on our highways that are longer lasting?”
Councillor Lewis responded as follows:
“Just to reassure Councillor George yes, there has been a lot of pothole filling going on recently. We have had a very concerted campaign to ensure that we do. We have around 30 gangs out there at the moment. We have had three jet patches patrolling around Derbyshire getting them filled and as fast as they are coming in we are more or less filling them as well.
We did have a spell of bad weather recently which has kind of unhinged a few of the potholes that we are talking about but there is a hierarchy, as Councillor George will know, on how we fill in potholes. Sometimes temporary repairs are done because a longer-term repair can be affected later down the line and it is a better use of resources to sometimes do that even though it seems counter-intuitive at that moment. I am sure that is what is happening in one or two of those instances.
We do endeavour to do the best quality we can and I know our Highway Teams are proud of the work they do across the county but sometimes circumstances such as weather and the underlying road base etc can sometimes impact on that.”