Agenda item

The Corporate Director Communities, Marianne Hesketh, has submitted a report, the 4^th Quarter Performance Statement 2022/23, January – March 2023.

The Corporate Director Communities, Marianne Hesketh, submitted a report on the Fourth Quarter Performance Statement 2022/23, January – March 2023.

As the committee had new members, she explained the process by which the performance statement was put together. She explained that each year, the council produced a Business Plan, which was last confirmed by Full Council in March 2023. The performance report before members was on the previous Business Plan.

She told members that she was pleased to note that overall, the key projects identified were on track and they were making good progress on council priorities for that year.

Councillors asked questions over Project Neptune, electric charging points and the Cosy Homes Grants.

Marianne responded that for Project Neptune, they were in the process of triggering leases for units 2-8 within the next week; unit 1 was still in negotiations with Midland Fish. Therefore, units 1-8 were expected to be filled by the end of June. In terms of electric charging points, she explained that this was under a different directorate, but she had recently seen a request for a way leave for the Civic Centre car park so this was progressing.

In response to the questions over the Cosy Homes Grants, she informed members that there was some data missing from the performance statement and would circulate this round when available. She told members that there was funding available for Lancashire and Wyre residents, and that the council should be encouraging the take up of this if residents met the requirements. In response to a comment on advertisement of this, she responded that this could be more widely shared on social media and that this could be shared on the Councillor Portal for councillors to be able to pass on the information to residents.

Councillor Fail commented that the council ought to be doing more to address climate issues, particularly energy housing standards in Wyre and that this ought to be a priority for the next Business Plan. He also said that for new councillors, more information should be available on how climate change was taken into account in decision-making.

Marianne explained that when writing reports, officers used a climate change assessment to ensure all decisions took climate change into account.

The Chair thanked Marianne for attending the meeting, and the committee noted the report.