Agenda item

The Chair announced that there were four questions from Members of the Council. The details of the specific questions were included at Agenda Item 11.

Question 4/21 - Councillor M Storey to the Mayor with regard to when the recently adjourned meeting to discuss the Stainsby Masterplan would be reconvened and whether a decision would be taken that both addressed the concerns of residents and safeguarded the Council from any legal action from developers?

The Mayor advised that this was an issue where the Council would need to look closely at the evidence, and they would not rush into making a decision on it. There was more work to be done before the Council could make a decision on this issue, and they were looking now at how they would do that. The Mayor advised that he would not put any definitive timescales on when the decision would be taken, at this stage.

Question 5/21 - Councillor Cooke to the Mayor with regard to Middlesbrough Council offering a pest control service.

The Mayor stated that it was the case that other Councils offered a subsidised pest control service to private properties. He advised that whilst he could not promise anything at this point, he would request that the provision of a pest control service be explored as part of the Council’s budget setting process.

Question 6/21 – Councillor Furness to the Executive Member for Regeneration regarding Selective Landlord Licensing with regard to how many houses were under license throughout Middlesbrough? In the likes of Gresham ward where only half were under licence, whether there was a difference in housing from the licensed areas to the unlicensed areas?

The Executive Member for Regeneration advised that the Newport Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme had been in place since June 2019.  To date 845 licences had been issued with 107 still outstanding. It was too early to conduct a formal evaluation of the scheme because of the interruptions to some of the elements caused by COVID - there had been a delay to housing inspections but actions in response to anti-social behaviour, such as housing Closure Orders, had been able to be progressed. 

Evaluation would be re-programmed and would take place in due course.  A full evaluation was carried out in respect of the first North Ormesby Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme (2016-2021) and this demonstrated positive outcomes in terms of house prices; reduction in tenant turnover; improvements in the condition of properties and a reduction in some aspects of anti-social behaviour. 

The second North Ormesby Scheme was introduced in June 2021 to continue to progress this work and it was estimated that 878 properties would be licensed.

Councillor Furness stated that he would like to see the difference in the two areas. He stated that he had experienced issues in the past with bad landlords and tenants and he hoped that the scheme would be rolled out across the whole of Newport Ward and eventually the rest of the town, although he acknowledged that this would need government approval.

Councillor Polano advised that the Council was endeavouring to roll out the Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme across the whole of the Newport Ward.

Question 7/21 - Councillor P Storey to the Mayor regarding whether he could rule out the introduction of fortnightly bin collections in the financial year 2022/23?

The Mayor advised that there were no plans to introduce weekly collections in 2022/23.