Full Council Meeting Update

Last night's meeting of Full Council was again very well attended by members of the public. The public gallery was full, and a large number of people gathered outside were not permitted to enter the building.

Whilst the sounds of a peaceful protest could be heard, members of the public made the most of the opportunity given at the start of council meetings to eloquently make their feelings known about the many proposed developments or proposed allocation of land for housing use.

Objectors to developments at Swanwick, and Hardy Barn in Shipley, were promised the opportunity to address a special meeting of the Local Development Framework Working Group by the leading Tory Group.

Councillors debated Government proposals to introduce a Community Infrastructure Levy. I welcome these moves as, although I do not feel there is any need for more homes to be built in our towns, I feel that if there are, the developers should be made to pay a contribution to improving the infrastructure in the area. New homes mean more residents in an area, leading to further stretching of infrastructure, reducing services to existing residents too.

A good example of the strain new development can put on infrastructure is the proposed allocation of land in the Hardy Barn and Breach Road area at Marlpool and Shipley. A large housing estate could potentially be built there, but with no schools in Shipley, a large number of children would not be able to be properly accommodated by the already full schools in Marlpool. It would be only right that a developer made a substantial contribution to a new school.

Council approved further consultation with regard to the development of the Cinderhill site, as well as the continuation of work towards the sale of the Council's depot at Hands Road in Heanor, and the Council's Central Headquarters in Ripley, including the Town Hall.

I supported a motion asking the Government to reconsider its proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme. Despite the media's pre-occupation with high salaries paid to senior local government officers, the average council worker receives pay below the average level received by private sector employees, and has no more job security nowadays with the high levels of redundancies being made in the public sector.

These low pay levels have traditionally been compensated for to some extent by the provision of a final-salary pension scheme, but now the Government wants to increase employee contributions whilst reducing payouts to the scheme's pensioners. This puts undue pressure on council staff who have already suffered a substantial pay freeze, and could result in many being no longer able to afford to remain members of the scheme, thus putting its future viability at risk.

Finally, after a forty minute adjournment, at around 11-30pm came the decision to sell the land at Ripley Gateway to Morrisons.