Agenda item

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 8 March 2021.

The minutes of the meeting of 8 March 2021 were confirmed and signed subject to the following comments:

·         Councillor Cornwell referred to the update on previous actions and said the panel had resolved to transfer to this list all unresolved items from a previous Anglian Water (AW) presentation and he asked if that had been done. Anna Goodall responded that AW have agreed to attend another O&S meeting as requested by members, and she is currently in discussions regarding a suitable date, when these items will be addressed. However, we are keen that some of those can be resolved before then and members will receive updates as soon as possible. Councillor Cornwell said members were concerned they were not getting updates from AW and did not want any item overlooked hence the request for items to be added to the action plan.  Anna Goodall confirmed that she will ensure they are added to provide reassurance that these items will not be overlooked.  

·         Councillor Cornwell referred to item 14 in the minutes regarding the update on the CPCA Growth Service, which included a discussion around the Anglia University and skills etc. which he had found very interesting. The minutes suggested he was questioning why we do not have a marine centre in Wisbech, whereas he had in fact raised the point that the marine centres in Wisbech are currently underused. Suggestions had been made around trying to reintroduce skills such as boat maintenance. We have trawlers arriving from the eastern region for maintenance and the skills that are required come in with them and he was therefore trying to get that skillset requirement into the university. He is still waiting for a response from Councillor Benney in this matter and so would like this chased up.

·         Councillor Cornwell also mentioned that under the Transformation and Communications Portfolio Holder update he had raised the possibility of having an opt-in mailing list for something like a regular newsletter for distribution. Councillor Tierney was going to look at that so he would also appreciate a chase up on this for a response.

·         Councillor Booth referred to Councillor Cornwell’s comments regarding AW. He said that many of the actions have been captured to some degree in Item 6 of the actual action plan but there are still several items of which we are waiting for more technical information, such as the Friday Bridge pumping station. We were told there had been no plans to refurbish it in the next five years, but we are still suffering issues with the water pressure. He suggested we update item 6 on the actual plan and take it forward, but we need to keep it at the top of the agenda. Councillor Mason said we are endeavouring to bring a more engineering-based person from AW to a later meeting as mentioned by Anna Goodall in order to address those problems. 

·         Councillor Booth stated that in item 5 of the minutes, he had raised concerns regarding apprenticeships. The presentation had reiterated what the government schemes were, but he had asked specifically what the CPCA was doing about apprenticeships. Councillor Benney was going to provide some information about that, but he has not received this. However, he feels this is urgent given that the CPCA has now been running for four years and little action appears to have been taken in that area so he would appreciate action on that.

·         Councillor Wicks referred to item 4 in the minutes regarding the CPCA Growth Update. He said that Mr Downton was going to come back to advise what is happening with a pool of business sites within our local area and would like an update.