Meeting Details

(a) Disclosable Pecuniary Interests
(b) Private Interests (pecuniary and non-pecuniary)

a)    Presentation of Awards/Certificates (if any)

(a) Questions to Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority

(b) Questions to the Leader, Cabinet Members and Committee Chairmen

Nottinghamshire County Council welcomes the announcement that smart motorways will be removed from Government road-building plans. It has been stated this is due to the "...lack of public confidence felt by drivers."

This Council notes that there have been at least 79 deaths linked to smart motorways. There have also been hundreds of accidents causing injury and distress connected with smart motorways.

This council further notes that around 10% of England's motorway network is made up of smart motorways and that large parts of the M1, going through Nottinghamshire form a smart motorway. This Council believes that resident's lives are being put in danger on these roads of death.

This Council therefore calls for the Government to undertake an urgent review of existing smart motorways and calls for immediate Government investment to ensure that motorist's lives are not put in danger in Nottinghamshire and across the UK. 

This Council resolves to write to the Secretary of State for Transport making this Council's opposition to smart motorways clear.

Councillor Tom Hollis      Councillor Dave Shaw

On 30 March 2023, Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer stated that he would freeze Council Tax rises for the year 2023/24 if Prime Minister. This would be paid for by an increased windfall tax on energy companies who have profited excessively during the cost-of-living crisis, when so many people are struggling to pay bills and when food prices have risen by 19.2%, the highest observed annual rate in over 45 years.

A freeze in Council Tax rise at this time would provide an opportunity for Nottinghamshire residents to have more disposable income which could be used to mitigate the cost-of-living crisis.

This Council therefore resolves to:

a) Support any proposals from this Government, or a future Government, to deliver a freeze in Council Tax rises for Nottinghamshire residents in the year 2024/25, paid for by an increased windfall tax on energy companies.

b) Following years of significant cuts to public services, write to the Government outlining the case for long-term funding settlements and increased Local Government investment, to enable this Council to deliver the services our residents need.

Councillor Kate Foale     Councillor Jim Creamer

Encouraging Active Travel in Nottinghamshire is one of the stated ambitions of this Council.

This is acknowledged in the Nottinghamshire Plan as a Council priority to tackle the Climate Emergency.

Active Travel is sadly often too unsafe in some areas of Nottinghamshire, and this is notably the case for pedal cyclists.

Over in the last decade more than 1,875 cyclists have been injured by motor vehicles across Nottinghamshire.

For cyclists, potholes and highway junctions are a particular concern when trying to get safely to their destination.

To move beyond active travel advocacy and to accelerate increasing numbers of participation, it is clear that more needs to be done to improve safety.

This Council will therefore:

l Acknowledge that more needs to be done to make active travel participants feel safe, particularly pedal cyclists who travel by road.

l Identify the most dangerous areas in each Borough and District of the County for pedal cyclists and outline the steps which will be taken to improve active travel measures in these areas, and when these changes can expect to be delivered, on the Nottinghamshire County Council website.

Councillor Penny Gowland      Councillor Paul Henshaw