Agenda item

To receive any questions by Members to Cabinet Members submitted in accordance with the Procedure Note.

(1)  Cllr Leola Card had submitted a question for response by the Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder (Cllr Keith Dibble) on the maintenance of unadopted roads.

 

Cllr Dibble advised that Councillors could view details of which roads within the Borough were adopted, and, consequently, those unadopted, on the Councillor mapping system or at findmystreet.co.uk.

 

Typically, there was no real ownership of an unadopted road, rather there was a maintenance obligation of living on one, namely residents who owned the houses fronting onto the road. No service was due from any public body and responsibility would rest with the residents of the unadopted roads.

 

The remit of any working group formed would simply be to persuade the highways authority to adopt the roads, which it was not obligated to do, and would be unlikely to be able to fund.

 

(2)  Cllr Calum Stewart had submitted a question for response by the Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder (Cllr Keith Dibble) on improving standards in private rented accommodation.

 

Cllr Dibble advised that improving standards in the private rented sector was a key commitment in the Council's Delivery Plan. The Council was delivering this through a combination of stronger tenant protections, earlier intervention, improved landlord compliance and, where necessary, robust enforcement action.

 

The introduction of the Renters' Rights Act represented the most significant reform of the private rented sector in a generation. Tenants would benefit from greater security, stronger financial protections and fairer treatment across the sector. This included controls on rent increases, an end to rental bidding, open-ended tenancies and stronger protections from unfair eviction. Together, these changes should give tenants greater confidence to raise concerns with the Council and give greater stability in their homes.

 

Alongside these national reforms, the Council’s Housing Options and Private Sector Housing teams were working proactively with landlords and tenants to support higher standards across the Borough. This included delivering landlord forums to communicate current and forthcoming legislative changes, providing targeted training on the Renters' Rights Act, damp and mould, and wider regulatory requirements and offering practical guidance to help landlords comply with their responsibilities and address issues before they escalated.

 

The Council expected tenants to see safer and better-maintained homes, quicker resolution of housing problems when concerns were raised, more consistent standards across the private rented sector and greater confidence to report issues without fear of unfair eviction or harassment. The Council would also expect to see improved housing stability and fewer cases where poor housing conditions contributed to homelessness.

 

The Council would be looking for a reduction in serious property hazards and poor housing conditions, faster resolution of complaints and enforcement cases, fewer repeat issues involving the same properties or landlords, increased engagement by landlords with training and support opportunities, evidence that tenants were reporting concerns earlier and with greater confidence and reduced homelessness arising from poor housing conditions.

 

Ultimately, success would be measured against the outcomes set out in the Council's Delivery Plan.

 

(3)  Cllr G.B. Lyon had submitted a question for response by the Leader of the Council (Cllr Gareth Williams) on the costs of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

 

Cllr Williams advised that the Council’s net spend for the 2025/26 financial year had been £80,266.83.

 

To date, the spend for 2026/27 was £91,156.61 from an initial approved budget of £300,000 (this included some staffing costs specifically recruited to assist with LGR). The Government had announced a distribution of £900,000 for the current financial year to assist each new unitary area with implementation costs. To date this money was still pending and the basis of distribution amongst the Councils was yet to be agreed.

 

Officer time was currently not being directly tracked and charged to LGR per se; however, several officers were currently spending an increasing amount of their time working on LGR. This was primarily at senior officer level and service manager level; however, some support was being provided at more administrative levels.

 

The Council would review the adequacy of its budget for LGR as the programme of implementation activity become clearer throughout the 2026/27 financial year.

 

Cllr Lyon asked a supplementary question regarding whether the Leader considered centralisation to be a bad thing. In response, the Leader stated that he believed that LGR was a process of decentralisation, especially with regard to County Council services.

 

(4)  Cllr Lisa Greenway had submitted a question for response by the Leader of the Council (Cllr Gareth Williams) on hosting of the National Armed Force Day event.

 

Cllr Williams advised that the previous weekend had been a proud day for the Borough of Rushmoor, as it had showed the very best of itself to the wider Armed Forces and Defence communities.

 

The Council’s objectives in hosting the event had been ambitious, and had included:

 

•           ensuring the Armed Forces felt the gratitude of the public

•           engaging young people with ideas of careers in local businesses and the   services themselves

•           promoting the cadet forces

•           highlighting the role of community groups in supporting veterans and          serving families; and,

•           celebrating the diverse Armed Forces community.

 

The Leader felt assured that everyone who attended could attest that the Council had met and exceeded these objectives. In addition to the day itself, the relationships formed in organising the event and during the weekend had taken forward many of the plans the Council had for joining up the Armed Forces, businesses and community groups locally and he was looking forward to developing those relationships further.

 

(5)  Cllr Sue Carter had submitted a question for response by the Finance & Resources Portfolio Holder (Cllr Gaynor Austin), on behalf of the Healthy Communities & Active Lives Portfolio Holder (Cllr Sophie Porter), on the National Year of Reading 2026.

 

Cllr Austin advised that the Council had been working with partners to identify opportunities to support and promote reading across communities.

 

The Council continued to have good engagement with the local libraries and schools and was also exploring opportunities to work with community groups to encourage wider participation and volunteering to support reading initiatives.

 

The Council was looking at the potential for increasing community library provision and other book-sharing initiatives, where these were viable and supported by local communities, as well as promoting the existing offers already in place.

 

The Council recognised the valuable role these initiatives could play in improving access to books and encouraging reading.

 

Members were advised that, in North Town, Vivid Housing was developing a scheme involving books for children and, if interested, Members should contact Cllr Porter for further information.

 

Cllr Carter stated a wish to be involved in any future Council initiatives in this regard.

 

(6)  Cllr Thomas Day had submitted a question for response by the Pride in Place and Neighbourhood Services Portfolio Holder, (Cllr Christine Guinness), on behalf of the Healthy Communities & Active Lives Portfolio Holder (Cllr Sophie Porter), on the Lido hot weather opening.

 

Cllr Guinness advised that the decision to open the Aldershot Lido on the afternoons of 24th, 25th and 26th June, during the most recent heatwave, proved very popular, with 837 tickets sold on the Wednesday, 1,190 tickets on the Thursday and 1,124 on the Friday, totalling 3,151 tickets across the three days providing local residents with the ideal place to cool off.

 

The hot weather this year had unsurprisingly led to a fantastically successful opening six weeks at the Lido, with almost 28,000 tickets sold in May and June. Impressive figures when compared to the total season attendance of 42,000 in 2025 and 40,000 in 2024. The Lido would be open every day for the months of July and August and, with more warm weather forecasted, it was very possible 2026 could be a record-breaking year for the Lido.

 

Everyone Active, the Council’s newly appointed operators of the Pools and Lido and Alpine Snowsports Centre, should be commended for their speedy and successful mobilisation, having only taken over operation of the sites on 1st April, seven weeks before the start of the Lido season.

 

(7)  Cllr Nicky Slater had submitted a question for response by the Finance & Resources Portfolio Holder (Cllr Gaynor Austin), on behalf of the Healthy Communities & Active Lives Portfolio Holder (Cllr Sophie Porter), on the Aldershot Comedy Festival.

 

Cllr Austin advised that the Aldershot Comedy Festival was an event conceived and organised by Rushmoor Borough Council staff at the Princes Hall, in association with the team at the West End Centre. The inaugural Festival last September had been very well received, and this second iteration was set to be even bigger and better with a dozen different comedy shows and events taking place at the two theatres between 29th September and 8th October.

 

The Festival had a varied programme of events, covering the spectrum of comedy, from stand-up to improv, TV comedy nostalgia to musical comedy. Members of the public could even try their hand at stand-up comedy themselves.

 

Some of the well-known names featuring in this year’s festival included Andy Hamilton, Dom Joly, Reginald D Hunter and Charlie Baker.

 

For more information and to book tickets, customers could visit the Princes Hall and West End Centre websites or speak to their box offices.

 

It was hoped that the Aldershot Comedy Festival 2026 would shine a spotlight on live comedy and provide lots of laughs to the people of Rushmoor and beyond.

 

(8)  Cllr Thomas Day had submitted a question for response by the Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder (Cllr Keith Dibble) on the number of children in temporary accommodation.

 

Cllr Dibble advised that as of, 1st July 2026, Rushmoor had 63 children residing in temporary accommodation, across 49 households in total. None of these families were in bed and breakfast accommodation and as of 2nd July there would be no households at all in bed and breakfast accommodation.

 

These figures compared to 77 children in temporary accommodation between January and March 2026 and 83 children between January and March 2025.

 

The Housing Options Team, of housing officers, support officers and allocations and landlord liaison officers, had focused their work on preventing homelessness where possible and as a result of this positive and pro-active work, the service had 69% of all homeless approaches occurring at the prevention stage, meaning they could work to stop the household becoming homeless and needing temporary accommodation. The Team had done this by working to resolve matters so families could remain in their current accommodation or assist in finding them alternative accommodation before they become homeless.

 

This proactive work saw the service consistently prevent homelessness above the national average. In the period from January to March 2026, of the 77 households who sought assistance prior to becoming homeless, the Council had been able to prevent 65 of them from doing so. This success rate of 84% compared to a national average of 54%.