Cannock Chase Council

The Local Democracy Reporting Service in Staffordshire has been covering these stories this week:

• Calls to have car parking made free in Cannock Chase have been rejected after the council's leader said it could cost the authority £65,000 per month. The idea was put forward by councillor Paul Startin at this month's full council meeting in a bid to encourage visitors back to town centres but was defeated by one vote.

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• Staffordshire County Council is being urged to consider a three-month "amnesty" on charging businesses for waste disposal at its recycling centres in a bid to discourage fly-tipping. Cannock Chase Council's making the request, with the authority saying it's seen 299 cases of illegal dumping up to June this year compared to 371 for the whole of 2019.
• Plans for a tipi wedding venue in Staffordshire have been withdrawn after dozens of objections to the idea. Kata Tipis Ltd had proposed putting up the structures on farmland at Elford Heath, near Eccleshall, for seven months each year to host weddings but withdrew the application after objections over noise and traffic concerns.

These are some of the stories being covered by our Local Democracy Reporting Service this week:

• Cannock and the surrounding area could lose some businesses due to the pandemic, but the area's now preparing for recovery, councillors have heard. The district council's agreed a framework for the area's recovery and backed a review of the local authority's existing priorities given the impact of Covid-19.

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• Plans for a new cemetery in Cannock Chase have taken a step forward as councillors approved additional funds of £100,000 towards the scheme. With no burial space in the south of the district, a site in Norton Canes has been identified and the extra money's going towards a new road crossing and the future budget of the cemetery.

• A bar firm's been given permission to build two new homes behind a village pub after a council failed to make a decision in the required amount of time. A planning inspector ruled East Staffordshire Borough Council took too long and granted planning permission for the land at the Coach and Horse in Abbots Bromley,

Some bin crews have been subjected to "inexcusable" abuse over collections during lockdown - a period when employees are "working incredibly hard" amid "difficult conditions".

Cannock Chase District Council said staff had faced "aggression and intimidation" after tagging blue recycling bins. Tagging means receptacles contaminated with misplaced material go uncollected, and was a case of workers "just trying to do their jobs".

Cannock Chase District CouncilCopyright: Cannock Chase District Council

Quote Message: All employees are working incredibly hard at the moment, under difficult conditions, and while we recognise this is also hard for residents, there is no excuse for this type of behaviour from any member of the public. The amount of support for our frontline employees has been overwhelming, it is a shame that it is tainted by a few individuals." from Council spokesperson

All employees are working incredibly hard at the moment, under difficult conditions, and while we recognise this is also hard for residents, there is no excuse for this type of behaviour from any member of the public. The amount of support for our frontline employees has been overwhelming, it is a shame that it is tainted by a few individuals."

As well as elections for the West Midlands Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner, the following councils were expecting to be holding elections for some of their seats on 7 May.

• Cannock Chase District Council
• Coventry City Council
• Dudley Council
• Nuneaton and Bedworth District Council
• Sandwell Council
• Solihull Council
• Walsall Council
• City of Wolverhampton Council
• Redditch Borough Council
• Rugby Borough Council
• Tamworth Borough Council
• Worcester City Council

They will now be held next year instead.

Here are some of the Staffordshire stories being covered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service:

• Taxi drivers are facing new council charges in Newcastle-under-Lyme including £43 to change the colour of their cab
• The rainbow flag will be flown by Cannock Chase Council next month, five months ahead of the area's first LGBT Pride event
• Full meetings of Cannock Chase Council could start two hours later in the future to make them easier for councillors with work and other commitments to go to

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Homes are being sought for 60 dogs recovered from a property which police said was linked to a suspected puppy farm.

Cannock Chase CouncilCopyright: Cannock Chase Council

The animals were removed from the address in Cannock last month and police are continuing to investigate the case.

In the meantime, the district council says the Dogs Trust charity has taken charge of finding permanent homes for the dogs and will begin rehoming from 11 November.

They include chihuahua, German Shepherd and bullmastiff types.

Nearly £60,000 in uncollected taxes and overpaid benefits are going to be written off by a council.

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A report to Cannock Chase Council's cabinet revealed the total included £34,000 owed in business rates, £19,769.63 in uncollected council tax and £6,197.03 overpaid in benefits.

But the authority said it had recovered overpaid benefits totalling £222,785.22 in the first quarter of this financial year.

Plans for homes, businesses and a school on the site of a former power station could take decades before they're built.

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That's assuming proposals, just submitted by the owners of Rugeley Power Station, Engie, get permission from Cannock Chase Council and Lichfield District Council.

Last year, the firm revealed plans for the future use of the 139-hectare site including a combination of 2,300 houses, commercial buildings and a primary school.

The planning application's now been submitted to both authorities as, given the size of the land, it straddles both districts.

If the outline plans get approved, work could begin in 2020 but take until 2040 to finish as it would be carried out in stages.

Cannock Chase Council's going to be run by Labour and the Green Party but they deny it's a formal coalition.

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Labour lost overall control of the authority in the local elections earlier this month and it's taken almost four weeks to reach an agreement over what happens next.

The Labour group said at this week's annual council meeting that it would form the administration and consult with Green Party councillors on policy issues.

Charities could have to get a council licence and guarantee 70% of what they earn goes to the cause under new proposals aimed at stopping bogus collections.

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The Charitable Collections Policy is being planned by Cannock Chase District Council to regulate house-to-house calls in the area.

If agreed, organisations wanting to collect door to door would have to get a licence, with local charities given priority.

The plans would also see charities limited to a maximum of six collections each year.

The proposals are now going out to public consultation.

A council's being urged to ban goldfish being handed out as fairground prizes on land it owns.

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Cannock Chase councillor Claire Wilkinson pushed for the move at the latest full council meeting, describing it as a "cruel and outdated practice".

In England, it is only an offence to give away an animal as a prize if the recipient is under 16 and not accompanied by an adult.

The council says the proposal's now on the agenda for their next cabinet meeting on 23 August.

With the way results have gone in the local election, Cannock Chase remains an island of red surrounded by blue authorities in Staffordshire.

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Labour kept control of the district council which had 13 out of 41 seats up for election this time around.

However the Conservatives walked away with two more seats and the Green Party added a third councillor.