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[BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] Thank you for your welcome comments. I much appreciate it and yes I shall try and approach this role in a collaborative and constructive way as we indeed try to set out to hold the administration to account but in a positive manner. As far as the governance reports concern thank you Richard for that introduction. The council has many and the state of the obvious has many tools and procedures and rules and some of them are internal and some of them are required by statute for effective governments and financial property. And so the evidence that those tools and procedures are working should not be based on assumptions or tests of reasonableness because what one might consider to be reasonable, another might not consider to be reasonable and it is the chief internal audit officer's contention that there is a reasonable chance that there is effective governance. So we have external measures particularly in respect of financial property to judge whether we are actually on the right track because after all internally my might all be wrong. And in respect specifically the external audit processes I have a fairly simple question which is when do you expect the historical orders to be signed off. Thank you. Thank you Councilor Nelson. I'll come back to Richard in regards to your particular question you'll know I'm sure that the local government sector across the country has got a huge challenge around external audits being signed off in some council's cases going back six or seven years. The government to fair to them are engaging with the the audits sector to make up make sure that capacity is in place. But effectively from our regards once we are in a position to hand over the audit information as expected by the auditor we comply with those requests is then up to them to complete their processes. The Secretary of State is looking to increase capacity and maybe even as a result of the exceptional circumstances look to effectively clear backlogs in councils because of that. So I think it's a fair question to ask however because in external hands it's not possible for us to give you an exact date or time. But just to reassure you and to members and to the people who are listening to this comparatively we fair well against other councils in this space but I agree with you that it's not a great place to be and we need the government to increase capacity But at the very least reform the way in which audits are conducted. Councillor Thomason. Thank you, Leader. It just so happens I'm on the audit committee and we received an email the other day from a senior officer on the council from the finance department to say that the auditors that actually given us a clean bill of health for 2223. As well as at the last audit committee for 2122 they apologize for the delay in coming up with those opinions but because of issues outside of their control they've found nationally that's been a problem. But it is good to hear with it's an unqualified audit opinion should be winging its way officially through one of the committees for the full council fairly soon. So that's good news. Thank you Bill and obviously we look forward to receiving the written confirmation which often is the is where the delay comes but we look forward to that as I say in response to the council and I'm aware of some councils that have had an issue for five or six years. Of course is a compound effect because ultimately you start the new financial year without the issue and you start to unpick things because very difficult but relatively speaking we're comparing well but thanks bill for that information. Okay, it's been moved. Is there a seconder. Thank you. All those current members in favor. That's unanimous. Thank you. Let's move them to life and sick which is the new complaint handling code and combined complaint policy. Richard Overton. Thank you again. The report sets out some changes to the council's complaint policy following the introduction of a new complaint handling code by the local government and social care ombudsman and housing government. In April 2024. The council takes complaint handling extremely seriously and so overall we welcome the introduction of the new code. One of the main changes proposed is to shorten the timescales responding to complaints. For example for stage one complaints our current target is to acknowledge complaints within two working days and provide a full response within 15 working days. Timescales and the new code are to acknowledge complaints within five working days and respond within a further 10 working days. Our proposal is to continue to acknowledge complaints within two days but to move to a new response time of 10 days meaning that our residents will receive an even quicker overall response than set out in the code. We monitor complaint handling performance monthly and publishes on an annual basis. I am pleased to report the percentage complaints responded to within target timescales has increased from 81% to 87% over the last year and the average times respond to complaints has also reduced to 10 working days. I am therefore confident that with this sustained focus on improving our performance we will achieve these ambitious new targets. The other major change we are proposing to bring a number of existing complaints policies into one combined policy as required by the new code. This can be found in Appendix A. The separate statutory complaints policy for added social care and children services are unaffected by these changes. Finally I would like to highlight that whilst the new code became statutory for housing complaints with immediate effect. The code is currently only advisory for complaints and other services. However we have proactively chosen to adopt the code for all complaints straight away. We have also volunteered to assist the local government and social care ombudsman in piloting the new code before it becomes mandatory for councils in 2026. We are all striving to improve our response to residents and this again shows our commitment on being on our residents side and improving the services we give to them. I therefore move the recommendations in the report.

Thank you Councillor Anderson. Are there any questions or comments for members of the Cabinet? Aye. Thanks, Leader. Just to welcome this I think it's a really important part of the services that we offer is the fact that we have a robust complaints policy that we work to I think to improve that timescale that we're responding to people on is really important. And I think when you look at the services that the Council offers and the complaints that we have I think we do do very well. I think the various methods that we've got for people to raise complaints is really, really strong. So I just wanted to really say that I do welcome this, I think it's good that we're implementing the policy across the board. And it just goes to show that we want to be the best that we can. We want to ensure that when things necessarily don't go to plan that we are working to ensure that the next time an issue might come up that things are done in a different way. So I really welcome it and I welcome the work on the report. So thank you for that. Thank you very much, Councillor. Yeah, just to say, sorry, very loud, just to say I agree, I mean, I think feedback's really important. And that's how we grow and develop and continue to improve our services, isn't it? And as I've said before, all feedbacks are conversation and as long as we know how our work and services are landing with people that we're working to serve, that's really important. So I think it's really good report and thank you. Thank you very much indeed. Are there any further questions or comments from the members? There isn't. If I come to group leaders then, Councillor Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Leader. So there seems to be quite a marked difference between the report before cabinet and then the actual policy itself, because the report does dwell, it seems quite a lot on the lack of resources that the council has. And that may well be the case, but it only needed saying once to be perfectly honest. It was redundant to go on and on about the lack of resources. Whereas the 26th page revised and complaint policies is a model of a lucid and coherent policy. So I was encouraged to see that. I was extremely surprised to see a retrospective date for a requirement, because I've not recalled that before it may have happened, but perhaps I've not been paying enough attention that the Housing Ombudsman Service change standard applied from the 1st of April. Here we are, the 16th of May, which does explain the immediate effect and would not want to see that arise too often. And then a final observation, if you like, because cabinet members have said this and the report states that the council takes complaints extremely seriously, and it wishes to discharge the complaint procedure in an effective manner. And that's an extremely sensible and wise and positive approach. And learning from the corporate world that certainly was marked through my career in industry, which is going back 45 years. That once upon a time, businesses were frightened of complaints. And car companies were frightened, for instance, of car recalls, regardless of the disaster. And there's been a massive change that businesses in particular have realized that if complaints handle properly, it actually means of engaging very positively with the customer. And indeed, with car recalls, eventually, when American car business realized that a recall meant they got every customer back in the showroom. And a chance for the driver to try a different car, and perhaps the person with the driver to get a bunch of flowers. I'm not suggesting that for this council, but the principal very much applies. Complaints can be seen as an opportunity to do better. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Thomason. Can you talk towards your microphone, Bill, please? If you sit close to the microphone, I can hear you. I'm accused of mumbling. And that's just my wife. Are we OK now? Excellent. Excellent. Now, I welcome the report, and I wish to thank Lee and all his team for all the work they do, particularly coping with people who have a technology challenge, such as myself, and to accept using some of the basic emails rather than my childhood with due patients. But also, it's a serious point. I think the local authority also acknowledges, similar to me, who have technology challenges, and more for a lot more people out there, and more vulnerable, particularly older people on the whole, that can't struggle with technology. And we still leave the old-fashioned ways out there of bringing somebody up and having somebody on the end of a phone. Even though it's more costly, it's more time-consuming, that person on the end has then got to do all that work and feed it into the computer and love what the issues are. It's still a vital thing for all local authorities. I echo what Tim Nelson said, if we take complaints in a positive nature, and as Councillor what Lee actually mentioned to me earlier on today, if we get feedback from what actually is going on, we can adjust things if they are required to be adjusted, because the public know exactly what the services we're delivering, and if something comes out we're unaware of, we can react to that. I don't mind the Council going on in this report, mentioning in many places that additional resources is one of the issues as to why we can't respond more quickly. Because resources are such a big issue for all Councils now up and down the country. We scarce resources available. You know, you're thinking, can we afford to do this, can we keep the libraries open, can we do that, can we do the other, and everything is in the past. So we include an officer time to respond to queries, so I'm glad we've taken a positive approach to try and develop most of what we have to try and improve the speed at which we respond. Thank you. Thank you, Bill, as I've always said, compliments or complaints are all contacts, as I've always said. So we always learn from those, the culture of learning from those contacts. Just on the point where I've been retrospective at him, as Richard said in his presentation, that related to housing complaints only, because we don't have, we're not a stuck holding Council. Therefore, the adoption has been immediate in regards to the rest of the complaints code, which is not enforced until 2026, in fact, we're well ahead of the curve. Obviously, those councils have got who've got Council housing in the traditional sense would have had some work to do on that. We're not in that space. Richard, did you want to come back? Yes, thank you, thank Sean. I just wanted to say that, you know, it is strange that the Council now has some picks up the fact that we mention about the lack of resources. It's like he's denying the fact that this Council has had over £130 million with the cuts, you know, and that means people have lost jobs, and that means that the services we offer, which is, you know, when you ask residents in their survey, they say we offer a marvellous job still, is remarkable, you know, and that's why, you know, we still fill the potholes in. We still, you know, put, you know, because of our commercial services have been filling that void by looking at opportunities to create income. It's just amazing that he doesn't understand how much we've lost at this Council and how we still deliver good services to our residents. And, you know, as far as the report goes, you know, the team received this in late February, and from the 1st of April, they have been implementing it, but this is the first opportunity that's got to come to cabinet to present the report. So, you know, so I would say, well done to the team, and I would say, you know, we are going to continue to live in for residents, despite the cuts, and let's hope that the Conservatives leave government, and we get a government that starts to recognise how valuable local government is, and starts to give it the resources it needs. Thank you very much, Richard, and Tyler, in a reminder, that resources are important when we provide them services. It's been moved, it's been seconded, all those in favour? All, thank you very much. Thank you, Lee, and Fles, and the wider team for the work that you do in this space. And just to let you know, Bill, there is no excuse for being digitally excluded as a fantastic volunteers who work with people who are digitally challenged to engage themselves into how to work an app, and how to read council papers from a laptop, rather than being printed, which is bad for the environment and bad for costs. So I'm more than happy to make a referral to you, for you, to that volunteer service that we held for. If you could send me a letter, if you could send me a letter with your response, that would be fantastic. Just going back to the audit comments, I've just had it confirmed that we have now, as Bill said, but we've also written confirmation that our audits have been signed off for 21, 22, 22, 23, and that places us into a very, very small number of councils in the country to be in that position. And I thought members would welcome that assurance. Right, let's move on then to item seven, which is the Telford Reaking Climate Change Adoption Plan. Paying £69 to £90, Carmen Healy. Thank you very much, Leader. In 2019, this council declared a climate emergency, and I was really pleased that I had unanimous support from all members. And since then, I've been bringing an annual report to this cabinet to update on our actions in terms of reducing our carbon emissions as an organisation, and how we've worked across the borough with our partners to reduce emissions. That's mitigation, that's trying to mitigate and reduce our impact on the climate. And I'm really pleased that we have reduced our council emissions by 60 per cent since that declaration. And of course, there's a lot of work that goes on with our partners across the borough as well. But climate change is already happening. We're already seeing the effects, and so our services do have to adapt to that unprepared for future changes linked to a changing climate. In the UK, it's predicted that climate change will cause warmer, wetter winters and hotter drier summers, and haven't we just had one of those warmer, wetter winters. So this is coupled with a predicted increase in the frequency of extreme weather events, such as extreme and intense storms, but also then periods of drought. And again, we're already seeing that, aren't we? We've seen very intense storms over the last few years, causing significant flooding, not just in my ward with flooding from the River Seven at a much higher level and more frequently than we're used to, but flash flooding across the whole borough as the infrastructure, drainage systems, some of which date back 100 years in the older parts of the borough, which date about 60 years, but were not built to cope with the intensity of rainfall that we are seeing now. But we've also experienced extreme heat with temperatures for the first time in the UK, seeing over 40 degrees, and of course that has a huge impact on people's abilities just to do their jobs, for children in schools, but particularly for our vulnerable communities, older people, very young children, that extreme heat can have a very serious effect on people's health. And today in the news this morning in Sport England, I've launched a fund to support sports clubs to address issues of climate change, and I've got a 12-year-old son who plays football, so I've found many a Sunday morning where I've managed to have a lie in, actually, so there's some positives, I guess. But you know, we're football games, we've had to be cancelled and postponed, and so that has a huge impact on people's health as well, because this is about people staying active, and so Sport England have launched that. That fund, also on the news today, there was a report about milk production being down, because the grass growth hasn't been there, and so we'll see an increase in food prices, no doubt linked to that. So climate change is already happening, and therefore we have to adapt and adapt as an organisation and adapt our services. In 2017, a report from the Climate Change Committee, the UK Climate Change Committee, identified six broad areas of risk that have begun to face the country because of climate change, and they broadly are increased flooding, increased very high temperatures, shortages of public water supplies, risks to ecosystems and biodiversity, risks to food production, and also new and emerging pests and diseases, and that is something that we do have to consider as warmer temperatures, which is mean that insects that don't normally survive here can start to do that, and bring diseases that we're not used to in this country. So the report sets out that scientific consensus that mum made climate change is absolutely happening, and I'm pleased that my own group, but also Bill as the lead of the Lib Dems and the independent councillors on this council, have shared our pledge to sign up to the Mission Zero Coalition, which is a pledge that has been put together with UK 100 and Chris Skidmore, who's a former Conservative MP, to counter misinformation on this issue, and not to make climate change a political football, but to work cross-party. Councillor Nelson, I did send that to the former leader of your group. I didn't get a response. I will send it again because I'm sure that you would want to support that as well. The plan takes a risk management approach to enable us to build our resilience to climate change and adjust our services to meet these new challenges, so that rather than just being in a reactionary position where we react to an event and react to intense flooding, that we're actually prepared, we know that this is starting to be business as usual, and therefore we're just our services for that new normal. The development of the plan has truly been a cross-party and a cross-service approach, and I really want to thank all members and all officers who've been involved in input in this together. We've worked with environment scrutiny particularly, getting them involved in developing this at the very outset, but we also broadened that out to encourage all members to take part in a workshop that we held, and again, that was really, really useful to get that input from all members as, you know, we all understand our communities, we all understand the impacts that are already happening in our communities, and so having that fed in was really, really useful. And it's been truly a cross-service, and every symbol aspect of this council, every service area has had an input into that, because climate change is affecting everything from adult social care to highways, maintenance, we just think about planning and local plan and development management, and how we can adapt to climate change through that, also how we think about the school day and all of those things. So all of that's been fed in. The appendix sets out the high-level risks and the actions to address those. There are more details within each service area's own risk management programs as part of their service plans. That's not in the report because it would be extremely lengthy in detail, but you've got the high-level risk in this report, and it will be kept under continual review as is good practice with any risk management and risk assessment, so that we can ensure it remains valid and can cope with the challenges that we are starting to face. So I'd like to move the recommendations and take any questions. Thank you. Thank you, Karen. Is that a second lid? Thank you. Can I answer? Excuse me, Councillor Eileen, can I hear? Thank you, Leader, and thanks to Carolyn and all of the team for the work that they're doing on this. It's a worrying time, isn't it, at the moment? And I think, you know, we're seeing climate change all the more year on year, particularly when you look at sort of the health implications around when you look in the report around GP and medical services, and also things like the effects on our roads and other infrastructure. The increase in maintenance costs and repair costs it's something that the Council has to consider very carefully. Residents all across the borough are affected by various issues, including this report. I mean, Hadley-Ligomri, for example, has seen an increase in flash flooding, albeit very rare, but they still have major impacts on residents when they happen. Looking at the hazard risks, many which fall into the moderate, or even so into the major category, it's obvious to us all that climate change is a very important area for us to focus on as a council. So, as is the need to adapt the way in which we deal with these issues. So, I'm glad to see some of the actions that are included in this. So, simple things like water storage, working with town parish councils to reduce the risk of drought, disaster packs for members to help deal with things like flash flooding and ward specific disaster plans in every ward, sharing information from wards experiences that some wards have much more experience in these areas than others. So, I think it's important to learn from them. And things like cool spaces, I think we always think we see the rain, but as Carolyn mentioned, we saw 40 degrees in this country for the first time, and I think that's going to be something that is going to be quite worrying for, particularly those more vulnerable residents. So, to see those cool spaces similar to the warm spaces that we ran during the cost of living and those colder months, it's going to sort of ease that pressure on people when they feel that coming, that they know that there's a space that they can go to be comfortable and obviously help with any issues that they've got. I think also just to joint work with the ICS on that guidance around ensuring that we can help keep residents safe and hopefully accessing things in different ways when they are suffering from these particular climate issues, I think that's going to be a really important one. So, I really welcome the report, and I thank the Cabinet member and all of the team for everything that they're doing on this matter. Thank you very much, Kelly. Also, around health and well-being, and as we know, the extreme weather's impact on people's health and well-being. So, in the hot weather, with people with respiratory conditions, people on certain medications in hot weather can be very dangerous. And I think people can feel as restricted with going around their day as they do when it's cold weather. So, I think it's really important that we support people and their health and well-being around these extreme weather conditions. So, I really do support this. Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any comments or questions from group leaders? Thank you, Councillor Hayley, for the introduction to the report. In respect to the adaptation plan and risk register, and you refer to working together. And certainly, I personally, on my group, are committed to working together with the Council in respect to this existential threat. Certainly, I hope to date my own actions. We'll bear that out. That doesn't automatically mean unconditional agreement with every word of whatever a report might be. But it does mean that I acknowledge the contribution we've made and commit to making a future contribution to the degree that the Council is working to do that. The migration from mitigation to adaptation is entirely logical because we are already seeing the effects of climate change. Even though every effort towards mitigation, for instance, reducing emissions is still utterly worthwhile because, you know, if you're heading somewhere with your foot on the accelerator, perhaps might take the foot off the accelerator if you're worried about hitting something. The risk register is wise in terms of identifying what those risks may be from the changes to climate. And the plans are, again, just entirely sensible to have a set of plans to say, how can we adapt to something that we are now going to happen? To reduce the bad effects, I'm glad that Council has said that the plan will require continual revision. It will require a continual revision. If you're looking at mitigation, then the Council making efforts to reduce its emissions and society is asking individuals. And why does society in terms of energy generation, generation to reduce emissions? When we're looking at adaptation, we are asking any stakeholder group like a parish council, a ward member or our residents to accept that things are going to happen and they're going to need to adapt to them. And while that is proper, the conditions on the which you're expecting people to adapt then need to be very, very clearly recognised. And, as I've already referred to the cabinet member to, whether a known problem in a ward, for instance, those need resolving now, they're not part of adaptation. If there's a known issue in respect to flooding, for instance, as a result of a development, say, or a piece of infrastructure, then those issues need resolving not as part of an adaptation plan, but as part of business as usual to take people with us. Likewise, with regard to flood risk, for instance, across the whole borough, it will be easier to ask people to consider residents to consider adapting how they live. If every ditch, gully, drain and water course is empty and managed and can cope with current situations and that is not necessarily the case across the borough. And then the other thing I would observe is that the plan has been co-developed through contribution of environmental security because I recognised 90% of it. There are some areas where the plan hasn't exceeded the matters that I recall discussed. For instance, there's reference toward members contributing to identifying drains, but also clearing drains, and it's probably not meant that members will take part in clearing drains. I understand that, likewise, in terms of parish councils, there's reference to potential contribution from parish councils, but they're not matters that have been consulted on with those parish councils at all. For instance, identifying the most vulnerable of the society. That's not been consulted upon. And lastly, I think the point about storing water to mitigate drought is very wise. It does read as if the context might be related to drinking water, and that's seven Trent's job. It's a very, very powerful, rich, successful, confident company whose job it is to provide drinking water. So, thank you very much overall. Council Thompson? Thank you. A welcome report and its breadth and its depth. The only one practical thoughts I've had is, and it was mentioned earlier by itself, Council here, with regards to infrastructure, some of it's quite old. I'm not just thinking of the Councillors, I'm thinking of the actual infrastructure as well. I've had issues in my wife and I was ward, I have to get that expression right at that time. We've had good relationships with, say, seven Trent, and ones which haven't been so good. We've had issues that have cropped up, because with the rainfall that we get now, he comes, and when he does comes, he's extremely heavy. Any infrastructure that was put in a small bit over 100 years ago, in certain pockets of the area of the Authority, can't cope. Now, we've had some good outcomes with the relationships between officers working with seven Trent that have come to arrangements where we agree who's doing what and where in the future to prevent these rainstorms causing minor floods and where we live. Well, we've also got pockets, and I can think of one now, where it hasn't been resolved, where the Council's in dispute with seven Trents, and seven Trents are arguing it's not their fault. The infrastructures are ours, and we're arguing it's theirs. Now, I'm conscious that has to be resolved, because in the middle of it, all of the residents, though every time it rains, they get flooding in their roads and in their streets, and that's because we haven't resolved that dispute. Now, I'm sure it's not just in my ward where this can occur, because, again, I have sympathies, even though they're a big company with seven Trents, and also with a Council. When resources are scarce, people fight like, I won't say what they're fighting like, but they do. They fight like, this isn't my responsibility to us, because we haven't got them on the old ways to fix it. But if we could resolve those issues more rapidly and get the system sorted out, I'll be grateful. As a small aside, I'm hoping that every single Councillor will do its bit to reduce the amount of hutter that's created at Council meetings. Thank you. Just before I bring Caroline back, can I just make the point, as a word that you used earlier on, about resources? There is no Councillor in this Council that doesn't want to be doing more to create a better borough and protect and invest to make sure it's as good as it can be. But there is also a realisation for those who run the Council that if you take £130 million away from a Council each and every year, you can roll your eyes, Tim, but it's £130 million that this Council hasn't got each and every year. Then sadly, there are things that we would absolutely love to do, but we can't do. And there's also a realisation that as a Council, we can do so much, but actually we need the Environment Agency to be working with us. A government agency that still refuses to install permanent or semi-permanent foot barriers in Ironbridge Gorge, the World Heritage Site, the government agency doesn't want to invest in that. There's only so much we can do with a privatised water company that's main principle objective is to make profit. That is a stated aim of a private company to make profit. And if that is the primary aim, then the conversations that we have with Seven Trent about their own investments into our borough is always secondary to a profit challenge that they've got. And third, having to compete with other areas within the Seven Trent Water Area to get our fair share of investment. And then lastly, in terms of asking others, such as Paris and Time Councils to step up, that requires cooperation. And of course, we'll be doing that in the way that we have done over the last 14 years, which is to ask and work with and to cooperate with and to understand and to look at jobs. But equally, when it comes to developers, we do need powers from the government for us to be able to hold developers to account, to do the things that they say they will do when there's a planning application in front of the planning committee. And when they don't do things, it isn't costly and complex and expensive in terms of money and time to beholden to account. So I think it's one of those areas where I do hope that people realise that we work within a system here and the Council can do what it can do. As Caroline says, no doubt will summarise it in a moment or two, the tremendous work that we've done as an organisation to reduce our own carbon footprint. And I accept Bill's challenge to be able to do more on that. But I do think it is disingenuous to say that it's easy for the Council to continue to do more when you've got a government and a Prime Minister indeed, who is rowing back on green commitments, rowing back on supports. For example, I'm feeding terrorist support and grants for people to have electric cars and the ability to access support. And we are doing all that we can do. And I'll just end on this point. As Caroline said in our introduction, there's real life consequences to this. I've never had so much contact from junior and amateur football teams over the last few months than I have as leader of the Council over the last eight years because the pictures that they play on are water logs. That is a direct consequence of a more normal rainfall and that has an impact. We're now looking to invest in further 3G and all weather sports facilities. It has a cost, but we need the government to help us adapt as well. Caroline, did you want to come back? Thank you. And yeah, I mean, you're obviously right around the matters of drainage and flooding. Obviously, are something that involves both the environment agency, seven-tramp water and ourselves. You know, it can be complicated in terms of those roles and responsibilities, but we do work really proactively with those agencies and our own drainage team, you know, are excellent and work with both seven-trents and the environment agency all the time. And, of course, as a Council, you'll be aware, Councillor Nelson, that we've had seven-tramp water come to environment scrutiny as well, primarily on the issue of pollution. But obviously, that's a relationship that we can build on in terms of working with them on flooding and drainage as well. We do have, you know, a program of clearing gullies and, yes, it is helpful when members can report block gullies and we can get out to them. Sometimes they're not an easy fix in terms of jetting. They require there's something else in the system, require road closure, dig up the road. And that's why sometimes these things aren't immediate because they have to then be programmed in around other closures and other works. But obviously, they're not something not being ignored, so I don't want you to think that. In terms of planning and new development, you know, I think that is an area where, as the leader says, it is a real challenge because in terms of our powers as local authority, there is a presumption. There is a presumption in favor of development. So as a council and as a planning authority, we have to have very good grants for refusing development sometimes. And it would be much, you know, I would love it if we really had the, you know, the building homes, the future standard now that we had that by, you know, planning regulations required that developers built homes with solar panels on the roof, with gray water recycling systems so that we don't put as much water out into the systems with high levels of energy efficiency and, you know, high levels of, you know, the actual fabric of the buildings designed in a way that means you use less energy to keep warm in the winter, but also buildings that stay cool in the summer. But unfortunately, we're not there. That keeps getting pushed back by government. And so we're not able to wait to insist upon that in our planning, in our review of the local plan. We're obviously trying to bring as much forward as we can in terms of those policies to get those developments right early on because it's much more costly to retrofit later. And we'll end up doing that as a nation, but clearly we've also got to work within the planning regulations as they currently are. So, yeah, so, and just on the final point, you mentioned about mitigation, and I think you sort of answered your question with the obvious mitigation happens in parallel to the adaptation. We're doing both. We'll still continue to work to drive down our emissions to be net zero by 2030. That's our commitment. But at the same time, recognising that as an organisation, our contribution to climate change is tiny and just getting to net zero doesn't stop the world around us changing, and therefore we have to adapt to that too. Thank you. Thank you. It's been a good discussion. I do hope as well, Tim, that the considered group can sign up to that pledge that the independence and the Liberal Democrats have joined up. I know Karen is willing to send that to you, but it's about making sure that this climate change issue is beyond the not about a part of politics and conspiracy theories. And I do hope that your new approach and your new leadership of the group will be demonstrated by signing up and at least giving Karen the courtesy of a response to the email that she sends to you. Thank you very much. Right. That's been moved and seconded. All those in favour? That's everybody and that brings the meeting to end. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO]