Decision details

Decision – That the oral report of the Leader of the Council giving an update on a range of issues including the news that the majority of parents in Staffordshire have been allocated their first-choice primary school with 95 per cent of parents found being given a place at their first choice, with more than 99 per cent being offered one of their top three; the recent announcement that a total of £56 million will be spent on building new schools, and maintaining and improving existing ones in Staffordshire over the coming year, this includes building new primary schools in Stafford, Tamworth, East Staffordshire and Lichfield; the appointment of Councillor Mark Deaville to the strategic role of overseeing the Council’s approach to delivering high quality projects, supported by Councillors Keith Flunder and Rob Pritchard, who will lead on highways operations in the North and South respectively; the Council’s continued focus on the impact of HS2 on our county including work to ensure that the Handsacre Link, which is part of these plans, is built and operated to allow HS2 compatible trains to run from Stafford to London; the recent calls, following the scrapping of the leg of HS2 from Crewe to the North, for a HS2 mark2, as it were, to be built and the Council’s position on any HS2 replacement remaining unchanged; the development and growth of an electric charging network in Staffordshire being boosted by£4.6million of national funding; the on-going work of the Council in helping preserve Cannock Chase for generations to come and to ensure wildlife and habitats can continue to flourish, including the recent introduction of cattle there as part of a project to restore heathland habitats in an environmentally friendly way; and Staffordshire Day on 1 May with events of all shapes and sizes taking place across the county; be noted.?