September update from County Hall
Social care money written-off
The County Council has had to write-off £2.4 million as a result of a dispute with the NHS regarding who should have paid for people’s care over the past five years.
Although County Hall have said that the loss will have no impact on social care provision, Leader of the Lib Dems on Norfolk County Council, Brian Watkins, said that there had been a poor lack of oversight and called for tighter safeguards to be put in place to avoid any chance of such an occurrence happening again.
Electric vehicle charging points in Norwich delayed
There will be a further delay to plans to install 46 new electric charging points across Norwich.
County Hall have said that a further review needs to take place following fears that too much pavement space would be taken up by the new chargers. Brian said ‘’Surely this is something that should have been foreseen at a much earlier stage. I hope this can be resolved satisfactorily because Norfolk is lagging behind with provision and there’s a lot of catching up to do.’’
Doubts over Norfolk’s devolution deal
Very real doubts remain about whether Norfolk’s proposed devolution deal will ever see the light of day.
The County stands to benefit to the tune of well over £600 million of Government investment over a 30-year period. However, council leaders are still pressing for extra elements to be added to the deal before a final agreement can be reached. This has met with a stony response from Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, who has said that Norfolk risks being ‘left behind’.