Public Question Time
The meeting will hear any questions from the general public.
Questions should be emailed to executive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk no later than 5:00pm Monday 3rd November 2025 .
Members of the public can ask questions relating to the work of the Town Board or issues set out on this agenda.
Decision:
RESOLVED –
That questions and responses from the meetings of Dewsbury Neighbourhood Board be published on the website, as a priority, by Council Officers.
Minutes:
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, Gill Young attended the meeting and asked the following question which they had submitted in writing:
“There is little doubt that locally available opportunities to maintain health and fitness are required for the residents of Dewsbury. Previous meetings of the Town Board have raised the issues that the closure of Dewsbury Sports Centre impacts upon the local population. It seems that, after an (expensive?) external survey of the people of Dewsbury, the Council is now aware of the strength of local need and says it will support some provision.
Will the Town Board put its muscle behind actions to reopen Dewsbury Sports Centre since local inhabitants are weary of vague promises of something – tantalisingly perhaps a totally new provision – happening in the uncharted future when their needs are currently unmet and when the town has a Sports Centre visibly being left to decay in a similar way to the inhabitants?”
A response was provided by the Chair.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, Bruce Bird attended the meeting and asked the following question which they had submitted in writing:
“At the last meeting I asked a question from the public about community engagement. The version of my question recorded in the minutes has been both censored and corrupted so as to make it unintelligible.
The minutes then record that the Chair undertook to reply in writing. But no reply has been received. This is just the latest in a series of similar incidents that led to the Petition on this subject presented by six residents at the last meeting.
The petition requested that the Terms of Reference be amended to require questions from the public and the Chairs replies to be fully recorded in order to avoid incidents such as this.
The minutes record that the petition received a reply from the Chair. This is not true and we still await a response from the Board regarding our petition.
Will the Chair please bring this recurring irritation to a rapid conclusion in order to fulfil the Board's primary purpose to represent the views of the community and the council's obligation to support the work of the Board.
I am happy to meet with council officers to agree practical implementation methods.”
A response was provided by the Chair.
RESOLVED –
That questions and answers from Dewsbury Neighbourhood Board meetings would be published on the website as a priority.