Subject: Written questions from councillors.
Date of meeting: 21 July 2022
Report of: Executive Director for Governance, People & Resources
Contact Officer: Name: Anthony Soyinka
Tel: 01273 291006
Email: anthony.soyinka@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s) affected: All
For general release
The following questions have been received from Councillors and will be taken as read along with the written answer detailed below:
1. Councillor Fishleigh
Please would you confirm who is responsible for the slip road to East Brighton Golf Club. This is a sloping road from Roedean Road to the walled entrance of the golf club. If it is the council, would you please start the process of moving on the lived-in vans whose inhabitants are disturbing the peace.
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
2. Councillor Grimshaw
How many LA and Housing association tenant households are trying to transfer downsize through the Homemove system of bidding?
How long is the average wait time before a successful downsizing transfer happens?
How many bids does it take on average to successfully achieve a downsizing transfer ?
Is there any system in place to match down sizing transfers with households looking to upsize?
Reply from Councillor Gibson / Hugh-Jones, Joint Chair of the Housing Committee
3. Councillor Grimshaw
How many LA and HA homes in the city with an energy rating of C have the bare minimum 100mm of loft insulation? Recommendations have changed and new builds must have 300mm as minimum.
Should a private householder have loft insulation of 100mm or less they would qualify for grant funding to increase the insulation thickness.
Do Brighton and Hove City council have plans to increase loft insulation thickness in their properties to ensure that council tenants have the same levels of adequate insulation as private home owners?
Reply from Councillor Gibson / Hugh-Jones, Joint Chair of the Housing Committee
4. Councillor Childs
Given the 1000s of men in our city, both residents and visitors, suffer from incontinence, often brought on by cancer treatment, as well as a valued trans man community, will the council agree to install sanitary bins into all council owned men’s toilets within a reasonable timeframe?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
5. Councillor Childs
Last year I asked that the Council provide an assurance that asbestos materials be labelled in situ in all school buildings. This does still not appear to have been undertaken. Will the council agree that upon re-survey, all ACMs in schools shall be prominently labelled with industry standard labels so as to warn occupants of the presence of this hazardous material and thus adhere to best practice in asbestos management?
Reply from Councillor Clare, Chair of the Children, Young People & Skills Committee
6. Councillor Childs
Will the Council please agree to gate St James’s Place in order to prevent the daily defection and urination and other anti-social behaviour that our long suffering residents have to put up with?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
7. Councillor Childs
Please can the Council provide details of compulsory purchase orders of land actioned or undertaken since May 2019?
Reply from Councillor Mac Cafferty, Leader of the Council
8. Councillor Childs
Will the council agree to install two permanent iron footbridges over Madeira Drive to allow pedestrians to access the beach during motor rallies and other races and events?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
9. Councillor Williams
I am involved in assisting a number of women who have been made homeless due to domestic abuse. I have found that accessing domestic abuse support services inadequate to say the least. I waited three weeks for a call back in one instance. Why is this and what is the administration doing about it?
Reply from Councillor Osborne / Powell, Joint Chair of the Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture Committee
10. Councillor Appich
Would the Leader please set out what progress has been achieved in establishing a pilot care co operative called for by the Labour group a year ago and agreed unanimously?
Reply from Councillor Mac Cafferty, Leader of the Council
11. Councillor Brown
Why has the Council not publicised the consultation for the draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment more widely as it is a critical document for residents?
Some areas of the City , such as Hove Park Ward , are not well served. We have no doctors surgery, no dental practice and only one pharmacy that is located in a supermarket.
Reply from Councillor Shanks, Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Board
12. Councillor Theobald
The civic flowerbed at Patcham Roundabout has been in a poor state this year.
There are more weeds than flowers in it during the Jubilee weekend.
Last year the Council planted the flower bed out but this year it didn’t. Why is that?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
13. Councillor McNair
When will CCTV be fitted at Birchgrove Crescent to stop the constant flytipping?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
14. Councillor Bagaeen
The second public consultation on the City Downland Estate Plan closed on 8 July. What percentage of the city’s BAME population took part in this consultation?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
15. Councillor Bagaeen
Thursday 30 June was the deadline for council staff to complete mandatory information governance, GDPR and cyber security e-learning. According to an email from the chief executive late in June, Brighton and Hove was heading towards failing to meet the required 95% compliance meaning key partners could stop sharing vital information with us impacting our ability to deliver vital services. How did we as a city end up in this situation? Who bears responsibility?
Reply from Councillor Mac Cafferty, Leader of the Council
16. Councillor Barnett
Can the Leader of the Council provide a date when staff will return to work and face to face services will resume so that residents can speak to a voice?
Reply from Councillor Mac Cafferty, Leader of the Council
17. Councillor Lewry
What progress has been made on the following park improvements requested:
a) Hangleton Park (Astro turf resurfacing of the Basketball Courts)
b) Knoll Park (New Skate Park facility)
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
18. Councillor Bell
In 2017 the Council received a £12.1 million grant from the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership for Black Rock to fund some basic public regeneration works and bring the public realm back to an acceptable standard which could be accessed by the community.
The scope of works was to include ground works to prepare the site for future uses and some renovation of the historic buildings such as the Library buildings and a new sea defence wall. There was also provision for some basic investment to make the area attractive for people to visit with public toilets, a temporary pump track, play area and seafront classroom and a board walk along the beach.
The Black Rock rejuvenation is much needed to bring to life back to this part of the city. As the Coast to Capital Partnership said five years ago when awarding Brighton and Hove City Council the grant, ‘as a progressive and growing City, Brighton would benefit greatly from the regeneration of this area’.
Having received the funding, it should have been a priority for the Council to get this work delivered, but like many other projects along the seafront, including Madeira Terraces restoration, the Council has seemed slow and unable to deliver projects it has funding for or provide answers as to why the projects are not underway.
In March, five years on from this grant being awarded to the Council to conduct the works and with limited progress having been made on the ground, the council announced that it will now require an extra £3.9 million from local taxpayers to undertake it, bringing the total budget to £16 million.
The failure of the Council over so many years to regenerate this space has had a negative impact on the area, with large parts of the site looking like an industrial wasteland.
A large part of the site has been fenced off for years, attracting some of the worst graffiti in the city and acting as a physical barrier between Brighton Marina and the seafront. As the area has declined there have been problems with antisocial behaviour and the development of other social issues in the Black Rock area, including the degradation of the city’s historic reading rooms and van dwellers. Many residents of the neighbouring residential areas at the Marina have felt unsafe walking around the area, particularly after dark.
Will the Leader of the Council advise:
a) Does he feel that the Council has the capacity, skills and correct organisational structure to deliver large scale public works projects in the City?
b) Will he personally take oversight to fix the issues that are causing delays with Madeira Terraces restoration and Black Rock Regeneration?
c) Will lessons from the delays be learned for the rollout of future public works project, such as the Kingsway to the sea project, which received £9.5 million from the Government in the Budget last year?
Reply from Councillor Mac Cafferty, Leader of the Council
19. Councillor Meadows
We have been told there are 3,000 drain gullies that are either blocked or damaged.
What is the current plan to clear these?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
20. Councillor Nemeth
Will the Chair agree to make plans to introduce more CCTV on Ingram Crescent in Wish Ward to tackle fly-tipping?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
21. Councillor Peltzer Dunn
Will the Chair agree to carrying out an audit of all Councillor expenses over the past seven years?
Reply from Councillor Wilkinson, Chair of the Audit & Standards Committee
22. Councillor Simson
What plans does the Chair have to reduce traffic on Falmer Road which is now being used as a rat-run following changes to Lewes Road?
Reply from Councillor Davis / Heley, Joint Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee
23. Councillor Pissaridou
I was very surprised to receive this from a local GP. It is a much needed and valuable thing to do. Can we join please?
“I am a GP at Mile Oak Medical Centre and I was looking forward to joining my practice to this national Breastfeeding Welcome scheme. But after doing all the work needed to join, I've found out that Brighton and Hove council is not involved in the scheme. I think that's a real shame as breastfeeding is so important for mothers, children and the sustainability of the planet. Please could you look into signing the city up to the scheme so that many venues and GP surgeries are able to join and support increasing our cities breastfeeding rates?”
Reply from Councillor Shanks, Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Board