Date of meeting: 14 March 2023

A period of not more than fifteen minutes shall be allowed at each ordinary meeting for questions submitted by a member of the public.

The question will be answered without discussion. The person who asked the question may ask one relevant supplementary question, which shall be put and answered without discussion. The person to whom a question, or supplementary question, has been put may decline to answer it.

The following written questions have been received from members of the public:

(3) Clarification of the sources and amounts of carbon neutral funding, especially those within the remit of the ETS Committee- Simon Maxwell

It is really hard to understand the different low carbon funds from information in the report packs or minutes of the ETS and P&R Committees, and the Council.

Council papers reference:

• The Sustainability and Carbon Reduction Investment Fund (SCRIF)

• The Carbon Neutral Investment Programme

• The Climate Assembly Action Fund

• The Carbon Neutral 2030 Fund

• The Carbon Neutral Fund

Could you please provide (a) details of the architecture and governance, (b) a table showing sources, including conditionalities, and (c) a table showing the balances after the budget meeting on 23 February.

(4) Bus Gates- Carolyn Lewis

Given current financial constraints and the need for BHCC to identify future income streams; can the Chair confirm whether there is a citywide strategy to implement bus gates on residential routes?

(5) EV Charging Points- Chris Beaumont

In light of the climate crisis and BHCC declaring a climate emergency, can the Chair please tell me what BHCC is doing to provide more Electric Vehicle charging points in the area of Hanover and Elm Grove and how many points might be provided in the next five years?

(6) Carbon Neutral Funding- Michelle Patel

In September this committee noted residents' evidence about dangerous traffic speeds, air pollution, and frequent accidents. Even the co-chair of this committee recently described Elm Grove - which is in her own ward - on Twitter as 'neglected' and 'dangerous'.

Will the Chair now confirm, on public record, unqualified support of the retention and use of the full 1m remaining carbon neutral funding, as a matter of urgency, for the long-needed improvements - safer crossings, speed reduction and greening - to Elm Grove, and to Queens Park Road and Egremont Place?

(7) Parking in Elm Grove- Bev Barstow

There have been 3 petitions to the council over the past decade requesting herring bone parking on the tarmac verges of elm grove, the last petition returning 1,500 signatures. When the cpz was implemented parking bays should have been built into the verges, not the road. This has detrimentally narrowed the road to the point where cars and buses cannot pass without driving on the opposite side. Can the council use the remaining money for improvements in elm grove to remove on road parking bays and use the verges to build in safe legal parking bays.

(8) Buses on Regent Hill- Simon Wiseman

For a number of years, Regent Hill has already been supporting a worryingly heavy traffic flow of buses and articulated lorries that are not in keeping with the size of the road and its historical relevance. With this in mind, and considering that Regent Hill is a residential road that has families with children living there, what steps are the Council taking to combat the deleterious effect of the increased pollution caused by the addition of the 690 extra buses a day being re-routed down Regent Hill which is causing major congestion and gridlock multiple times on a daily basis?

(9) Ultra-Low Emission buses- Greg McTaggart

I live on Montpelier Road at the bus stop the council didn’t want but the bus company rode roughshod over. It can’t believe the rules say 10 buses one day permits 700 the next. My question relates to the pollution – noise, light and air that is arising due to the 700 buses using this stop. Supposedly half are ULE buses. Does the geo-fencing algorithm cover the ULE buses when they turn left from Western Road. If not, why has the algorithm not been changed so that they run in ULE mode and when will it change?

(10) Western Road redevelopment – Lawrence Eke

I am a resident of Upper North Street that lives along the route of the bus redirection. Does the Chair consider the Western Road Redevelopment project to be time sensitive and how was the 18 - 24 month timeframe arrived at?