Agenda item - Oral questions from Councillors

40.1    The mayor noted that oral questions had been submitted and that 30 minutes was set aside for the duration of the item. He asked that both the questioner and responder endeavour to keep their questions and answers brief, to enable the questions listed to be taken:

 

1.       Councillor Davis asked: 

 

A few months ago councillors received comms regarding larger parking spaces in Norton Road car park. It was suggested that, and I want to quote, ‘to better accommodate larger vehicles’, but I’ve found I've been given an FOI and that's clearly not what the FOI said. So my question to the cabinet member is, does he have any safety concerns whatsoever regarding the concrete central beam in Norton Road car park? 

 

Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure, replied: 

 

Our engineer's report assessed the capacity and load bearing capacity of the current state of that car park, and we adjusted the number of vehicles that it could hold to make it entirely safe to continue as a car park at this point in time. 

 

Councillor Davis asked a supplementary question:  

 

Given that you've chosen the option to decommission the site within two years, could you outline what plans you have for the site, please? 
  

Councillor Muten replied: 

 

At this point in time we would not have any specific plans for that. We do need car parking capacity in our city, particularly this part of Hove, and we linked this to our parking review. We’re doing a holistic strategy because there was not a good understanding of car parking in our city, I believe not for 20 years, particularly under the previous administration. So we fitted this in. So when we review the future of Norton Road car park, we will be reviewing it in the context of our wider car parking needs for this part of Hove and the city as a whole to make car parking work for residents, for business and for the environment.  We want to really address it in a holistic way and so the future of Norton Road will fit within the future of our parking strategy. 

 

2.       Councillor McNair asked: 

 

Why haven't the plans for housing next to the new King Alfred been included when the financial viability of the project depends on it? 

 
Councillor Robins, Cabinet member for Sports, Recreation and Libraries, replied: 

 

Well, for the simple reason we haven't sold the land and we don't have any plans for building. What we're building is a leisure centre. The development will come later once the land is sold and whoever buys it will put forward the plans that they have, which would then need to go through planning and be approved in the normal way. 

 

Councillor McNair asked a supplementary question:  

 

How likely is it that the number of flats will need to increase to meet the rising costs of the project? 

 

Councillor Robins replied: 

 

Well, I think you forget that the number of flats to be built there was was actually decided in 2016, somewhere around the region of 400 would be put in there. That's always been the case for the last 10 years. We're not starting anything new.  As I say, it will be up to whoever buys the land to put in their planning application to develop the land however they see fit. If there's too many flats going in for the site, then presumably planning will turn it down. 

 

3.       Councillor Fishleigh asked: 

 

Please would you tell us more about the £142,000 compensation for loss of office payment that was made to a council officer earlier this year 
 

Councillor Sankey, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Chair, replied: 

 

I think you know that this is a forum for asking policy questions of the council, nothing to do with HR or operational matters. 

 

4.       Councillor Robinson asked: 

 

Councillor Robins, I’m very excited with the plans for the new King Alfred Leisure Centre. As one of the ward councillors, I’ve been following and answering comments from residents on social media. Lots in support, of course, and the usual few just making mischief. For the record, could you please provide us with a list of all the things this centre will deliver more of than the current operational site.  

 
Councillor Robins, Cabinet member for Sports, Recreation and Libraries, replied: 

 

Thank you Councillor Robinson, and a special thank you for all the help and support you’ve given me. In fact a big thank you for all the help and support I’ve received from all the Labour group on bringing this project forward.  

 

It’s very difficult to list all the new improvements that have been made and what more there will be in the new one than the old. So I’ve started just by saying in terms of the pools, we’ve got three new pools. I’m very aware of the time Madame Mayor. I could stand here for three quarters of an hour and tell you. But I’ll do in terms of the pool. We have three new pools going in. The new pools will feature an eight-lane competition pool, a teaching pool with a moveable bottom, and a leisure pool area. All three pools have their own heating and filtration systems. At the moment, all three pools share the same water and filtration system. Leisure water should be a higher temperature than the main pool. With the current design, this is not possible. A refurbishment could not address this.  

 

The fixed step for the current teaching pool does not allow different uses and activities. The open layout of the current pools allow a limited opportunity for groups who would like a more private environment to swim. This is all addressed in the new layout.  

 

I realise there’s not much time so I’ll just list a few things. The six-court modern sports hall with room for spectators, multi-use studios, large full equipment gym, 140-150 stations, family play area, [unclear], informal amphitheatre and seating, and I haven’t even touched on how much more sustainable and environmentally friendly the whole building will be.  

 

But there will be some things in the new building that will lack from what the old building has – plenty of leaky roofs, rusty steels and mouldy walls, just to name a few.  

 

5.       Councillor Lademacher asked: 

 

Can the council commit to upholding standards in temporary accommodation and will it explain the approach to ensuring that contractors provide safe and dignified conditions for residents in temporary accommodation? 

 

Councillor Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing, replied: 

 

Yes, conditions in some areas or some types of accommodation across our city have long been an issue for a very long time, and this is why this administration has implemented a raft of provisions to tackle just that and thank you for raising it. So, we've had quite a few different interventions, such as implementing and overseeing of the management of some of the providers because some of them didn't come up to our standards and we're still looking at some of these. We've also put in place, and this is really important if anybody hears of anymore please tell us, a direct reporting system for any resident in accommodations by our providers. So rather than go to the provider who may or may not listen to their concerns, they should come direct to us. We can then approach the provider and we can then oversee what repairs and remedial actions that would be taken.  

 

We also now have the power to inspect repairs and remedial actions to ensure that they have been implemented. A very recent example is we now have a programme of works that have been agreed and are being actioned right now as we speak, I'm proud to say. And not only that, as we mentioned earlier on, and I'm going to keep mentioning this because I'm very proud of what we're doing, we are now planning a very bold and very compassionate intervention to directly purchase hundreds of temporary homes across the city for our homeless families, because I believe our homeless families should have dignity and they should have security and they should have good conditions. And by us buying direct and overseeing them and owning them, we can guarantee those conditions. So thank you very much for your question. 
 
Councillor Lademacher asked a supplementary question: 

 

The recent policy to buy 200 houses for temporary accommodation is a really positive step. I welcome it and it clearly recognises the council's commitment to supporting people. However, it doesn't go nearly far enough. Can the council confirm what plans are in place to build upon this? 

 

Councillor Williams replied: 

 

Apart from guaranteeing the buying of at least 200 homes for temporary accommodation in a very short period of time, that is guaranteed and I want to thank Jacob Taylor for squaring that financially. We are building hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new council homes as well, because temporary accommodation isn't where we want people to be, but it's something that the process has to be. We want permanent, good quality social housing in our city.  

 

We also recently met with officers of other housing associations to really foster some better working relationships with the other providers in our city and to ensure that we can provide in the future as many possible social homes as we possibly can. 

 

6.       Councillor Meadows asked: 

 

Why did the chair of housing go against the advice of planning officers on the gasworks development? 

 

Councillor Taylor, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance & City Regeneration, replied:  

 

The chair of housing did not vote either way on that application. That was an application that went to Planning Committee and the ten members of Planning Committee voted on the application and the way they voted is subject to the public record. 

 

Councillor Meadows asked a supplementary question: 

 

Councillor Williams made a political play at a three-hour special meeting, thumping the table and really giving it her all, knowing this will cost the council dearly. So what is the real total cost to the council on top of the £160,000 we know about, including all officers’ time and Kings’ Counsel charges for playing party politics and how many libraries and toilets will that keep open? 

 

Councillor Taylor replied: 

 

It's an interesting and unfortunate attempt to politicise a planning decision. I would gently note that first of all, planning is not political and is not whipped.  
But my understanding is that the only Conservative member on that committee voted against the planning application. So it's a bit silly for Councillor Meadows to try and pretend it's a party-political issue. To answer a question directly, we don't know the final cost settlement that is to be determined in negotiation with the developer. 

 

7.       Councillor Earthy asked a question: 

 

There are many instances in Brighton of pelican crossing lights located within 15 yards of bus stops. Red lights can force buses to halt abruptly less than 15 yards from their stop before resuming their journey. This 15-yard stop-start wastes emissions. What progress has been made to fit buses with transponders to override pedestrian lights and to reduce emissions? 

 

Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure, replied:  

 

Councillor Earthey, we are improving smart traffic signal coordination through the Bus Service Improvement Plan via a project to give more traffic signal priority to buses. This is expected to lead to improvements to bus punctuality and reliability, which will improve the appeal of these sustainable transport modes and reduce emissions. 

 
After successful integration of the data feeds into Brighton & Hove City Council's urban traffic control system, two trial sites are now operational along the Eastern Road corridor. Initial testing shows the system is working as anticipated. Work will now continue to roll out the system to the next several junctions on the Eastern Road trial corridor to build a greater understanding of system capabilities, system validation and refinement.  

 

Councillor Earthey asked a supplementary question: 

 

My question really alludes to the superiority of the design of puffin over pelican crossings, which the former, as I'm sure this chamber knows, uses sensors to detect pedestrians and adapt signal timing while pelican crossings rely on fixed timers. So really puffin crossings are the way of the future, but it sounds like you're already doing tests and trials and things on that. I say in my regular bus travels around the city it’s extremely frustrating when you're on a bus, it's just coming to its stop, and then the driver has to slam the anchors on because the light goes red in front of it. All the passengers fall over because they're within two seconds of the stop and the light goes green it starts up again with the acceleration. What are the plans to replace and upgrade pelican crossings with puffin crossings? 

 

Councillor Muten replied: 

 

In some ways I have answered that in a previous point but pelican crossings, or pedestrian light controlled, uses lights to control traffic. Pedestrians press the button and wait for the lights to change traffic to stop, etcetera. Puffin crossings, or pedestrian user friendly intelligent crossings, use intelligent sensors to adjust the crossing for pedestrians and can link with approaching buses, for instance, to aid bus timing.  

 

The technology is now available and advancing to connect pedestrian crossings and bus times. And as I mentioned at the Eastern Road corridor, we're trying out six sites, six junctions. Let's see how we get on. If it's successful, we’re very keen to see that rolled out so we get smoother journeys. Yes, it's very important to reduce the number of bus passenger incidents on buses and that’s one of the reasons why we’ve introduced red routes as well.  

 

8.       Councillor De Oliveira asked: 

 

Warm bunks, free Wi-Fi, educational support, story time, bed story time, brush your teeth story time. A safe place to sit, a space at the heart of communities. If libraries are crucial, and I believe they are, Labour's plan of making them harder to access is shameful. You don't call something essential, then lock the door on the people who need it the most, or do you? If you call libraries essential, why are you closing them? 

 

Councillor Robins, Cabinet Member for Sports, Recreation & Libraries, replied: 

 

At the moment we've only just finished the consultation. What was put in the budget last year was that library services were given a saving to make of £210,000, which they've come back after doing the needs and usage analyzation to tell us where they think those savings can be made.  

 

We've now gone out to consultation. We're looking at different ways of running libraries. We're looking at how we can save and keep the libraries open. 
That consultation finished on Friday last week. So we now need to look at the data we've received back. We've received an awful lot of data back and then we will be making the decision at the cabinet meeting on the 12th of December. 
  

Councillor De Oliveira asked a supplementary question: 

 

If the government solution to fix the economy is imposed austerity in closing down libraries in the city here, what's your council going to do about it? 
  

Councillor Robins: 

 

Well, until we analyse the consultation that we've held, we don't know what we're going to do about it. That's the point of holding the consultation and that's the point of analyzing the consultation that you've got. If I stand here now and tell you what I intend to do about it, then what was the point of consulting anybody? That's the very point of the consultation and that's what we've done – a consultation. We’ll now go away and the data will be analysed. And as I say, the report will come to the cabinet on the 12th December when we will make a decision about what we're doing. 

 

9.       Councillor Cattell asked: 

 

I was very pleased and excited to read about the air source heat pump that we're fitting at Peter Gladwin School, making it the first city in the school to have its gas boilers fully decommissioned. 

 
Together with the programme of installing solar PVs on many of our own buildings, this marks a hugely significant step on this administration's journey towards net zero. With that in mind, can you tell us, Councillor Rowkins, what other carbon neutral projects you've got up your sleeve? 

 

Councillor Rowkins, Cabinet Member for Net Zero & Environmental Services, replied:  

 

It is a very exciting project, I fully agree with you. I went to visit Peter Gladwin School two or three weeks ago and it's very exciting. Not only because it's the first school to have its gas boilers fully decommissioned, but because it's a really good example of a whole system approach. So it's out with the gas boilers, heat pumps going in, energy efficiency improvements to the building, rooftop solar operated on behalf of the council by one of the energy co-ops, in this case BHESCo, and all the work done by local contractors. So I think it's a very good example of how we want to see net zero projects, indeed decarbonisation projects, done throughout the city. 

 
Crucially with this school, it's essentially a test bed, it's providing really good learning for us because this is a start of a programme to decarbonise more and more schools. We've currently got three further schools undergoing feasibility studies in order to identify cost and everything and the learning from this project is going to be really crucial. 

 

In terms of other projects, I mean it's a long list. I'm not going to speak for a long time, but we're about to replace about 2000 light fittings to reduce demand in some of our care homes, family hubs and other council buildings. People will have seen that we've been doing a lot on rooftop solar. Since the start of this particular bit of the rooftop solar programme on our council housing, we've installed more than 730 panels since the programme started in 2024 and the plan is to do somewhere between six and eight new installations every week over the next year. So really keeping the pace up.  

 

We've started a retrofit programme for 100 of our least energy efficient council homes, which will obviously not just drive down emissions, but bills for residents and those surveys are already underway.  

 

We’ve got solar farm feasibility going; we’re exploring the technical feasibility of a city centre heat network; we’re working on a net zero investment and delivery mechanism to bring in private investment on the scale needed; and we’re already miles ahead on EV charging, but obviously Councillor Muten still isn’t happy with that and insists on several thousand more. So the main problem that I have is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day.  

 
Councillor Cattell asked a supplementary question: 

 

To ask Councillor Rowkins when he gets the time to sleep? 

 

Councillor Rowkins replied: 

 

I take micro-naps. 

 

10.      Councillor Sykes asked: 

 

This is to the background of our TBM 5 position and financial constraints and it should be easy as we've already had the debate in full council about local government reorganisation. So if Councillor Taylor had 8 to 9 million to spend as he wished on council services, what would he spend it on? 

 

Councillor Taylor, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance & City Regeneration, replied: 

 

It’s a good question because it’s almost the exact amount that we've just permissioned – £10 million to purchase temporary accommodation and try and transform the lives of our homeless families. £8 to £9 million, there’s all sorts of things that we are already spending it on, including refurbishing our city, building new leisure facilities, restoring Madeira Terraces, resurfacing our roads and, as I say, investing in purchasing accommodation in the open market to try and change the nature of our housing market in the city and get people into more settled temporary accommodation and out of the very expensive private sector. So that's just one example. 
  

Councillor Sykes asked a supplementary question:  

 

If I counted properly I'd say, so that £8 to £9 million - your priority for local government reorganisation because that's the cost of that - is about 9th or 10th on your list of priorities. So that's interesting. But my supplementary is: when considering the financial upside of local government reorganisation, there’s a line in there entitled disaggregation disbenefits with a few million in financial risk, so I wondered if you could remind what these are and how they might affect Brighton City Council. 

 
Councillor Taylor replied: 

 

In terms of the first comment, I mean Councillor Sykes is right, we have a very long list of priorities because we're a very ambitious administration. I think one of the differences that residents have really noticed, and indeed we'll see it later today this evening on the Tory Notice of Motion, is that we don't take the view that we can only do one thing at once, we've got to concentrate on that and not take any more ambitious decisions to do other things. So yes, we've got a very long list of priorities that we're trying to achieve in the city and that's what residents want to see, despite a difficult backdrop that we acknowledge in terms of the financial picture, we're still trying to be ambitious.  

 

In terms of risk, I think the papers that were published were reasonably clear and transparent that there is both a potential one-off transitional cost for the whole set of unitary arrangements across the county. We don't know what those are going to be. We've made our submission, other people in the county have made other submissions. Those costs exist and indeed there are risks within that. But we tried to transparently set out what we’ve sent to and submitted to government, clearly the government will now need to decide, weigh up those risks, weigh up the costs and benefits and they will decide what they want to propose which will then go to formal consultation. We haven’t made a final decision, we’ve simply submitted one idea which the government will now look at, amongst others, and then end up going to consultation. 

 

Councillor Theobald asked a question: 

 

I'd like to know would you consider an electric run floral clock in Palmeira Square? Because this is what other cities have done now, they've gone on to electric and that would be a lot cheaper. So perhaps you can give me an answer? 

 

Councillor Robins, Cabinet Member for Sports, Recreation & Libraries, replied: 

 

Well, my understanding is it is an electric clock. It's electric magnetic. It's certainly not a mechanical clock. 

 

I was interested earlier on when Councillor Theobald mentioned the Smiths of Derbyshire who’d done the original clock, because they’re the people we met down there a few weeks ago who came to tell us that the current clock couldn’t actually be restored – that what was left underground isn’t workable – but they could give us a price for fitting a new clock, which is what they’ve gone away now to do, to give us a price to fit a new clock. So we’ve got a proposition that they’re going to price up a new clock. There’s another proposition that we might have some sort of sculpture there or perhaps a sundial or something. There’s another proposition that they might fit one of these mini tower clocks; and there’s a proposition that we might put back just the hands and the face as it was, although that would need to go onto a solid dial rather than the carpet planting which we won’t be involved with.  

 

But to the best of my knowledge, Councillor Theobald, the clock was always electric. I don’t think it was ever that anybody wound it up and set the pendulum spinning. It was always electric, that’s why there’s an electric box there to supply it with electricity. 

 

Councillor Theobald asked a supplementary question: 

 

That’s a shame because I think the floral flowers look lovely around the clock. I just wondered - if you get your estimate, could this not be paid by CIL or sponsorship or fundraising, or something like that? Or grant? There are ways to get the money for something like this because the residents so much want to have it there.  

 
Councillor Robins replied:  

 

Well of course there’s ways of getting the money to do it, and we could look at ways of getting the money to do it. The only thing I’d say is that it’s not just a case of installing a new clock, it’s a case of maintaining a new clock year upon year upon year. And it’s the same with what you describe as lovely flowers. I personally think to see nature that flipped and stunted in its growth isn’t a wonderful thing. But there we are, that’s up to you. That’s where we are. And just as an aside, the clock hasn’t run for about 21 years.