Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of the 15^th March 2012 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

78.1         The Mayor reported that 5 written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Mr Michael Hollingdale to come forward and address the council.

78.2         Mr Hollingdale asked the following question; “Would the Council members please consider the benefit to the community of Brighton & Hove, of the Hove Open Bowls Tournament - it takes place for one week in July of each year on the four wonderful greens in Hove on the seafront.  The Tournament has been established since 1929 with the Mayor being recognized as Patron - he / she attends to open the Tournament and gives prizes on Finals Day.  Having duly considered, would the Members consider approving some financial support from an appropriate budget on an annual basis to help securing the future survival of the Tournament?

78.3         Councillor Bowden replied; “We have sponsored the tournament, as you rightly say, and we will be doing so again this year, as you also observe, we are under some financial constraints from central government.  We do wish to be as fair and consistent as possible with all clubs and there are many clubs making similar requests as yours and I’m going to take away your request and discuss that with officers to see how we can accommodate you.”

78.4         Mr Hollingdale asked the following supplementary question; “Since you’re going to take it away and attend to it, that’s very kind thank you very much.”

78.5         The Mayor thanked Mr Hollingdale for his questions and invited Mr Deryck Chester to come forward and address the council.

78.6         Mr Deryck Chester asked the following question; “In October every councillor voted for Saltdean Lido to be put on the forward plan.  So why has it come off and why does the latest report from council officials say that the only ward affected is Rottingdean Coastal?”

78.7         Councillor Bowden replied; “There’s no hidden agenda, nothing sinister, the council did vote as you say.  It came to my CMM in December and we discussed it there, where decisions were made about the operation.  It came again to my March meeting where progress was noted and, believe me, it will be on our radar and when we have thing’s to discuss where decisions will be taken, you will see it on the forward plan again.  It is not going away as you will probably discover from future questions coming after yours.”

78.8         Mr Chester asked the following supplementary question; “Saltdean Lido is the only grade two listed lido in the country and as such it’s not an issue just for local residents but for all of Brighton. The Saltdean Lido Campaign’s put together a plan to make the site an economic hub and major tourist attraction.  You wouldn’t say the West Pier is an issue concerning just one ward so unfortunately it does sometimes appear that different rules are being applied to the lido.  Why is that?”

78.9         Councillor Bowden replied; “I would take it further it’s not just for Saltdean or the city, it’s probably the country, because it is a leading example of its architecture of it’s time.  In future reports I will make sure that there are no omissions and make certain all wards are affected and that’s always been our understanding as well.  We value it the same as you do, the same as the campaign, the same as the SRA and the all the community groups.  It’s to do with the whole city not just Saltdean.”

78.10    The Mayor thanked Mr Chester for his questions and invited Ms Rebecca Crook to come forward and address the council.

78.11    Ms Crook asked the following question; “In view of English Heritage's visit to Saltdean Lido last week, when will the local planning authority be serving its second warning letter and a section 48 repairs notice to the leaseholder at Saltdean Lido?  Given that the minimum time allowed is 2 months, how long will it be giving Mr. Audley to complete the works?”

78.12    Councillor MacCafferty replied;

78.13    “English Heritage’s visit last week was not specifically on the matter of a potential Repairs Notice and any decisions on this issue, including those on timings, are a matter for the council as local planning authority.  The second stage warning letter has now been sent to Mr. Audley together with a draft schedule of works that we will be seeking to require under a repairs notice.  The council has allowed a period of 28 days for Mr. Audley to respond to that letter before determining whether to proceed with the issue of a formal repairs notice.  No specific deadline for completion of the works has been given as this will depend on the response received and the ongoing discussions we have with him.

78.14    The decision as to whether or not to serve a repairs notice will be a matter for the planning committee.  If the notice were to be served, the council may proceed with compulsory purchase after a minimum of two months has elapsed and any decision on when to proceed with compulsory purchase would be taken at that time.  I would stress, once again, that action under this legislation is not something this council can enter in to lightly and therefore it’s a relatively lengthy process as you are undoubtedly experiencing.”

78.15    Ms Crook asked the following supplementary question; “It’s reassuring to hear some progress has been made. I’m afraid there seems to be a lack of clarity around the council strategy on what the council are going to do moving forward.  The latest report that we have highlights eighty pages of disrepair, so it seems to me that it would be fair to say it’s quite unlikely that anything will be complied with within twenty eight days I would like to know what the council are going to do in twenty eight days time.”  

78.16    Councillor MacCafferty replied; “I will have to give you a written response because of the litigious nature of this area, I would be afraid of saying something that would actually mean that we damage ourselves as a council.”

78.17    The Mayor thanked Ms. Crook for her questions and invited Ms. Bridget Fishleigh to come forward and address the council.

78.18    Ms. Fishleigh asked the following question; “BHCC officials have repeatedly said that a CPO of Saltdean Lido would be expensive and so would only be undertaken as a last resort.  What risk assessments and cost estimates have been produced by the council to support the view that a CPO will be too expensive and too time consuming?”

78.19    Councillor Bowden replied;“Compulsory purchase is indeed a very expensive last resort.  If and when there is a proposal to compulsory purchase, as you heard from councillor MacCafferty to acquire the leasehold on the lido, full risk assessment will be taken.  We’ve got solicitors here who have experience of that and they tell me that it is a very expensive process. This council doesn’t actually have the sort of money to throw down the throats of solicitors. It is the last resort but if we come to that point then we will do a full risk assessment to assess what those costs are likely to be.”

78.20    Ms. Fishleigh asked the following supplementary question; “We’ve heard again and again a CPO is too expensive and too time consuming.  Have you actually produced any documents to give us an estimate? The people of Saltdean, Brighton and around the world want to know how much is too expensive. Give us a figure.”

78.21    Councillor Bowden replied;“We haven’t got precise figures as we haven’t reached that stage yet and as we say, every time this matter is raised we do not see this as the first resort. It is the very last resort because if it gets to this stage it will be costly. We have the experience of legal advice, of people who have done this before and it does cost a lot of money. I would say six figures easily and when you think of public enquiries and the hiring of venues and of evidence taking all those things will mount up.  So it has to remain the last resort, I can’t give you a precise figure yet because we haven’t reached it. If the planning authority takes it to a stage where a compulsory order is going to be considered then we’ll do that risk assessment and share that information with you.”

78.22    The Mayor thanked Ms. Fishleigh for her questions and invited Ms Valerie Paynter to come forward and address the council.

78.23    Ms. Paynter asked the following question; “Automatic right of access to live planning application hard copy within City Direct was terminated on January 1st.  People are told to view material online or seek to view the case officer’s copy. This can mean only partial or very brief file access and is also planned to end shortly.  The Council gave no advance notice of intention to force engagement online.  There was no public consultation to understand how this might affect engagement with the planning process.  Officers took just a one month look at user numbers.  I’m shocked.  Why was there no public consultation concerning this move?"

78.24    Councillor MacCafferty replied; “You started to talk about automatic right of access and automatic immediate access, the live planning applications as you well know is available online.  That’s been the case since 2005. Those can be viewed on any pc, at our city direct offices here in Hove Town Hall, libraries or at the various council contact points around the city.  As you are well aware, City Direct has large format screens so that the plans can be viewed and measured at various scales.  As you are probably also aware, because the training that we will provide for you, our electronic measuring tool can also be used on individual pc’s as well.

            The whole case file (which includes all the comments made on an application and the correspondence) can be booked to view at 24 hours notice.  This has not changed.  Most case files can and are made available on demand. The additional or spare hardcopy of the plans which was placed in City Direct is no longer being printed as this was a duplication of work and information which is already available and accessible online and is already on the case file. 

            This was a common sense change to working practices.  This change followed a month of monitoring the situation without a spare hardcopy in City Direct. During that month (August 2011) we had a total of 448 callers to City Direct to use the planning service for various reasons.  Of those, 54 dropped in to use our on demand and free pre-app and advice service. 34 wanted to see the whole case file to view the letters of representation (i.e. the case officer file).  17 just wanted to see the plans and used the pc’s in City Direct. Interestingly 8 people needed some assistance from our staff.   4 were elderly and did not wish to view any documents, they wanted to be talked through the process and the proposals and 4 were shown how to view plans in City Direct.

            City Direct and Planning Staff are always on hand to answer queries. Jeanette Walsh, as I referred to previously, has personally offered you assistance which I am more than happy to help facilitate for you and your colleagues from Save Hove.”

78.25    Ms Paynter asked the following supplementary question; “Everything you’ve said in this reply is what the development control manager said to me in her email and I decided to ask this question after receiving that email.  You haven’t told me why there was no prior notice and why there was no consultation with the public which would have thrown up information which would tell you that there are at least 40 or 50% of the public out there who are not online, who do not wish to be online and who are now disenfranchised.   It’s one thing to have a localism bill it’s another thing to have these neighbourhood councils but I am seeing an absolute assault on democracy here and I would like an explanation.”

78.26    Councillor MacCafferty replied; “This is actually our attempt to be ambitious in the terms of the way in which we deal with open governance of the council as well as trying to manage the planning applications as they come in. As you are well aware 60% of all the planning applications come in online through the national planning portal and that percentage has grown enormously since 2005 and we expect it to carry on in the future as well.

            Prior to the launch there’s going to be assistance, there’s going to be support and there’s going information to help everyone with the changeover but if there is anything I can do in the meanwhile to support either yourself or your colleagues of course I will do that.”

78.27    The Mayor thanked Ms Paynter for her questions.