Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of the 8^th December 2011 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

40.1         The Mayor reported that 7 written questions had been received from members of the public and noted that the time allocated for public questions under Procedural Rule 9.18 was fifteen minutes.  She then invited Mr. Furness to come forward and address the council.

 

40.2         Mr. Furness asked the following question; “Most of us, regardless of our political persuasions, are aware of the shocking decline in numbers of our native wildlife, not least in the case of honey bees, butterflies, moths and small birds.

 

            Would you agree that this Green Council should be setting an example to City residents of how to preserve the natural habitats of these creatures by managing its own land and buildings in an environmentally sustainable manner?”

 

40.3         Councillor West replied; “I completely agree with you.  It’s important the council leads the way by showing how wildlife helps to build a prosperous and successful city, as well as being important for its own sake.  Our biggest responsibility is conserving our internationally important chalk grassland. That’s why we are working hard to reintroduce traditional sheep grazing to many of our important downland sites in the city. This year we have expanded the grazing project to 900 sheep grazing 84 hectares of our land. And over 100 local people have signed up as volunteer shepherds, to help look after them. The council has also successfully won Higher Level Stewardship payments from the Government to cover the costs of this and a range of other conservation work on our countryside sites. 

 

            In our parks and along our road verges we have planted wild flowers as nectar sources for bees, butterflies and moths. This year we won six Green Flag awards for our parks, partly on the strength of our nature conservation work. We also started to encourage larger wild flower areas to develop on pilot verges and open spaces in Saltdean, where the rare Basil Thyme was rediscovered. 

 

            Looking at our public buildings, newbuilds such as the Hollingdean Sure Start Centre, Varndean School extension and the Acorn Nursery in Portslade incorporate ‘sparrow terrace’ nest boxes, green roofs and landscaping designed to attract feeding and nesting birds. We are also working with Dr Dan Danahar of Dorothy Springer School extending his concept of butterfly banks to areas of the city.

 

            But of course there’s a lot more that we can do. This administration intends to achieve a step change in the way the city views and values its natural heritage. The Biosphere project, which started in earnest this autumn, aims to deliver this. Biodiversity will figure in all our work, right across the city. Our aim is to establish an international reputation for Brighton and Hove as a world class city for wildlife.”

 

40.4         Mr. Furness asked the following supplementary question; “I am delighted to hear your lengthy statement about the outlined areas of the city. Conservation begins at home.  We had until recently a thriving colony of Sparrows breeding in the ivy of the south tower outside Hove Town Hall which has been slashed at the root as a result there is no more tweeting there.”

 

40.5         Councillor West replied; “I can’t comment on specific examples like that but as you say that conservation has to start at home, that is exactly what we are doing, in the case of the bio sphere reserve bid-this is for an urban biosphere reserve which is an unusual concept. There are a number of biospheres around the world that have been recognised by the UN but not urban ones. This will cause us to address, in urban areas, as well as surrounding countryside, how well we are dealing with the biodiversity and the impacts of our lifestyle. Things like air pollution by having a pond biodiversity.

 

            We are planning 13 Butterfly banks within the city itself. The one at Dorothy Stringer School is an artificial area where they have undulated the ground in order to create a micro-climate habitat that attracts a lot of butterflies and other insects. Roughly, 80 percent of the species that are present within Brighton and Hove live in that specific area whereas before it was just recreational grass.

 

            We are building more around the city of those and so that will help to become little islands of biodiversity, we are also encouraging members of the public to promote biodiversity in their back gardens.”

 

40.6         The Mayor thanked Mr. Furness for his questions and invited Mr. Lowe to come forward and address the council.

 

40.7         Mr. Lowe asked the following question; “Has there been any progress on the youth service report?”

 

40.8         Councillor Shanks replied; “The report is completed and a Joint Commissioning Strategy for Services for Young People will come to the Children’s Cabinet Member Meeting on January 20th for final agreement.  The final report reflects feedback from extensive engagement and consultation. This includes two panels of the Children and Young People’s Overview Committee held on the 17th of October and the 28th of November.”

 

40.9         Mr. Lowe asked the following supplementary question; “To clarify will the report definitely be going to the January meeting? 

 

40.10    Councillor Shanks replied; “Yes, January 20^th.  You can come along to my cabinet member meeting and we will be presenting the report there.”

 

40.11    The Mayor thanked Mr. Lowe for his questions and invited Mr. Campbell to come forward and address the council.

 

40.12    Mr. Campbell asked the following question; “Does the council feel that it is appropriate for one city business to dominate council policy and endanger the viability of other businesses as a result?”

 

40.13    Councillor Davey replied; “Mr Campbell, thank you for your question. I’m sure the Council makes every effort to treat businesses fairly and equally. I believe there’s a particular issue on Western road you may be concerned about but I won’t pre-empt any supplementary but I’d be glad to provide any further details should it be appropriate.”

 

40.14    Mr. Campbell  asked the following supplementary question; If the Green Administration is so avowedly business friendly then why is the same council bowing to undue pressure form Brighton and Hove buses and proposing to unreasonably restrict mine and other businesses, in the end parking area, the opportunity to load and unload outside our premises when we need to.  You know that this will have a negative effect on our businesses and I hope you will decide that this is not a good idea.

 

40.15    Councillor Davey replied; “The Council have had requests from the bus company to make some changes to Western Road and it has come up at a number of meetings that council officers have attended with the bus company.  They are concerned that the indiscriminate parking along Western Road is causing considerable disruption to bus services. The fact that vehicles are parked on both sides of the road, even if only for a few minutes, has lead to the situation whereby Western Road is now one of the greatest bottlenecks in the city, thus leading to bus service unreliability.”

 

40.16    The Mayor thanked Mr. Campbell for his questions and invited Ms. Crook to come forward and address the council.

 

40.17    Ms. Crook asked the following question; “At the Culture Recreational & Tourism Cabinet Meeting on behalf of the Saltdean Lido Campaign I presented the community mandate from local people following a series of emergency meetings.  'The Council should seek to negotiate a surrender of the whole lease and if no agreement is made by the 29 February 2012, seek to take back the lease via compulsory purchase order with legal papers served on the 1 March 2012.’ The Head of Planning Strategy implied that the Council could serve the first stage of the CPO papers now - a Warning Letter. Will you serve the Warning letter this month?”

 

40.18    Councillor MacCafferty replied; “The negotiated surrender of the lease is a matter for the council as landowner. A compulsory purchase under Section 47 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 is a Planning matter.  Both the legal officer for the council and the planning officer made it clear that a planning authority must be reasonable. A CPO is not a procedure that can be undertaken in haste. The officers explained that preparatory to serving a section 48 repairs notice it is good practice to send a warning letter. This does not require the approval of the committee and can be undertaken quickly. 

 

            It is recommended practice that the letter should be accompanied by a schedule of works ‘specifying the works which the authority considers reasonably necessary for the proper preservation of the building’ etc. Planning Officers are preparing tenders for historic buildings surveyors to compile this schedule and as soon as the schedule is available, the Warning Letter will be issued. In the meantime negotiations with the lessee will continue.

 

            As also explained at the Cabinet Member Meeting it would be undesirable to undertake works before warmer and drier weather prevails and therefore any warning letter would anticipate allowing for works to commence in the spring and allow a period of time for compliance.  If the warning letter is not complied with officers will consider the most appropriate action and what, if any, reports to members are required.

 

            Given the financial implications of compulsory acquisition of the land, as the legal officer indicated at the Cabinet Member Meeting, compulsory purchase would only be undertaken if there is a corporately agreed exit strategy.”

 

40.19    Ms. Crook asked the following supplementary question; “As Councillors you have been elected to represent local people and to represent their views, their needs and their wishes. We have a very clear community mandate and have thousands of supporters not just in Brighton and Hove but globally. We feel that those points haven’t been heard.  This is the only grade two star listed lido in the country and has a leaseholder that has constantly breeched the lease; the councillor recognised that in their own report.

 

            Thirdly please could you announce when the council will actually make a decision on what they are going to do. Local people want reassurance the council have a strategy and approach with regards to securing the lease of the Lido for the community.”

 

40.20    Councillor MacCafferty replied; “We have asked officers to appoint a surveyor to prepare the schedule that will accompany the warning letter. That is going to be done as soon as possible and that letter should be sent in January.

 

            The local planning authority prefers to seek voluntary compliances highlighted earlier before taking formal action and the service of the repairs notice should be a last resort when all other action has been tried.  Officers were aware that the landowning arm of the council had served a schedule of works which would have resolved the repairs concerned and the leaseholder was proposing to carry out some works.

 

            The local planning authority will serve the repair notice on everyone who has a legal and trust in the building. There have been a number of high profile examples of disputes between the landlord and the leaseholder and Brighton and Hove such as Embassy Court where lease holders were trying to encourage full repair of the building where the planning authority was unable to intervene.”

 

40.21    The Mayor thanked Ms. Crook for her questions and noted that Mr. Simpson was unable to attend the meeting and therefore a written response from Councillor Bowden would be sent to him.  The Mayor then invited Ms. Fishleigh to come forward and address the council.

 

40.22    Ms. Fishleigh asked the following question; “At last week's meeting of the Culture, Recreation and Tourism meeting, Geoffrey Bowden agreed with officers' recommendation that the council should seek a negotiated way forward with the lessee of Saltdean Lido including, if satisfactory terms can be agreed, surrender of the head lease back to the council.

 

            When will the council next be meeting Mr. Audley to discuss surrender of the lease?”

 

40.23    Councillor Bowden replied; “A meeting has been arranged with Mr Audley on Wednesday 21^st December 2011.

 

40.24    Ms. Fishleigh asked the following supplementary question; “If you would like a woman from the Save the Saltdean Lido Campaign and the Saltdean Residents Association to come along I’m sure that could be arranged.”

 

40.25    Councillor Bowden replied; “I’ll keep that in mind.  We have instructed an external valuer to provide a valuation on the Lido by Wednesday 21^st December 2011.”

 

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

 

40.27    Ms. Paynter asked the following question; "To what extent doe the Administration recognise that pervasive, late and all-night alcohol availability, along with late and all-night clubbing are significant motivating reasons for inward migration and new residencies.  Has this ever been looked at and quantified?"

 

40.28    Councillor Deane replied; “Thanks for your question. I’m afraid the Council does not record the reasons for people moving home. Many of the reasons will be personal, such as moving to larger or smaller accommodation, moving closer to work, friends or family, or simply looking for a change of neighbourhood.  As a city centre ward councillor it seems anecdotally that external factors include good transport links, and ease of access to the wealth of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, theatres and museums in the city centre.”

 

40.29    Ms. Paynter asked the following supplementary question; “Where on a voting scale of one to ten would this administration place easy availability of alcohol twenty four seven?”

 

40.30    Councillor Deane replied; “I will have to come back to you with a written answer.”

 

40.31    The Mayor thanked Ms. Paynter for her questions and noted that concluded the public questions.