Agenda item - Written questions from Councillors.

A list of the written questions submitted by Members has been included in the agenda papers.  This will be repeated along with the written answers received and will be taken as read as part of an addendum circulated separately at the meeting.

8.1             The Mayor reminded the Council that written questions from Members and the replies from the appropriate councillor were now taken as read by reference to the list included in the addendum, which had been circulated as detailed below:

 

(a)       Councillor Pissaridou

 

8.2             “Can the lead Member for transport confirm the position regarding parking on Bolsover Road Hove?

 

            Although five years ago the residents opted to stay out of CPZ R, they have de facto been included in it.  They have, and are, able to buy parking permits, and visitor permits, and until very recently all maps showed that Zone R included Bolsover Road.  Thus the residents have parked on the very wide pavements (3.15m and 2.9m) with the tacit agreement of the Council.  Now that the engineer has reported on the construction of the pavement, showing I believe that the foundations do in fact differ from the norm in that the top layer is tarmac, the second layer some sort of thick concrete, and finally the hard core base. (I understand that all this is of car park quality). As the residents have parked their cars on the pavements for some considerable time (15 years at least) without damage to the pavements or their vehicles then it would seem that the underlying construction is sound.  Can you therefore now have white lines painted on the pavements to formalize this arrangement?   Officers have agreed that because of the width of the pavements there are no obstruction problems.

 

            The alternative proposed would be parking on one side of the road only which would drastically reduce the number of spaces to approx 37. (Residents calculate that a minimum of 60 spaces are needed).

 

            Residents also agree with officers that Bolsover Road should be limited to one-way traffic only and ask that this be put into operation as soon as possible.  Bolsover Road residents have now got an active and focused Residents Association and are working together to provide a better community for their children and families and the above changes will go a long way to achieving this aim.”

 

            Reply from Councillor Davey, Chair of the Transport Committee

 

8.3             “Bolsover Road is not in the Area R Controlled Parking Zone Traffic Order or included on the list of eligible streets, which is the basis for permit issue, so any permits will have been issued in error. 

 

            Neither are there any designated parking bays or signs indicating that Bolsover Road is within the Area R CPZ.

 

            I do not agree with your interpretation of the engineer survey results; the position is that the widened footway is not suitable for parking. The conclusion was that, with the exception of one small area next to a former vehicle access, the footway is not designed for vehicle overrun.

 

            It is true that tarmac footways do stand up to vehicles driving and parking on them much better than concrete slab ones, but this does not mean they were built for that purpose.  Tarmac is just more flexible and withstands a heavy load better.

 

            The key issue is whether the council officially regulates parking on the footway.  If we marked out a white line the footways would have to be upgraded and the existing utilities under the footway entrenched further.  The cost of this work could be about £80,000 which cannot be justified on a single residential road in the current financial climate.

 

            I see the best solution as re-consulting Bolsover Road on residents parking control and this is being considered as part of the Citywide Parking Review.  The request to make Bolsover Road one way can be considered as part of the scheme and, if approved, would be funded as part of its implementation.”

 

(b)       Councillor G. Theobald

 

8.4             “As he will be aware, at the Budget Council meeting in February it was agreed to bring forward additional savings of £228k in the Human Resources budget for this financial year.  Could the Leader of the Council, therefore, update me on how these savings are progressing and on any wider plans to either share the HR function with other councils/public sector bodies or to commission the service externally?”

 

            Reply from Councillor J. Kitcat, Leader of the Council.

 

8.5             “Human Resources are using two approaches to identify additional savings from the service. The first is to continue to improve the performance of the iTrent HR and payroll system and to deliver further areas of transactional activity through manager and staff self-service. The system performance has just been improved by 25% because of migration to a new server. 

 

            The second approach is a ‘system thinking’ review, which seeks to streamline processes and procedures to improve efficiency and reduce costs. 

 

            Additional savings of £57k are required for this financial year and a further £171K for 2013/14.  Work is progressing to allow us to achieve these savings and meet the action plan jointly agreed between the Chair of the Audit Committee and myself. 

 

            There are no wider plans at this time to either share the HR function with other councils/public sector bodies or to commission the service externally.”

 

(c)       Councillor Wells

 

8.6             “Will the Chair of the Housing Committee please confirm what the average council house rent currently is for each size of property (i.e. number of bedrooms) in the city and the corresponding average private sector rents?”

 

            Reply from Councillor Wakefield, Chair of the Housing Committee.

 

8.7             “The following table shows the average weekly Council (HRA) rents for 2012/13 for different sizes of property and compares these to the average market rents – the source for the market rent data is given below.”

 

 

No Bedrooms	Average 2012/13 Council Housing Rent per week £	Market Rents (*) (per week) £
0	59.11	128.34
1	67.74	177.04
2	76.55	252.25
3	89.02	313.28
4	95.37	380.88
5	110.39	data not collected
6	116.29	data not collected
(*) Source: Housing Strategy Team sample monitoring of Latest Homes magazine 2012 Q2 Apr-Jun)

 

(d)       Councillor A. Norman

 

8.8             “What plans do the administration have to support residents who would like to follow the example set in Bristol where temporary street play closures are set up at the request of residents so that children can play safely together in a closed residential road for a specified time.”

 

            Reply from Councillor Davey, Chair of the Transport Committee

 

8.9             “Thank you for your question.

 

            I have also received questions about this from interested residents.  Our Highway team have looked at the trial and Bristol, and believe that we can do something here.

 

            The play streets closures would be similar to resident street parties where we ask for agreement from the people living and working in the street.  There are other requirements that residents must observe, for safety and access reasons.  So we could not allow this on main thoroughfares or bus routes.  Access for residents and businesses would also have to be maintained, and residents would need to have adequate signage to warn drivers of the closure.

 

            There are some more details we need to work out but we should be able to do this quite quickly.  We will also be presenting a policy to Transport Committee in November on all our different types of events that take place on the highway and can include Play Streets in this.

 

            The team would need to assess and advise on each request.  Please bear in mind that it is a very tiny team, and so it will take time to look at each application.”

 

(e)       Councillor Brown

 

8.10         “Will the Chair of the Economic Development & Culture Committee please inform me when the cross-party working group to look at the future of the King Alfred Leisure Centre site will start meeting?”

 

            Reply from Councillor Bowden, Chair of the Economic Development & Culture Committee.

 

8.11         “A proposal will be brought to the September Economic Development & Culture Committee meeting to establish this important working party as soon after that as possible. I have discussed the membership make up with leaders of the Conservative and Labour & Cooperative parties and agreed with them their representatives which will be made public in the September meeting.”

 

(f)        Councillor Morgan

 

8.1             “Can the Chair of the Transport Committee give figures comparing revenue from pay and display parking on Madeira Drive and King’s Road between the start of April and the start of July 2012 with the equivalent period in 2011?”

 

            Reply from Councillor Davey, Chair of the Transport Committee.

 

8.2             “In 2011, during the months of April, May and June, revenue from Pay & Display parking on Madeira Drive and Kings Road totalled £200,905.

 

            During the same months in 2012, revenue from Pay & Display parking in the same areas totalled £309,823.

 

            It is also worth noting that despite the fact that it rained on 47 days during the same period in 2011 compared to 27 days of rain in 2012, visitor numbers to attractions such as the Royal Pavilion, Preston Manor and the city’s museums are up by more than 5% compared to last year.”