Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of the 11^th July 2013 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

17.1         The Mayor reported that four written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Mr. Barraball to come forward and address the council.

17.2         Mr. Barraball asked the following question; “The people in City Clean put themselves at risk daily, they work long hours for basic pay, some of them have to take two jobs to make ends meet and I think there lies the put up risk because of these long hours and the hazardous circumstances that they face daily so I think their wages should be really considered not just for the three years that the negotiations are giving them but for the foreseeable future, that they can have a living wage on that one wage doing an arduous job.”

17.3         Councillor J. Kitcat replied; “In essence your question is about whether terms and conditions for staff should come to Full Council for ratification. Any committee of the Council is effectively the Council deciding in delegation; that was the agreed way in which the constitution of this Council was changed when we moved to the Committee system.

            It is also worth noting that before embarking on the negotiation for pay and allowance modernisation, we did benchmark with a number of other councils around the country and it is highly unusual for such matters to come to Full Council and the correct approach is the Head of Paid Service, the Chief Executive, is the person responsible for the detailed returns and conditions but of course the job of Members of the Council is to set the policy.  That policy was set at Policy and Resources Committee, Members were briefed and Leader’s Group were regularly briefed on the process for that negotiation and that is continuing and the consultation period will end in early August and this week Members of the GMB Union and City Clean are balloting the members on a revised offer which significantly reduces the detriment to them.”

17.4         The Mayor noted that there was no supplementary question and thanked Mr. Barraball for his question and invited Mr. Berry to come forward and address the council.

17.5         Mr. Berry asked the following question; “Coldean has recently been subjected to an increased pressure on parking in the neighbourhood due to the development of the University of Brighton’s Varley Halls Site and the Amex Stadium.  Amex recognised the impact they were having on the local communities and have introduced a free parking permit system for all of the residents in Coldean.  On completion of the scheme 350 sign posts were installed in Coldean which has had a negative visual impact.

            My question to the council is why it was necessary to install so many signs, and could they have been installed in a more sympathetic way?”

17.6         Councillor Davey replied; “The Council worked with the Football Club to bring this scheme forward in response to residents concerns. The Council does consider the issue of additional street furniture, which we admit can cause street clutter, and has put down the absolute minimum possible but we do need to take into account the need to be able to enforce the match day parking scheme and signage has been installed at approximately 30 meter intervals as outlined by national guidance from the Department for Transport.  Where possible, signs have been placed on existing street furniture such as lamp posts. The Council did investigate only having signs on the perimeter but this was not feasible for the scheme with the amount of roads being installed here as otherwise repeated signs would still be required.”

17.7         Mr. Berry asked the following supplementary question; “I would like to propose that an officer comes to Coldean to have a look round. There are a couple of anomalies where there is a sign on a lamp post and 1 foot away from it is one of the statutory signs which seems a waste of money, so I hope someone could come and meet me and have a look around Coldean.”

17.8         Councillor Davey replied; “I’m sure that would be absolutely fine, officers will be monitoring it and if you were able to provide the specific details, the officers would be able to look at that for you.”

17.9         The Mayor thanked Mr. Berry for his questions and invited Mr. Chavasse to come forward and address the council.

17.10    Mr. Chavasse asked the following question; “TRO-12 / 12a-2013, Committee scheduled for 8^th October, proposes eliminating ALL previously agreed Blue Badge Parking beside Brunswick Square’s 4 side gates and 1 by the adjacent dentists’ surgery, plus 2 Council added Brunswick Terrace bays. Leaving no provision – but without other Zone M changes.  Would Council please ensure this proposal’s abandonment? It is highly unpopular, grossly discriminatory, hardship causing and arguably illegal. Heavyweight objections seem insufficient deterrent to stop ill founded attempts to tinker with the long justified, balanced status quo which enables ALL disabled badge holders to conveniently visit Brunswick residents or enjoy the public gardens.”

17.11    Councillor West replied; “As I think you have been very involved with the issue, you are aware the Council is attempting to balance parking provision for residents, businesses and blue badge holders in the area where there is a high demand for parking.  Further to complaints by local residents about disabled bays not being used, the Council surveyed the disabled bays and residents in the area to assess if they were still required. We’ve received no responses and therefore the removal of 7 disabled bays was proposed as part of a traffic order advertised in June of this year.  During the traffic order consultation the Council received objections from residents about blue badge holders not being able to use local amenities and concerns were raised by Ward Councillors. This will be reported to the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee on the 8^th October.

            As a compromise we are considering retaining 2 existing bays amending the operating times of a further 3 bays and only removing 2 local bays and are currently liaising with Ward Councillors to seek their views.  I understand this revised proposal has met with the approval of a meeting of the Friends of Brunswick Square and Terrace last Saturday and as I say the matter will go into Committee for a decision in October.”

17.12    Mr. Chavasse asked the following supplementary question; “I would ask you to have this matter looked into in more depth before the October 8^th decision making process and to engage with the disability champion and the residents, because the problem is there are many visitors who use these bays, whose opinions are not taken into account when you have residents discussions.  It so happens that I am a visitor.”

17.13    Councillor West replied; “Well I do know that both your Ward Councillors have taken a very keen interest.  They have engaged with officers and officers have more than noted the point because they are looking at different arrangements as I explained.  I have also spoken with the disability champion who is fully aware of your comments and the issues surrounding this and no doubt they well all be fed in and as we have 3 months there is ample time for further consideration I’m sure.”

17.14    The Mayor thanked Mr. Chavasse for his questions and invited Ms. Paynter to come forward and address the council.

17.15    Ms. Paynter asked the following question; “What work is the council doing to facilitate, promote and make pedestrian use of our streets the equal of cycling and other measures to improve air quality by reducing vehicle usage?"

17.16    Councillor Davey replied; “The City Council’s got a lot of history improving the pedestrian environment across the City and strongly encourages walking as a sustainable and healthy form of transport for everyday journeys.  There are many recent initiatives including the introduction of the pedestrian way finding system in the City Centre, North Street, Clock Tower, East Street and improvements in Ship Street recently as well.  Many new pedestrian crossing points have gone in using the new pedestrian crossing priority system and there’s been several significant ones in your area including the Sackville Road one which I know has gone down very well and actually has also reduced traffic speeds there as well which is really welcome. I think there is also a big improvement at the junction between Clarendon and Goldstone.

            There are also a lot of dropped curbs that go in. The Old Shoreham Road improvements include a significant improvement for pedestrians including new pedestrian crossings where residents have been campaigning for them for many years and improved footways and again reduce vehicle speed which make a significant contribution to a feeling of safety for pedestrians.  Current initiatives include the 7 Dials Improvement Scheme which will considerably improve the pedestrian environment in the area which I think has been very challenging for pedestrians in the area for many years and we’re also very hopeful that the old town public enquiry, which is taking place at the moment, will give a positive outcome so we can bring forward improvements in the old town.

            We’ve got air quality; clearly there’s still a very long way to go. We’re pleased that air quality is now improving across much of the City. However we’re not complacent and that is why we have asked officers to investigate the introduction of a low emissions zone and we’re pleased that this proposal has gained cross party support and has also been supported by key partners such as Brighton & Hove Buses.  So we look forward to a report on that coming back to Committee later this year and more work in improving air quality and for the pedestrian environment across the City over future years.”

17.17    Ms. Paynter asked the following supplementary question; “Councillor I would like to thank you personally for the pedestrian crossing that you provided for Sackville Road in answer to our 2 petitions and I would like to congratulate the Administration on it’s pedestrian build outs program because it has made a huge difference, certainly in the areas of Hove, that I’m aware of.

            You referred to Goldstone Villas and Clarendon Road build outs and I’d like to invite every Councillor to go to the savehove.wordpress.com website and look at what I’ve managed to put up this afternoon because of this question. When you are designing these build outs and putting in cycle racks, why is it that there isn’t consideration for the opportunity especially when they are so huge, some of these build outs, to put in extra trees and some benches?”

17.18    Councillor Davey replied; “I fully agree and we need to seek every single opportunity and if you look at the work we’ve done at Lewes Road, there’s a number of benches that have gone in there and the work at 7 Dials, that will include benches and 9 or 10 new trees depending how many we can fit in but I absolutely agree and one thing I’m really pleased about over the last couple of years is starting to win the argument that actually seats are part of transport.”

17.19    The Mayor thanked Ms. Paynter for her questions and noted that concluded the item.