Agenda item - Chairs Communications

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Agenda item

Chairs Communications

Minutes:

100.1          The Chair provided the following communications:

 

“This is the last Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee meeting of the municipal year. I know some committee members will be moving to take up new roles and this will be their last meeting as members of this committee.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank them, especially, and all members too for your contribution to our work this year.

It has been a busy year and we have certainly achieved a great deal for the city: I’m very pleased that we have agreed the introduction of the second phase of 20mph limits which means most residents in the city will now have slower, safer speed limits on their streets; and with the agreement of the bus companies we have also developed the city’s first low emission zone which stands to be the first big step forward in tackling stubborn air quality in the city for decades; I’m also very proud of the work achieved with the allotment federation to develop the first allotment strategy which members heartily welcomed and endorsed at our last meeting; and I am also appreciative of the strong support expressed by members for the development of the Stanmer Masterplan, which we are currently consulting the public on ahead of the planned funding bid.

This is but a sample of our achievement, and I would like to thank our officers for their great commitment and professionalism in delivering innovation and continued good service to the city - especially in these most challenging of times. And, I would also like to express gratitude to all our partners and to residents who have contributed to consultations and attended our meetings informing our understanding and decisions.

Many thanks again to you all, and may I wish those not rejoining us in the new municipal year all the best with your new roles, and I very much look forward to working with some new faces at our next meeting.

 

“As Members will be aware last week there was an unexpected partial collapse of a seafront arch contractors for the Fortune of War were working on.  Fortunately, no one was injured but the premises are now partly closed off and there was major traffic disruption on the A259 while the safety of the situation was established.  Subsequently it has been possible to reopen the road to two way traffic while maintaining safety.

As you know the seafront arches are very old, at the end of their structural life, and the need for substantial investment in renewal has been put off for decades. The sum the Council is now facing is estimated to run to many tens of million of pounds far beyond the short term means of the Council, and certainly not something we can divert other dedicated project funding towards.  We have already heavily committed LTP funding to renewal of some arches, and a very good job they are, but a new and significantly heightened funding approach is needed to tackle the scale of the wider problem.

Councillor Davey as lead member for Transport is taking a leading role on the project and Councillor Mitchell is chairing a cross party scrutiny looking at the problem and possible ways forward.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Davey and myself have all paid visits to the Fortune of War to see the situation for ourselves, and I found that very helpful to my understanding of the situation.

Officers and emergency services and traders are all to be commended for their swift response and good handling of the incident.

I know officers are looking at the causes of this particular problem and the remedial action that can be taken, and the current expectation is that it could take up to 8 weeks to address the specific problems. I’d like to thank business owners and residents for their patience during the disruption”.

 

100.2          Councillor Mitchell stated that the Scrutiny Panel members had identified the specific section between West Street and Shelter Hall as a priority which would require £4m of investment and be a major work. Councillor Mitchell asked if there might be emergency repair capital or funding available to carry out the work and if not, if the administration could approach the Local Enterprise Partnership to request the funding secured for the improvement project at Valley Gardens be diverted to improvement of the Seafront Arches as it was clearly a higher priority.

 

100.3          Councillor Davey stated that three applications to improve the Seafront Arches had already been submitted to the LEP and all were unsuccessful. Councillor Davey added that the Valley Gardens project had been successful on merit and the funding could not be diverted. Councillor Davey supplemented that more bids for improvements to the Seafront Arches would be made to the LEP and the Arches also formed part of the Strategic Economic Plan. Councillor Davey clarified that he also did not believe there was a direct link between the collapse at West Street and other arch related structural issues at Shelter Hall.

 

 

 


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