Agenda item - Oral questions from Councillors

116.1.     The Mayor noted that notification of 8 oral questions had been received and that 30 minutes was set aside for the duration of the item.  She then invited Councillor G. Theobald to put his question to Councillor Davey.

 

116.2.     Councillor Theobald asked:

 

“Buried on page 118 of the 2012-2013 budget papers was a saving in highways to the effect that no new yellow lines or signs would be allowed outside of control parking zones in the city. This has become a real bone of contention for residents in my ward and I suspect in the other outlying wards in the city who have had perfectly legitimate requests for new lines turned down by the Council. Will Councillor Davey confirm if this blanket policy remains in place in the light of the fact that several areas outside control parking zones now appear to be being considered for new parking restrictions?”

 

116.3.     Councillor Davey replied:

 

“Well I’m sure you spotted that at the time but the work of developing new traffic regulation orders is time consuming and expensive, as I’m sure you’re aware. Traffic regulation orders have to be advertised in the newspapers, which are quite expensive, officer development time and then there’s the consideration of responses, the signing of lines and then the maintenance of lines. And as you know, the Council is under extreme pressure from central Government cuts and budget freezes imposed by partly your opposition, so yes it does remain exceedingly difficult to develop extra facilities elsewhere in the city, but the Council take a pragmatic response and where there are serious road safety issues of very heartfelt responses on very serious matters from residents supported by Councillors, such as the Roedean coach parking matter, we will do our absolute best to respond but we have to bear in mind that those are expensive and the Roedean coaching matter is costing several thousand pounds.”

 

116.4.     Councillor Theobald asked the following supplementary question:

 

“It’s interesting that Councillor Davey talks about cuts and how painting yellow lines are expensive, it doesn’t seem to be too expensive to paint 20mph mile signs all over the place. But, as the Council has been given a record local transport plan funding allocation for this year of £7.5 million on top of numerous other generous grant awards from the Government, such as better bus areas, local sustainable transport fund and national parks funding, will Councillor Davey now commit as part of the LTP4 process to put this before the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, with a recommendation to reverse what appears to be a blanket policy which unfairly penalises residents living in areas living outside of the city centre.”

 

116.5.     Councillor Davey replied,

 

“Well I thought you would have understood by now that there’s a big difference between capital one off funding, that the LTP is and revenue funding. But the capital funding budget that you agreed at P&R, just a few weeks ago, is being spent on capital renewal for the city and to make up for the lack investment from your administration, which cut millions and millions and millions out of the transport capital budget. Under invested on the seafront and leaving a dreadful legacy for this administration to pick up, so you agreed the budget that we put before the P&R committee and few weeks ago to address the legacy you left us and I’m very glad that you supported it at that time, so thank you.”

 

116.6.     Councillor Marsh asked:

 

“The Government has put on hold, for the moment, the role out of universal credit because the pilot has been so abysmal but there is no doubt that it will come and we will have to deal with it in this City. What preparations are being put in place to support residents to apply for universal credit?

 

As I’m sure Councillor Littman knows you can only apply online there is no other way of doing it. So I would be very concerned for the 40% of my ward who still do not have access to the internet because they can’t afford it, to those people who have sensory difficulties, language difficulties who are older, like me and find twiddling buttons quite difficult who are ill etc. What I want to know is what we are doing, what plans are in preparation to support residents for the eventual online applications of universal credit?”

 

116.7.     Councillor Littman replied:

 

“The problems with universal credit have become quite clear from the attempted role out the 2013 date has been put back to some time between 2015 and 2017. As far as financial inclusion is concerned, because that’s really the topic that we’re talking about, we are funding money advice and community support because the free legal representation has been withdrawn, we’re investing in the Brighton Housing Trust and CAB, recognising the fact that most of the people who are reliant on welfare are women and children with the Government’s welfare changes most especially the benefit cap hitting these groups negatively, particularly women.

 

We’re also funding the Brighton Women’s Centre to run a money advice service targeted at women and lone parents. We’re providing funding to the Federation of Disabled People to ensure that disabled residents are supported regarding the particular issues that they face.

 

We’ve set up a Banking Forum which will be officially launched next month which engages banks with us in financial inclusion work. We’re working with a wide range of partners from the YMCA to Quaker Social Action to Slice Bread a National Financial Inclusion Consultancy. We’re looking to widen this work even further talking to organisations such as the Royal British Legion and the Macmillan Cancer Support.

 

We’ve allocated £100,000 to the East Sussex Credit Union to enable them to provide loans to financially vulnerable people. We’re accessing money advice and skill building. We’re directly supporting the credit union through our HR and Comms teams. We’re working alongside of the Bishop of Chichester to encourage well known people to sign up to the Credit Union.

 

We’ve spent £355,000 funding a Community Banking Money Advice Debt and Education Service for financially vulnerable residents. It looks like the partners we will have in that work will be the Brighton and Hove CAB, the Money Advice Community Support, the Whitehawk Inn, Hangleton and Knoll, the Bridge, Unemployed Families Sensor Project and Toynbee Hall.

 

All of this work will help ready those who are on benefits, need benefits to survive; for the role out of universal credit.  Finally on the point that you are making about digital inclusion; with these partners and others across the City we’re helping to increase digital inclusion because as you point out quite rightly, the Government Strategy is to move to digital by default services, we’ve actually a Guardian Award for our Council Connect Sit Scheme where volunteers in libraries help people to get online.”

 

116.8.     Councillor Marsh asked the following supplementary question:

 

“How are we going to encourage commercial banks who don’t wish to have as customers, people who will be on universal credit and are currently on benefits and don’t welcome. How are we going to bridge that gap?  Also instead of having benefits deducted at source so that residents can then budget, they will actually have everything just paid in and if they chose at the next stage to run off with it like put it on the horses then what kind of support we’re going to provide there to steer people away and to make sure that pay day lenders don’t cash in on this new change?”

 

116.9.     Councillor Littman replied,

 

“The Basic Banking Forum, we’re in discussion with, 13 banks. The Launch is next month, we don’t know how many banks will actually sign up but that is one way of getting commercial banks in on this the other is the East Sussex Credit Union which we are funding where, as I say, we’re giving funding financial advice for a whole range of different organisations at the end of the day what we’re trying to do is make sure that the vulnerable people in the City are as financially robust as they possibly can be given the role out of universal credit which I think people on your bench and people on our bench have recognised as an utter disaster about to happen.”

 

116.10.  Councillor Summers asked:

 

“Following on from the deputation earlier, very ably presented by Mr Knight, I would like to ask Councillor Randall, as Chair of the Housing Committee, if he himself is familiar with the Brighton & Hove Estate Conservation Trust and the lease agreement made between the Trust and the Council in 2005, which would have then been under a particular administration of a party in this Chamber beginning with ‘L’, and if he is familiar, whether he agrees himself in principle that such council housing should be rented out at market rate, bearing in mind his own notice of motion at the last full council, which his own group supported and the other group beginning with ‘L’ supported and also bearing in mind the brand spanking new costing of living contract that a particular national party has promised to introduce if they form the next government, and that includes stopping families that rent being ripped off and helping them plan for the future with new, long term, predictable tenancies.”

 

116.11.  Councillor Randall replied:

 

“Well I am familiar with the trust that was set up to preserve those houses in public ownership, rather than making it possible for them to pass into private ownership, through the right to buy.  I’m more familiar now with the detail of the cases being made by some of the residents about rents.  I’m disturbed by what I’ve heard; we are talking to the trust about it. We did indeed have a motion before the last council meeting where we asking for rent controls, we didn’t get to speak about it then, but I would say that I believe we should follow the example of Germany, France, the Netherlands and some American cities and introduce controls. What we’re suggesting is, that the market rent is set at the beginning of a 5 year tenancy and in that 5 year tenancy, the rent should only be increased at the rate of inflation, there should be a cap on that in case inflation too high, as it did under the conservatives in the 1980’s, I think it was.

 

So we don’t want the inflation element to get out of hand. I would also say, I was at meeting, a Chatham House rule meeting, with Sir David Montague and others, to discuss his proposals to the Government for the future of the private rented sector and at that meeting, there were large investors saying they would like to see the introduction of some sort of rent control because they are aware, the institute investors, not everywhere is like Brighton, and in some parts of the country rents may go down.  They want to see inflation related rent controls to protect their investment.  So I am disturbed by what I’ve heard.  We are looking at it and we will come back to you. Thank you very much indeed.”

 

116.12.  Councillor Summers asked the following supplementary question:

 

“We know the deputation is going to Policy & Resources and also that Councillor Randall himself sits on Policy & Resources Committee, so because of that, I would like to ask him if he would agree to look into the arrangements with the Trust, as it now stands in view of particularly, the serious concerns that the tenants have put and consider whether or not the trust is best serving the interest of the people that they’re housing and whether or not those interests, basically the interests for them and also wider Stanmer Park context would not best be served if those properties were in fact brought back under the management and responsibility of the Council.”

 

116.13.  Councillor Randall replied,

 

“All I can say is that an officer review has already started, it will come back to P&R and we will look at it then of course. On your last point, I’m not sure. My fear is that the housing in Stanmer Park will pass into private ownership, they will then become rented properties, like more than 20% of the Council properties that have been sold in the City, already have done and I fear it could be a village of holiday homes. Thank you.”

 

Note:    Councillors Mitchell and West having declared a personal and prejudicial interest relating to the matter detailed above withdrew from the chamber during its consideration.

 

116.14.  Councillor Cox asked:

 

“Graffiti blights communities and hampers regeneration.  A journey on, for example the number 5 bus, through Western Road and London Road reveals a whole series of buildings which have been scrawled with unpleasant and sometimes offensive graffiti. In particular at rooftop level along the first floor above the shops.  What action is the Council going to take to have this criminal damage cleaned up?”

 

116.15.  Councillor West replied:

 

“I share his concern about the impact that graffiti has in blighting the City and our officers work extremely hard continuously cleaning graffiti off public buildings and working with residents and businesses to get graffiti removed from private premises.

 

Officers provide advice and quotation to undertake work on behalf of residents in businesses and we also work with community groups on special clean-up projects like the work that is done with the Roundhill Society which Councillor Davey and myself and Councillor Deane are both very familiar because that’s in our ward, where they hold regular clean up days supported by City Clean and we get to tackle the deeper issues that the regular service is unable to achieve and that’s working extremely well with the local community.

 

The graffiti that you’ve specifically mention as I understand is at a high level and especially challenging to deal with and under our current budget pressures from Government cuts, maintaining an annual clean-up of graffiti like this is hard to achieve but I understand that this particular issue will be addressed by the end of June.

 

In order to do that we will need to hire the cherry picker and identify the premises owners and serve notice on them in order to attempt to recover the cost so we do need the cooperation of businesses and residents to help us achieve these things and I certainly look forward to this work being done and the full cooperation of those concerned.”

 

116.16.  Councillor Cox asked the following supplementary question:

 

“I’m particularly concerned about some of the properties which I believe the Council holds the freehold for and is collecting considerable sums of rent in. Just by way of example I think it is particularly bad in Western Road in the heart of the City in Councillor Kitcat’s ward I believe, there is ‘Phones for Us’ and above there is scrawled all cops are a target, anarchist signs and obscenities.  It’s been there for at least 3 weeks and I don’t see why we should tolerate it so I urge, in this clean-up Councillor West, perhaps that that particular stuff is cleaned off.”

 

116.17.  Councillor West replied,

 

“Our policy is to focus on offensive graffiti and we do act as quickly as we can, if it is at a high level and we do need the permission of private premises it can take us longer than we would hope to do so, in order to achieve what we need to do for the City but we do take it extremely seriously.”

 

116.18.  Councillor Pissaridou asked:

 

“I’m sure that everyone will agree that our parks and recreation grounds are jewels in the city’s crown.  Well-loved and well used by our residents and visitors alike. In 2010, money was made available by the previous national government under the Play Builders scheme for improving children’s playgrounds. Brighton and Hove benefited from this and some playgrounds around the city were improved. Unfortunately, the source for this funding suffered in the cuts made by the coalition government, so there are no specific funds set aside to finish the program and a number of playgrounds were left to volunteer groups to find funding for improvement.  In our ward, we’re very fortunate to have dedicated residents who have worked tirelessly to raise funds to improve the parks and children’s playgrounds, and have utilised any scrap of spare land for residents to use, whether it be playgrounds or gardening. Stoneham Park is a green flag park, which incidentally celebrated its centenary last year, as you know Madam Mayor.

 

In the middle of poets corner, and next to primary schools  and as you can imagine, Stoneham Park is extremely well used by local residents, with vibrant community groups in the local area looking into improve and enhance the park in years ahead.  Will Councillor West work with me and those groups in exploring potential funding options so we can make the most of Stoneham Park as a key asset in our community?”

 

116.19.  Councillor West replied:

 

“It is absolutely correct that we, as a Council, are able to invest a considerable amount in a number of parks, due to a previous scheme that is now completed. We did make a great number of parks that much better but because we have very many and there’s many communities who would like improvements, and we do have to maintain what we have as well, and service pressures make that extremely difficult as we go forward.

 

In the case of Stoneham Park, I’m extremely glad to say that work has already been going on about how we can actually get funding in to improve the park. I understand that £39,000 of Section 106 money, specifically for play at Stoneham Park has been secured, that there has been a consultation conducted by the friends of Stoneham Park, working with our officers and I have a copy of the report that they produced in March. There is a very interesting list of things that they would like to achieve there, that far exceeds the funding available but the will is certainly there.  There are some sort of tensions about how one might wish to change the balance between the amount of tarmac and grass in the park, whether or not dogs should be allowed or excluded and then features that might appeal to teenagers who are not well served, especially girls, so do we need a skate park?

 

But then there’s also for younger children the type of things we’ve seen at the Level, people’s expectations have risen over those, like the musical play areas which are so popular there.  So there is a lot to do, and we are certainly working with the community already on that and officers are going to write a proposal brief for the use of that particular funding and then work with the friends on another consultation on whether that plan is good and then continue to work to find other sources of funding in the future.

 

So it is a very positive position we are in already and I’m very glad that the Councillor has raised this point, and I’m sure she’ll be working with the friends on the opportunities ahead of us now.”

 

116.20.  Councillor Pissaridou asked the following supplementary question:

“We have worked very hard to get all this funding and to try and match fund but my supplementary question is a little bit wider.  From time to time, I have been approached by parents and carers and I think most councillors have, who raise concerns about the safety of some playground equipment in their local parks.  Can you provide a statement or can you get officers to draft a statement as to how the equipment is selected, how it is maintained and what you consider to be the responsibility and liability of the council and of parents to ensure their children’s safety?”

 

116.21.  Councillor West replied,

 

“I do know there is some older equipment in that particular park that is going to be looked at, so there will be assessment on that.  Officers do assess the safety of equipment in other places to ensure that they are safe to use. We have a considerable amount of equipment, but that is certainly on their agenda to continue, it is obviously vital importance that equipment is provided and is maintained in a safe state.  I won’t be shy about this, I think going forward, the council has a difficulty with the level of the government cuts coming down, how we continue to maintain the standards of the things that we have, how we continue to invest in them to replace them and improve them.  This is going to be a considerable problem into the future.  We really need to see the change of heart from the government about the way it treats the local government and the way local government can serve local people properly.”

 

116.22.  Councillor Mears asked:

 

“At the recent Housing Committee meeting on the 20^th April, we received a report updating the Housing Strategy which will incorporate the Student Housing strategy which was produced under my administration. The final Housing Strategy will be finalised by the end of 2014.  The student housing technical background paper in the City plan is very detailed and well worth a read.  We also had, in the last few years, a round 1500 purpose built planning permissions for Students and we also show the increase in student numbers over the last few years and the University of Sussex is proposing to expand by a further 5000 student by 2018.

 

The report also highlights speculative purpose built student housing over the last 3 – 4 years. As a location Brighton is ranked 3^rd following London, Kingston as having the best opportunities for student investment. So I’d ask the Chair of Housing how this administration proposed to balance a decline in affordable housing build alongside the increase in student accommodation.”

 

116.23.  Councillor Randall replied:

 

“You are right in saying that there has been a spread of student housing in the City and there are some already built and there are more in the pipeline. Brighton has two Universities and more than 30,000 students as you also said, the University of Sussex has expansion plans and I think you were at the briefing that I went to when we both questioned the housing implications of that and I don’t think either of us were entirely satisfied that the University takes them as seriously as they might and it is of concern to me we also have about 5000 family homes now occupied by students.

 

The Universities of course bring great benefit to our City, in many ways they employ a lot of people directly, they support industries and culture through the City and they give the City a vibrancy which is, in my view, unmatched anywhere else in this County but there is that problem about housing and we of course would like to build more affordable housing but as Councillor Mears will also know that the possibility of doing that in the future in the real sense of the word and the sense of social housing; it’s getting more and more difficult.

 

We’re going to open the Open Market Scheme soon which of course started under Councillor Mears’ Administration, we’re going to have a celebration there we might also have a funeral procession because there are 27 social rented housing units in there produced by housing associations and they might be the last that will be produced at social housing rents in this City.  Hyde housing association have 3 more schemes on site at the minute one at the station, one at Hove Park and one over the Tesco store in St. James’ Street, there is not one rented flat or house of any description in any of those schemes it is all shared ownership or outright sale.

 

Now in my view housing associations which is what registered providers are were not set up to provide housing for sale but they’re doing it because the subsidy system has been changed so radically by this Government it’s becoming impossible to do anything else.  You can’t build subsidised housing for people on low incomes without a subsidy and this present Government has taken away most of the subsidy and makes it very difficult for us. I’m sure that Councillor Mears will have a further question for me on this but I’m really disturbed about this, we are not building for the people at the bottom of the pile who need help.

 

Those flats that are being built have a market in the City, people will be prepared and glad to pay 80% of market rents, those who can afford it, and rents are very high in this City but those on low and modest incomes are priced out of the market.  I put the question to Tory Minister at the conference, I couldn’t get an answer, I put it to Councillor Mears, who will house the poor?”

 

116.24.  Councillor Mears asked the following supplementary question:

 

“As we know the waiting list is nearly 19,000; with the lack of affordable housing coming forward from this Green Administration, although the Chair of Housing will probably say it’s everyone’s fault but their own.  There is a big debate to be had in this City through planning around housing association builds and shared ownership because the point about rented accommodation needs to be dealt with right at the very beginning.  The administration needs to be a lot firmer on what it has coming through planning for rented not just shared ownership.

 

And bearing in mind that the Final Housing Strategy will not be finalised until the end of 2014 can the Chair of Housing confirm that there will be a meaningful debate on student housing in the City as I have requested in the past sooner rather than later and not just wait for another strategy to be introduced?”

 

116.25.  Councillor Randall replied,

 

“Well the debate is ongoing as part of the renewal of the Housing Strategy and I’m always interested to hear what Councillor Mears has to say on this because I know she has a genuine concern about housing.”

 

116.26.  The Mayor noted that the time set aside for Members’ oral questions had expired and therefore she had decided to bring the item to a close and the remaining two questions would be held over to the next ordinary meeting of the council.