Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

28.1      The Mayor reported that 9 written questions had been received from members of the public and noted that fifteen minutes were set aside for these.  Should any questions not be taken then a written response would be provided.

 

28.2      The Mayor then invited Mr. Morris to come forward and address the council.

 

28.3      Mr. Morris thanked the Mayor and asked the following question;

 

“Considering the increase in the public incidents of rape, sexual and physical assaults, alcohol drinking, anti-social behaviour and breaches of noise levels, what measures across the city, including appropriate positioning of CCTV cameras, are being put in place by this Green Council?”

 

28.4      The Leader of the Council, Councillor J. Kitcat replied;

 

“You are right that there has been an increase reporting of some types of crime in relation to sexual assaults, those increases in reporting are believed to be partly due to an increase in competence to the processes partly following successful prosecutions following operation Yew-tree, Jimmy Saville case, and so on. But overall, serious recorded crime and anti-social behaviour is falling and the city’s doing very well in reducing the crime rates.

 

CCTV is used throughout the main thoroughfares and in many business premises, evidence from CCTV remains very effective but I should point out CCTV is run by a large number of organizations, for example, private businesses and the police, it is not solely the responsibility of the Council.”

 

28.5      Mr. Morris asked the following supplementary question;

 

“I appreciate your reply but many residents in the city have expressed their concern about the increase of assaults recently and anti-social behaviours. A few examples are New Road, Pavilion Gardens and St James Street. Because this is relevant, however, elsewhere in the city, I would suggest that this is a cross party issue. Although a temporary CCTV camera was removed from New Road to the Volks Railway on the seafront recently, I note in the past few days mobile CCTV vehicles have been placed there.

 

There is in fact concern from city local traders that they are expected to supply monthly copies of their own CCTV coverage, which puts additional pressure on their time and finances. It is recognised that police resources have been cut. My supplementary public question is, can an all-party committee be set up urgently to assess all of the issues stated previously, investigate methods how these can be avoided and be addressed?”

28.6      Councillor J. Kitcat replied;

 

“I just want to make it absolutely clear because you said something that wasn’t’ correct, you said there has been an increase in anti-social behaviour and no there has not been. There’s been a decline, so I want to make that very clear so that everyone listening is confident in that fact. I very much understand the concerns, particularly the recent unfortunate events in Pavilion Gardens and elsewhere, and there has been a very effective engagement in the that area, by the Council, chaired by the Chief Executive with a range of actions being taken forward by the Council, by local residents groups, traders group and the Police. There is already a cross-party place for such issues called the Committee Safety Forum, which I chair, and Policy & Resources committee which is cross party and also has a responsibility for community safety.”

 

28.7      The Mayor thanked Mr. Morris for attending the meeting and asking his questions and invited Mr. Kelly to come forward and address the council.

 

28.8      Mr. Kelly thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“In the last four months, Denmark Villas has been blighted by evermore graffiti. This beautiful part of the city has gone from being virtually graffiti free to a situation where almost every piece of street furniture and some of the private garden walls have been graffitied. What action will the Council take to clear this up and prevent its reappearance? And can I just say that, since I put this question, the Council has done a fabulous clear up job and it has actually all been cleared up, so thank you.”

 

28.9      Councillor West as Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee replied;

 

“Can I say first of all that I very much share your concern about graffiti and its impact upon the city. The council’s graffiti removal team has been working very hard of the past months dealing with the large amount of graffiti that appeared across the city and all items of street furniture, including large communal bins and as you’ve said, that includes Denmark Villas. The graffiti team are, and sounds like they are already, carrying out a deep clean of the area and will work closely with the owners of private walls, offering support and advice as required. They’ve also been working with the police to identify the individuals that are carrying out the vandalism and this close liaison will continue.

 

I have to say that in the face of amounting pressures upon our budgets, and the need to actually reduce our budget that we have to respond to graffiti. While we work with community groups, and target specifically offensive graffiti, it’s not as much as I, and other Members, would like. We do what we can as an organisation and we work with people as closely as we can so thank you very much for your question.”

 

28.10   Mr. Kelly asked the following supplementary question;

 

“First of all, I genuinely do want to say I was hugely impressed, I thought it would take such a long time to clear it all up and it was done so quickly and effectively, so well done on that. I think there is a similar issue throughout the city of vandalism using sticker messages. These are put on lampposts, cross signs, street furniture. The difference is between those and graffiti, I understand how difficult it is to track down the people who carry out graffiti and they do it at anti-social times at night, but often the stickers do have contact addresses or contact telephone numbers on them. So my question is, does the Council first of all have any sort of policy from re-movement, I doubt it does because they seem to stay until the rain destroys them but does the Council follow up where there are contact details and actually prosecute the offenders?”

 

28.11   Councillor West replied:

 

“We’re talking about fly posters now and if I’d appreciated your question would be about that in addition, I would have prepared a response and briefed myself on that. I do know we have in the past targeted certain organisations that are responsible, both as advertisers but also as advertising agents that use fly posting as a method. It is a huge problem and as I recall I don’t believe that our attempts to prosecute some of these people have been wholly successful, which is incredibly disappointing. We really do need this sort of thing to stop because it makes the place look a mess and has a degrading effect on everything else. So yes, I think these organisations need to be named and shamed and other people need to put pressure on as well as the council’s ability to enforce and clean up.”

 

28.12   The Mayor thanked Mr. Kelly for attending the meeting and asking his questions and invited Mr. Hooper to come forward and address the council.

 

28.13   Mr. Hooper thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“Stanmer Stakeholders Forum was established to discuss matters of importance, both to Councillors and stakeholders. Since 2011, the frequency of meetings has become erratic and only matters that the Council identifies placed on the agenda. At the last meeting in April, it was promised once the two HLF bids were submitted in October; a meeting would be held in November. Would the Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee show his support for the Forum, and agree to request the Forum’s Chair to arrange a meeting for early November and allow stakeholders to put forward items for the agenda?” 

28.14   Councillor West as Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee replied;

 

“I have spoken to Councillor Summers who Chairs the Stanmer Stakeholders Forum and is also one of your Ward Councillors and an Independent Member of the Council about your question. I am reminded that at the meeting that both you and I attended in the Spring, it was clearly stated that we would wait until after the submission of the second lottery bid for Stanmer before looking to have another meeting. That bid has only just been submitted and Councillor Summers is indeed now looking to book the promised meeting.

 

I do find it inappropriate that you have sought to press this matter prematurely and through the recourse of asking a public question at Council.  You have pestered quite heavily council officers on this matter and I understand that other residents involved in the Stanmer Stakeholders Forum are unhappy with your approach.  As I think, you have been suggesting you’re doing it on their behalf. Councillor Summers and officers have been working very hard to develop a positive working relationship with the Stakeholders and I believe that has been going well. So I do find that your unilateral and unnecessarily intervention unhelpful.  I would ask you to engage with Councillor Summers and other Stakeholders in a much more productive and reasonable manner.”

 

28.15   Mr. Hooper asked the following supplementary question;

 

“Before asking my supplementary question, I wish to clarify the Chair’s reply. A meeting has only been proposed since the public question was tabled and as of yet, no date has been announced and we are still waiting for some clarification what subjects can be proposed for the agenda and what cannot.

 

My supplementary question is, would the Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee agree to request the Forum’s Chair to revert to quarterly meetings with the date of the next meeting announced at the end of each meeting, as was done previous to 2011?”

 

28.16   Councillor West replied;

 

“I think it’s really a matter for the Forum and the Chair of the Forum to decide on the frequency of the meetings. They have been working on a basis of when they are required and when members actually feel they are necessary. I have every faith in Councillor Summers, who’s been working incredibly hard along with officers and other Stakeholders, to actually take the forum forward and not necessarily revert to previous ways of working, which quite frankly on occasions, were pretty dysfunctional. I really hope that you will help the Chair take this further forward and work with your fellow residents, and other stakeholders, who are very, very willing for this to be successful.”

 

28.17   The Mayor thanked Mr. Hooper for attending the meeting and asking his questions and invited Mr. Smith to come forward and address the council.

 

28.18   Mr. Smith thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“There is a proposal to put a T-junction by the Palace Pier roundabout, my question is, where is that money going to come from to pay for it?”

 

28.19   Councillor West as Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee replied;

 

“Just reading your actual question, “Where is the £3 million pounds to fund the junction and the surrounding area coming from when there are severe shortages of council money?” I need to give that context again, for my answer. The proposals for the area include at this stage, not a final commitment to how that junction will be laid out, I think that is important to state, though further work will be done to look at that particular matter, which was made very clear to Members.

 

As far as the financing goes for the Valley Gardens Scheme, the majority of the funding for the overall scheme will come from capital grants provided by Central Government, in particular including two specific grants for the scheme, totalling £14,000,000, which we have been very successful in landing. The second part of that £6,000,000 is certainly not fully secure. It has been put forward for us to use on this scheme but we do have to produce a business case and we do have to see all Members of this Council keeping faith and support for the scheme.

 

So, I don’t think there’s very much in anyway at all of any revenue budget expenditure from the Council on this particular matter.  It’s grant funded either directly for the scheme specifically or contributions from the local transport plan, which is also government funded.”

 

28.20   Mr. Smith asked the following supplementary question;

 

“Are you saying that the money coming from Central Government is guaranteed, bearing in mind there’s an election coming up, where the current Council may not be in power, neither will the current Government.”

 

28.21   Councillor West replied;

 

“The second part of the funding is subject to a business case being submitted and final designs and convincing the funders that they wish to continue with the funding offer they have already made. I don’t think it is subject to national government, I certainly hope not, because this city really needs this funding to improve Valley Gardens so that it provides a proper welcome to the city and at the moment, it is not only a shabby mess and provides no welcome to people.  It is also a huge obstruction to people getting about the city from East to West and from North to South. The plans for the scheme as a whole are absolutely wonderful and will totally transform the core of the city.”

 

28.22   The Mayor thanked Mr. Smith for attending the meeting and asking his questions and invited Ms. Paynter to come forward and address the council.

 

28.23   Ms. Paynter thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“Councillors from the King Alfred Project Board, along with Councillors on Policy & Resources have created and endorsed a Planning brief which Brighton & Hove City Council has now put out to tender for the job of developing that site. To what extent and in what ways were Hove residents involved in the creation of the planning brief that was given to prospective developers?”

 

28.24   Councillor Bowden as Chair of the Economic Development & Culture Committee replied;

 

“Before I answer, I would like to put on record my thanks to Councillors Warren Morgan and Andrew Wealls, also to Tony Mernagh from the Economic Partnership and the brilliant officer team, led by Martin Randall and Geoff Raw, with a special mention in dispatches for Mark Jago, who all worked so hard with the Project Board to ensure we met our commitment to get the King Alfred out to market in the timescales that I had previously promised in this Chamber, to a question I think from Councillor Theobald.

 

 As we saw from the Local MPs petition and his supporters and from this question, King Alfred excites passions of local residents and the whole of the city. Sadly though, it’s an aging facility that doesn’t meet the expectations for a leisure centre in this modern age. It’s expensive to operate and maintain and the building is fast approaching the end of its useful life. In fact, I had communications from one of the bowls clubs, who have given me graphic information about the strategically placed buckets that have to be placed every time there is a match day to catch the rain. So, on October 10^th, the Council advertised the site and it is an exciting development opportunity. We’ve had, with two weeks to go before the deadline for expressions of interest, nearly 50 players who have shown interest.

 

As a first step for the prequalification stage, the Council has issued, to interested developers, information setting out the Councils requirements as agreed in P&R in 2013, together with appropriate supporting information. This includes an informal planning advice note, prepared this month that sets up existing adopted planning policy that proposed in the submission city plan, which have themselves been subject to consultation processes. The notice to be read alongside the adopted King Alfred R&R site planning brief, which was prepared, in 2002, which was subject to formal public consultation. The note simply outdates the Planning policy information contained within 2002 brief. Consultation will certainly be an important element to future stages of the process as we move towards the appointment of a development partner, which I hope will be in April of next year and once there is a design to consult on.” 

28.25   Ms. Paynter asked the following supplementary question;

 

“You haven’t really answered my question. What you’ve done is given us a history lesson and you have told us that there has been many complaints by the bowls people and that of course is not news, you’ve know that for probably 20 years because of the structural surveys etc. The fact is, anything that was done with the public is a very long time ago, in fact around 1999, Brighton & Hove City Council was good enough to lay on a public meeting in this very building, which attracted about 500 people and we were able to speak with the developers, City Grove at the time, and Councillor Officers and there was a question and answer back and forth. There was also a project board in the wake of the failure of that particular project which was held in public. The project board meetings were quite numerous, I’m sure I went to three or four, half a dozen in fact. Basically, I want to know why you think that all the chit-chat and planning and advice from the public, which took place over a dozen years ago, is necessarily relevant in 2014, and why you don’t think the public’s views count now?”

 

28.26   Councillor Bowden replied;

 

“I have to say that there has been consultation, we are very lucky to have a Hove based Member on the project board, who is very much in touch with members of the public, especially in his neck of the woods. So we have the benefits of his input and he does certainly talk to his residents, and we value that. The time for consultation will come once we have a preferred bidder in place, and that will be in April, and then there will be plenty of opportunity for people to make their views known.”

 

28.27   The Mayor thanked Ms. Paynter for attending the meeting and asking her questions and invited Mr. Furness to come forward and address the council.

           

28.28   Mr. Furness thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“On my travels around Brighton & Hove recently, I have become aware of, what to me appears to be, the totally needless destruction of a number of magnificent mature trees. These include yet another elm just inside the Western entrance to St. Anne's Well Gardens and three sycamores, two at the Floral Clock and one in the North-West corner of Brunswick Square. Who is responsible for this apparent vandalism, and why Councillor West, are you allowing it to continue?”

            

28.29   Councillor West as Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee replied;

 

“The Elm tree at St Anne’s had Dutch elm disease. It is due to the vigilance of our staff and the public that support them, identifying quickly and disposing of diseased trees that we have Elms trees in Brighton & Hove, when they have been lost from much of the rest of the country. Had the tree been left, it would have provided the source of infection for the rest of the city. Although it’s not possible to stop the disease coming to the city, prompt action as and when outbreaks occur, has proved affective for many years in protecting the majority of our Elm trees, which form the national Elm collection.

 

The sycamores were removed because they had fungal decay; we aim to fell trees once they show signs of structural weakness, rather than allow them to fall. All three sycamores were in positions where they would have been likely to cause significant damage to property and/or people if they’d been allowed to fall naturally. I’m very mindful of the importance of maintaining tree health, especially in the light of the rising number of diseases threatening different species of tree.”

 

28.30   Mr. Furness asked the following supplementary question;

 

“Sad to say, I’m going to have to cross swords or perhaps its axes with Councillor West, who clearly doesn’t know the symptoms of Dutch Elm Disease. A Dutch Elm disease tree is attacked first and foremost from the roots, the remaining stump in St Anne’s Well gardens, perhaps the local Councillors would not take my word for it, but go around and check, a forest of elm suckers are coming up, that would not be the case. Similarly with the Sycamore tree in the corner of Brunswick Square, it seems to me, in our newly declared biosphere, it would appear that the madness of health and safety is prevailing and I would like to ask you this question, you’re clearly not up to the job, when are you going to tend your resignation?”

 

28.31   Councillor West replied;

 

“You’ve been antagonizing me for years now, so I’m not going answer and meet your request. If there is a problem with successive growth on these stumps, then I’m sure our highly qualified, expert tree team of arboriculturalists will be very happy to go and check it out and deal with them quickly. They have been defending the National Elm Collection since 1970’s and I actually think you need to show a little bit more respect for what they have achieved over these years on behalf of this Council and the people of this City and the Country as a whole.”

 

28.32   The Mayor thanked Mr. Furness for attending the meeting and asking his questions and invited Ms. Reid to come forward and address the council.

 

28.33   Ms. Reid thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“On a daily basis I witness anti-social and aggressive street behaviour up and down George Street in Central Hove. This is associated with both street drinkers and other local pub users, either using or hanging around outside Weatherspoon’s Pub. I have yet to witness any regular, constant Police patrolling far less any firm action being taken by them to address this growing problem. Could the Leader of the Council assure me that he will bring what powers he has to bare on ensuring that we have a regular Police presence, in George Street, and that they are prepared to enforce the law regarding the anti-social problems?”

 

28.34   The Leader of the Council, Councillor J. Kitcat replied;

 

“I’m assured by the police that they have instructed Hove PCSOs to insure that two Hove PCSOs spend at least an hour a day, every day of the week on George Street, to help deal with the issue and provide police visibility. I’m also been made aware of the fact that there’s been engagement by the rough sleepers and street community team, to engage with people in the area. Equinox, first base, anti-freeze and others have all been engaging. Furthermore, four early assessment centre days, which are targeted action days for rough sleepers are scheduled for that part of the city in the coming weeks. So, they will be assisting people there and I’ve also dispatched special agent Hawtree there and there is a mural there to help improve the area. I recognise that there is a significant concern about anti-social behaviour, but as I said earlier, it is actually on decline in the city and the police have assured me that they are spending at least an hour a day there.”

 

28.35   Ms. Reid asked the following supplementary question;

 

“Some of you may have seen the front page of The Argus today, “Attacked for Backing Ukip”. This happened in George Street on Saturday. An hour’s police presence in George Street is not enough when there is democratic right of political parties on a Saturday, not just us, but other parties as well have a tradition of having street tables in George Street and other places. I have spoken to the local community beat officers and they’ve said similar to yourself, that an hour here and there, as they patrol George Street, really isn’t enough.  When CCTV cameras fail to catch incidents, like the assault on us by opposition in George Street on Saturday, it’s not enough to say there’s CCTV camera but they don’t capture incidents and there’s police officers that turn up for an hour a day in the main high street in Central Hove, I don’t think it’s a good enough response.”

 

28.36   Councillor J. Kitcat replied;

 

“I’m very sorry to hear about the attack, I haven’t read that story in The Argus, but I certainly would defend any political parties rights to participate in the Democratic process, whether I agree with them or not. But you have to recognise the fact that both the police and the council have been experiencing the severest cuts in living memory and the police are very, very sorely stretched and they have a very small number of officers to cover an entire city, with the growing population and growing visitor economy. It is challenging for them and it’s challenging for us, so an hour a day is actually a huge commitment, given the level of resources they have available in the city. It doesn’t justify an attack and I hope that that can be resolved through the police investigation.”

 

28.37   The Mayor thanked Ms. Reid for attending the meeting and asking her questions and invited Mr. Lowe to come forward and address the council.

 

28.38   Mr. Lowe thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“Two years ago I was given assurances about air quality by yourself in your current capacity as Chair of Environment. Can you please confirm whether the air quality has improved or got worse and whether it is still breaching European regulations?”

 

28.39   Councillor West as Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee replied;

 

“Air quality has indeed improved I’m glad to say, for the majority of the city, including suburbs, where many, many people live. However certain streets in the centre of Brighton have not improved and nitrogen dioxide continues to exceed EU and English air quality strategy limits. The problem is stop-start traffic admissions in confined outdoor spaces, adjacent to where people live and work. Progress has been made in winning funds from the department of Transport, for example the clean bus – transport fund, £750,000 of investment in improving the cleanliness of bus admissions and the clean vehicle transport fund for taxis - £195,000 this year and Councillor Powell was out celebrating that fact just last week.

 

So we have 50 buses and 30 taxis are currently being retrofitted in order to reduce their admissions in the oxides of nitrogen. We’ve also, thanks to our initiative, got to look forward to the implementation of the city’s first low admissions zone, in the North Street/Western Road corridor and this we expect will help tackle the stubborn No2 air pollution by driving forward, yet further improvements in cleaning bus technology. So there has indeed been quite a shift forward and that is actually after many years of stagnancy so we’ve, and it’s been very difficult to get that improvement and I think we’ve done very well and we certainly are setting the stage for further improvement in the future but a lot of it will come down to how people chose to travel about the city and whether they are contributing to air pollution or not.

 

We have a new revised air quality action plan that is going to be due for consultation in 2015, so I hope you and everyone else in the city will engage in that process and consider how we collectively tackle air quality and how we improve it over the coming period.”

 

28.40   Mr. Lowe asked the following supplementary question;

 

“It’s very interesting you mention the problems still in the centre of Brighton, because it fits nicely with my supplementary. In the plan development of the aquarium roundabout, have pollution impact levels been considered in the application and in your own honest opinion, do they improve the seaside air quality?”

 

28.41   Councillor West replied;

“I think the quick answer is that we’re not there at that point in the design stage yet, as I mentioned in the answer to the previous question. We will know more as we go along.”

 

28.42   The Mayor thanked Mr. Lowe for attending the meeting and asking his questions and invited Ms. Mountain to come forward and address the council.

 

28.43   Ms. Mountain thanked the Mayor and asked the following question:

 

“I understand that the Council has Empty Property Officers who work towards bringing unused and empty properties back into use. My question is, does this include Commercial Properties and is progress monitored and published?”

 

28.44   Councillor Phillips as the Deputy Chair for Housing replied;

 

“Our Empty Property Team works with owners’ of private sector residential properties, with the key aims of increasing housing supply and improving neighbourhoods. During the year 2013-2014, the team worked with owners to bring 169 long term empty private sector properties back into use against a target of 153. This is achieved through a well-established system of proactively making and maintaining contact with owners of long term empty homes and offering advice and assistance, escalating up to enforcement action where needed.

 

The team also addresses issues of rising from long term empty and/or problem properties, reported to us by local residents. Over £1.5 million of the New Homes bonus has been generated from bringing long term empty home back into use. The team also provide Lewes District Council and Horsham Borough Council with empty property services for a fee. The work of the empty property team does not include commercial properties. However, where we do get enquiries about commercial properties, we will always endeavour to help where possible, providing links to information already available, such as the commercial property database, which can be found on the council website. We will generally advice people to look on there if they are seeking a property or via auctions or agents.

 

If a specific property is reported as a problem, we can contact the owner and/or refer it to the appropriate team for enforcement action. The commercial properties database is found in the business and trade section at the council’s website, under support for businesses, held by the Economic, Development team. Our revenues service managers the business rates the system and therefore monitors the status of commercial property from that point of view. I will explore with officers to see if information about commercial empties can be reported to the relevant committee, which in this case is the Economic, Development & Culture committee.”

 

28.45   Ms. Mountain asked the following supplementary question;

 

“Could the Council tell me, how much money was sent last year securing empty properties against trespass?”

 

28.46   Councillor Phillips replied;

 

“I’ll get that back to you in writing but it would be useful for clarification whether you mean residential properties or commercial properties?”

 

28.47   The Mayor thanked Ms. Mountain her questions and noted that her last question related to both residential and commercial properties.  The Mayor also noted that concluded the item.