Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of 12noon on the 19^th March 2015 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

68.1         The Mayor reported that five written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Master Keywood to come forward and address the council.

68.2         Master Keywood thanked the Mayor and asked the following question; “Why are we 30 years behind other cities?  Where is the promised ice rink that for so many years has been campaigned for without progress? With the loss of Queens square Ice Rink activating Local Planning policy SR21 And big plans for redevelopment of Churchill square it’s an ideal time to build the promised ice rink as part of the black rock development. Let’s turn negatives into positives and give the people of our City an Ice Rink.  When are we finally going to get one?  If Not Why Not as I have to update the Queen of my progress.”

68.3         Councillor Bowden replied; “There are no current proposals for a permanent ice rink in the City, unfortunately ice rinks are extremely expensive, you’d have to save up an awful lot of pocket money to run one and they’re not only costly to build, they’re really costly to operate.  In recent years a huge amount of effort went in to try and provide a permanent ice rink on the black rock site, sadly the developer that was funding this project wasn’t able to make the scheme financially viable despite the obvious benefits of such a facility the previous black rock project shows just how difficult it is to provide an ice rink. The priority for the city of the black rock site is now a new entertainment and conferencing venue, that’s already gone out to market and we are talking with funders and some developer partners about that. It’s going to be extremely important for businesses and the whole of the city and it will include new housing which is much needed. It is envisaged that some ice events will take place as they do currently in the Brighton Centre, and I’m sorry I can’t give you a more positive answer.   We will still have the pavilion ice rink in the gardens which I’m sure you’ve used, in fact I’m sure I’ve seen you there, but it’s going to be watch this space for the moment.”

68.4         Master Keywood asked the following supplementary question; “How have you found the money to activate your projects i.e. cycle lanes, 20mph for a traffic car lane and the Seven Dials roundabout and I nearly forgot to mention the 40 million pound loans to fund the I360 tower.  How as a Council did you prioritise the redevelopment of the Queen’s square ice rink without taking into account your local policy SR21? Surely it’s about time this City Council had a ‘can do’ attitude and makes it a flagship everybody can be proud of?”

68.5         Councillor Bowden replied; “SR21 – you’ll have to explain it to me after the meeting what it means. I’m afraid we have to make priorities for sights that come on stream and available and we still have an urgent need for housing, we had a petition earlier on about not building 4 houses on a site in the City that’s fine for people who have a house, for the 20,000 people on our waiting lists, they listen in horror when people say, “don’t build anywhere”.  I’m afraid the ice rink at Queen’s Square was one of those places designated in the City Plan for housing. The i360, which I did hear through the applause, which was voted on by at least one opposition party, will bring over 1 million pounds into the coffers of the City on an annual basis and is going to create many new jobs.  Other sites that you may have mentioned are going to deliver housing and as we talked earlier on, the Black Rock Site will have housing plus a conference and entertainment centre which could include from time to time, ice chequers and ice rinks for people like yourself.”

68.6         The Mayor thanked Master Keywood for his questions and invited Ms. Culligan to come forward and address the council.

68.7         Ms. Culligan thanked the Mayor and asked the following question; “Can Councillor Davey explain the process for enabling a new zebra crossing at the end of Nevill Avenue near the roundabout on Nevill Road to be provided and do you agree with the so far, 215 Facebook petition signatures that agree with me?  There's a constant stream of children crossing that road to attend Aldrington, Hove Park, Blatchington Mill, Goldstone and soon to be new Bilingual School near Waitrose. There's nowhere safe to cross on Nevill Avenue. Cars don't always indicate and parents often find themselves having to stop the traffic themselves as to enable safe crossing for their children."

69.            Councillor Davey replied; “The Council considers pedestrian safety an absolute priority as do I. We’ve introduced a great number of crossings over the last 4 years and I’m delighted the road safety has improved across the City dramatically but there is clearly a very long way to go.  The process has to be fair and transparent as there are many applications each year. The Council has agreed cross party a method by which pedestrian crossing requests are reviewed and prioritised with safety at the forefront to include both technical and legal factors as well as a range of social factors including; the public perception of danger in crossing the road; How a crossing may bring the community closer together; how it could affect access to key services and green spaces; and potential improvements for mobility impaired people.

              He noted that the Council also provides a robust way to assess crossing point requests that helps the Council to target limited financial resources so those crossing locations which are the most important and will bring the greatest benefit.  Once a location has satisfied initial assessment criteria it will then be taken forward for a full assessment and then added to the program for consideration for implementation when resources become available. Full details of the current crossing facility are available on the Council’s website.  I hope you’ll be pleased to hear that an evaluation of the movement of pupils to local schools in the vicinity of Nevill Road, both now and in the future is already in hand through the Council’s Safer Routes to Schools Programme and the Road Safety Manager advises that this work includes the review of crossing opportunities on Nevill Road, north of the roundabout junction with Nevill Avenue.

              So assessments are currently taking place in this area and hopefully there’ll be some outcome of that in the next financial year.”

69.1         Ms. Culligan asked the following supplementary question; “There are obvious safety concerns at this precarious spot for children to cross and as much as the Green Party have done a great job of reducing speed limits to 20mph in zones I don’t think it will make any difference at this crossing point due to the small crossing island being actually part of the roundabout which is tricky enough for drivers to navigate at the best of times let alone including school children trying to cross it at the same time.  So how long would it take to install a zebra crossing after it is agreed that it’s needed?”

69.2         Councillor Davey replied; “That would be a decision for a future Transport Committee, it’s not a decision that I could make here and as for a zebra crossing and facilities that will be for the road safety team to assess. It will be a decision for a future committee but within the next financial year decisions will be made on priority for the next financial year.”

69.3         The Mayor thanked Ms. Culligan for her questions and invited Mr. Duncan to come forward and address the council.

69.4         Mr. Duncan thanked the Mayor and asked the following question; “Does the Council agree that the state of cleanliness of Brighton's major access roads (A23 and A27) is appalling and that it will do everything it can to deal with this problem in both the short and long term?”

69.5         Councillor West replied; “I absolutelyagree, I do think the state of the roadsides around the City are absolutely appalling with litter. This of course is not a phenomenon just for the City, this is an issue around the whole of the UK and the essential challenge is how we address people’s behaviour as litterers throwing things out of the windows of their cars which is utterly unacceptable and inexcusable. The Council is responsible for litter clearance along the A27 and A23 within the City boundaries and in previous years we have carried work between April and September during the early morning of Saturdays and Sundays when the traffic volume is light because it’s important to do this in day light when volumes are low so at this time of year, before that work gets going, you will always see the worst of the crop of litter because it’s not been possible to do this safely through the winter dark months.

However there has been recent new traffic management guidance relating to working alongside highways where the speed limit is in excess of 50mph and in the case of the A23 and A27 that is the case; because of this guidance and because there is no hard shoulder, we have to do lane closures, put up signage, a whole matter of traffic management with lights and signs and this has to be done by competent trained staff to ensure that working is safe and completely compliant.  This is a costly matter because it slows the whole thing down and it is rather laborious. We’re currently in discussions with highways agency approved contractors to plan for this work and we’re waiting for their response but this is a matter of absolute high priority for us to actually secure the right people to do this work in the safe way that the highways agency stipulating we have to do it. To return to your question, yes, it is absolutely appalling and people need to stop throwing things out of the windows of their cars.”

69.6         Mr. Duncan asked the following supplementary question; “Is it possible that the executive responsible for this matter can be asked to report back to the Council to give the assurance that the problem has been tackled and solved and that the public can be advised accordingly?”

69.7         Councillor West replied; “Well I’m absolutely sure that it would be possible to write to members to inform them when a contractor has been appointed and to set out how that work will be conducted and when it will be completed but as far as suggesting he we will be able to solve it the problem is the root of the problem is people’s behaviour and that is the matter that needs to be addressed and I do realise that there is a growing campaign; nationally against thing type of thing and I would suggest that this Council would be full square behind that campaign because I would hope in years to come we will be able to see people behaving a much  more reasonable way towards their local environment and thoughtfulness to their fellow citizens.”

69.8         The Mayor thanked Mr. Duncan for his questions and invited Brian to come forward and address the council.

69.9         Brian thanked the Mayor and asked the following question; “Can you please advise what the Council policy and practice (and the current thinking) is with regards to 'late licences'?”

69.10      Councillor Powell replied; “The late night levy which I believe you are referring to has been talked about since I was elected in 2011. It is not something that we have proceeded with until now and indeed let me stress; we are not looking to proceed with it in this administration. What I can tell you is that my last committee which was a couple of weeks ago, we had a presentation from the Sussex Police and the benefits of the late night levy and it’s come at a timely time because it has been rolled out in a couple of cities in the UK mainly Islington and Newcastle where it is working well and businesses have not gone under as a result.

The key bit of course is the funding element with the late night levy, 70% will go to the police so it is not seen by the Council, 30% will come to us and could go some way to funding things like taxi marshals, safety measures, that kind of thing and as I say we have had a presentation about it to a committee but it will be something for the next administration so something to bear in mind.”

69.11      Brian asked the following supplementary question; “With specific regard, just to take example, the Brighton Hippodrome; the magnificent theatre sadly closed, for many years in Middle Street, there was late licensing issues many years ago when Live Nation were wanting to open it up as a live venue, it’s a magnificent resource underused in the City at the moment, will the Council be supportive of trying to support opening this up as a live venue again given the situation in regards to late licensing?”

69.12      Councillor Powell replied; “I cannot speak about the Hippodrome as it falls under Licensing it comes under Planning. What I’ve studied is that the late night levy which is what your original question was about is being thought of by the Council, by Council Officers, by the Councillors in the next administration and I rather hope that we will look to possibly rolling it out, I can’t pre-empt it because I don’t know but it will bring in some revenue at a time when finances are very constrained.”

69.13      The Mayor thanked Brian for his questions and invited Mr. Zenon to come forward and address the council.

69.14      Mr. Zenon thanked the Mayor and asked the following question; “As there are no significant financial implications to the Council, what reasoning do they have for failing to enforce the required maintenance of the city's Listed Buildings with their owners or leaseholders?”

69.15      Councillor Randall replied; “In brief the Council has a long and creditable record of proactive action where a listed building has fallen in to disrepair and that’s evidenced by the annual report on listed buildings at risk the most recent one at which was published in 2014.  The Council is regarded as an exemplar of such action by English Heritage. Action does have financial implications, the staff resources are necessary to investigate and serve notices which can be time consuming. In the last calendar year, 78 separate investigations were made in to poor condition and appearance under Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act powers although not all of those related to listed buildings. In most cases improvements were agreed through negotiation with the owners however in 2013-14 we did serve 9 separate notices.

Under Section 54 of the Planning Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990, the Council issue notices requiring urgent works to preserve unoccupied listed buildings. This action is generally appropriate for temporary works to stabilise a building and make it weather tight and secure while a long term solution is sought.  Usually the owner carries out the required work but the Council may carry out the work itself and recover the costs from the owner. Experience shows that we do not always recover 100% of our costs when this approach is made. Section 48 of the same act allows the Council to serve a repairs notice on any listed building where it considers that reasonable steps are not being taken to preserve it.

However if that notice is not complied with the only power open to the Council is compulsory acquisition under Section 47 and this has significant long term liability and cost implications and would be used in exceptional cases only.”

69.16      Mr. Zenon asked the following supplementary question; “If the sale does go through, which apparently it is being negotiated as we speak, bearing in mind that it will be an election issue whether you like it or not, can the Council give us an assurance that you will put forward the bill to make should that the maintenance is enforced with the leaseholders and the owners whether it’s the current ones or new ones after the election?”

69.17      Councillor Randall replied; “As you say, the poor condition stems from a lack of maintenance and repair over a long period of time dating back to when it was still in use as a bingo hall. The current leasehold owners Live Nation have undertaken some temporary repairs during their ownership to prevent water getting in, to support unstable plasterwork and to keep the building secure and formal action is not being considered necessary.

We are currently in discussions with Live Nation about additional security measures for the site to prevent unauthorised access and we will continue to monitor the condition of the building. However a more comprehensive repair is dependent on the implementation of an approved scheme.  You did talk about us taking other action, one of those actions of course are compulsory purchase orders which are; (a) expensive to enforce and (b) very cumbersome to implement. 

Finally, if we compulsory purchase that building, we would then be responsible, as a Council, for the maintenance of it and you might have noticed; this council like others in the County is strapped for cash at the moment. We are very concerned that there should be a long term, sustainable future for a very special building with the Frank Matcham work inside which is incredibly important for this City and we will continue to look for solutions to it and work with you and others who are concerned as we are about its future.

69.18      The Mayor thanked Mr. Zenon for his questions and noted that this concluded the item.