Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of 12noon on the 15^th October will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

37.1         The Mayor reported that two written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Mr. Furness to come forward and address the council.

37.2         Mr. Furness asked the following question; “Regarding the loss of approximately 14 mature elm trees in the Westbourne area of Hove recently, as a result of the sheer irresponsibility of the proprietors of St. Christopher's School in storing elm logs infected with Dutch Elm Disease, for which no prosecution was pursued, could you please enlighten us, Councillor Mitchell, as to whether the aforementioned school has offered any recompense towards the removal and replacement of these trees?”

37.3         Councillor Mitchell replied; “Thank you very much for your question Mr Furness. It is indeed very sad that we have lost 14 elm trees in the Westbourne area and this highlights how devastating the effects of Dutch elm disease can be. The outbreak was the consequence of healthy trees on the grounds of St. Christopher’s school being cut back for maintenance some two years ago. Unfortunately the cut offs were kept on the school grounds rather than removed and these became a breeding ground for the beetle that causes the spread of Dutch elm disease. When street trees became infected in the area officers carried out an investigation and quickly found the source of the outbreak, unfortunately ten of our street trees were infected and had to be cut down to contain the outbreak. The school was upset by the fact that their premises were the source of the outbreak and have cooperated fully with the council to contain the disease. We have cleared and destroyed all of the wood that has been infected and are keeping a close eye on the area. It is a credit to our specialist parks officers and those vigilant members of the public that we have managed to protect the biggest collection of elm trees in the country. In this case, although the loss of trees is very sad, it looks as if our response plan has worked to contain that outbreak. Parents from the school have been in touch with officers about opportunities to raise funds for replacement trees. In cases like this we don’t pursue individuals or organisations to recover costs because we don’t want to put people off reporting outbreaks, if people are concerned they will have to pay costs then they may choose to depose of any infected wood irresponsibly and that would put our whole collection at greater risk. If Dutch elm disease or any disease is suspected in trees we want people to report it to us straight away.”

37.4         Mr. Furness asked the following supplementary question; “And yet Councillor Mitchell I saw you on the TV the other night and you quite properly said that people who allow dogs to foul on the pavements will receive on the spot fines, I believe from a contracted out private company. Could you tell me please if this is a case of double standards because trees across this city are being needlessly destroyed at an alarming rate the council will not even defend the application by the Sussex University to appeal against the destruction of another 1500 trees including elms? Our city has the grace to be declared a United Nations biosphere, I have yet to have heard of any administration of this council that promotes that properly that would be a huge tourist boost, would bring income in to this city as would be advertising the fact that we have the world collection of elms, not the national, the world collection of English elms. Could you please tell me Councillor Mitchell when, one, do you intend to take this seriously our designation as a biosphere and two, when are you going to get a grip on the so called agricultural department?”

37.5         Councillor Mitchell replied; “Thank you for your supplementary question and I think you have answered your own question Mr Furness. We do have a world collection of which we are very proud of elm trees and it is because of the expertise that has built up within our arboricultural team shared with our neighbouring councils that we have managed to achieve this. These beetles are born on the winds from the west and we have done a lot of work with our neighbouring authorities to the west to help them contain outbreaks and they have jointly support us.”

37.6         The Mayor thanked Mr. Furness for his questions and invited Mr. Hawtree to come forward and address the council.

37.7         Mr. Hawtree thanked the Mayor and asked the following question, “Would Councillor Morgan please tell us what plans he has to increase the art-gallery provision in Hove and Brighton so that we can match, and perhaps even eclipse, the splendid galleries which bring visitors to Chichester and Eastbourne, and indeed recently to the new Jerwood in Hastings?”

37.8         Councillor Morgan replied, “Thank you Mr Hawtree, we work with Hastings and other councils in a good network of art gallery provision along the coast in co-operation rather than competition. We do indeed already have excellent art gallery provision in the city including for example Fabrica and we’ll work with them to continue their success.”

37.9         Mr. Hawtree asked the following supplementary question, “My question is could we not be making more use of Hove museum upon which half a million pounds was spent not so very long ago to bring it up in standard and therefore with this in mind rather than losing a potential museum could a cross party group explore the means of attracting outside funding for Hove Carnegie Library?”

37.10      Councillor Morgan replied, “As you rightly point out it was a manifesto commitment of the previous administration one that that administration failed to deliver on. Our focus will be on preserving the city’s museums, libraries and the royal pavilion for future generations before we embark on anything new.”

37.11      The Mayor thanked Mr. Hawtree for his questions and noted that this concluded the item.