Agenda item - Public Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by members of the public:

(a)          Petitions: To receive any petitions presented by members of the public to the full Council or at the meeting itself.

(i)            Need for Residents Parking in the Harrington Road area

(ii)          1 hour parking in Longridge Ave Saltdean

(iii)         Yellow Lines Court Ord Road

(iv)         Tennis facilities

(b)          Written Questions: To receive any questions submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 10 January 2017.

(c)          Deputations: To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 10 January 2017.

(a)          Petitions

(i)            Need for residents parking in the Harrington Road area

60.1      The Committee considered a petition signed by 73 people requesting consultation with residents in the Harrington Road area on the introduction of controlled parking zone.

60.2      The Chair provided the following response:

 “Thank you for your petition.

Officers are currently working on parking scheme consultations in the Hanover & Elm Grove area, Craven Vale area and West Hove area with the Hove Park area to follow soon.

As residents of a number of roads across the Harrington Road area have signed the petition, we will look to include this area within the parking scheme priority timetable. This would be alongside the relevant adjoining section of Surrenden Road although concerns about displacement further up that road would need to be addressed.

The current parking scheme priority timetable runs up to 2018 (for completion of schemes) and officers will be presenting a report to this Committee later in the year on an updated timetable based on requests such as this.”

60.3      RESOLVED- That the petition be noted.

(ii)          1 hour parking in Longridge Avenue Saltdean

60.4      The Committee considered a petition signed by 390 people requestingremoval of the taxi designation on the 3 spaces between the Spanish Lady Pub and the A259 and restricting parking on the 11 spaces already designated by white markings from Lynwood Ave to the A259 to 1hr parking between 9am and 6pm Monday to, and including Saturday.

60.5      The Chair provided the following response:

 “Thank you for your petition.

The taxi rank in Longridge Avenue is advisory only which means those spaces are shared with general traffic and there has been no sign relating to a rank in place for nearly a year.

This arrangement seems to be working well as we have received no complaints about difficulties parking in this location or access for taxis.

In regard to restricting parking, due to budget considerations, we are having to be very careful with the cost of any non-essential changes outside of controlled parking zones with the exception of disabled bay requests.

Parking changes across the City, that require the advertising of a Traffic Regulation Order, are prioritised and funded in accordance with the work plan agreed by this Committee.

But what we will do is keep your request on file and in case circumstances in the area change with regard to road use and funding, we will have that ready for consideration.”

60.6      Councillor Miller moved a motion to call for an officer report on the matter.

60.7      The Chair put the motion to the vote which failed.

60.8      RESOLVED- That the Committee note the petition.

(iii)         Yellow lines Court Ord Road

60.9      The Committee considered a petition signed by 10 people requesting extension of double yellow lines on Court Ord Road to come in and out of Falmer Road to resolved parking issues.

60.10   The petitioner was not present however, the Chair read the following response out at the meeting:

 “It is felt that the current length meets the Road safety requirements but officers are willing to monitor this and consider this further. The main concern from officers about extending this restriction further would be the loss of parking although a traffic order would allow for comments from residents on this proposal.

In terms of how any further change to the Traffic Order that has now been implemented could be funded officers are exploring the possibility of using any existing or future developer contributions that are secured from nearby developments for this proposal, such as the planning application recently approved in Falmer Road.”

60.11   RESOLVED- That the petition be noted.

(iv)         Tennis facilities

60.12   The Committee considered a petition signed by 1930 people requesting the council engage all user groups of tennis facilities in the city before deciding future funding arrangements.

60.13   The Chair provided the following response:

 “As I think is generally understood, as the council’s General Fund budget reduces and as the demands on our caring services, such as Children’s’ and Adults Social Care and Homelessness significantly increase, this is leading to less money for the services that we would like to continue to provide but do not receive any specific ring-fenced funding for – such as parks and open spaces maintenance and sports subsidies.

The existing budget, the second smallest in the council, is already less than adequate and a sustainable way ahead to protect and hopefully improve these facilities for the future has to be found.

So, across a whole range of council services we are looking at doing things differently and in terms of our decreasing ability to maintain sports subsidies the best place to start was to talk directly to the clubs, players and their governing bodies giving the full financial picture for each sport including the shortfalls. These discussions have been taking place for over a year.

In relation to tennis, these discussions last month have produced an outline proposal from the Brighton and Hove Tennis League that would enable greater control over the running of the courts by those who use the facilities, including looking at how the retention of revenue raised from tennis can potentially be kept by the League or the clubs themselves.

There are areas that need to be clarified within this proposal and officers; the League and the Lawn Tennis Association are meeting to ensure that there is enough detail in the proposal for tennis players in the city to know what it means for them before again meeting with the tennis clubs to get their feed-back on it. This will then be presented to councillors on this committee to decide whether it can be accepted.

This has to be a careful and collaborative process and is not something that can be achieved overnight.

Officers are also exploring whether there is any opportunity to use planning gain money available for the area around Hove Park to draw in additional external funding. We have recently used this approach very successfully at Hove Recreation Ground Rugby Pitches and the Velodrome at Preston Park.

It is not practical for officers to discuss these proposals with every single individual user of the Councils sports facilities. For tennis facilities we are aiming to discuss them with representatives of all of the clubs using facilities, any coaches booking the facilities and the sport’s governing body. I am aware that concerns have been raised about a club at Hove Park that was not being involved and I can assure you they are now being kept informed and invited to meetings of the Cities clubs.

Officers and the LTA will be meeting with the Brighton and Hove Tennis League in the first week of February to review a more detailed proposal prior to sharing it with clubs.

And so this is an ongoing collaborative process and I appreciate that it is difficult for us to reach out to every single player and have individual conversations but I can assure you that we will do all we can to make sure that a proposal, when it is arrived at, I will do my upmost to make sure all tennis players are aware of it.”

60.14   RESOLVED- That the petition be noted.