Agenda item - Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by Members:

(a)          Petitions: To receive any petitions referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee;

(b)          Written Questions: To consider any written questions;

(i)           Business case for WaterFront- Councillor Mac Cafferty

(ii)          Rail- Councillor Mac Cafferty

(iii)         Fracking Policy- Councillor Mac Cafferty

(iv)        King Alfred- Councillor Nemeth

(v)          Planning Enforcement- Councillor Nemeth

(vi)        Malborough House- Councillor Nemeth

(vii)       Beach Hut Transfer Fees- Councillor Nemeth

(viii)      HMO Planning Policy- Councillor Nemeth

(c)          Letters: To consider any letters;

(i)           Article 4 Direction for the East Brighton Area- Councillors Mitchell, Morgan and Platts

(d)          Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee.

(i)           Hove Library Planning Application

(B)         Written Questions

7.1       The Chair noted that eight questions from Members had been received

and that the formal responses to the questions had been published in the Addendum and invited supplementary questions.

(i)           Waterfront - Councillor Mac Cafferty

7.3       Councillor Mac Cafferty questioned what the Council’s position would be, if Standard Life withdrew and the land agreement was not agreed in the future.

7.4       The Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture replied that negotiations were proceeding well and that the agreement was expected to be signed off in September therefore it was unlikely that this situation would occur. He also concluded that in the unlikely event of this occurring, the Council would carry out a review of all options available.

ii)         Rail - Councillor Mac Cafferty

7.5       Councillor Mac Cafferty questioned whether the Council could ensure that there would not be any significant delays to the rail service to and from Brighton for the key events coming up in Brighton, such as the first week of the school summer holidays and Pride.

7.6       The Chair replied that Mr Kyle MP had taken the lead and received a

response from Govia Thameslink Railway - GTR on the issue concerning Pride confirming that they understood the importance of train transport to the event. Pride Operations had also confirmed their involvement with Govia regarding the provision of longer trains and extra buses to transport the public to the campsite at Waterhall in addition to Seagull Travel’s buses to transport people to and from the park.  The Chair concluded that transport for this event should be uneventful.

iv)        King Alfred - Councillor Nemeth

7.8      Councillor Nemeth asked why the costs incurred by the development had not yet been reviewed by key officers and whether it could be reviewed.

7.9       The Assistant Director - City Development & Regeneration, responded that he would provide an estimate subsequent to the meeting.

v)         Planning Enforcement - Councillor Nemeth

7.10    Councillor Nemeth asked why the planning enforcement was not improving.

7.11    The Head of Planning acknowledged the figures and confirmed that they were working hard to put this into action and that they would bring the issue to the TD&C committee in September and also a new role of permanent officer would be added.

 vi)       Marlborough House - Councillor Nemeth

7.12    Councillor Nemeth asked for clarity on the link between the two outstanding enforcement notices and granting of appeal and whether there would be action on retrospective planning enforcement.

7.13    The Head of Planning confirmed there were three different issues in this question: firstly, the retrospective planning consent where the appeal had been overturned and whether they had the right to appeal.  There were also two further issues within the building and she confirmed that she would research these and bring the answers to a future committee meeting.

d)        Notices of motion

i)             Hove Library Planning Application

7.14    The Committee considered a Notice of Motion referred from the Full Council meeting of 19 April 2018 that make objections to the recent Planning Application process for Hove Library.

7.15    The Chair provided the following response:

“Our next item on the item on the agenda addresses the concerns about the planning application process and I’d suggest we move on to consider that report”.

7.16    RESOLVED- That the Committee note the Notice of Motion.