Issue - meetings

The Democratic Services Manager will announce any submissions received. The Council will be invited to decide what action it wishes to take, if any, on the matters raised in these submissions. As the questions received and the answers given will be circulated in written form there is no requirement for them to be read out at the meeting. The questions and answers will be published with the draft minutes.

There were no statements made at this meeting, although the statements made at the virtual meeting on 15^th February 2022 were noted;

https://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/documents/g6161/Public%20minutes%2015th-Feb-2022%2018.30%20Council.pdf?T=11

The Democratic Services Manager will announce any submissions received. The Council will be invited to decide what action it wishes to take, if any, on the matters raised in these submissions. As the questions received and the answers given will be circulated in written form there is no requirement for them to be read out at the meeting. The questions and answers will be published with the draft minutes.

Statements were made by the following members of the public;

Paul Stansall made a statement expressing concern about the prospect of office services being introduced to the Podium library.  A full copy of Mr Stansall’s statement has been placed on the Council’s Minute book and website. Councillor Dine Romero enquired if Mr Stansall would consider correcting his statement, as no services had been re-located to the library and she had done a recent visit to double check this.  Mr Stansall declined to do so, replying that when he last visited, they were there.  Councillor Karen Walker asked if Mr Stansall considered that the unique nature of the Podium library was being compromised; to which he referred Councillor Walker back to his statement.  Clarification was sought by Councillor Dine Romero about the legitimacy of unsubstantiated facts going on record, to which the Monitoring Officer replied that the meeting was not a court of law so there was no requirement to establish fact.

Mary English made a statement also expressing concern about the prospect of Council services being located in the Podium library and asked that library users be consulted about any such plans.  A full copy of Ms English’s statement has been placed on the Council’s Minute book and website.  Councillor Dine Romero asked if Ms English was aware that there were no plans in place.  Any proposal was a starting point to be considered and consulted on with residents and user groups.  Ms English welcomed the idea if that was the case.

David Redgewell made a statement about various transport elements of the budget; bus shelter repair and maintenance funding, public toilets, adequate tourist information and expressing ongoing concern about the Bus Back Better funding from April.  Councillor Vic Pritchard noted the comments about bus shelters but wondered if Mr Redgewell did not consider that it would be better to concentrate on transport services for areas such as the Chew Valley where there was a clear deficit.  Mr Redgewell responded that it was important to maintain bus shelters but agreed that it was necessary to work with the Metro Mayor and other relevant parties to improve the services into the Chew Valley.

Andy Halliday made a statement about the Podium library, expressing concern about any proposed cuts in library spending. A full copy of Mr Halliday’s statement has been placed on the Council’s Minute book and website.  Councillor Dine Romero reiterated earlier comments that there were no plans to cut library services, and asked if Mr Halliday would be willing to discuss proposals to help shape services.  Mr Halliday replied that he would welcome that, but that he remained nervous about the prospect of cuts.

The Chair thanked all the members of the public for their statements, which would be referred to the relevant Cabinet Member.