Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair also invited all Members of the Cabinet and support officers to introduce themselves.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out in the Notes

The Senior Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the evacuation procedure as set out in the Agenda.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

Michael Hewitt (Deputy Monitoring Officer) granted a Dispensation of Interest Declaration for all Members of the Council on agenda item 11 Bath’s Clean Air Plan (attached as Appendix to these Minutes).

Questions submitted before the deadline will receive a reply from an appropriate Cabinet member or a promise to respond within 5 days of the meeting.  Councillors may ask one supplementary question for each question they submitted, up to a maximum of two per Councillor.

There was 1 question from Councillors and no questions from members of the public.

[A copy of the question and response has been placed on the Minute book as Appendix and is available on the Council's website.]

Councillors and members of the public may register their intention to make a statement if they notify the subject matter of their statement before the deadline.  Statements are limited to 3 minutes each.  The speaker may then be asked by Cabinet members to answer factual questions arising out of their statement.

David Redgewell gave a statement (attached as Appendix to these minutes and available on Council’s website) where he expressed his concerns over the proposals to charge Buses, taxis and HGV’s as part of an air quality zone.

Chris Beezley (Chairman of Beech Avenue Residents’ Association) gave a statement (attached as Appendix to these minutes and available on Council’s website) where he said that recommendations in the report represented a pragmatic and balanced solution that would deliver the required air quality to Bath and in a manner that would minimise the detrimental effect on residents and businesses.

Malcolm Baldwin gave a statement where he said that 1 in 6 diseases were caused by air pollution.  Air pollution in Bath was having a detrimental effect on the population, especially due to Bath’s geographical position.  Malcom Baldwin suggested that air pollution would increase if no action takes place, and invited the Cabinet to consider adding some elements of the charging Class D CAZ into the final proposals.

Patrick Rotheram (Federation of Bath Residents’ Associations - FOBRA) gave a statement (attached as Appendix to these minutes and available on Council’s website) where he said that FOBRA welcomed the extensions of the CAZ boundary and traffic management of the Gay Street and Walcot parade though they expressed their concerns that traffic lights at Queen Square would increase congestion and air pollution.

Christine Harrington gave a statement where she said that Upper Sydney Place residents have been reassured with the proposal by the Cabinet to implement charging Class C CAZ.  This would reduce the pollution; protect heritage buildings in the city, with less impact on business and residents than charging Class D CAZ would have.  Christine Harrington suggested that appropriate signage along A36 should be considered.

Ceris Humphreys (Pulteney Estate Residents Association) gave a statement (attached as Appendix to these minutes and available on Council’s website) where she said that association felt that Class D CAZ with an exemption period for local people should merit more serious consideration. It would mitigate the affordability effect on BANES residents whilst generating revenue from non-residents to fund the mitigation measures.

Richard Luetchford gave a statement (attached as Appendix to these minutes and available on Council’s website) where he said that two options would be considered today, both based on the concept of a vehicle-charging CAZ, though there was evidence emerging from elsewhere in the UK which suggested that these were not the right solutions for Bath.

Catherine Mack (Chair of the Bus Users Group) gave a statement (attached as Appendix to these minutes and available on Council’s website) where she said that proposed imposition of the congestion charge on buses but not cars was a serious error of judgement which would penalise those who cannot afford to buy a car, and invited the Council to work with our public transport providers rather than penalising them.

Steve Moss, taxi owner, gave a statement where he expressed his concerns that the proposal by the Cabinet to implement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 6^th February 2019 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

This is a standard agenda item, to cover any reports originally placed on the Weekly list for single Member decision making, which have subsequently been the subject of a Cabinet Member requisition to the full Cabinet, under the Council’s procedural rules

This is a standing agenda item (Constitution rule 14, part 4D – Executive Procedure Rules) for matters referred by Policy Development and Scrutiny bodies.  The Chair of the relevant PDS Panel will have the right to attend and to introduce the Panel’s recommendations to Cabinet.

Councillor John Bull (Chair of the Communities, Transport and Environment Policy and Development Scrutiny Panel) addressed the Cabinet reiterating recommendations from the CTE PDS Panel:

1.  Publish more clearly the evidence and reasoning to justify the selection of a Class D CAZ over a Class C CAZ as this currently is not well expressed in the Outline Business Case (OBC) – Councillor Bull added that the Cabinet would now propose Class C CAZ; though no traffic measures for Walcot Street were included in the report. 

2.  Prepare detailed proposals to prevent and mitigate traffic displacement around the CAZ alongside the OBC to ensure that local communities are not adversely affected by rat-running.

3.  Develop in greater detail the proposed financial assistance scheme for residents and businesses owning non-compliant vehicles requiring replacement, to provide greater clarity on who will benefit from such a scheme – Councillor Bull said that there were van owners that would be affected by this scheme and asked what provisions would be put in place to assist van owners and taxi drivers.

4.  In respect of 3. above take steps to ensure that the funds provided by DEFRA are sufficient to fully fund the scheme beyond the bid levels currently proposed – Councillor Bull was not convinced that DEFRA would fund the scheme.

5.  Ensure that proposals are developed alongside the CAZ that ensure that the B&NES public bus network is able to provide a viable alternative to urban and rural residents seeking to minimise their use of private vehicles. The Panel also calls on the Cabinet to ensure that the WECA Mayor fully supports this request and allocates funds to support it – Councillor Bull felt that more work would need to be done with WECA to support this plan.

6.  Raise concern with DEFRA that its proposed deduction of 10% from the CAZ charges will reduce the Council’s ability to fund sustainable transport initiatives to maintain the CAZ benefits long term and that this proposal should be withdrawn – Councillor Bull felt that the Council should lobby to have 10% deduction from the CAZ charges removed.

Poor air quality is the largest known environmental risk to public health in the UK. Investing in cleaner air and doing more to tackle air pollution are priorities for the EU and UK governments, as well as for Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES). B&NES has monitored and endeavoured to address air quality in Bath, and the wider B&NES area, since 2002. Despite this, Bath has ongoing exceedances of the legal limits for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and these are predicted to continue until 2025 without intervention.

This report provides an update on the actions undertaken following the Cabinet meeting in December 2018 and sets out the decisions required to submit the final Outline Business Case (OBC) to Central Government containing the preferred final Clean Air Plan (CAP) to discharge the requirements within the Ministerial Direction served on the Council in July 2017.

A draft OBC was subject to public consultation on 16 October 2018 for a period of six weeks based on the preferred option of a charging Class D Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charging all vehicles. Since then work has been undertaken to process the outcome of the consultation and prepare a revised, final OBC for the delivery of the CAP. The revised OBC further assesses the shortlist of options set out in the Strategic Outline Business Case (SOC), and proposes a revised package of measures, including a revised class of CAZ which will still bring about compliance in the shortest time possible in Bath.  The final OBC also includes further details about how the scheme will be implemented and the revised funding bid to central government to ensure successful implementation of the CAP.

The consideration of options for a CAZ, comprises three main elements:

•  The charging mechanism (class of zone);

•  The boundary of the zone; and

•  The details of the bid to be submitted to government to implement the zone, along with mitigation measures for those households and businesses that are expected to be disproportionately impacted by the scheme.

All of the above should be considered in light of:

•  the public consultation outcomes and the further technical and financial modelling done;

•  having due regard to the council’s legal obligations in respect of air quality (AQ), public consultation, equalities and the Ministerial Direction; and

•  the risks associated with each option.

Councillor Tim Warren thanked everyone who addressed the Cabinet on this matter.  Councillor Warren also thanked businesses, residents’ associations and members of the public who contacted the Cabinet outside the meeting (such as Morland and Oldfield for Clean Air association who sent their statement to the Cabinet in advance of the meeting).

Councillor Tim Warren invited Councillor Bob Goodman to introduce the item.

Councillor Bob Goodman introduced the item by saying that this was the most important decision to be taken by this Cabinet in his time. Councillor Goodman said that what he was trying to do was to form a balanced approach to this issue which administrations have ignored for many, many years – after all the health of residents was of  paramount importance. 

Councillor Goodman thanked the officers who have formed a formidable team that was clearly the envy of many local authorities.  Councillor Goodman also thanked Councillors Shelford and Warren for their support, help and patience on this matter.

The technical modelling that Councillor Goodman had asked for had indicated that Class C was possible subject to traffic management within Queens Square. This would reduce the potential financial impact on businesses throughout the City but still would achieve compliance by 2021 at the latest. 

Councillor Goodman also welcomed extension of the CAZ boundaries and mitigation measures for businesses. 

Councillor Goodman added that the following just as important proposals would include:

·  Free Park and Ride aimed particularly at those with polluting vehicles.

·  Park and Ride with extended opening hours and with appropriate security

·  Cycling lanes

·  Officers to promote buses to school, the proposals would be some of the most radical in the country which would substantially reduce the car journeys to and from schools.

·  Introduction of further Resident parking Permits

·  Traffic signal control  optimisation to prioritise public transport

·  Anti-idling officers

·  Improved Park and Ride signage

·  120 Electric Vehicle charging points – The Council have just secured funding £400,000 for charging points for taxis.

Councillor Goodman concluded the statement by saying that WECA has been supportive of the scheme and that his motion would allow compliance but also the start of a journey to ensure we have the Greenest Cleanest City in this country. 

Councillor Bob Goodman moved the recommendations.

Councillor Mark Shelford seconded the motion by thanking the officers for their hard work and commitment on this important matter.  Councillor Shelford also said that charging Class C CAZ proposal would make sure that Bath would be compliant whilst having a minimum impact on residents.  Councillor Shelford welcomed that Park and Ride would have extended operational hours and that the Council would work on boosting public transport in rural networks.

Councillor Charles Gerrish commented that the Council had to consider mixed needs of the community following 8,400 responses from the consultation.  Councillor Gerrish welcomed the changes to CAZ boundaries and added that charging Class C CAZ would not be a money generator for the Council – the money would be re-invested in measures to improve air quality.

Councillor Paul  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

This report updates the Cabinet on work undertaken with members of our Connecting Communities Forums on Consultation, Community Engagement and Communications. The report sets out the learning from recent consultation processes, ideas for building on good practice and suggested new approaches. The report also sets out the outcome of a detailed engagement process on this work so far and proposes next steps.

Councillor Rob Appleyard made an ad-hoc statement by welcoming the report though he felt that the Council would need to set up a mechanism that captures future consultations.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson made an ad-hoc statement also welcoming the report and said that the content of the brochures, leaflets, etc. would need to be more user friendly in terms of the font size/type and colours used in the background.

Councillor Shaun McGall also welcomed the report and added that democratic deficit would need to be addressed, in particular in Bath where there were no Parish Councils.

Councillor Paul Myers introduced the report by saying that the Cabinet was asked to note the report which would be presented to the CTE PDS Panel for review.  The Bath City Forum in 2018 have raised, what they felt were, a number of key learning points from some of the complex consultations that have taken place in recent years, including the East of Bath Park and Ride, Libraries and Air Quality.  It was considered that there were some useful lessons to be learnt from these which were considered when developing the Air Quality consultation process which received what is believed to be a record number of responses.  Following this issue being raised at the Bath City Forum, all the other Forums, Somer Valley, Chew Valley, Keynsham, Cam Valley and BathAvon North were asked for their views on how best to work together to improve the process of engagement and consultation in our area.  As a result a working group was established consisting of four Members of the Bath City Forum and two from each of the others.

Councillor Myers also said that joint workshop took place on 26th of January 2019 with ten of the seventeen members of the working group present. The workshop was run by the Cabinet Member for Economic and Community Regeneration supported by Officers from Partnerships and Corporate Services.  The outcomes of the workshop have been presented in the report.

Councillor Paul Myers moved the recommendations.

Councillor Karen Warrington seconded the motion by welcoming the report and adding that the Council have improved in terms of the consultation and engagement.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

2.1  Note the work of the area’s Local Area Forums in engaging with local residents, parish councils, town councils and the community and voluntary sector.

2.2  Thank the Bath City Forum and the Consultation Working Group, drawn from representatives of the Forums, ALCA and the 3SG, for their work to date on further developing our framework for Consultation, Community Engagement and Communications.

2.3  Requests the CTE PDS Panel to consider in more detail the outcomes of the groups findings, attached in Appendix 1 and detailed in the report under 5.12, and to advise the Council’s Cabinet on how best to develop further this work and incorporate it into the Council’s policy and practices.