Agenda item

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.

Councillors Lisa Brett and Joe Rayment in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 2 and on the Council's website] expressed their concerns by the disparity between the composition of the Council and the composition of the general public in B&NES, in terms of the representations within such characteristics as: gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic class, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.  Councillors Brett and Rayment requested that the Cabinet should approve the formation of an all-party working group to investigate ways in which the Council could become more accessible and representative of the local population.

The Chair suggested that this issue should be discussed by then Group Leaders.

Chris Beezley (FoBRA member and Chairman of Beech Avenue Residents’ Association) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 3 and on the Council's website] said that FoBRA had long pressed B&NES for a formal strategy to address the challenge of housing large numbers of students in a compact city that hosts two popular universities.  The Placemaking Plan stated that student accommodation was a matter requiring a planning policy framework and policy direction at a strategic level, yet, and this was the important point, it offered no solutions.  FoBRA therefore had asked for Cabinet’s assurance that the long-overdue Student Housing Strategy is now developed as a matter of urgency, is regularly reviewed, engaging openly with the universities and residents, and that the Placemaking Plan is guided by it.

The Chair said that the Council had been talking to two Universities on the issues of student accommodation.

Rosemarie Naish (Chair of Clutton Parish Council) made a case for traffic calming measures in Clutton.  Rosemarie Naish explained that the road through the village was narrow and it had been used as rat-run between A37 and A39.  Clutton Primary School would lose lollipop person soon and for some children the walk to the school had been seen as unsafe.  The Council had made a very strong traffic calming scheme which was welcomed by the Parish Council and residents, though one resident had raised numerous objections to the scheme.  A revised scheme had been put in place and the same resident had objected to the scheme.  Rosemarie Naish concluded her statement by highlighting the need for traffic calming measures and urged Councillor Antony Clarke (Cabinet Member for Transport) to approve a revised scheme.

Annie Kilvington said that this week had been quite significant in terms of the climate change, and that we all would have to make changes to the policies that are affecting our environment.  Annie Kilvington welcomed the new Green Spaces Strategy though she was concerned that the Strategy had no reference to Park and Ride sites East of Bath, sites which were large and of enormous bio diversity value.  Annie Kilvington also said that omission of those sites would permit the Council to disregard the Strategy when pursuing its determination to implement Park and Ride plans.  Annie Kilvington concluded her statement by saying that the adoption of Strategy could only be proved subject to formal due diligence and correction.

Sian James in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 4 and on the Council's website] said that she was disappointed that out of the 242 questions asked at the Full Council meeting on 12th November, as of 1st December, there were 182 with a response (75%).  Sian James also said that most of these responses were incomplete; only 20 questions were actually answered; and, there were 9 valid questions that have apparently been removed from the list, with no reference as to why.

Christine Boyd in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 5 and on the Council's website] said that there should be no attempt to tie the hands of the CTE PDS Panel whilst it makes its deliberations on Park and Ride issue.  Christine Boyd also asked for a public assurance that the Scrutiny Panel would be given the time and resources it needs to do this work, rather than face pressure of the Cabinet timetable.

The Chair responded that the CTE PDS Panel was not run by the Cabinet and it would be entirely down to the Chair, and members of that Panel to decide how they would want to engage in the process.