Agenda item

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;

Christine Boyd made a statement about air quality with reference to the 31^st March deadline for the Outline Business case submission and regretted the lack of scrutiny involvement in this.  She commented that responsibility for this should not just rest with Cabinet members and enquired why B&NES had not been able to include scrutiny involvement in the way that Bristol City Council had.  Councillor Tim Warren asked Christine if she was aware that Bristol CC had received their instruction 5 months earlier, to which she responded that she was aware they had managed to consult scrutiny.  Councillor Richard Samuel asked about circumstances in which items not included in the first list could later be included.  Christine responded that it would seem problematic for items to be included retrospectively.

Rachel Willis addressed the meeting about parking in Freeview Road and the specific problems with parking on the verges.  She proposed a solution which had met with the approval of all the residents to whom she had spoken.  A full copy of Rachel’s statement has been placed on the Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  Councillor Mark Shelford asked Rachel if she would be happy to visit the area with himself and an officer to look at options.  Rachel said she would welcome this.  Councillor Dine Romero asked Rachel if she was aware of the extensive work that Councillor Tim Ball had carried out in this area, to which Rachel replied that she was, but that further action was now needed.  Councillor Joe Rayment asked Rachel whether there was any argument for keeping the grass, to which she responded that, in its current state, there wasn’t as it was just mud.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked about the visual impact of the disappearance of losing the verges and Rachel replied that she had received universally positive support for her suggestion.

Sarah Moore made a statement about the closure of Bath Community Academy and the pressure on secondary school places.  She explained the negative impact of this on local children having to travel further by car or pay bus fares and add to traffic congestion.  She asked if there wasn’t anything further that could be done to provide secondary education on the Rush hill site as urgent action was needed.  Councillor Dine Romero asked if Sarah was aware of the recent DFE report outlining the number of children without school places this September and projected for 4 years from now, to which Sarah replied that she was and that a school was definitely needed on that site.  A suggestion from Councillor Dine Romero to hold a 10 minute debate on this subject was not supported by Councillor Tim Warren, but he suggested a separate member briefing be held on the subject.  Councillor Eleanor Jackson subsequently suggested this should come to the Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel which was welcomed by Sarah. Councillor Sarah Bevan asked Sarah if the arguments used when Culverhay was threatened with closure were still valid, to which Sarah responded that those arguments still held as the schools around Culverhay had increased their intake at that time, but they were now reducing again so there weren’t sufficient places available.

David Redgewell addressed the Council about various transport issues.  He expressed concern about the lack of progress on a bus strategy.  He urged Members and officers to continue to drive forward in securing funding for the area and suggested vigilance was needed to check that B&NES didn’t end up paying for out of authority projects such as the new Bristol arena.  A full copy of David’s statement has been placed on the Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  Councillor Mark Shelford asked if David was aware that WECA were going to publish their Bus Strategy in June, to which he replied that he was, and it was important to make sure there were sufficient resources to put it into action.  Councillor Neil Butters asked David whether he felt we should be doing more to promote MetroWest.  He responded that it could do with a push, but acknowledged the difficulty with North Somerset not being involved.  Councillor John Bull referred to David’s comment that bus franchising was important in improving the network and wondered if David considered WECA was doing enough on this. David responded that the Mayor should be doing that kind of study as it sharpened the operator’s viewpoint in a franchising climate.

Paula Riseborough from Protect our NHS B&NES made a statement outlining their concerns about the RUH plans to set up a subsidiary company to manage support staff and calling on B&NES to ask the RUH to bring these proposals to a meeting of the Health & Wellbeing Select Committee (HWSC).  A full copy of the statement can be seen on the Council’s Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  Councillor Pritchard asked if Paula was aware that an invitation had already been issued to senior RUH staff to come to the HWSC, to which Paula replied that she had found out this evening and was very pleased.  In response to a question from Councillor Tim Ball about the RUH’s approach to this, Paula responded that there appeared to be a lack of transparency about sharing the business case.  Councillor Robin Moss asked, in the light of the concerns raised, whether Council could hold a 10 minute debate on this issue.  Councillor Tim Warren was not in agreement – there was an opportunity for debate at the HWSC.

The Chair referred all statements to the relevant Cabinet Members.