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.

The Chair made reference to the Q&A document which had been circulated at the meeting and is attached to the online minutes.

Statements to the meeting were made by the following members of the public;

Joe Scofield presented a petition of over 600 names – “Address the Crisis of Student Housing in Bath”.  In his statement, Joe called for measures to address the problems caused by over 24,000 students needing housing in Bath.  The full copy of Joe’s statement has been placed on the Council’s Minute book and is available online.  Councillor Bob Goodman asked Joe if he was aware of the recent positive reduction in HMO concentration to 10%, to which Joe responded that he was aware but that he didn’t feel the 10% cap was adequate and called for further measures such as ring fencing areas for family housing around schools. Councillor Will Sandry asked Joe if he thought there was more the Council and the University could do to help the situation, to which Joe responded that a message needed to be sent to the University that they couldn’t continue to use green belt land allocated for housing for extra teaching blocks to accommodate more students.  Councillor Colin Blackburn asked Joe if he thought the restriction should be placed across the whole B&NES area to which Joe responded that he certainly did think so, and that every community should have the same level of protection. The Chair thanked Joe for his statement and petition which would be referred to the Cabinet Member.

Tony Mitchell made a statement on behalf of Transition Keynsham.  Tony referred to the questions he had submitted concerning the impact of budget cuts on the provision of Council services and asked if the Council had been robust enough in putting its case to Government.  A full copy of Tony’s statement is available on the Council’s Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  In response to a question from Councillor Joe Rayment about whether Tony was asking the Council to be firmer in making their case to Government about the impact of austerity, Tony confirmed that he was.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked about the impact of budget cuts on the work that Transition Keynsham carried out, to which Tony responded that they wouldn’t have access to the same level of equipment.  The Chair thanked Tony for his statement which would be referred to the Cabinet Member.

Jackie Albrow made a statement calling on the Council to complete the application for a Fields in Trust ‘Deed of Dedication’ for Moorland Park.  Councillor Shaun Stephenson McGall asked if it would now be useful to have a meeting with all the relevant parties to progress this, as the process was started in September 2017, to which Jackie replied that the Council had been supportive but something further was needed to move this along and a meeting would be an excellent idea. The full text of Jackie’s statement is available on the Council’s Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  The Chair thanked Jackie for her statement which would be referred to the Cabinet Member.

John Chapman made a statement about the Kingdom contract for a litter enforcement service.  He outlined a number of concerns about such contracts and called for fair and proportionate litter enforcement measures which were within DEFRA guidelines and not target driven.  A full copy of John’s statement is available on the Council’s Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  Councillor Tim Warren asked if John was aware that the Council had not entered into a contract with Kingdom, to which John responded that he was aware but the companies were all much the same.  Councillor Richard Samuel asked if John was aware that the Liberal Democrats had called in the Council decision, which would be considered by the Communities, Transport and Environment Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel on 27^th September and asked what clarifications the Panel should be seeking at that meeting.  John suggested they should be seeking assurances that any company would be complying with the law.  The Chair thanked John for his statement which would be referred to the Cabinet Member.

Andrew Dickens addressed the Council as a member of the Lower Common East Allotment Association (LCEAA) and outlined his concerns about how the Association had been treated thus far, with regard to use of noticeboards and attendance at quarterly allotment sub-forum meetings. He called for the Council to recognise and accept the Association’s rights to be treated no less favourably than any other allotment association.  A full copy of Andrew’s statement can be viewed on the Council’s Minute book and is attached to the online minutes.  Councillor Tim Warren offered to meet Andrew to discuss this further; Andrew said he would consider the offer.  Councillor Andy Furse asked Andrew to confirm that all they were asking for was for the LCEAA to be treated the same as the other local allotment associations.  Andrew confirmed that that was correct and they were simply asking for their existing rights to be respected.  Councillor Robin Moss sought clarity on the nature of the problem they had encountered with the Cabinet Member, to which Andrew replied that they had been told it wasn’t appropriate to form an alternative association, which he added was contrary to their right to assembly in Article 11 of the Human Rights Act.  The Chair thanked Andrew for his statement which would be referred to the Cabinet Member.

David Redgewell made a statement to Members about bus services through parts of B&NES and Somerset County Council.  He explained that Somerset had just started a bus services review and called for proper consultation to take place with those parts of B&NES that would be affected by this.  David stated that the Government were asking for a single south west voice to contribute to the Transport Select Committee, currently covered by the two Sub-national Transport bodies (SNTB) – South West Peninsula Board and the Western Gateway Board.  A copy of David’s statement is available on the Council’s Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  Councillor Mark Shelford asked if David was aware that he was very supportive of David’s comments and would be speaking to the relevant people, to which David replied that he was.  Councillor Neil Butters asked if David was aware how bus budgets were being impacted in Somerset, to which he responded that the budget was being massively curtailed and he was proud of the work done in B&NES and they needed to echo that.  Councillor John Bull asked for a little more information about the SNTBs that David had mentioned, so he explained the areas they covered and reiterated that a single voice was needed into Government.  The Chair thanked David for his statement which would be referred to the Cabinet Member.

Dr Chrissie Harrington made a statement on behalf of the Pulteney Estate Residents’ Association calling on Councillors to include the Pulteney estate in the Bath Clean Air Zone (CAZ).  She outlined the reasons why they considered its omission from the CAZ to be illogical and detrimental to the community, and set out their concerns about the impact this would have.  A full copy of Chrissie’s statement has been placed on the Council’s Minute book and attached to the online minutes.  Councillor Bob Goodman asked Chrissie to confirm that they did meet last week with a view to reviewing the situation, which she did.  Councillor Richard Samuel asked for Chrissie to clarify her understanding of the Council’s position regarding the zone and through traffic on Cleveland place and the A36 Warminster Road.  Chrissie explained that they were concerned that traffic from the south and east would end up dropping off, and circulating in their area to avoid the zone, thereby making the congestion there even worse.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked if Chrissie had been informed as to why that area had been excluded, to which she responded that she understood the idea was to start small, but Bath is already a small city and they didn’t think this omission from the zone made sense.  The Chair thanked Chrissie for her statement which would be referred to the Cabinet Member