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;

Paul Roles made a statement setting out a series of problems regarding Curo accommodation in Kingsmead including locked bin stores, laundry rooms and bike facilities.  He explained that, due to recent changes in waste collection and locked bin rooms, waste may be outside for days for seagulls to attack.  He asked for help from the Council to solve these problems.  Councillor Dine Romero noted Paul’s comment that there had been no notice of locked facilities and asked about the impact of these on residents.  Paul responded that 70% of the residents at Rosewall Court on Monmouth Street were classed as vulnerable, having come from DHI, and explained some of their difficulties.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked Paul if Curo had responded by increasing residents’ service charges to which Paul responded that they had doubled in the last year.  The Chair thanked Paul for his statement which would be forwarded to the relevant Cabinet Member.

David Redgewell made a statement about the cross country rail franchise.  He explained there was only one train a day from Bath to York which they want to withdraw and mentioned other issues about the service and level of the rolling stock.  He commented that a response was needed by the Metro Mayor, with input from B&NES.  Councillor Neil Butters asked whether a cross party approach with WECA would be the most appropriate response when facing up to this, to which David responded that would be the best way and added that the route knowledge of cross country staff needed to be maintained.  Councillor Robin Moss asked if David knew what the Metro Mayor was doing about this; David responded that the Mayor was sending officers to meetings, there was a scrutiny panel coming up, and then the Board meeting and it was vital that the Mayor led on a response to this.  The Chair thanked David for his statement and referred it to the relevant Cabinet Member.

Hannah Powell from the Youth Parliament made a statement about bus transport in North East Somerset which she described as being practically non-existent. She called on the Council to exert their influence to improve the service, particularly with regards to young people.  She queried why over 16s, still in full time education, were charged adult fares, making travel very expensive for them.  She suggested various ways this could be improved, citing examples from other UK cities, and outlined the improvements this would mean to air quality amongst other benefits.  She concluded by calling on Councillors to recognise young people as worthwhile to the Council.  Councillor Tim Warren thanked Hannah for her statement and invited Youth Parliament members to meet with him and First Bus.  Councillor Neil Butters asked if Hannah thought that cheaper and more frequent buses would have an effect on congestion, to which she responded that she absolutely agreed and mentioned the Wellsway during rush hour as being a nightmare.  Councillor John Bull hoped that Hannah would come and speak to the Communities, Transport & Environment Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel and asked if she was aware that it was WECA who would be responsible for putting in place many of the initiatives Hannah had mentioned, and also asked whether she was aware that a Labour government would put in place free transport for under 25s.  Hannah replied that free transport would be great but they needed to work now with the current government to make improvements.  In response to a question from Councillor Sarah Bevan asking for Hannah’s opinion of the single worst thing about the current situation, Hannah replied that it was the feeling of being ignored.  She added that First Bus knew how many people relied on the bus service and yet the service was still so unreliable, leading to many young people being effectively isolated. The Chair thanked Hannah for her statement which would be forwarded to the relevant Cabinet Member.

Joel Hirst presented a petition to Council regarding secondary school places (240 signatures, a further 40 to follow) asking for the Council to review the policies on secondary school places.  He expressed concern about the disadvantage to families in the south west of Bath accessing their school of choice, the lack of local school places for these children, the time and cost impact of children travelling from south west Bath to St Mark’s school and the impact of this travel on Bath traffic.  He called on the Council to provide a secondary school local to south west Bath, put in appropriate transport arrangements and address the injustice of the current admissions policies.  Councillor Dine Romero asked if Joel thought that admissions policies should be looked at collectively, to which Joel responded that that would be helpful as Ralph Allen’s was geared towards those from outside the city, and they needed looking at in the round.  Councillor Joe Rayment asked if Joel was aware that Councillor Rayment had an active complaint lodged with the Office of the Schools Adjudicator about the Beechen Cliff policy of 40, 40, 20 as it excludes pupils from the south west of Bath.  Joel replied that he had been aware of Councillor Rayment raising this issue generally, but hadn’t known about the specific complaint.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked if Joel considered the academy programme had made this situation worse, to which he responded that he didn’t know the details but was aware that the Council now had less of a role in effecting a change.  The Chair thanked Joel for his statement which would be referred to the relevant Cabinet Member.

Mel Clarke, a support worker at St John’s Court, made a statement to the meeting.  She explained the recent changes that Sirona had proposed to pay and hours, and described how many of her colleagues, the majority of whom had their own caring responsibilities, could not afford to take a pay cut.  Councillor Steve Hedges asked about how many residents they typically looked after in a week, and how vital was the rest break, to which Mel responded that they rarely managed to have the rest break, and that in a 5 hour shift, they would make about 24 visits.  Councillor Robin Moss asked, when workers were underpaid, overworked and undervalued, they managed to maintain the standard of care.  Mel responded that it was hard but they kept a professional attitude and supported each other.  She called on the Council to follow the lead of Bristol City Council and the work they had recently done to transform their care sector.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked about how the nature of the rest break worked in practice, to which Mel responded that she thought they were supposed to stay on the premises and it rarely really happened.  Councillor Paul Crossley asked if the statement could referred to Scrutiny.  The Chair thanked Mel for her statement which would be referred to the relevant Cabinet Member and Health & Wellbeing Select Committee.

Sharon Gillings made a statement to Council about the experience of Curo residents, a full copy of which has been placed on the Minute book and added to the online minutes.  Councillor Bob Goodman asked Sharon if she was aware that officers had been meeting with Curo over the last 3 months, and Curo were now about to invest considerable sums to address some of the problems she had raised.  Sharon responded that she welcomed this, but that the bins were only a small part of the failing.  Councillor Andy Furse asked if Sharon was aware of similar issues relating to Knightstone and Sanctuary Housing Associations about which he had raised a question at Cabinet, and asked if Sharon would agree that the Cabinet needed to be more proactive about this.  Sharon responded that she was aware that others had their problems but as Curo was next to her surgery, she had focussed on that.  Councillor Robin Moss asked Sharon, in her capacity as a GP, to explain any potential health hazards resulting from these problems.  Sharon responded that poor housing underpinned every part of a patient’s physical and mental wellbeing.  Councillor Sarah Bevan referred to a comment Sharon had made about not getting responses to emails to Curo, and offered the option of taking contact through the dedicated email Councillors have been given to deal with residents’ issue.  Sharon acknowledged there were other access points but wanted to make sure residents received responses to their emails, and described the unacceptable complaints process.  The Chair thanked Sharon for her statement which would be referred to the relevant Cabinet Member and Communities, Transport & Environment Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel.

Michael Lee-Wright from the Motor Neurone Disease Association made a statement asking Members to support the Motor Neurone Disease Charter.  He spoke about his own experience of living with this condition for the last 9 years and the devastating effect it has, making even the smallest activity difficult.  He explained the complex and expensive adaptations that sufferers usually needed to make to their homes.  Councillor Dine Romero asked if Michael was aware how many people in B&NES have Motor Neurone Disease, to which he responded that he wasn’t sure but was aware of about 20 in the area.  Councillor Sarah Bevan asked what would be the single most helpful thing that Councillors could do, to which Michael responded that he was aware of how many demands there were on Councillors and that raising awareness was key.  He explained that small adaptations made a huge difference eg; size of parking spaces, height of rails etc so ideally this could be considered through service provision.  The Chair thanked Michael for his statement which was referred to the relevant Cabinet Member for consideration.

Following a point of order being raised about actions that Council could take with regards to statements, the Chief Executive clarified that Council could agree to refer a statement to a Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel, which did not bind the Panel, but took the form of a request to a PDSP Chair to consider an item for their Panel as part of agenda planning.