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;

Bob Goodman made a statement concerning a number of Council services.  With regard to recycling rates, he stated that when he had introduced fortnightly collections as the responsible Cabinet Member at the time, rates had risen (despite many doubts being expressed that it would be successful).  However, rates had fallen since then, and he wondered what the Administration were doing to address this.  He also raised the situation regarding the recent problems at Charlton House and noted that there had been no resignations despite the suffering of residents.  He queried the Council’s social housing approach and lamented the state of the bus services in the area.

Mark Stricklin made a statement regarding mobile phone networks in Bath.  He read out a number of individual posts from people describing the problems they experienced with connectivity which were affecting their home and work life, and asked why the area did not yet have 5G.  He commented that network coverage seemed to be deteriorating and called for the situation to be sorted out.  Councillor Kevin Guy asked Mr Stricklin if he was aware that the Liberal Democrats had fully supported the erection of a 5G mast in Newbridge in 2022, to which he replied that he was not aware.

Simon Banks made a statement which had been circulated in advance to Members regarding urban green spaces and in particular development plans on the Tufa field.  He called for full ecological, economic and environmental impacts of the development of sites to be carried out.  Councillor Tom Davies mentioned that he had met residents twice to discuss proposals and asked if Mr Banks would be interested to join the next such meeting, to which he replied that he would.  Councillor Vic Pritchard asked Mr Banks if he was aware that the policy provided that if a development was permitted, the ecological impact must be assessed, identified and protected and if they show that development is not appropriate, this is a material consideration meaning future applications should be refused.  Mr Banks replied that he was aware of this.

David Ferris made a statement about residents’ parking zones which he considered were not effective or wanted by local communities.  He commented that they simply displaced traffic to other areas and wondered if they were genuinely to benefit residents or just a method to increase revenue.  He stated that a Park & Ride site was definitely needed on the east of Bath and suggested that part of the Bath Rugby ground at Lambridge would be an ideal site for a mini Park & Ride and outlined his reasons for suggesting this.  Councillor Vic Pritchard asked Mr Ferris how he would negate the need for the proposed Park & Ride sites at Snowhill and Camden, to which Mr Ferris referred to his earlier suggestion regarding the section of the site at Lambridge which he considered was ideal for infrastructure and connectivity reasons.  Councillor Robin Moss asked Mr Ferris if he would like to see a full strategy for RPZs to which Mr Ferris replied that he considered them a waste of time.

A copy of the statement submitted is attached as an Appendix to these minutes.