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 questions from the public and the responses that had been circulated.

Statements were made by the following members of the public;

Helen Dudden made a statement regarding accessible housing, explaining that the need for accessible homes was urgent and asking what more could be done to ease the problems.  She explained her own wait for a home and called for a different type of provision, as the current arrangement meant that often one case jumped over another.  On a recent search, 64 people were bidding for 1 home.  Councillor Joanna Wright asked how many affordable accessible homes had been built in B&NES over the last 5 years.  Helen replied that it was very few.

Neil McCabe made a statement regarding the Sydney Road Liveable Neighbourhood scheme, setting out his opposition to it and the reasons for that, a copy of which is attached to the online record and added to the Minute book.  Councillor Sarah Warren commented that there appeared to be inaccuracies in the air quality and traffic data and asked if Neil could provide this information.  Neil replied that the information was available via the footnote to his statement, and had been taken from the 2023 Air Quality report.  Councillor Grant Johnson asked for the background to the claim that 163 households had been harmed by this initiative, to which Neil replied that the number of households had been available via a map and postcode search and that it therefore followed that more traffic past these homes would mean further harm.  Councillor Shaun Hughes asked how much of the data was available before the trial started, to which Neil replied that it was all available before the trial started and so traffic engineers could have reached the same conclusions in a short period of time.

Ian Orpen made a statement regarding the Sydney Road Liveable Neighbourhood scheme, a copy of which is attached to the online record and added to the Minute book.  He explained his view that the scheme was poorly thought out and said there was still time to stop the trial and consult on a more suitable alternative.  Councillor Grant Johnson noted Ian’s comment that the Council hadn’t implemented the correct interventions in this case and asked what those would be.  Ian replied that there were plenty of traffic calming measures that could be introduced, which would not have the danger associated with blocking roads.  Councillor Shaun Hughes asked Ian to elaborate on the dangers he had mentioned, to which Ian gave an example of a 12 year old child facing difficulties riding a bike to school and routes being diverted around primary schools.  Councillor Joanna Wright asked if Ian was aware if a circulation plan had been put in place, to which he replied that he was not sure what that was.

Alan Morley made a statement regarding the Sydney Road Liveable Neighbourhood scheme, a copy of which is attached to the online record and added to the Minute book.  As a resident from the bottom of North Road, he explained why he considered the scheme was problematic and not for the benefit of the majority.

Eleanore Dickson made a statement on behalf of Danielle Selwood who had been unable to attend.  She outlined many incidences of dangerous near misses happening and the problem of pollution from idling cars contributing to asthma diagnoses.

Simon Allen, Chief Executive of Age UK (B&NES), made a statement relating to the Liberal Democrat Age Friendly motion, setting out the reasons why he urged Members to adopt the motion and join the over 60 current Age Friendly communities in the UK to ensure inclusive communities for everyone.  Councillor David Biddleston asked Simon how many older people were affected by Council budget cuts to which Simon replied that it was difficult to say, but he urged all those eligible to take the survey so that the information could be gathered.  Councillor Joanna Wright asked Simon if he knew what percentage of the B&NES population was over 55, to which he responded that he didn’t have that number, but did know that there were 35,000 over 65s and 31% of those live on their own.

Neil Dickinson made a statement about low traffic neighbourhoods, a copy of which is attached to the online record and added to the Minute book.  Councillor Shaun Hughes asked if Neil agreed that enforcement was a key part of solving these issues, to which Neil replied that he certainly did.  Councillor Joanna Wright asked Neil, as a member of Speedwatch, what was the fastest speed they had recorded.  Neil responded that it was 51 mph in a 20mph zone.

Malcolm Baldwin made a statement about the Liveable Neighbourhoods programme, a copy of which is attached to the online record and added to the Minute book.  Councillor Grant Johnson asked what the Administration could do to improve the implementation of Liveable Neighbourhoods, to which Malcolm responded that the Council must be proactive in consultation and further reinforce that these are trials.  Councillor Joanna Wright asked how many tourists entered the Circus every day.  Malcolm replied that it was several hundred every day and it was probably the second largest visitor destination after the area around the Abbey.

Adam Reynolds made a statement about the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, a copy of which is attached to the online record and added to the Minute book. Councillor Grant Johnson asked Adam what B&NES could learn from South Gloucestershire Council regarding the delivery of CRSTS for our Authority to achieve the infrastructure it so needs.  Adam replied that they appeared to study the rules carefully and accelerated their use of compulsory purchase orders.  Councillor Saskia Heijltjes asked if the cost of living crisis had had an effect on implementation of CRSTS, to which Adam responded that since quotes were received in 2020, building costs were considerably higher.

Jane Samson made a statement in support of the Peace motion on the agenda and highlighted some disturbing statistics from the situation in Gaza.  She urged Councillors to take a moral stance and vote in favour of the motion.

The Chair thanked everyone for their statements which would be referred to the relevant Cabinet Member.