Agenda item

Councillors and members of the public may register their intention to make a statement if they notify the subject matter of their statement before the deadline.  Statements are limited to 3 minutes each.  The speaker may then be asked by Cabinet members to answer factual questions arising out of their statement.

Clarice Corfield in a statement read by Mary Lambert [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 2 and on the Council's website] opposed the drilling for coal bed methane in the Keynsham area and gave a number of reasons for her concerns.

Laura Corfield (Transition Keynsham) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 3 and on the Council's website] spoke of her concerns about possible drilling for coal bed methane in the Keynsham area, with particular reference to its effect on land and water systems.

The Chair thanked Laura Corfield for her comments and promised to respond to her in due course.

Ben Eve (Saltford environment group) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 4 and on the Council's website] expressed his concerns about the impact which coal bed methane extraction in the Saltford area would have on the area.  He particularly emphasised the unproven safety track record of the industry and the evidence of health risks to local people.

The Chair thanked Ben Eve for his comments and promised to respond to him in due course.

Pamela Galloway (Save Our 6/7 Buses Campaign) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 5 and on the Council's website] thanked the Cabinet for the recent news that funds would be allocated to subsidise the 6/7 service.  She committed to continue to fight to save the service into the future.

Councillor Roger Symonds asked Pamela Galloway for the source of her “reliable” authority that the funding might disappear.

Pamela responded that she would research the source of that comment and would get back to Councillor Symonds in due course.

George Bailey (Radstock Action Group) in a statement read by Colin Currie [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 6 and on the Council's website] raised a number of issues relating to the sum of £500K allocated for Radstock and how it was to be used.

Colin Currie (Chair, Radstock Action Group) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 7 and on the Council's website] expressed concerns about how the membership of the Radstock and Westfield Economic Forum were appointed.  He was not convinced that the Forum would make decisions in the interests of local people.

The Chair thanked Colin Currie for his comments and promised to respond to him in due course.

Trudie Mitchell (Chair, Compton Dando Parish Council) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 8 and on the Council's website] appealed to Cabinet to bring forward plans to implement 20mph speed limits in Burnett, Queen Charlton and Chewton Keynsham; and submitted the results of a local survey showing public opinion about traffic speeds in the villages.

Cllr Brian Webber in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 9 and on the Council's website] referred to plans approved recently by Council for the introduction of a new local council tax benefit scheme.  He felt strongly that families on incomes between £13K and £19K would suffer most from the proposals, and that the report submitted to Council had been inadequate.

Councillor David Bellotti asked Councillor Webber whether he felt that a report of 150 pages could be called “inadequate”, and whether he would acknowledge that it was government policy to look at all benefits in the round, not one at a time.

Councillor Webber agreed, but said that the report had not been easily digestible.