Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member Finance

Cabinet Member Built Environment

The Cabinet Member Built Environment was in attendance and confirmed that as of Saturday (28 November 2010), Chapel Walk car park would be open to the public 7 days a week.  This would cause inconvenience to the members of staff that had parked there in the past and he thanked them for their understanding.  Councillors would also be losing their allocated spaces, but this was a positive move for the town centre. 

The New Homes Bonus was out for consultation and would see the Council benefit financially from the first six years of council tax from new homes.  The consultation was due to end on 24 December and the approach for formulating a response would be discussed later in the meeting.  There was the potential for this to be seen as influencing planning decisions and as such, clear boundaries would need to be set.   

Civic Pride featured on the agenda.  Public consultation on the draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) had been successful.  The Civic Society and Police had played an important part and this would be going to Council on 13 December. 

LTP3 also featured on the agenda.  It was noted that initial discussions were ongoing with Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) about a shared parking strategy in an attempt to address the current issues, with regards to GCC being responsible for on-road parking in Cheltenham and CBC for off-road parking.  Members would be kept informed of any developments.

Following a request from a member of the committee, the Cabinet Member Built Environment would raise the issue of member parking with Officers.  Specifically, the issue of where many would park when all 40 members attend the Council meetings.

Cabinet Member Sustainability arrived at around 7.30pm with prior agreement of the Chair. 

He advised members that whilst work to Leckhampton Wall had stopped for a time, it would start again soon.  Natural England had been in talks with the Council about their level of stewardship.  They were proposing that the Council moved from Entry Level Stewardship to Higher Level.  There would be no associated cost to the Council and would include a grant from Natural England of around £10k per annum.

He confirmed that he hoped to soon be in a position to make a formal statement about the Pittville Bridge.  It was hoped that the Council would be able to manage the project, which would bring costs in line with the budget.  As always, members would be kept informed.

The Chair thanked both Cabinet Members for their attendance and updates.