Agenda item

Member Questions

These must be received no later than 12 noon on Tuesday 4 December 2018.

Minutes:

1.

Question from Councillor Paul Baker to Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Chris Coleman

 

Single use plastic is a significant issue for our town, for our world. As well as recycling as much as we can we must also reduce the amount of it being produced and sold in our town. I note a number of street traders in the town selling cheap single use plastic balloons and novelties, particularly at this time of year, but other times too. I would like to propose our licensing policy be changed to prohibit licences for such products in the future.

 

 

Response from Cabinet Member

 

The street trading policy is currently being reviewed and the use of single-use plastics will be addressed through this mechanism.

 

For the avoidance of doubt however, many of the mobile traders referred to in the questions to Council are street pedlars, who are not licensed by the authority and do not therefore fall within its jurisdiction. Pedlars are licensed by police forces and to this extent the Council cannot impose any specific restrictions on them.

 

Where a pedlar is operating otherwise than in accordance with the rules (e.g. they cannot be static for extended periods of time and must move from town to town etc.) the Council can act, as this may be considered to fall within the remit of street trading, which is the Council’s responsibility.

2.

Question from Councillor Paul Baker to Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Chris Coleman

 

At the last Council meeting I asked the Cabinet member about the use of single use plastics both by the Borough and our partner organisations. I still await a response from those partner organisations.

 

 

Response from Cabinet Member

 

The Council and its partner organisations are working to reduce the use of single-use plastics. 

 

Ubico has confirmed that it, like the Council, is reducing the use of single-use plastics, including cups, cutlery, site notices etc. and is also considering action in relation to single-use plastics used as part of the service e.g. black plastic bags etc.  Alternative options will be reviewed as soon as possible.

 

Other partner organisations have been asked to report back to Members in the New Year on actions planned for 2019/20.

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Baker explained that he was happy with the progress made thus far on the plastic free Cheltenham initiative; he was, however, disappointed to see that plastic stirrers were still being used in the Members room and queried when this would be changed.

 

The Cabinet member thanked Councillor Baker for his work and interest in the topic, he advised that they were currently using up existing stock and once this had been used they would be reviewing future purchases to find something that was more in line with the Council’s aspirations.

 

He explained that conversations had been had with Cheltenham Borough Homes who were also committed to reducing the use of single use plastics. 

 

3.

Question from Councillor Paul Baker to Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

 

GCC have confirmed that the monies raised from fines issued for drivers ignoring the Boots Corner closure would be spent in Cheltenham. What has the money been spent on to date, what further proposals are there? Could some of it be used to restore the disgracefully rusted and tatty Victorian street lights in the town in roads like Keynsham Road?

 

 

Response from Cabinet Member 

 

The Director of Environment has written to the lead commissioner at GCC, who has confirmed that there was a commitment by the GCC Cabinet lead, Cllr Nigel Moor in response to a question from Cllr Klara Sudbury, to use any income surplus from penalty charges at Boots’ Corner to promote walking and cycling in Cheltenham. This was subsequently agreed at the GCC Cabinet on 12th September, 2018. See extract below:-

 

 

GCC is currently working on developing the process for implementing this commitment, but has advised that given the considerable set-up costs for the scheme and the costs of administering appeals, any surplus remaining is hard to estimate at present. Until there is clarity on this, officers at GCC are understandably holding off committing to any works on schemes that could be funded from this source.

 

There are many potential uses that could fit with the agreed funding criteria, but this is ultimately a matter for consideration by GCC.

 

4.

Question from Councillor Tim Harman to Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Chris Coleman

 

Will the Cabinet Member update Council on the commissioning of the new crematorium and the situation with regard to capacity for cremations in Cheltenham?

 

Response from Cabinet Member 

 

The project to deliver the new crematorium remains on time and on budget with anticipated completion in Spring 2019.

 

CBC does not have any statutory responsibility for ensuring sufficient cremation capacity within the locality, but has worked with funeral directors to help ensure that this should not be an issue.

 

The Director of Environment has had discussions with the relevant commissioner at the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in relation to mortuary capacity at hospitals, so they are aware of the Council’s current position regarding cremations and are reviewing their own business continuity arrangements to identify adequate storage and cremation capacity for the winter peak period.

5.

Question from Councillor Tim Harman to Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Chris Coleman

 

The Bath Road "bring site " and I believe other sites suffered from massive overflows at the August Bank Holiday due to problems with the availability of drivers in the pre bank holiday period .

Can the Cabinet Member confirm what steps he has taken in discussion with Ubico to avoid a recurrence over the forthcoming Christmas and New Year’s holiday period which is always a time when these sites come under pressure?

   

Will he consider increasing capacity on a temporary basis with additional skips targeted on particularly busy sites such as a Bath Road?

 

Response from Cabinet Member

 

No operational issues are anticipated with staffing in general, or the bring bank sites over the Christmas and New Year period, but Ubico will be monitoring this closely and taking any necessary action. The public are asked not to fly-tip recycling or other waste on the ground next to the bring banks.

 

Unfortunately, the national situation regarding the availability of HGV drivers has not improved greatly since August. However, Ubico has and still is, training up its own drivers to improve service delivery.  The use of agency staff has dramatically reduced as a consequence, thereby mitigating the risk of drivers choosing to go elsewhere, which was causing ‘on the day’ operational issues for Ubico, such as the difficulties with clearing the bring banks over the August bank holiday.

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Harman queried whether the Cabinet had considered installing additional skips on a temporary basis during peak periods.

 

The Cabinet Member felt that Cheltenham’s waste and recycling offer was strong and was satisfied that the depot had remained fully operational 7 days a week unlike other authorities. He did not see the requirement for additional skips, however, advised that this would be monitored over Christmas and New Year.

 

6.

Question from Councillor Tim Harman to Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Chris Coleman

 

Will the Cabinet Member outline any plans that the Council may have to introduce low emission vehicles into its fleet?

Also will the Cabinet Member indicate if he can influence Ubico and Cheltenham Borough Homes to do the same?

 

Response from Cabinet Member 

 

Environmental considerations always form part of the procurement process and the Council will look to reduce emissions further wherever possible, as part of any of its future procurement exercises.

 

As an example, the Council’s car parking team is looking at the potential for using electric vehicles when it replaces its current vans and whether these might be sponsored by a local supplier, to show support for the authority’s air quality management strategy and more sustainable travel alternatives.

 

As a commissioner of services, CBC will seek to influence decisions taken by partners to introduce low emission vehicles. Vehicles are procured every 5 years by CBH and as part of the procurement review, electric vehicles are being considered. At present, any savings on fuel are outweighed by the initial costs of the vehicles. However, given the advances in technology, the potential procurement of electric vehicles will continue to remain under consideration at the next review.

 

Since the service change in October 2017, UBICO’s current refuse and recycling fleet operates more efficiently to minimise mileage and fuel consumption, helping to reduce emissions.  This means that on each day of the week, all collections are made in one area of the borough, rather than having vehicles travelling across the whole town. 

 

UBICO vehicles are maintained to the highest standards to ensure engines are operating as efficiently as possible, therefore minimising emissions.  Ubico operates a predominately Euro 6 compliant fleet; with the exception of those vehicles identified for replacement in the near future. The Euro 6 engine emits considerably less harmful gases than previous diesel engines, contributing to an improvement in air quality and complementing Ubico’s commitment. 

 

7.

Question from Councillor Wilkinson to Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

 

Residents in Oakley will have noted that the next concert at the Cheltenham Town football ground is going to be by Craig David. The previous concert – the first hosted at the stadium - was by Steps and was considered a Tragedy by many local residents. Local people would like reassurance that there will be no re-rewind to that scenario of 10 hours of noise pollution. Can the Cabinet Member fill me in?

 

Response from Cabinet Member

 

Following complaints received from residents after the Steps concert in 2018, the council’s environmental health team will be offering guidance to the event organisers well in advance to control noise during the Craig David concert in May 2019 in accordance with national guidelines for such events.

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Wilkinson noted that this was an ongoing problem and queried whether it may be better for officers to actually attend site and monitor the noise levels.

 

The Cabinet Member agreed to take the suggestion forward.

8.

Question from Councillor Wilkinson to Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

 

After lobbying by Councillor Klara Sudbury, Gloucestershire County Council has agreed to use revenue from fines levied on drivers going through Boots Corner for improvements to cycling and walking facilities. The longstanding ambition to extend the Honeybourne Line to Lansdown Road was recently postponed indefinitely after funding cuts to the Cheltenham station project. Will Cheltenham Borough Council ask the county council to contribute the fines money to this important scheme to improve sustainable transport links?

 

I believe that O&S committee was recently advised that whilst there were challenges to delivering the extension of the existing Honeybourne line to the Lansdown Bridge, that both CBC and GCC were collectively engaging with GWR and Network Rail to ensure that it happened. Should there be a financial challenge this would appear to be a suitable solution to ensure delivery and I will ask County colleagues to consider this.

 

Councillor Wilkinson firstly wished to thank Councillor Sudbury for her lobbying to improve cycling and walking facilities across Cheltenham. He acknowledged that they were moving in the right direction with regards to extending the Honeybourne Line to Landsdown, however, he queried what more they could be doing to make the right representations to the County Council.

 

The Cabinet Member explained that they were committed to pursuing it as a matter of urgency and encouraged Councillors to continue to make representations to the County Council.

9.

Question from Councillor Wilkinson to the Leader, Councillor Steve Jordan

 

In January 2016 Cabinet endorsed the report of the walking and cycling scrutiny group, which included an endorsement of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Cycle Campaign’s wish list. During the scrutiny period, the group was advised that the most likely route to finding money for infrastructure works was via CIL. When is the CIL board being formed, who will sit on it and how can it be influenced to prioritise investment in cycling infrastructure?

 

Response from Cabinet Member

 

At full council on Monday 15 October 2018, Cheltenham Borough Council formally adopted a CIL charging schedule and set a commencement date for 1 January 2019.  As part of this report (para 1.7.3 set out that “the governance arrangements to be put in place in relation to the

expenditure of CIL income, retained by the Charging Authorities, will be considered by the JCS

partners over the course of the first 6 months of the programme. These arrangements will be

presented to Cabinet for decision”.  The detailed information as requested by Cllr Wilkinson is not yet available, but work is underway with One Legal and our partners Gloucester and Tewkesbury and a report on this will be considered by Cabinet in due course. Improving infrastructure for walking and cycling will be an important part of this discussion.  

10.

Question from Councillor Stephen Cooke to Cabinet Member Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Chris Coleman

 

Will the Cabinet Member responsible please review the provision of public toilets in Cheltenham including their number, maintenance, cleanliness and times of opening, and make these data available to members? 

What ongoing strategy is in place to provide sufficient public toilets of good quality for the use of residents and visitors to the town centre?

 

Response from Cabinet Member

 

As I have previously informed Members, in tandom with the project to install the changing places wc in Pittville park and one in a town centre location, a review of public toilet provision is underway.

 

The review is looking at the investment required to council owned toilets and, as previously indicated will explore the potential to improve public access to facilities in commercial premises.

 

Given the pressures on officers in delivering on major projects including the cemetery and crematorium, leisure @ and WW1 commemorative activities, the wc review has yet to be finalised.

 

Once this is complete, it will be presented to the Asset Management Working Group for consideration ahead of Cabinet. 

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Cooke queried whether the review would include input from the community and suggested the provision of public toilets should be reviewed annually.

 

The Cabinet Member confirmed that they would be happy to take this recommendation forward.

11.

Question from Councillor Stephen Cooke to Cabinet Member Finance, Councillor Rowena Hay

 

While the good intention underlying recent property investments by Cheltenham Borough Council is understood, why was a Freedom of Information request necessary for residents and tax payers to learn that £21million of their money was spent on the purchase of a supermarket site? 

 

I would like to thank Councillor Cooke for his question. It seems a nonsense that once a transaction has completed the purchase price cannot be made public. However as is often the case with commercial property transactions, the contract contained a confidentiality clause inhibiting the Council from disclosing information in respect of the transaction. This would have extended to the purchase price. This clause would have continued to bind the council after completion.

 

The clause contained an exemption for information disclosed under a statutory obligation. Therefore whilst disclosing the information voluntarily would have been a breach of the contract by the Council, responding to a Freedom of Information request would not. The Council is obliged to disclose under a statutory obligation (which could include freedom of information and access to information) and this resulted in the release of the figure.

 

The purchase price will ultimately become public information following registration of the transaction at the Land Registry: however, it is likely to be some time before the Land Registry completes the registration.

 

In future this council will not agree to be bound post completion by non disclosure clauses.  

 

In a supplementary question, Councillor Cooke queried whether Cheltenham Borough Council should find ways to generate income that is more in line with its core activities and expertise.

 

The Cabinet Member explained that at the last Council meeting a considerable amount of money had been committed to building houses in Cheltenham. Due to Government regulations, the Council were not permitted to buy outside of the borough, and so they had been heavily investing within the borough to boost the local economy. She explained that no core services had been cut despite the £8 million cut in central government funding over the last 2 years due to the council’s forward thinking. However, noted that with the removal of central government financial support next year, the council needed to investigate alternative ways to generate income and she welcomed suggestions from Members.

 

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