Agenda item

The draft minutes of the last meeting had been circulated with the agenda.

The Mayor reminded members that the purpose of the minutes of a meeting is to enable the reader to understand the context and reasons for the decision which was taken. Minutes are not a verbatim record of the content of the meeting but a summary of the proceedings which occurred. Consequently, speeches by members of the Council will not appear in full, but the main points will be summarised. The minutes must, of course, be accurate and therefore if there is any concern as to the accuracy, the appropriate amendment should be proposed and, if seconded, the Council will vote on whether or not to accept the amendment.

Councillor Bickerton advised that there were two important points he had raised during the debate on the consultation for the Joint Core Strategy which he did not feel were covered in the minutes. He referred to a printed sheet that had been circulated to members in which he proposed the following amendment.

“I request that the following text to be added to the 10^th Nov. 2011 Council minutes, on page 13 following the paragraph beginning

“A number of Member voiced concerns…….” 

A member said that in his view the Council needed to promote this public consultation, make it easy for the public to give comment and feedback in any form, email and simple website access and letters. He requested that a simple an e-petition website be provided on CBC Website, a short member agreed questionnaire and comment, to further promote public consultation in Cheltenham.

Given the size of the JCS tome issued to members last week, over 500 pages, not including the JCS evidence base, he considered it was fair to say that the public were going to find a consultation period of 8 weeks difficult. The complexity of the JCS with economic, social and environmental dimensions would be difficult to assimilate and analyse in this short period, members had the advantage of many member briefings. He requested officers to consider ways and means of extending the consultation period, keeping public engagement open to the summer of 2012 whilst maintaining the JCS Timetable.           

He further added t hat the themes starting on page 84 demonstrate that development to the north and south of Cheltenham  (C2 & C6) have little or no advantages, they do not feature in Theme 2 – Coalescence Avoidance or Theme 3 Existing Infrastructure and in Theme 1 the economic opportunities narrative fails to make a case under access to infrastructure or accessibility. Having looked at the JCS previous public consultation, development maps on page 165/166, he urged members to note the very few green dots on open countryside and the many RED marking inappropriate for development.”

In the absence of a seconder for this proposed amendment, it was dismissed.  

Upon a vote it was 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on the 10 November 2011 were agreed and signed as an accurate record.