Agenda item

Cabinet Member Built Environment

Cabinet Member Sustainability

The Cabinet Member Built Environment was not in a position to be able to update Members regarding the financial discussions that were currently ongoing in relation to the North Place and Portland Street development, but was able to provide information relating to the pre-application process.  He assured Members that the feedback received during the public consultation had given rise to further consideration to aspects of the planned development, including the number of parking spaces and the style of buildings.  The aim being to improve the plans before a formal plan emerged.  The Cabinet Member Built Environment acknowledged the concern raised in regard to parking during the development works at North Place and Portland Street and agreed to meet with Councillor Wheeldon, ward Councillor for St. Paul’s and a representative from the University of Gloucestershire to discuss the possibility of using the Prince of Wales Stadium. 

An upshot of the Portas report into the future of the High Street was that Government were making monies available through the Local Economic Partnerships for local high streets.  Consideration was currently being given to whether there were any schemes within the report that could be pioneered in Cheltenham, though he was not entirely convinced that any funding application for Cheltenham would be unproblematic in comparison to applications by other towns and/or cities.

The Managing Director of Cheltenham Development Task Force would be asked to circulate a detailed summary of information to Members regarding the part time bus routes at Boots Corner.  The Cabinet Member was aware of the concerns raised by the Chamber of Commerce in relation to this issue.

The road markings identifying the area opposite RBS as disabled parking had been removed when the road had been resurfaced and were yet to be reinstated and whilst he was confident that they would be, he would need to check this with Highways before providing misinformation.  He would email Members following a discussion with Highways. 

In relation to the event submissions item which featured later on the agenda, the aim was to improve an existing process.  Expo 2012 threw up limited problems compared to the street racing planned until 2013-14, which would require an Act of Parliament.  Events such as these involved a number of authorities, all of which had to work together and be clear about Councillor and public views.  It was only after these views had been captured through consultation that any problems could be mitigated or a proposal deemed impractical. 

He considered the incident in which a pedestrian was injured by a rising bollard to be an isolated one, though admittedly when they were first installed there were cases where vehicles tailgating buses had been damaged.  He would monitor the issue and clearly, were there any similar occurrences the bollards would need to be reconsidered. 

The Cabinet Member Built Environment was aware that there had been discussions between the Mayor Elect, Councillor C. Hay and the Lord Lieutenant regarding an event for the Jubilee but was not privy to any details.  The Strategy and Engagement Manager was able to confirm that there were initial plans to hold a joint Beacon event with the Explorer Scouts and another approach of the Council would be to work with community groups who wanted to hold their own events. 

The Cabinet Member Sustainability confirmed that the Imperial Gardens planning application working group had met for the first time and had included a considerable number of people.  The meeting had been a positive one, which had set the scene of the evaluation process that would be undertaken after each event and the subsequent report to the Planning Committee after 12 months.  The Cabinet Member, in response to a question from a member of the committee, confirmed that the evaluations would happen at two levels, Members of the Working Group would visit the site during events and Officers would undertake more official site visits before, during and after.  There were no other significant issues relating to parks and gardens since the Expo organisers had indicated they had no plans to use the gardens in 2012.

A compost bin sale had been arranged for Saturday 21 April, whereby the bins would be available at significantly subsidised prices.  The bag service, available to residents for whom it had not been possible to include in the brown bin garden waste scheme because of the logistical issues of the streets in which they resided, had been launched a few days prior and to date 35 people had signed up.    A briefing would be circulated to Members outlining the subscription renewals for the brown bin scheme in due course.

The plastic bag recommendations made by the committee at its last meeting had been accepted by Cabinet and whilst it would be premature to provide specific details at this time, he confirmed that there had already been expressions of interest from one School, at least, in being involved in any related initiatives and a local business offering sponsorship of the bag design proposal.  Whilst it was early days, he was fairly confident that something could be done and would provide an update to Members once more significant progress had been made.

The Chair, having reviewed minutes of previous meetings, raised some queries with the Cabinet Member Sustainability who gave the following responses;

• Whilst there were no plans at present, he was unable to provide assurances that there would be no future licensing applications for Sandford Park.  Lessons had been learnt however, and rather than a blanket approach, any future application would apply to a smaller, more specific area only.
• It appeared that the web pages relating to street cleansing had gone from containing out of date information, to none.  He would raise this with the relevant Officers and request that brief guidelines were included.

The Chair thanked both Cabinet Members for their attendance at this and all past meetings.