Agenda item

1.

Question from CouncillorTim Harman to Cabinet Member Sustainability, Councillor Roger Whyborn

Will the Cabinet Member, working with Ubico, seek to improve arrangements at the various “Bring Sites“, such as Bath Terrace, over the Christmas and New Year period to prevent them from overflowing which regularly happens at Public Holidays. Will he look at either increasing capacity especially for packaging, glass bottles and cans or by providing additional collections?

Response from Cabinet Member

The Council is aware that in the period around Christmas and New Year bring sites are under pressure due to increased quantities of waste and reduced number of working days. The system is in fact at almost full capacity in that period, and any extra provision of capacity would be relatively expensive, as it would include not only labour cost but also vehicle hire. Officers are however taking steps to optimise the capacity, by utilising all possible collection hours which we have.

Secondly, CBC and Ubico are currently involved in a comprehensive review of our bring site arrangements, but at the time of writing I would not want to commit to providing significant additional capacity from bring sites in the Christmas period. Indeed to put this into overall context, it is not a matter which is the subject of many complaints from the public. Officers are therefore confident CBC should be able to offer a reasonable service over the festive period using the existing resource.

In a supplementary question Councillor Harman asked whether the Cabinet Member would consider improvements to bring sites and green waste collections in order to achieve targets.

In response the Cabinet Member Sustainability said officers were looking at various ways to improve levels of recycling and this included a review of bring sites.

2.

Question from CouncillorJacky Fletcher to Cabinet Member Corporate Services, Councillor Jon Walklett

Can the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services please tell this Council when all members can be assured that they will have 100% reliability, or as near as it practically possible, for access to IT through the CITRIX system.

Response from Cabinet Member

The ICT shared service has been working hard over recent months to upgrade the underlying ICT infrastructure which will improve the stability of key applications. The new Citrix environment was rolled out for testing with a key number of users and I am pleased to say that only minor issues were raised and these were resolved.

As such, this will be rolled out across the organisation during early 2014. Whilst we can never guarantee that there will be 100% reliability, the new infrastructure will include back up arrangements with Forest of Dean District Council to ensure that the likelihood of Citrix being unavailable will be minimised and we are certainly aiming for 99.9% availability.

We are also investigating out of hours cover arrangements which will provide additional support to both members and officers should there be an issue during evenings and weekends.

In a supplementary question Councillor Fletcher asked whether members could be assured that Citrix was fit for purpose for the 21^st century.

In response the Cabinet Member Corporate Services said that Citrix had been chosen as an option in October 2012 as it was one of the few options available and many other councils were using it successfully. However, it did not work as well as anticipated due to the current IT infrastructure and a plan was in place to improve the continuity and availability of Citrix. It was hoped that all issues would be resolved in early 2014.

3.

Question from CouncillorAnne Regan to Cabinet Member Leisure and Culture, CouncillorRowena Hay

I am really impressed by The Wilson and what we have achieved by the refurbishment and the re-opening - it really is a credit to Cheltenham. However I was rather dismayed when I went to buy a Christmas card from there the other day and there were none on display and they had to be retrieved from in a cupboard.  Therefore can the Cabinet Member responsible for Leisure and Culture reassure me that the entrance to The Wilson will be brightened up in time for Christmas and that staff are allowed some Festive spirit? Can the Cabinet Member also comment on why the shop is not part of the museum and are there any plans to direct visitors through the shop as they leave The Wilson? 

Response from Cabinet Member

A partnership has been formed with the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen to operate their Guild gallery / shop from the new ground floor retail area at The Wilson. The partnership proposal has been planned and discussed since 2010 - and works on two levels. The first is through a lease agreement which includes an annual rental for the premises - and the second is through an informal working agreement, covering shared events, exhibitions and promotional activities at The Wilson. The original proposal stated that the Guild would sell souvenirs for the Art Gallery & Museum within the Guild shop - charging a commission on any items sold. However, as the agreement for the lease was being finalised (in July this year), the Guild decided that they only wanted to sell books for the Art Gallery & Museum and not souvenirs. This obviously left a gap in provision of services for The Wilson - combined with the fact that the Art Gallery & Museum was going through a major re-branding. Therefore a decision was made to set-up a temporary shop within the main ground floor reception area selling catalogues linked to the exhibitions programme and existing stock from the Tourist Information Centre - pending a review of new stock linked to (and reflective of) the new brand. The new Wilson Shop will be launched for the next major exhibition, Embrace (18th January), and the return of Rodin's Kiss on the 14th February.

The Wilson does look very festive at the moment - with a number of Christmas trees in the main reception area, cafe (ground and first floor) and the main office windows.

In a supplementary question Councillor Regan said that when the members working group met to discuss the commissioning of leisure and culture, one of the early discussions was about the shop and reassurance given about the retention of a visitor shop in the museum. She asked why there was not a souvenir shop selling gifts to remind people of their visit which may encourage them to pay a return visit to the Wilson.

In response the Cabinet Member Sport and Culture explained that as already stated within her response, the shop would be launched in January.  The Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsman had changed their minds about selling souvenirs within their shop at a late stage and given the delays in building work the priority was to open the museum on time rather than set up a shop.

4.

Question from Councillors Whyborn, McKinlay and Wheeler to the Leader, CouncillorSteve Jordan

Hatherley and Shurdington Triangle action group (Hashtag) have requested that local Councillors call upon Cheltenham Borough Council to remove the land between Up Hatherley Way and Chargrove Lane from the JCS plan, and that the Borough Council both takes note of these objections, and takes steps to save the Green Belt. Local Councillors are aware that numerous submissions around the town to the JCS consultation have raised serious concerns about proposed building on Green Belt land. 

Can the Council leader assure the Council that in further negotiations regarding the shape of the final JCS plan, that in the first instance he will be seeking to reduce the quantum of housing around Cheltenham, and secondly that the highest priority in deciding the preferred option JCS will be to minimise loss of green belt and green spaces, including the Chargrove triangle, and thirdly that further effort will be put into seeking further brownfield sites, including the additional factoring in of the occurrence of windfall brownfield sites, and the building of extensions to existing homes.

Response from Cabinet Member

Yes.

The council undertakes a robust assessment of sites, this includes identifying brownfield sites.  A call for sites has recently been undertaken as part of this sites assessment. 

The JCS team have received a representation (from Cllr McKinlay) on the inclusion of extensions to existing homes in the quantum of housing. Representations have also been received in regard to the proposed urban extension at Up Hatherley. These will all be considered in the next stage of the JCS.

5.

Question from CouncillorPenny Hall to Cabinet Member Corporate Services, Councillor Jon Walklett (this question was referred to the Chief Executive for a response as Electoral Registration Officer

With Reference to Agenda  Item 10, Review of Polling Districts, Places and Stations, and the consultation exercise that took place from October 10th 2013 until November 8th 2013 in Charlton Park Ward, I and Cllr Duncan Smith were informed by letter dated October 10th advising of the interim review.  I assume that the other persons and organisations identified as consultees in the report were contacted in the same way.

Is the Cabinet Member satisfied that corresponding with the Ward Borough Councillors and chosen consultees by letter and the Consultation process itself meets the standard of consultation required.   

Response from the Chief Executive, Andrew North (as Electoral Registration Officer)

Letters were issued to ward members and chosen consultees (see report section 6.1 of agenda item 10) with the view that they then communicate with their community and we published a notice at the municipal offices.  A folder was placed in reception with all of the details and these were also placed on the council’s website.  This is the process that the council uses for such reviews and conforms to Schedule A1 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. 

As Councillor Hall will be aware, unfortunately the relevant pages were not linked to the consultation pages on the website, although they could be found by using the search facility.  Once she had brought this to the attention of officers, the website was amended and the consultation period was extended by a further two weeks and we advised of this extended period.  The report is proposing no change at this time and as the report states there will be borough wide consultation on polling districts, places and stations next year.  As this will be borough wide there is likely to be more media attention. 

In a supplementary question Councillor Hall explained the difficulty she had in retrieving the consultation document using the search facility on the website and despite the extension of the deadline by 8 days time still did not allow residents views to be sought.

In response the Chief Executive acknowledged that there should have been a link to the consultation document on the front page of the website. He proposed that the issues could be looked at again in the summer 2014 when there would be a full consultation.

6.

Question from CouncillorRob Garnham to the Leader CouncillorSteve Jordan

Last weekend we saw Councils up and down the country supporting "Small Business Saturday".  Can the Leader inform us what actions he arranged for this council to take with a view to supporting the small businesses of our town on this special day?

Response from Cabinet Member 

Cheltenham Borough Council works hard to support small businesses in a number of different areas with some examples as follows:

• Following requests from local retailers, CBC re negotiated the contract of the Christmas Market and now have it trading later into the Christmas season which has already resulted in increased coach bookings.

• Through High Street Innovation funding, CBC has delivered retail training to independent retailers which they would otherwise have been unable to access.

• Extended street entertainment during the day of the Christmas lights switch-on events boosted footfall and sales this year

• An extensive programme of town centre markets and events – arts & crafts; international; farmers; etc has led to greater opportunities for local independent retailers to trade in the town centre and has added to the vitality and viability of Cheltenham as a shopping destination.

• The council is also funding an advice service to provide assistance to local people setting up new businesses.

On car parking, Small Business Saturday was already expected to be the busiest Saturday of the year in Cheltenham. It is also difficult to ensure general parking discounts benefit small businesses. Feedback from local businesses was that any discounts would be more useful to them at quiet times of the year. We have listened to this advice and are working on schemes for 2014.

In a supplementary question CouncillorGarnham, asked what support the Council had given to small business Saturday. In response the Leader denied that he had sidestepped the issue, explained that the council already undertakes a lot of initiatives to support small businesses in the town.

7.

Question from CouncillorDuncan Smith to the Leader, CouncillorSteve Jordan

The draft economic plan being submitted by the Gloucestershire LEP shows a need for an increase in employment land of 150% over and above the levels shown in the JCS document.

1. Given that the JCS assumes that economic development will drive the need for housing numbers, what guarantees can the leader give that he will not be coming back to this chamber next year with a Final JCS document that is proposing significantly more housing than the current draft?

2. Which sites will have to be brought forward to accommodate the extra 50,000 houses that would need to be built should the LEP plan prove to be more robust than the evidence base currently held to support the JCS?

3. How will the inherent contradiction between this key economic plan and the current version of the JCS be resolved in time for a public inquiry?

4. How does the Leader propose to consult the public on these issues? Given that the inclusion of the Up Hatherley land in the current draft of the JCS has attracted significant criticism of his administration for not consulting on this change, will he commit to a significant change to the JCS consultation timetable if further changes to numbers and sites are to be made to the JCS next year?

Response from Cabinet Member

The draft Strategic Economic Plan is due to be submitted to government by the Gloucestershire LEP by 19^th December and it is not yet available although I am aware it is being worked on. However, the final SEP is not due to be completed until 31^st March 2014 and will no doubt be subject to widespread discussion before then. 

I have seen no evidence for and would not support the level of employment land being suggested by Cllr Smith. Equally I don’t know where Cllr Smith gets his estimate of an ‘extra 50,000’ houses but clearly this would be both impractical and unacceptable.

The draft JCS attempts to use available evidence to make a balance between provision of employment land and housing. This and all the other evidence base for the JCS has just been consulted on. Further time for consultation is already allocated in 2014 prior to the final JCS being submitted for public enquiry.