Issue - items at meetings - Public Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by members of the public:

(a)               Petitions: To receive any petitions presented by members of the public to the full Council or at the meeting itself (copy attached)

(i)                 Public Toilets for the City- Valerie Paynter

(ii)               Preston Park parking restrictions- Isobel Elliot

(b)               Written Questions: To receive any questions submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 21 November 2012.

(c)               Deputations: To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 21 November 2012.

32                     (a)  Petitions

32.1               The Committee considered a petition signed by 85 people requesting the increase in the number of Council-run public toilets. The petition had been referred from Full Council held on 25 October.

32.2               Councillor West provided the following response:

‘Thank you for your petition regarding public toilet provision which has been presented at Full Council and referred to this committee.

I share your view regarding the importance of public toilet provision. The council is recognised for its good performance as reflected in our Loo of The Year Competition results where we consistently head the national league table, as well as results from customer satisfaction surveys.  

However we do need to consider future service provision, particularly given the financial constraints the council faces which is one of the reasons why I have requested a scrutiny on this service.  I am pleased to say this is now being conducted by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel and the first meeting of the Panel took place on Monday to consider the scope of the exercise.

The Panel will focus on future provision of this service and consider: whether current provision is adequate and cost effective; how the service can be best provided in future given the resource constraints and whether there are better ways to provide access to toilets for all user groups.

The Panel is aiming to complete its work by April of next year and I very much look forward to its findings to help inform decisions about this very important service in the city.

I would like to recommend that your petition is forwarded to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel’.

32.3               RESOLVED- That the petition be noted and referred to the Overview & Scrutiny Panel for information.

32.4               Isobel Elliot presented a paper and e-petition with a combined 627 signatures that requested the Council to allow free parking to Park users for a maximum of 2-3 hours.

32.5               Councillor West provided the following response:

‘Thank you for your petition. I think it is right to review how the parking scheme in the park is working and whether we need to make any changes.  Following Councillor Mitchell’s request committee agreed to consider feedback on the scheme after the first 6 months operation. We are therefore bringing a report to committee in February and that will look at suggestions which we have received from residents and park users, like yourself, and from councillors including Councillor Geoffrey Theobald. Officers are collating information to inform the review.

One point I do need to make is that as well as, reducing the impact of cars on park, a parking scheme must also pay for itself.  That means it needs to cover the costs of monitoring and enforcement of the rules and the installation of equipment, through the charges raised.  That does not mean there is no flexibility to reconsider some of the charges but it does provide a restriction. 

Your petition has been passed to officers to help inform the review and I am asking the committee to note it for now’.

32.6               Councillors Janio and Theobald stated that several sports clubs has raised concerns with them about parking issues. Councillor Janio requested that the Committee be presented with options in the report in February 2013.

32.7               Councillor West stated that sports clubs had been contacted as part of the original consultation on the measures. He asked Members to invite the sports clubs to contact the Cityparks team on concerns they have. Councillor West supplemented that he was sure Officers would provide options in the progress report.

32.8               RESOLVED- That the petition be noted.

(b)      Written Questions

32.9               Gillian Fleming presented the following Question:

“As Hanover Street is part of the Valley Gardens Conservation Area, and forms a geographic and historic entity with Hanover Crescent, and as there are frontages the whole of the length of the street on both sides, why is the street included in the consultation? Given the perfectly adequate storage space for individual bins that exists there, and given the failure so far by Cityclean to find a discreet location for communal bins in that street (i.e. a location where residents' windows and doors are not directly affected) why impose the misery of communal bins where they are simply not needed”

32.10          Councillor West provided the following response:

‘Thank you very much for your question.  I must assure you that we are consulting with residents to find out their views on a communal bin scheme and we are carefully listening to everyone's views and that includes yours about Hanover Street.

We know there are difficulties with finding discreet locations for the bins but we have also been asked by residents to look at a better and cleaner form of refuse collection in the area to help improve the cleanliness of Hanover.  We have tried binevelopes which don't seem to work well as they are left out on the street all day, every day, obstructing the pavement, and so we have tried a trial of communal bins in Washington street and Coleman Street which has worked better.  For that reason officers have been meeting with the Local Action Team and decided to get the views from all residents about possibly extending communal bins across the area.  That is not to say we do not think communal bins are without their problems and certainly in Hanover, finding suitable locations away form from people's homes is one of them. We are collecting everyone's views on a proposed scheme and we will be carefully considering all comments including the ones you make and we envisage we will need to adjust the scheme if it is to go ahead.  We will be consulting your ward councillors on the matter as well and officers will attend the Local Action Team meeting again, so please be assured we are listening very carefully as we try to come up with a better way to collect refuse in the area’.