Agenda item - Written questions from Councillors.

60.1         The Mayor reminded Council that written questions from Members and the replies from the appropriate Councillor were taken as read by reference to the list included in the addendum which had been circulated as detailed below:

(a)             Councillor Taylor

60.2         “Will the Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee estimate the cost of installing single yellow lines per metre and the cost of their enforcement?”

Reply from Councillor Mitchell, Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee.

60.3         “The cost of installing single yellow lines is approximately £10 per metre but this doesn’t include the legal traffic order cost (depends on amount of proposals within the order which we batch up for economies of scale) and the signing involved (about £100 per sign required).

60.4         The enforcement costs cannot be worked out per metre as we don’t work costing fro

(b)             Councillor Simson

60.5          “At a recent meeting of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee the Chair stated that it was the Administration’s policy not to agree any amendments to recommendations put forward in Committee reports. Will this policy be consistent across all Committees for the remainder of the Administration’s term?”

Reply from Councillor Morgan, Leader of the Council.

60.6         “I can confirm that the Administration recognises the right of any Councillor to put forward an amendment for consideration.  Indeed we are happy to discuss any proposed changes to recommendations prior to a meeting which may lead to an improvement.  At the recent Children, Young People and Skills Committee, Councillor Daniel, as a committee member, was representing the view that the Labour Group Members did not feel that the proposed amendment under discussion was substantively improving the recommendation, because the recommendation as it stood covered the scenario that the amendment related to, but did not name any specific provider.  You will note that the administration abstained rather than voted against the amendment for that reason, which allowed the amendment to go through. There was no intention to suggest that there had been a change of policy in respect to amendments to recommendations, which anyway would have to go to the Council’s Constitutional Working Group.”

(c)             Councillor G. Theobald

60.7          “What does the Council do to monitor the reliability of bus services in the City and do they work with the bus companies to try and improve this?”

Reply from Councillor Mitchell, Chair of the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee.

60.8         “Bus companies are required to supply an annual punctuality figure to the council.  The Key Performance Indicator figure, which is then supplied to the Department of Transport, was 85.5% for 2014-15.  The figure was slightly lower than the previous year’s figure of 89.4% because of the number of road works that were temporarily impacting on the bus network (including North Street and Brighton Station), combined with the essential partial closure of the A259 west of Brighton Pier for structural works.

60.9         The council employs a bus inspector to monitor the performance of supported bus services, which represent 3% of the city’s bus network.  97% of the bus network is operated commercially:  the council does not monitor them but does work with the bus operators, through the Quality Bus Partnership as well as the Transport Partnership, to tackle issues which impact on the reality of bus services.”