Agenda item - Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by Members:

(a)          Petitions: To receive any petitions;

(b)          Written Questions: To consider any written questions;

(c)          Letters: To consider any letters;

(i)            47 Bus- Councillors Hyde, Mears and Miller

(ii)          Street Closures- Councillor Sykes

(d)          Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee.

(i)        Cleaner Air

(c)      LETTERS

(i)            47 bus route- Councillors Hyde, Mears and Miller

7.1         The Committee considered a Letter from the Rottingdean Coastal ward councillors requesting an extension of either the 47 bus route service or the 57 bus route service under the current negotiation of the supported bus network contract.

7.2         The Chair provided the following response:

“Thank you for your letter. As you may be aware this matter is currently the subject of a live tender that is in the process of being evaluated by officers.

The points you have raised have been noted by officers and will be considered, as all feedback on the bus network is, as part of that tender evaluation process. A report on the tender evaluation with recommendations for new contracts is scheduled to come to PR&G Committee on 17th July”.

7.3         RESOLVED- That the Letter be noted.

(ii)          Street Closures

7.4         The Committee considered a Letter from Councillor Sykes that requested clarification on the consenting regime for street closures for parties and events.

7.5         The Chair provided the following response:

“The Council is generally positive in supporting local community events such as street parties but is also aware they are being used as the back end process to Temporary Event Notice for commercial events sometimes and this is causing some concern from local residents.

Therefore I will be asking officers from both Highways and Environmental Health to look at this together to come up with a proposal for dealing with this in the future and to clarify the policy.

I have a more detailed briefing that addresses the specific queries you raise in your letter and I will send that to you in writing along with this reply”.

7.6         RESOLVED- That the Letter be noted.

(iii)         Beach rubbish collection- Councillor West

7.7         The Committee considered a Letter from Councillor West that requested information on the additional cost of collecting and disposing of the increased waste on the seafront during peak tourism periods, and how much was being invested in a communication campaigns to encourage people to collect their litter.

7.8         The Chair provided the following response:

“I think I must start by thanking our City Clean street cleansing staff who do a great job in all weathers, including the recent heat-wave.

It is important that in welcoming visitors to our beaches we also remind them to dispose of their rubbish properly and this message is backed up by education and enforcement plus campaigns such as the recent 4 week anti-littering campaign run in conjunction with the ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ group.

This campaign ran through March was very well received by residents and we are now planning our next campaign, the details of which I will be in a position to announce very soon. Again, it will be innovative and creative, focussing on well used areas of the city including the beach and seafront.

Up to 23rd June, we had a total of 15 employees dedicated to the seafront.

I’m pleased to say that that number has now increased by 6 to 21 in total. Additionally with our agency we will have the additional opportunity to request further 4 should there be a need.

Furthermore, a further 50 bins were delivered to the seafront last week and we will be replacing the communal bins there with new ones.

We have made significant investment in our street cleansing service in terms of new mechanical sweepers and 100 Big Belly Bins. We will be installing new bins along the seafront as well as replacing the communal bins”.

7.9         RESOLVED- That the Letter be noted.

(d)      NOTICES OF MOTION

(i)            Cleaner Air

7.10      The Committee considered a Notice of Motion referred from the meeting of Full Council held on 6 April 2017 that requested the Committee consider the example of Westminster City Council and introduce visitor parking differentials to incentivise diesel vehicle drivers not to enter highly polluted areas of the city and options to enforce fixed penalty notices for vehicle idling offences.

7.11      The Chair provided the following response:

“The proposed trial of charging all diesel vehicles 50% more to park on street is due to start on 3 April 2017 in one parking zone in Westminster.

The proposal involves a check with DVLA when a vehicle is first registered with the phone parking provider to establish whether it meets the criteria for a surcharge.  At Westminster the Pay and Display machines are also linked to the phone provider. This is not the case in Brighton and Hove so it would not be possible at present to assess whether the vehicle should be charged a surcharge when parked at a Pay and Display machine through an enquiry to the DVLA.

Any system would also need to be straight forward for visitors to understand. Officers will closely monitor the outcome of this trial which it is hoped will provide a valuable insight on how this policy works in practice.

In relation to the second request of this Committee, Civil Enforcement Officers have been provided with leaflets to discourage engine idling when they come across it. Studies have shown that 90% of drivers switch off when asked.

There would be costs associated with setting up an IT system to process the very small number of fixed penalties which we estimate would be issued in the city to drivers who failed to comply with a request. These costs are unlikely to be covered by revenue generated from fixed penalties due to the high compliance rate when asked to switch off. A more informal approach of providing leaflets to educate drivers through is currently being trialed with Civil Enforcement Officers and will be monitored for its effectiveness. I will ensure to keep Members informed as we go along”.

7.12      Councillor Littman stated that the Notice of Motion requested an officer report rather than noting adding that it would be useful to receive an options appraisal.

7.13      Councillor Wares asked if the council could consider more efficient routes to prevent vehicle idling such as signs asking motorists to switch off their engines at key points where congestion was known such as the train crossing at Portslade train station.

7.14      The Chair agreed noting that the local Socialist Environmental and Resources Association  (SERA) was interested in encouraging their members to become active in precisely the campaign Councillor Wares had outlined. Furthermore, the issue was mentioned in the Air Quality report later in the agenda and it was hoped external funding could be sourced for that.

7.15      Councillor West stated that either TfL or Westminster City Council was training members of the public to become clean air wardens as it was believed drivers were more receptive to being asked to stop idling by members of the public rather than wardens. Councillor West identified such an option as exactly the type of thing an officer report could consider. 

7.16      The Chair stated that it would be more useful to the committee to see the results of the Westminster trial as the outcomes were not yet known. The Chair added that London had the benefit of the Mayor’s Clean Air Fund and a level of funding not available to this council. External funding would be pursued with any advancement to that end reported back to the committee.

7.17      RESOLVED- That the Notice of Motion be noted.

The meeting adjourned at 17:30 and reconvened at 17:40