Agenda item - 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 as notified for presentation at the meeting by the due date of 2 November 2017;

i)       Water Fountains to Reduce Rubbish and Pollution – Lead petitioner Charles Cross.  Extract from the proceedings of the Council meeting held on 2 November, 2017 (copy attached).

(b)      Written Questions: To receive any questions submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 9 November 2017.

(c)      Deputations: To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 9 November 2017.

30a     Petitions

30.1    The Chair referred to the fact that a petition had been received which had been referred from the Council meeting held on 2 November 2017. Consideration of the petition had been deferred in order that further to the decision to consult on a preliminary charging schedule, the Committee could consider whether water fountains should be included as an option in the BHCC 123 Infrastructure list, as part of health care infrastructure provision, to enable the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to be used as a possible means of funding water fountains.

30.2    The  Chair, Councillor Robins  explained that as  CIL was currently  out  for consultation it was intended that this issue would form the subject of a report for consideration by the Committee following completion of that consultation process.

30.3    Councillor Mears asked if the report/officer presentation could include photographs illustrating different types of fountain for Members consideration. Councillor C Theobald asked that the report include a full assessment of potential options in order to guide members considerations as to whether they wished to include water fountains in the BHCC 123 Infrastructure list or not. It was confirmed that the officer report would address both of those points.

30.4    RESOLVED - That the contents of the petition be received and noted and that a report be brought back to a future Committee following completion of the CIL consultation process.

30b     Written Questions

30.5    The Chair noted that one public question had been received from Mr Hawtree. The Chair invited Mr Hawtree to come forward and he put his question in the following terms: Mr Hawtree stated that on the previous occasion he had put a question to the Committee he considered that the response set out in the minutes did not reflect what had been said at the meeting. The Chair, Councillor Robins, responded that was not his recollection, but that the notes taken at the time would be checked and the necessary textual changes made if that was the case

            “Would Councillor Robins please tell us what plans he has to fill the 38 General Fiction shelves which, at Hove’s nationally esteemed Carnegie Library, are currently either empty or given to a few face-on books?”

30.6    The Chair gave the following response: ”Library staff have checked the fiction shelving and report that there are only 2 empty shelves, and 36 are face on display. There are 295 flat shelves with fiction books on them. Mr Hawtree may have visited Hove Library when staff were in the middle of moving stock around, during which time some more shelves would have been empty. Best professional practice in public libraries is to encourage book borrowing by presenting library books in an attractive way, using face on shelving as well as book displays. So it is a deliberate policy to have a reasonable percentage of fiction stock face-on. Accessibility guidance advises libraries to avoid putting books on high shelves, as these are difficult for many of our elderly or disabled library borrowers to reach.

30.7    By way of a supplementary question Mr Hawtree asked why, if that was so, on the way to the meeting he had observed that with the exception of crime fiction a number of empty spaces had been observed. The Chair, Councillor Robins stated that the figure cited by Mr Hawtree was commensurate with the explanation he had given.

30c     Deputations

30.8    There were none.