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 at the meeting itself.

(b)          Written Questions: To receive any questions submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 14 January 2019.

(c)          Deputations: To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the 14 January 2019.

44a     Petition(s)

44.1    There were none.

44b     Written Questions

44.2    It was noted that a written question had been received from Mr Hawtree who was invited forward to put the following question:

“Would Cllr Daniel please tell us how much this Authority has spent upon alterations to Hove’s Carnegie Library to accommodate a private music college, a nursery and a café?”

44.3    The Chair’s response is set out below:

“The internal refurbishment and alterations enabling works were to accommodate the relocation of the library staff room, staff toilets and work rooms at a cost of £87,958.00. This freed up the basement for the council’s nursery tenant and allowed the council’s tenant on the ground floor to provide a café.

We do not have the fit out costs of the tenants as this information is private and commercially sensitive to them.

The ‘private music college’ that is referred to is the room on the first floor that is used by the ‘BIMM’ who have been in the library as a tenant for some time hence no money was spent in relation to them in the recent refurbishment.

Since opening the café in October, footfall has increased and in the last two months it has been nearly 10% higher than over the same period last year.

44.4    The Chair invited Mr Hawtree to ask a supplementary question and he requested to know whether those areas where public space was unavailable due to other use. eg., the first floor music room, whether assurances could be given that when in use for that purpose it was available for use by the public.

44.5    The Chair, Councillor Daniel confirmed that it was.

44.6    RESOLVED – That the position be noted.

44c     Deputations

44.7    There were none.