(NOTE: Members are reminded that Standing Order No. 3.3 requires that Notice of Question pursuant to that Standing Order must be received by the Borough Solicitor NOT LATER THAN 12 O’CLOCK NOON ON THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2023 )
Minutes:
There was one public question in the name of Patrick Davies to Councillor Chegwyn.
This Public Question draws on experience of receiving poor or no response when contacting councillors, or being passed to council employees. Will the Council Leader establish a clear policy making councillors accountable for complaints / requests for information received from residents within their area of responsibility, to include the need for a reasonable time frame for such responses and to keep residents informed of any delays and / or reasons for such delays and to remind all councillors that they are servants to, not masters of, Gosport Borough residents.
Answer: I would hope that no Councillors need reminding that they are not masters of Gosport Borough Council residents. I would hope that all Councillors respond in reasonable time and that Council Officers do likewise. I see no need for a new protocol.
There were 8 Members questions.
Cllr John Beavis
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
What plans are in place to reinstate the allotments on the Manor Way Field in Lee on the Solent, how many will there be and when will work start.?
Answer: The work on the allotments will start asap, there were a number of things to look at, including the costings.
Supplementary question: Thank you. I note there is no funding in the Capital programme for allotments, how would they be paid for.
Answer: There is the possibility of using CIL funding and there is money allocated under different headings and that the schemes would be realistic and delivered within a timescale unlike before.
Stephen Philpott
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
The report to the Policy & Organisation Board on 22nd September 2022 said that, following an advertised tender process (quote), "TJ Waste have been identified as the winning Tenderer". Without necessarily naming the other companies, please could the Leader of the Council say how many others TJ Waste beat in the tender process?
Answer: I cannot answer that as I took no part in the process.
Supplementary Question: I can, there were no other tenderers in the process, just TJ Waste. Why therefore did the report to the Policy and Organisation Board on 22 September state that there was a winning tender which indicated there were others.
Answer: Thank you for answering the question, I understand there was one other bid, but on assessment it was not valid.
Cllr John Gledhill
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
What factors are taken into consideration when deciding which events pay for the use of Council land and which events get the use of the land for free? Who decides this and how is the reasoning behind the decision recorded?
Answer: I refer the Councillor to the debate held on fees and charges.
Supplementary question: Why are you limiting community groups by charging them to use the land, penalizing them.
Answer: We are not limiting them
Cllr Zoe Huggins
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
As the Leader confirmed on 15 December 2022 that a meeting has taken place with Parkrun, which was intended to engage the group in discussing seafront parking time changes which were implemented in August 2022.
Can the Leader confirm the date of the meeting held with Parkrun, who attended and the outcome of the meeting?
Answer: The meeting took place in the week after the Council meeting with two representatives of parkrun. It was a good meeting and the attendees understood the reasons for the amended policy.
Cllr Hammond
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
Can the Leader please update the Council on plans for Gosport Police Station?
Answer: Things are somewhat confusing, County Councillor Lesley Meenaghan said on Facebook that the Police Station had been saved, and that it would be used as accommodation for the Police and that it had been reported elsewhere that no decision had been made. Concern was therefore expressed that Cllr Meenaghan had stated otherwise. It was hoped that Donna Jones, as Police and Crime Commissioner should be able to confirm the plans for the site and there was also concern that it had been suggested that it would cost £10million to improve the site and redevelop a front desk. Members felt that this would be disappointing if there was not suitable Police Staff to man it.
Supplementary: Can the Leader confirm how many additional PCSOs have been recruited to the Borough.
Answer: There are no conformed new PCSOs and id there were to be any more they would be replacing those previously cut.
As a point of clarification an email was read from the Police and Crime Commissioner advising that she was aware of what had been published and expressed concern. £10m was a significant sum that could fund alternative police stations and she had no idea where this figure had been stated from. Nothing had been determined for the site.
Cllr Stephen Philpott
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
The free Community Skip Scheme was cancelled after 3rd December 2022 and the Council's website still says this was due to "unforeseen circumstances". Would the Leader of Council explain what these unforeseen circumstances were?
Answer: The skips scheme is postponed and not cancelled, due icy weather and ensuring the correct insurance is in place.
Supplementary: The website says that the skips are cancelled and due to unforeseen circumstances, does the Leader of the Council know anything about applying to the Environment Agency for a permit to allow the skips scheme to go ahead. If this is the case, did the skip scheme operate without the required licence prior to the 3 December 2022 which is an offence?
Answer: All aspects of the scheme will be legal when it restarts
Cllr Stephen Philpott
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
The report to the Policy & Organisation Board on 22nd September 2022 gave a maximum cost of the free community skip trial, based on a maximum of four skips, as £36,400, but this figure was revised at the meeting to £38,440. The report went on to say that the cost could reduce to £28,080 if the scheme finished earlier. Please could the Leader say what amount TJ Waste bid for the contract?
Answer: I had no part in the Tender process.
Cllr Stephen Philpott
Question to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Chegwyn
The contract for the six-month trial ended early and the last six collection events were cancelled. Have TJ Waste billed the Council for these cancelled events and, if so, can the Leader tell me how much it has cost the Council not to provide the community skip collection events?
Answer: Those dates that have been postponed have not cost the Council.
Supplementary: If the contract was cancelled by the by the Council, are the Council required to pay for the non-collections.
Answer: The Council has not paid for collections that haven’t taken place.