Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of 12noon on the 6^th December 2012 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

56.1         The Mayor reported that 4 written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Mr. Greenstein to come forward and address the council.

56.2         Mr. Greenstein noted that his question had been circulated and asked the following supplementary question; “On 25^th October an employment tribunal found that the Office & Finance Manager of Deans Youth Project had been automatically unfairly dismissed for making a protected disclosure by revealing to the Chair of Trustees that another employee had been falsifying invoices.

            Instead the claimant was herself dismissed on the grounds of theft and dishonesty.  This was reported to the Police who found there was no substance in the allegations.

            What steps have been taken by the Council, as a major funder, to ensure that a new management is put in place and that the claimant is reinstated in her post?”

56.3         Councillor Shanks replied;

56.4         The Mayor thanked Mr. Greenstein for his questions and invited Ms. Paynter to come forward and address the council.

56.5         Ms. Paynter thanked the Mayor and asked the following question, “Important decisions are taken by officers under delegated powers which serving Administrations must carry the can for and I am not aware of the current Administration having any wish to take back responsibility for any of them.  Indeed I wonder if councillors are sometimes taken unawares when one is implemented that they had no say in.

            How many delegated decisions are first notified to or discussed with Councillors?”

56.6         Councillor J. Kitcat replied, “I’ll provide you a very full response in writing but to cover the overall theme, the way that this Council, as every other Council in England operates, is a division of labour between Members who set the policy and the officer who do the day to day operational running and delivery of the services.  The delegated powers and the schedule of delegations we have has actually been relatively the same for quite some time and it’s based on a model created by INLOGOV which is an expert body at the University of Birmingham in these matters.

There have been some tweaks but merely to adjust to our changes to the cabinet system and then from the cabinet system but the distribution of powers is unchanged, between officers and Members and the situation is, as you know because you attend our committees, make the Policy decisions and they are enacted under powers by officers.  But many times those decisions made at delegated level by officers are done in consultation with members (in audible) and I think it works well.”

56.7         Ms. Paynter asked the following supplementary question“Is it not true that certain decisions like hard copy planning material should be policy and not officer delegation decision?

56.8         Councillor J. Kitcat replied, “Local Government has to operate on a balance of trust and understanding between Members, officers and the public and the delegations are the legal basis for how that division of labour happens. Now we can have a discussion about whether the policy of paper or digital; at what point that should be a decision by whom and that would be a fair discussion but ultimately it would not be reasonable to expect Councillors to be overseeing and managing every decision that the Council makes.

            Councillors are not managers, councillors are there to set the policy of this Council by democratic process and the officers enact that. That’s the basis at which Local and National Government works across much of the world and while there are sometimes imperfections in the balance of those I think overall the system has put us in good stead.”

56.9         The Mayor thanked Ms. Paynter for her questions and invited Mr. Evans to come forward and address the council.

56.10    Mr. Evans thanked the Mayor and asked the following question, “Why are the pelican crossings being downgraded without any specific reference to them on the questionnaire when we have many disabled and vulnerable people that use Seven Dials for their local shops, post office and chemist?

            This question comes from the parents of a wheelchair user who know they are more secure with phased traffic lights on the existing crossing.”

56.11    Councillor Davey replied, “Rather than crossings being downgraded, the whole area is being upgraded for pedestrians. The main reasons for replacing the pelican crossings with zebras is that zebra crossings provide an improvement to the pedestrian experience as the wait time is vastly reduced compared to traffic lights which have a pre-programmed timer installed and generally prioritise vehicle and traffic over pedestrians.

Effectively zebra crossings give priority to pedestrians. There is no evidence to suggest that zebra crossings are more dangerous than pelican crossings. It is considered by officers that the new crossings will provide a more convenient crossing facility for disabled and vulnerable people who will further benefit from the introduction of a raised table around the crossings.  The combination of the raised table crossing together with the physical changes to the approaches to the roundabout as well as the roundabout itself combined with the reduction in speed limits in the area to 20miles per hour, which the administration is proposing, will combine to make the area safer for everybody however they are travelling.

Crossing surveys at Seven Dials show that many people currently cross on the red man instead of waiting for the green man to appear. This can be dangerous as drivers will not be expecting a pedestrian to cross during the red man phase. Observations also show that the traffic light crossings result in a great deal of additional waiting time for vehicles, creating unnecessary delay and frustration. This occurs because the traffic lights will still change to red even though the pedestrian has already cross the road.

The proposals have been discussed with the representatives from the Federation of Independent Living on two occasions, firstly by myself and then by officers. The Federation agreed on balance they would benefit the mobility impaired. The questionnaire is intended to indicate a broad level of support or opposition to the proposals which were clearly identified in the consultation plans including the zebra crossings. It is not practical to seek to ask questions about each element of a scheme as the questionnaire would become overly lengthy and complicated.

Space is provided for additional comments and all comments made in this way are analysed to identify any particular trends or patterns and will be reported as part of the consultation report. It is worth noting that 49 of those who responded to the consultation indicated that they had a disability and that 59% of those indicated that they are in favour of the proposals.”

56.12    Mr. Evans stated that he did not have a supplementary question.

56.13    The Mayor thanked Mr. Evans for his question and invited Mr. Jenner to come forward and address the council.

56.14    Mr. Jenner asked the following question, “In light of the plethora of consultations being undertaken by the Green Administration, especially in relation to traffic proposals are Transport Consultations carried out in isolation of each individual case?”

56.15    Councillor Davey replied, “Engaging with the city is a priority for the Green administration and for the Council in general. Both transport work and the associated consultations are not carried out in isolation of each other, they from part of the forward plan which is outlined as a program of work on a yearly basis in the Annual Local Transport Plan Capital Spend which is agreed following finalisation of the allocation at Budget Council.

Transport project teams work closely together to ensure that all projects and the desired outcomes are co-ordinated and fit in with the aims of the Local Transport Plan that was agreed by all parties at Full Council in May 2011. The current year’s program was agreed in March this year by Cabinet and next years will go before the Policy and Resources Committee after Budget Council.

Consultations on major works are all timetabled in the Engagement Calendar which is overseen by the Community Engagement Partnership which has membership from all three parties.”

56.16    Mr. Jenner asked the following supplementary question, “Do you believe that the knock on effect of all the changes can be seen? For instance, with the closure of the Old Shoreham Road whilst the cycle lane was created, Wilbury Avenue and Wilbury Road became a cut through with now potentially an 18 month road closure due to the bridge being damaged caused by heavy traffic and much heavier usage.  The lights on The Drive and Cromwell Road has increased the traffic on Fonthill Road, Montefiore Road, Lyndhurst Road and other roads off it. Therefore were these shown in any traffic analysis and have similar analyses been undertaken on a wider number of roads in relation to the Seven Dials proposals?”

56.17    Councillor Davey replied, “Yes I’m sure that’s the case, I’m not sure whether your referring to the time when the actual works take place or once the works are implemented but certainly with regards to whilst the works are taking place, a full plan will be developed by the officers responsible for the project and they will liaise with the highways management team to minimise disruption but it’s inevitable that where changes and improvements occur there will be some disruption and I’m sure that the many people who live around and use the new excellent crossing facilities which have been put on the Old Shoreham Road and will be at the junction of The Drive and Cromwell Road, will very much appreciate the new facilities once they are in place.”

56.18    The Mayor thanked Mr. Jenner for his questions and noted that this concluded the item.