Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of 12noon on the 7^th December, 2017 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

48.1         The Mayor reported that 3 written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Mr. Hawtree to come forward and address the council.

48.2         Mr. Hawtree asked the following question; “Would Councillor Robins please tell us how much the British and Irish Modern Music Institute pays per year to rent a room which was a cherished public part of the Hove Carnegie Library’s Reference section, and how many years this contract lasts?”

48.3         Councillor Robins replied; “The British and Irish Music Institution pays £10,000 pounds per year to use the room at Hove Library and the contract is renewed on an annual basis.”

48.4         Mr. Hawtree asked the following supplementary question; ”Can you assure the British and Irish modern music Institute and indeed residents that in the event of a majority Labour Council it will not go ahead with closing down Hove’s Carnegie Library or moving it?”

48.5         Councillor Robins replied; “We had planned to relocate Hove Library in Hove Museum you campaigned against this, the opposition party supported your campaign and the Library stayed where it is and that's fair enough, that's democracy. We still have to fill the funding gap, the income from these arrangements provide essential contributions to enable Hove Library to remain in the, much cherished, Carnegie building despite a small reduction public space the same full range of library services remain available to the public and, in fact, it would be increased with the provision of a café facility, which the public have said that they would welcome. Whilst neighbouring East Sussex council are planning the possible closure of seven branch libraries and the ending of the mobile library which is a quarter of all their libraries. A spokesperson for that Council which is, let's not forget, a Conservative Council said ‘due to significant cuts from Central Government we were left with no choice’. This administration, a Labour administration in Brighton and Hove and Portslade, has not closed a single branch, in fact, we've extended opening hours of our libraries through the ‘libraries extra’. Although I can't speak for the mobile library because someone else got there before us!”

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

48.7         Ms. Paynter asked the following question, “Is it appropriate for Council officers to have sole authority to entirely replace expert Parks and Gardens staff with pay back teams carrying out their community service in caring for precious landscaping on Council owned land apart from lawn mowing?”

48.8         Councillor Morgan replied, “City Parks work in close partnership with Community payback in facilitating works so that those given community sentences or community service can serve their hours. Payback teams undertake work activities that Parks and Gardens staff do not have capacity to do including painting railings, clearing scrub and weeding and therefore provide supplementary labour and do not replace expert Parks and Gardens staff. Expert parks and garden staff are not being replaced and, will be there overseeing of all activities.”

48.9         Ms. Paynter asked the following supplementary question; “I am quite concerned that, with budgetary restrictions, Parks and Gardens people is going to be asked to do less and less and less and that what they are being asked to do is being done with rather poor grace. On the estate where I live Parks and Gardens staff lopped off the entire canopy of a young plane tree this autumn, in September, along with clearing all the brush and bushes, leaving all the ivy, leaving all the bindweed and they just said, when I said, “why have you taken the top off that tree” they just said “it's a weed”. I said “the Council planted it, it’s a plane tree” and all they've done is leave a six foot tall spike in the in the lawn which is what's left of the trunk, an awful lot of what they pruned back, a so-called ‘hard prune’, is going to die over the winter period. So I am asking you, how happy do you think the Parks and Gardens people are and how safe are their jobs and are they really doing a job that is properly expert anymore?”

48.10      Councillor Morgan replied, “We recognise that the government have reduced funding that they provide to us for Parks and gardens. We have recently just voted additional funding into that service.”

48.11      The Mayor thanked Ms. Paynter for her questions and invited Ms. Davis to come forward and address the council.

48.12      The Mayor noted that Ms. Davis was not present and therefore noted that a written response would be sent from Councillor Robins.

48.13      The Mayor noted that concluded the item.