Issue - meetings

Motion

Meeting: 13/06/2018 - Council (Item 22)

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Water Fountains

Members considered the following notice of motion, submitted by Councillor P. McDonald.

“That we call upon the Cabinet Member responsible to consider implementing a programme for the installation of water fountains throughout our recreation grounds.”

The motion was proposed by Councillor P. McDonald and seconded by Councillor C. McDonald.

In proposing the motion Councillor McDonald referred to the previous decision by the Council to no longer use single use plastics at its sites and advised that the damage to the environment from single use plastics had been well documented in recent months. He believed that this was the next step in assisting its residents to reduce the number of single use water bottles for example and also to contribute to the reduction in obesity in children as he believed that by providing water fountains in its parks and open spaces then it would encourage people of all ages to choose the healthy option of water rather than sugary drinks. Similar schemes had been successful in a number of other local authorities and there were now clean modern water fountains which could be installed successfully.

In seconding the motion Councillor C. McDonald informed Members that she believed this was an important step in helping residents live a healthier life, by providing fresh water whilst they were being active within the parks and would reduce the need to buy single use plastics as Councillor P. McDonald had highlighted.

Councillor B. Cooper, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources spoke in support of the motion and reiterated the various benefits. He highlighted that there were cost implications and first estimates appeared to be between £3.5k and £6k per fountain, the Council would therefore need to consider the cost implications against the various benefits before making a final decision.

Councillor P. Whittaker concurred with Councillor Cooper and was happy to support the motion subject to detailed costings being provided. However, Councillor Whittaker commented that not all parks may be suitable for water fountains. It was therefore suggested that a report be brought to Cabinet for consideration in due course.

On being put to the vote the Chairman declared the motion to be agreed.

BDC Planning Review

Members considered the following notice of motion, submitted by Councillor C. Hotham:

“The recent exposure by the members of the Independent group of the potential conflict of interest surrounding the BDC plan review is deeply concerning. This has been brought about by the Council employing the co-author of the Hearn-Wood study as consultant to advise on our own plan review. It appears these commissions ran concurrently. This has created the impossible circumstance whereby the average Bromsgrove resident is highly likely to loose faith in the impartiality of the plan review process. It is therefore only right and proper that: “This council suspends the entire plan review until such time as residents, developers and elected members can have faith that, via an independent audit, the review is being and has been conducted in an open and transparent ... view the full minutes text for item 22