Issue - meetings

To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received.

A period of up to 15 minutes is allocated for the asking and answering of questions.  This may be extended at the discretion of the Chairman with the agreement of the majority of those present.

Each Member who is scheduled to ask a question, may ask up to one supplementary question which must be based on the original question or the answer provided to that question.

The Chairman advised that five questions on notice had been received for this meeting.

Question submitted by Councillor E. Gray

“Would the Cabinet Portfolio Holder agree that in the interests of shoppers, residents and Bromsgrove businesses, at least the first half-hour of parking should be FREE and thereafter a “Pay on Foot” model, paying on exit, should be adopted across the District?”

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration responded that the Council was currently undertaking a review of car parking charges including the charging periods, charges and any concessions. The outcome of this review would form part of Tranche 2 of the reports included with the forward plan for the establishment of the 2024/5 budget.  The Council over recent years had invested heavily in new pay and display machines across its car parks that was agreed by the District Council, as part of its upgrading of the car parking infrastructure.  This had modernised its delivery of car parking payments towards a cashless payment system, moving away from the ‘pay on foot’ model to the ‘pay and display’ model which had meant that customers could use cash, card, or pay by app.  Pay by App was a convenient method that allowed drivers to add time to their stay without returning to their vehicle/pay station. This also removed the need for a Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) to be present, in case pay station or exit barriers developed a fault and enabled the CEO to undertake enforcement patrols.

Councillor Gray asked a supplementary question about making it as straightforward as possible to enable drivers to park in the District, such as ANPR and ‘pay as you leave’, so that people could feel able to stay longer and use local businesses. 

Councillor Baxter agreed that the review would look at options to encourage people to stay longer and use local businesses.  The decision to change from pay on foot to pay and display had been taken some time ago and the Council had invested in reliable machines, but these would always take cash.

Question submitted by Councillor P McDonald

“Would the Cabinet Member for Finance and Enabling inform me how many additional staff have been employed since May 2023 in the area of Leisure and Cultural Services?”

The Cabinet member for Finance and Enabling responded that Leisure and Culture had employed no additional staff since May 2023.  There were currently three vacancies out of sixteen members of staff, two of which were covered by a mixture of agency staff and seconded permanent staff.  The Council was looking to fill these posts as soon as possible and one post was on the cusp of being recruited to.

Temporary staff were used for event security and risk assessments of larger events. 

Councillor McDonald asked a supplementary question, referring to a statement earlier in the Municipal year that vacancies were being recruited to and the impact these had on the Council’s ability to bid for external funds.  The Cabinet member replied that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71