Agenda item

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.

The Chairman advised that four Questions on Notice had been received for this meeting.

Question Submitted by Councillor Rone-Clark:

“In April 2021, in response to a petition with 5000 signatures and a motion submitted by then Cllr Mallett, calling for an urgent feasibility study R.E. a potential Western Relief Road, then portfolio holder for planning Cllr Kent told this council he had commissioned a Strategic Transport Assessment (STA) to be released to the public by 'the end of the summer (2022)'.

In September 2022, 17 months after the STA was first promised, I made an FOI request in response to the lack of communication on this from BDC...it returned nothing of substance, not even a draft overview of findings...

At a subsequent meeting in late 2022, I asked Cllr Thomas, my 2^nd planning portfolio holder , to comment on the status of the STA...he informed me that the STA didn't really exist and was merely a small extension of the local plan; despite the fact that in March 2021, Bromsgrove District Council went out to tender for a contractor to carry out a strategic transport assessment, advertising this on their website and social media!

Then, on April 9^th 2023, two years after this issue was first raised in this chamber, The Bromsgrove Conservatives tweeted 'pledge #4 for Bromsgrove: we havecommissioned a strategic transport assessment for the district...'

My question, put simply: what on earth is going on?”

The Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and WRS responded that the Strategic Transport assessment would be a suite of reports and assessments which primarily shaped and then supported the policies that would be contained in a new local plan for Bromsgrove District. It would be published alongside all the other elements of the evidence base when the plan was next ready for consultation. As explained at recent Strategic Planning Steering Group (SPSG) meetings, the planning system was subject to significant reforms now which made plan making a  difficult process. Officers had continued to progress the local plan as far as possible whilst these ongoing reforms were being considered. This had included working with Worcestershire County Council on developing tools to assess the likely impacts of new development across Bromsgrove District, and then predict the infrastructure improvements that would be required as a result. As explained at the SPSG meeting on the 5^th October, WCC officers had been asked to present the STA tools they had developed to BDC members, this would be taking place at the SPSG meeting on the 16^th November, to which all members were invited.

Cllr Rone Clark asked a supplementary question about how much STA modelling Councillor Taylor had inherited when he took up the portfolio.  Councillor Taylor responded that there had been robust conversations with Worcestershire County Council about the lack of progress.  He reiterated that County Council representatives had been invited to the meeting on 16^th November.

Question Submitted by Councillor D Nicholls:

“To ask the Leader, following information from the Royal British Legion, why are benefits assessments for veterans in Bromsgrove being means-tested more harshly compared to other Councils?

In councils such as Walsall Metropolitan Council, Cannock Chase DC or Warwick DC, there is no means testing of veterans over a range of benefits (i.e. Council Tax Support, Housing Benefit, Discretionary Housing Payment and Disabled Facilities Grants), whereas in Bromsgrove, Discretionary Housing Payments in both the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and the War Pension Scheme are means tested for armed forces veterans.

As we head towards Remembrance Sunday, do not those who have been in service of the defence of our country and Bromsgrove deserve to be fairly treated compared to military veterans in other areas?

I agree with the Royal British Legion that this is fundamentally unfair to the veterans of Bromsgrove.”

The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing and Strategic Housing responded that as with many local authorities, Bromsgrove District Council did not have prescribed rules for awarding Discretionary Housing Payments, and each application was looked at in its own merit. The Council looked at each individual’s needs, housing requirements, income, expenditure, medical requirements to name but a few. The Financial Independence Team processed the applications and also looked at benefit maximisation, budgeting advice and signposting to partners where appropriate.

Several incomes were disregarded for Housing Benefits/Council Tax Support, and where these incomes were in payment it typically saw a full award of eligible Housing Benefit/Council Tax Support. Obviously, other factors could cause a shortfall in Housing Benefit, mainly LHA rates, benefit caps and under occupancy charges – with the latter 2 only applying to working age claimants.

Discretionary Housing Payments were intended to be a short-term solution to help residents whilst long term solutions could be investigated and supported.

In addition to this, in the Council’s Housing Policy the Council recognised the contribution that armed forces personnel had made, with members of the UK armed forces stationed abroad being considered as living in the United Kingdom for the purposes of applying for social housing. The Council also considered high medical need or disability in the allocation of accommodation.

The Cabinet Member invited any Councillors who had queries to get in touch.

Councillor Nicolls asked a supplementary question about the voracity of data about Bromsgrove’s approach, which had been provided via a Freedom of Information request.  The Cabinet member undertook to answer Councillor Nicholls outside the meeting.

Question submitted by Councillor R. Hunter

“I am continuing to find it very difficult to get firm commitments from this Council about repairing broken bus shelters. Please could you confirm that residents can expect broken bus shelters to be repaired or replaced and the timescale within which they can expect this work to be completed?”

The Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety replied that the minor works team in the Engineering and Design Team undertook repairs to Bus Shelters, however where a new Shelter was required these were procured individually which caused delays, although the system of procurement was undergoing a review. The Council was currently finalising tender documents which would see a contract awarded and started in January 2024. This would mean that shelters that the Council was responsible for, would be replaced within a 6-week period going forward.

The Stourbridge Road shelter was to be removed this Friday and the Cabinet Member was awaiting feedback on when the replacement would be installed.

Also as context the Minor Works team was currently supporting the works that were being undertaken at the Artrix which had impacted in the short term on turnaround times for repairs to bus shelters.

Councillor Hunter asked a supplementary question about whether the Cabinet Member would give an assurance that every bus shelter reported as damaged would be replaced.

The Cabinet Member replied that he could not commit to the request because finances were limited, and the budget was set. Subject to this he was prepared to commit that some bus shelters would be repair or replaced as set out in his answer to the original question.

Question Submitted by Councillor J. Robinson

I understand the Council is working on a solution where a forward look of intended road sweeping rounds can be published, although there will be no guarantee as to exact dates due to the responsive nature of the service. Do you have a timescale for when this is likely to go live, please and could you confirm if the council is also intending to publish backdated information of roads that have already been swept?

The Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety responded that the sweeper service had been significantly disrupted over a number of months due to availability of drivers as there had been long term sickness together with the need to recruit into the vacancy. At the start of October 2023, the Council had been able to operate with 3 drivers for the first time for a while. Officers had therefore been working in a reactive manner based on issues that had been raised in order to return areas to the required standard and they were now targeting known flooding areas and road networks outside of the settlements to improve the overall appearance of the roads. It was envisaged that they would soon return to planned routes for regular sweeping to maintain standards that had lapsed. Responsibility had recently moved to the Place team for this service and routes were being reviewed and it was anticipated that these would be published at the beginning of December. 

Councillor Robinson asked a supplementary question that if councillors brought forward roads in their wards for sweeping, whether the Council would respond to these requests?

The Cabinet Member responded that he had passed on an e-mail Councillor Robinson had sent him to the relevant team at the Depot.  He referred to some practical issues which could prevent prompt action (such as cars parked on residential roads).  However, he referred to the previous answer relating to the publication of routes in December and advised that councillors pass on requests to the Place team with responsibility for co-ordination in their wards.  They could also raise any specific issues with him as Cabinet Member.