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.

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 earlier statement had been in relation to the Programme Manager and Project Manager.  Since then, a wider review of project management and grant applications across the Council was being undertaken.

Question submitted by Councillor S Evans

“Could you please confirm the budget for the levelling up fund awarded to Bromsgrove and how we are currently tracking against this?”

The Cabinet member for Economic Development and Regeneration responded that the budget details were contained on page 159 of the Council agenda.  Council undertook returns to DLUHC on a quarterly basis to update them on spending, deliverables and risks and issues being encountered.  Progress was also monitored at the Levelling Up Board which met on a monthly basis now the projects were moving into the design and delivery phases.  This Board was Chaired by the Leader, and also included the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Enabling.

Councillor Evans asked a supplementary question, that given there had been an increase in costs for some of the projects, whether the Cabinet member could confirm this would not be to the detriment of the regeneration of the High Street?

The Cabinet member replied that this would not be to the detriment of the regeneration of the High Street.

Question submitted by Councillor R. Hunter

“Could the leader please confirm if it is this Council’s policy to exempt people receiving council tax support from bailiff enforcement action over non-payment of council tax?”

The Leader of the Council responded that the Council looked at each case of recovery of Council tax on its individual merits, so would not automatically exempt those on Council tax support from bailiff action.  There was no blanket policy to exclude Council tax support recipients from any specific enforcement action. There would be cases in which - having regard to the debtor’s income, their assets, the period from which the debt accrued; or to the makeup of the household - the use of Enforcement agents was an appropriate course of action.  The Council’s appointed enforcement agents were instructed to identify vulnerable cases and to pause action where vulnerability had been identified.

The Council was currently in the process of updating its recovery process for the collection of council tax and non-domestic rates.

The recovery policy set out the actions the council would take before instructing enforcement agents to collect the debt.  Where a customer was in receipt of council tax support, the authority would take steps to engage with the customer and agree a suitable payment arrangement.  Deductions from benefits would be used in preference to the instruction of enforcement agents.

Revenue Services were trialling the use of external data validation to assist in the identification of cases which were not suited to further enforcement.  Bromsgrove data was being reviewed in January 2024.  The validation would identify, for cases where a liability order for non-payment of council tax was obtained, debtors:

a)    who were vulnerable; or

b)    who had low incomes and were unable to pay; or

c)     had sufficient income to pay their council tax but were prioritising non-priority debts, or

d)    who had the ability to pay.

Communication with the debtor would then be tailored to their circumstances and appropriate steps taken to resolve the debt.  A sample of cases had been referred for data profiling and outcomes would be reviewed in quarter 4.

Councillor Hunter asked a supplementary question that as part of the policy review, the Council consider making exempt from bailiff action those in receipt of council tax support.  Councillor May responded that this would be considered as part of the review.

Question submitted by Councillor S. Robinson

“Could you please set out the consequences of Bromsgrove not having a five year land supply and explain what the Council is doing to remedy this situation?”

The Cabinet Member for Planning, Licensing and WRS responded that where a five-year housing land supply could not be demonstrated, the presumption in favour of sustainable development applied. This meant that some policies were deemed to be out of date and permission for new housing should more often than not be granted. One of the exemptions from the presumption in favour of sustainable development was if there was green belt, and as Bromsgrove was 89% green belt at the moment, the consequences of not having a 5 year land supply were very limited.

To remedy this the Council was:

·       progressing the plan review to bring forward new sites for allocation to be delivered over the next plan period;

·       Holding regular Strategic Planning Steering Group meetings, which all members were welcome to attend;

·        Bringing reserved matters applications on allocated sites to planning committee.