The following question was submitted by George Wheeler -

Question: The 2023-4 budget included provision for a further £20,000 to be made towards replacement of the public toilets in St Budeaux Square. Can you tell me when this work is to be undertaken, please?

Answer: You are right in identifying that a £20,000 provision was included in the Council budget for 2023/24. This is directly because of the Plymouth Labour amendment moved as a result of the lobbying by Councillor Haydon. This administration is committed to the provision of public toilets in the vicinity of St Budeaux Square and shops. Over the past few months, I have had conversations with Councillors Haydon and Dingle about the provision of these toilets. I am happy to support their campaign and want to hear from the people of St Budeaux. I have already announced that the Council will open a consultation of future provisions of St Budeaux toilets by the end of September. The consultation will run for two months. I will review the findings of the consultation in order to ensure that the new toilets we provide meet local needs and aspirations. I will then commission provision of toilets for St Budeaux.

The following question as submitted by Dave Curno -

Question: PCC confirmed it would seek peer advice from another Council when considering the Armada Way TPO application and that it had approached another Council. PCC’s reply to a FOI request FS-case-541381192 indicates this was not in fact done. Who made the decision not to request recommendations from another Council?

Answer: Thank you for your latest question on Armada Way. The previous FOI was answered factually when we responded: ‘that Plymouth City Council did not request or receive any recommendation from another Local Authority in respect of the TPO request for Armada Way’. In response to a complaint to the Council’s Monitoring Officer about a potential conflict of interest between officers dealing with the Armada Way project and those assessing the TPO request, it was agreed by the Strategic Director for Place and the Monitoring Officer that the TPO should be subject to independent assessment. The Strategic Director for Place did contact a number of Local Authorities to discuss the process for conducting an independent TPO assessment. At no time did the Strategic Director request or receive their review or recommendation on the merits of the armada Way TPO case. The Strategic Director for Place delegated the decision making powers in respect of assessing the request for a TPO to the Head of Development Management. The Head of Development Management appointed an independent Tree Consultant - JK Tree Consultancy - to carry out the TPO assessment and make a recommendation for the consideration of the Head of Development Management. It is common practice for Council’s to seek advice from independent and appropriately qualified chartered consultants. Therefore, no one made a decision not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27