The following question was received from Mr Stephen Dart and answered by The Leader:

Question: On 11 Sep 23 PCC confirmed that of the £2.75 million capital funding agreed by the Cabinet for the Brickfields redevelopment “only around 20% of the funding approved will be paid as grant funding to Plymouth Argyle …” Please confirm what the remaining 80% is being spent on? 

Answer: Thanks to Mr Dart for his follow-up question. The redevelopment of the Brickfields site really is a once in a generation opportunity to secure significant investment in sport, health and wellbeing services that will benefit not just the people of Devonport but residents all across the city and indeed visitors from outside Plymouth as well. 

Mr Dart’s question asks about the funding which the Council is providing. Before I explain how we’re spending our funding it’s worth highlighting that the Council’s commitment to provide £2.75m has helped to secure over £18m of funding from our partners at Plymouth Argyle Football Club and Plymouth Argyle Community Trust. Together with Plymouth Albion and Devonport Community Leisure Ltd (who will be the voice of the local community) we will be creating a new home for elite and grassroots sport, and new health and wellbeing facilities that will be the envy of other towns and cities in the southwest. 

Apart from the funding which we are providing to Plymouth Argyle to support the work they will be doing at Brickfields, the Council funding will also be used for the following. 

·         We’ll be providing a brand new hockey pitch at Stoke Damerel Community College to replace the current pitch which is worn out and has been out of use for some time. 

·         We’ll also be providing the petanque club with a new home at Stonehouse Creek. This will give them a new playing facility with dedicated parking and access to changing facilities and toilets. 

·         We’ll also be carrying out improvements to the existing stand at the athletics track. 

·         And we’ve made provision for ongoing maintenance of the athletics track. 

·         We’re also supporting Devonport Community Leisure Trust in their new role as chair of the Brickfields governing board and with their ongoing work with the local community. 

The following question was received from Mr Black:

Question: How does the Leader intend to improve connectivity to Plymouth, does this include the additional railway line through North Devon / Tavistock and extending the M5 to Plymouth?

Answer: The Council remains committed to improving connectivity to Plymouth as set out in Policy SPT8 of the South West Devon Joint Local Plan which includes supporting the ongoing investment that enhances the resilience of the rail network to extreme weather events and delivers improvements to capacity, frequency and journey times.  

After nearly 10 years since storms washed away a section of track at Dawlish, there is still no firm commitment from Government to complete all 5 phases of work needed to make the coastal route resilient.  Even the announcement by the Prime Minister that the promised investment that the south west would get from cancelling HS2, were only illustrative and not meant as pledges.  Plymouth deserves firm concrete proposals not just illustrations with a commitment to funding of all five phases of the work and the Council will continue to campaign for this until this is achieved.   

Similarly, the Council support any measures that would lead to the re-opening of the Northern Route between Plymouth and Exeter via Tavistock and Okehampton.  The Council is therefore currently working in partnership with stakeholders to achieve the next stage of that ambition by securing the reopening of the rail line to allow journeys once again between Plymouth and Tavistock. 

There are no proposals to extend the M5 west of Exeter, but The Council will continue to make the case, through its membership of the Peninsula Transport Sub-National Transport Body, for investment in the Strategic Road Network, ensuring that the A38 is modernised to improve safety and journey time reliability to meet the needs of users. 

David Cameron said when the line went down (at Dawlish) that the Government would do whatever it took to make it resilient, which they had not done and we were still some wayfrom resilience of the Penzance to Paddington.  

The following question was received from George Wheeler:

Question: Would you provide the following information about all the public toilets owned and operated by the city council in Plymouth, the location, the capacity, and the charge to use the facility, please?

Answer: Please see a list below of each facility. The older toilets consist of blocks with cubicles in the female block and cubicles and urinals in the male blocks. We have estimated the capacity of the multi-use urinals for the purpose of this report.