From

To

Subject

1

Cllr Tippetts

Cllr Penberthy

Would the Council consider waiving the street naming fee for developers who chose to name streets after fallen members of the armed forces with a demonstrable connection to Plymouth?

Response: The Council maintained a register of proposed names submitted by the public, and developers could choose from this list or propose their own. Street naming costs were not high and it was reasonable for the costs to be met by developers. I would support such proposals if brought forward. 

2

Cllr Mrs Bridgeman

Cllr Evans OBE

Can we have an update on Plymouth airport by the next Council meeting?

Response: The Council was in discussions with the leaseholders and once the discussions had concluded, I will report back to Council.

Supplementary: Is there a timeline?

Response: I cannot answer the question about that as the discussions were on-going.

3

Cllr Wood

Cllr Stephens

Why had £12.88 million had been committed to progress the Manadon Roundabout proposals before the public consultation report was published?

Response: Some of that money was to enable consultation information to be shared and response shared with other people. Part of the funding supported consultation activities and that the report would be published in autumn 2025, followed by a response and further consultation in summer 2026 when the council would be able to incorporate the information from its extensive surveys and feedback from the consultation. Part of that money was funding the next steps and its routine expenditure built into the strategic plan.

Supplementary: The whole point of consultation is a scheme can be amended to suit the responses received. Now we know the outline business case for the proposed scheme that mattered was submitted to the Department for Transport in October 2021 and it didn’t include the Budshead Way or Meavy Way proposals of which I have objected to through consultation. Would you be able to explain whether following the consultation report the council is considering removing those elements of the proposal and instead amending the Manadon roundabout scheme to include traffic light sequencing along Tavistock Road and Outland Road as without this joined up traffic management approach the scheme would be less effective.

Response: The consultation report would include next steps which would include your suggestion and others which will be considered and responded to.

4

Cllr P. Nicholson

Cllr Haydon

Can we have an update on arranging a full Council briefing with the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Response: I made the request but I’m still awaiting a response and will chase this up.

Supplementary: Under Local Government Re-organisation (LGR) the way that local government interacts with partners is quite key. So actually out partnership working I suggest, is sporadic around Plymouth. It is important that the police engage with the city council directly with us and not expect us to go to the local café or library when they request us to go, so we actually get more joined up working moving forward.

5

Cllr Raynsford

Cllr Haydon

Noise was the biggest issue raised amongst my residents causing great anger. Bikers seem to forget that southside street and the barbican are dense residential areas as well as being tourist hotspots. Groups of bikers gather on Sundays and Thursdays on mass and then rev their way along what is effectively an echo chamber. I’d like to thank the Police for their random checks on MOT’s and exhaust but I would like to ask Cllr Haydon if she would write to the Police and Crime Commissioner  requesting prioritisation for a noise camera targeting individual bikes for a suitable site in the city.

Response: Yes, I’m more than happy to write to the Commissioner s this doesn’t fall under the local authority it is the police that deals with it.

Supplementary: If we could look at as a council whether there are any other measures we can bring forward in terms of talking to the organisers of these events because I really would like to see bikers behaving in a more respectful and considerate way.

Response: Yes certainly and when we look at our events we have things such as bike nights.

6

Cllr Holloway

Cllr Laing

I have recently been contacted by a nurse from the organ donation team at Derriford Hospital to ask whether Plymouth could play its part in this years organ donation week which runs later this month where Council’s are being invited to light up landmarks in pink. Lighting up Smeaton’s Tower in pink would be a powerful and visible symbol of Plymouth’s commitment to organ donation. There are over 8,000 people waiting for a life saving organ transplant across the country. Are we able to light up Smeaton’s Tower?

Response: I’d be very happy for Smeaton’s Tower to be lit up pink to mark the start of organ donation week and to make sure it’s signposted through the council social media channels. That way we can do as much as we can to highlight the importance of everybody having that very difficult but vital discussion about organ donation and also to thank the organ donation team at Derriford hospital for the extraordinary work they do. 

7

Cllr Wood

Cllr Evans OBE

In our City Council meeting on 17 March 2025, you referred to stated that Plymouth was a profoundly urban and suburban area and were we to take in South Hams and West Devon it would, and I quote transform Plymouth from being a thriving city into a rural backwater in no time. Do you think referring to areas surrounding Plymouth as a rural backwater when the council was seeking to expand into the South Hams was a correct phrase to use?

Response:  I certainly don’t remember referring to South Hams and West Devon as a rural backwater. I did refer to the city council as changing in character if it went from an urban area to a vastly rural area, but I’m not familiar with those words you’ve just quoted to me, I’m happy to see them in writing.

Supplementary: They were absolutely spoken, I checked the video, so would you agree with me that as per what you said in the EGM in January that we should respect the traditions of the communities that we took into the city and we will have to do that again. So would you agree that the phrase rural backwater should not be used to describe West Devon and South Hams?

Response:  I think I’ve just heard you again say what I said and I didn’t say that the South Hams and West Devon were rural backwaters. What I said was taking in large parts of our neighbourhoods would actually run the risk of us becoming one. So it’s not the same thing.

8

Cllr Allison

Cllr Laing

How has The Box been extending Plymouth’s cultural offer and engaging families and young people over the summer?

Response:  6,144 people participated in organised activities over 19 days across the summer between one and three activities each day. Compare this to 3,991 the previous year over 18 days. I even took part in one, put myself outside of my comfort zone and did a pottery ceramics workshop and I would encourage anybody to take part in these workshops because they can really spark something creative in all of us.

During the workshop 756 people were asked if they had been to one of the family activities before and 40% of those who answered said they hadn’t, so that really shows very strong growth and its wonderful that we are getting so many first time visitors and participants.

9

Cllr Poyser

Cllr Stephens

In 2020 I set up a petition to reopen a railway station in Plympton which had gathered 1,700 signatures. In June 2023 I proposed a motion to set up a working group to open a railway station in Plympton.

Can Plympton councillors receive a briefing from yourself about progress made to date with planning the reopening of Plympton railway station and when can we expect that to happen?

Response: I’ll be quite happy to discuss with you. As well as it coming under the Growth agenda for Plymouth city council, its also a part of Peninsula Transport Board to and I refer you to the statement that Councillor Evans OBE said earlier on.

Supplementary: Can we receive a briefing?

Response: Yes.

10

Cllr Tippetts

Cllr Evans OBE

With the on-going Local Government Reforms we saw that the conservatives on Devon County Council tried to cancel the elections that happened in May 2024. Can you confirm that the May 2026 local elections would proceed despite local government reforms.

Response:  The local government elections in 2026 would continue as there was no reason that it shouldn’t. Are you standing then?

Supplementary: I can confirm I’m not standing, I’m just asking a question on behalf of the residents I represent who want the opportunity to go out and vote because they care about or city and they care about our democracy.

Response: I’m very confident the people of Compton will vote Labour again, they have been robbed of their Labour councillor.

11

Cllr Allen

Cllr Stephens

What support was available for electric vehicle (EV) drivers without off-street parking?

Response: I will be going down to phoenix street in Stonehouse to see one of the recently installed pop-up electric chargers. Working with Urban Fox Plymouth City Council has trialled a charge point that is flush to the ground so there’s no trip hazard, no obstacle and when its needed it just rises out of the ground for the person to charge their car.

Following the success of the trail, the new equipment that is now operational includes design features that supports ease of use for disabled motorists and users, ensuring equitable access to EV charging near to residents homes which has never been more important, especially for those people without off street parking. There is no cost to the council and we received 5% of gross revenue excluding VAT that they generated. This collaboration underlined the commitment of the Council to provide EV charging equipment right across the city as part of its EV infrastructure strategy.

Supplementary: Will this be rolled out wider across the city if this is a success?

Response: If it is a success the will of the council will be to extend them to all, so residents have more opportunity to own EV vehicles.

12

Cllr Raynsford

Cllr Stephens

What measures were in place to prevent parking machine scams involving QR codes?

Response: Plymouth City Council had signs in all its carparks stating that we did not use QR codes. Parking machines were checked daily and I’m aware that three weeks ago parking enforcement received a report that a QR code had been attached to a parking machine. Within an hour of that being reported the fake QR code had been removed.

I’m confident that the parking enforcement team and officers are robust in their checks on this issue and the public should feel reassured. Perhaps we should consider some communications which could be shared with residents to reassure them of this issue.

13

Cllr Nicholson

Cllr Evans OBE

Is the Leader aware that Councillor Rebecca Smith, also Member of parliament for South West Devon was campaigning against Plymouth’s stance on local government reorganisation, where Plymouth should be held at its current border. Would he agree with me that the member of parliament should really be consulting the whole Constituency of south west devon including Plympton and Plymstock where there are some cross border issues that have never really been resolved by Devon County Council or South Hams?

Response: Its not place to instruct the MP for South West Devon in this regard. I was disappointed that Councillor Rebecca Smith hasn’t made her views known to this council chamber, having missed all the debates and all the votes on this subject since we first raised the issue. I would suggest that some of her Plympton constituents who are concerned about this should write directly to her, asking why she is campaigning for something that’s to the detriment of Plymouth.

Supplementary: Thank you for your response. Would you go further to agree though that some of the cross-border issues affecting Plympton in particular, but Plymstock to some extent would be better sorted by a re-organised Plymouth City Council than an abolished city council and those matters addressed by Torbay or Newton Abbott or some far distant location elsewhere in Devon.

Response: In a rare outburst of unanimity, I couldn’t help but agree with you there due to the craziness of having a street in Plympton, where one end of the street had their bins collected by Plymouth City Council and another being collected by South Hams and the people in South Hams had more bins to deal with compared to those living at the other end of the street.

We don’t know yet, but if we were unsuccessful because people like Councillor Smith, MP had campaigned successfully against, we could end up with a massive neighbour and you may have to take your requests to Okehampton or somewhere else. What we do know for sure, is the abolition of the district councils and what we do need to be concerned about is what happens in those discussions with neighbours for the future. So that’s why the proposition that we made, I think is modest but its in Plymouth’s interests. I also believe its in the interests of the people who are living in those surrounding areas because they’ll get a far better service in Plymouth from Plymouth City Council than they would from a unitary Devon which had no experience of operating in those services.

14

Cllr Coker

Cllr Stephens

As a Devonport Councillor for the last 20 years who had been actively supporting public transport for Devonport residents, I would like to thank you and the Labour Government for funding a weekend bus service for Mount Wise residents and I request more publicity.

Response:  I will be delighted to that as you arranged for the 19 bus service linking the city centre, Plympton and Plymstock which will be calling at the crematorium soon. You also provided leaflets to some of the Plympton Councillors to deliver to residents in our areas to promote that bus service and I know it’s a welcome service.

Equally I think we could do the same to you and I appeal to every councillor in the chamber, every officer to take a bus ride in the next three weeks on one of the CityBus or Stagecoach buses.