From

To

Subject

1

Councillor Rennie

Councillor Penberthy

With increasing evictions by private landlords, what action was Plymouth taking to provide homes?

Was he aware of the successful initiative at Mount Gould where the former social club was being developed for social housing following discussions with the community?

Response:  He was concerned at the behaviour of private sector landlords and more homes were needed.  Sites were being released for homes and a good mix was required to cater for families, couples and singles.

He congratulated Councillor Rennie on the initiative at Mount Gould which reflected local community needs.

2

Councillor  Jordan

Councillor Lowry

Why had the sale of green spaces proceeded in the light of pressures on local schools and doctors’ surgeries and without consultation with the local community and ward councillors?

Why was a community park with a football pitch (not regulation size) sold?

Response: Surplus property declarations were sent to all councillors to give them the opportunity to respond. They are then presented to Councillor Lowry prior to public consultation.  20 plots of land had been released predominantly on brown field sites (four had been on green field sites). Councillors were reminded that they had all supported the Plan for Homes.

3

Councillor Ball

Councillor Evans

Would Councillor Evans retract the comments he made in the Herald about the use of the camera car?

Response: No.

4

Councillor Foster

Councillor Vincent

Would he investigate the complaints procedure relating to bin collections as it was not working?

Response:  All complaints made were investigated.

5

Councillor Bowyer

Councillor Evans

Was the earlier reference made by the Leader to people being snobs, appropriate?

Would he withdraw the comment and apologise to residents?

Response:  The reference during the discussion on school places, related to members of the opposition, not residents.

6

Councillor Dr Mahony

Councillor Peter Smith

Would he guarantee that ice skating provision would continue at the Pavilions until alternative arrangements were in place and what was the proposed timescale for the replacement of the facilities?

Response:  Yes, ice skating provision would continue at the Pavilions until alternative arrangements were in place.  The timescale was not known as discussions with the developer were ongoing.

7

Councillor Casey

Councillor Evans

What was he doing to achieve openness and transparency? Will he stop councillors tweeting during meetings?  

Response:  Meetings were webcast. The Council was committed to openness and transparency and had published its record on Freedom of Information requests.  The public were able to attend meetings and to tweet. 

The Acting Monitoring Officer indicated that it was inappropriate to discuss this matter as a complaint had been made to him on this issue.

8

Councillor Mrs Bowyer

Councillors Penberthy /Peter Smith 

Why were the minutes of the Have Your Say meeting not posted on the Council’s website?

She had drafted the minutes herself.  What plans were there to improve the process?

Response: He would ensure that they were posted on the website and delays had been due to a lack of officer support.  At present, support was provided on a voluntary basis and consideration was being given to a different framework.

9

Councillor Drean

Councillor Coker

When will a document or Amey’s newsletter be able to be shared with residents and at Have Your Say meetings?

Response: Progress was being made with a newsletter which could be shared with residents and at meetings. He was expecting a draft shortly and then it would be made available.

10

Councillor Dr Salter

Councillor Coker

When was the public consultation referred to by Councillor Lowry, with regard to the proposed sale of land at Glen Road and Chaddlewood fields? (Question 2 above refers)

When will a decision be reached?

Response: A decision would be made when the consultation finished and views would be taken into account.  He was more than happy to engage with councillors and residents and he would take everything into account before taking a decision.

A written response would be provided on the dates of the consultation.

11

Councillor  Nicholson

Councillor Lowry

What was the likely timescale for decisions on the disposal of land and would he consider a tranche system for the proposals and give timescales for each package?  

Response:  20 disposals had been proposed and there were another 10 to 20 further disposals to progress. Some were signed off quickly and others could take up to 12 months depending on the scale and complexity of the proposals.  

The request for tranches was noted.

12

Councillor Jordan

Councillor Lowry

What is the vision for the Council set by the Transformation Team?  What will be the shape of the organisation at the end of the journey?

Response:  An important element was to achieve £30m savings and this would be achieved by consultants and the Council’s own staff together.  The proposals were at implementation stage. Some had been presented to scrutiny and some were at the business case stage.  Implementation plans would follow which would involve setting up co-operatives and partnerships with other local authorities, partners and the community.

The vision was set out within the Corporate Plan, part of which involved transformational change. Papers had been presented to the Co-operative Scrutiny Board and councillors were asked to engage with members on the Transformational Change Programme.

13

Councillor  Casey

Councillor Peter Smith

Councillor Smith was asked to join with her in congratulating the person responsible for therenovation work at the reservoir at Drake’s Place.

Was he looking forward to the next campaign for a Mayor of the City?

Response: The work had been undertaken in partnership with Plymouth University and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The campaign / process for a Mayor was a waste of money.

14

Councillor  Foster

Councillor Lowry

Is he confident that the Council will achieve the £30m savings?

Yes he was.

15

Councillor  James

Councillor McDonald

How many children were currently placed outside of the city and what was the current cost?

What action was being taken to bring those children back into the city and to make savings?

Response:  Some children were placed outside of the city for sound reasons for example as a result of sexual abuse or for a highly specialist service not available in the city.

A written response would be provided.

16

Councillor Bowyer

Councillor Evans

How many times had the ‘My Plymouth’ mobile app been used since its launch?

It had been used six times, was that value for money?

He did not know how many times the app had been used. 

The app had not been available for long and the message about the app needed to be reinforced to increase usage.

17

Councillor Dr Mahony

Councillor Peter Smith

Was he aware of IT problems re delivery of emails from external sources?

Response:  A problem caused by the transfer of the centre to Windsor House had been resolved.  If there were further problems councillors were advised to let him know. Councillor Smith asked if the issue had been reported to IT and Councillor Dr Mahony responded that he only became aware of it the day before.

18

Councillor  Churchill

Councillor Peter Smith

Re the failings to put Have Your Say notes on the website, could he confirm that staff get paid for the role?

Was it part of their day job?

Response: Officers had time off in lieu.  It was part of their day job.

19

Councillor  Jordan

Councillor Peter Smith

What action was being taken to avoid ticket touting for the MTV festival?

Response: An outside firm had been employed to deal with tickets. He was aware that some tickets had been put on ebay and they had been cancelled.

He reminded everyone that young people, under the age of 16 years, needed to be accompanied by an adult at the event.

20

Councillor  Dr Salter

Councillor Peter Smith

Had the IT problem re emails been permanently resolved rather than a temporary patch up?

Response: Emails should relate to Council business only.