Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q5/

14-15

Mr K Kelway

Councillor P Smith, Deputy Leader

Tinside Lido

Since the iconic Tinside Lido is featured on a British postage stamp and marketing the city across the globe – does Councillor Peter Smith think the City wasted £3.2 million in getting the famous Grade 2 listed landmark restored?

Response:

No.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q6/

14-15

Mr R Morris

Councillor Evans, Leader

Social Media

Given the elected Members corporate parenthood role and  the Council's duties and responsibilities in terms of  openness and transparency, does the Leader require of  himself, and of his colleagues, the utmost probity in the  use of social media at all times and in all places?

Response:

Plymouth City Council has adopted a Code of Conduct which sets out the conduct expected of elected Members and co-opted Members of the Council.

The Code is intended to be consistent with Lord Nolan’s seven principles of public life, namely that Councillors will act with selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

The Code applies to councillors when they –

a)    a) conduct the business of the Council, including the business of their office as a councillor; or

b) act, claim to act or give the impression they are acting as a representative of the Council.

It is, therefore, the Code of Conduct (and not the Leader of any political group on the Council) that requires all elected members to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with the Code.

However, it ought to be noted that the Code of Conduct is not engaged at all times, respecting that all elected Members have a right to private life.

Accordingly, how Members conduct themselves in terms of their private lives outside of the Council and away from the application of the Code of Conduct, for example, in terms of their use of social media, is entirely a matter for those individuals exercising their rights to a private life.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q8/

14-15

Sarah Car

Councillor Evans, Leader

Plymouth Hoe Diving Boards

As a mum of a child that tombstones will The Leader of the Council listen to the kids and the parents and consider supporting the campaign to bring back the Plymouth Hoe diving boards to give kids back somewhere to use instead of dangerous jumping off the rocks.

Response:

The Council is very aware of the problem of tombstoning on the waterfront and has been actively working with the police to address it.

This has included putting in place dispersal orders which gives the police the powers to stop it when they see it happening.

It is important that parents do whatever they can to dissuade their children from this dangerous activity. The Council and its partners can provide support to help children understand the dangers and we would be happy to speak to Ms Car if she would like this support.

The diving boards on the Hoe were removed for safety reasons in February 2010.

Tombstoning happened in Plymouth long before the removal of the diving boards so it is unlikely that a new one would stop the problem. However, if there is a community group or commercial organisation interested in installing and managing a new board in a sustainable and safe way, we would support them by making land available to them at no cost.

This can be done through our Plymouth Your Space scheme, which is an initiative which unlocks vacant and unused space in the city to enable people to run start-up businesses or community projects from.   

Plymouth Your Space will provide advice and guidance to any organisation that submits a proposal to install and run a new diving board.  Anyone interested in exploring this opportunity should visit the Your Space website:  www.visitplymouth.co.uk/your-space

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q9/

14-15

Mr J Williams

Councillor Penberthy, Cabinet Member for Co-operatives Housing and Community Safety

Register of approved private sector landlords

Does the Authority have a register of approved private-sector landlords?

If so, what are the criteria for membership?

Would any register in which the Authority participated approve of the following conduct: attempting to defraud a tenant by suing them for rent, for a period before the commencement of the tenancy?

Response:

The Council does not hold a register of approved private sector landlords and there is no requirement placed on us to do.  There are calls for a National Register of Landlords to be established, which this Council has actively lobbied for, but the current Government has resisted this sensible course of action so far.

As we have no register in place, then the question re. criteria for membership does not apply. However the Council would not support any landlord involved in fraudulent activity, and if evidence is available then it should be made available to us so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.

Hypothetically, if there were a register of approved landlords then in all likelihood the terms of membership would be that the landlord should be ‘fit and proper’ ( as with the mandatory licensing scheme for landlords of Houses in Multiple Occupation), and any fraudulent activity would impact on this.

The Council has a Pledge to improve the Private Rented Sector, and this is supported by Plymouth’s Fairness Commission, which identified a number of national and local recommendations.

Work is in hand to create a Charter for the Private Rented Sector in Plymouth which would set out the Council’s values and aims together with a set of key actions to improve this growing sector in Plymouth (now over 20% of all housing). 

Our aim will be to significantly improve conditions and management of private rented housing by supporting the best landlords, bringing more landlords up to the standards of the best and taking robust action against those that do not meet what is required of them.