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Councillor Patrick Nicholson

Councillor Sally Haydon

With regard to the email sent out last week to all members relating to the vaccinations and the concerns regarding the use of facilities across Plymouth, could an indication be given regarding what City Council facilities had been offered and whether health and wellbeing centres were amongst these, in order to assist the NHS in its vital work in carrying out vaccinations in Plymouth.

Response: The vaccination programme was being administered by the NHS and not Plymouth City Council, so no details were available. With regard to the location of the vaccination sites this question was better directed at Councillor Kate Taylor (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care). The aim of the email to all Members was to be helpful, in view of the large number of queries being received from members of the public on vaccinations.

Supplementary: Councillor Kate Taylor (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) was aware of the concerns and this issue would be pursued further with her.

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Councillor Nick

Kelly

Councillor Chris Penberthy

Councillor Nick Kelly had been approached and had read the recent article in the newspaper relating to the Council match funding to a maximum of £20k the Lord High Admiral pub project. Crowd funding was a very powerful initiative that brought the community together and it was an essential way of providing funding.  People had been astonished at the large sum given to a single company.  Could the Cabinet Member clarify the criteria and review it, in light of the public outcry to the recent funding?

Response: The City Change Fund and its partnership with Crowd Fund UK had been hugely successful and had won both national and international awards since its launch in 2015. To date, it had distributed £1.5m over 100 community projects.  This was funded through the Community Infrastructure Levy and other external sources and was not funded by the tax payer. This was a levy that developers paid to help support development in the city.

The Lord High Admiral pub was a specific project which had been in response to the Covid pandemic.  It met the terms and conditions and the seven assessment criteria as set out on the Council’s website, as well as Crowd Fund UK’s website. The project had demonstrated how it supported the local community in a deprived area of the city which had experience a large amount of development.  The hub was used by other businesses, worked closely with the arts community and was also heavily involved community organisations.

A review of the criteria had taken place last year when a climate emergency bonus was introduced.  This included updating the criteria to reflect issues arising from the Covid pandemic which had been already impacting the city.  It was not the right time to change the criteria for existing or potential applicants as this could impact the work that had already started.

Anyone could apply to the scheme including businesses or organisations with an interest in the City Change Fund.  Applications went through an open and transparent process and were assessed on the application’s own merits.  The Lord High Admiral pub project had over 600 local supporters including businesses who had supported the project with their own money.  This was a clear indication of the community support for this project,

Supplementary: Whether Councillor Chris Penberthy could determine how much money was left in the fund for other crowd funding opportunities?

Response: The funding changed all the time depending on how much money developers had paid into the levy and how much money had been spent on other pledges.

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Councillor Chaz

Singh

Councillor Mark Lowry

With regard to the removal of the Sir John Hawkins road sign, was the Cabinet Member aware that a complaint had been filed with the City Council and Devon and Cornwall Police, as this was in breach of the outcome of the court case held on 4 December 2020.

Response: No comment would be made on this matter until the appeal had been dealt with by the Council and the courts.

Supplementary:  If an appeal was lodged, would the sign for the Square be reinstated until the outcome of the appeal was known?

Response: The signs would not be reinstated.

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Councillor Kevin Neil

Councillor Chris Penberthy

Following the recent Government announcement on the additional £10m to councils for extra support with rough sleepers and the ban on bailiff evictions to 21 February 2021, whether Plymouth was being allocated any of this additional funding? Could the Cabinet Member provide a progress update on rough sleepers?

As the £10m needed to be spent by 31 March 2021, what was the Cabinet Member’s thoughts on whether this was good planning or whether he would have a different ask of Government as to the support that was required in Plymouth to drive out rough sleeping for good?

Response: The Cabinet Member referred Councillor Neil to the scrutiny session on homelessness and also budget scrutiny.  The proportion of the £10m extra funding being allocated to Plymouth was not yet known (the Cabinet Member would ask officers to provide a response to this).

It was not helpful to receive piecemeal funding when the Council was trying to create long term solutions.  The winter provision funding would be received in January 2021 and would need to be spent by the end of March 2021 which left just two months to spend the funding.  The Council would do everything it could to maximise the funding from the Government.

The Council had asked the Government to combine all homelessness funding into one stream, to make an announcement of the funding allocation earlier and provide funding on a three year rolling cycle which would allow for further strategic interventions to provide a roof over someone’s head, ensure support to make it a home of their own and one which could be sustained. The Council had made a long-term commitment to the Plymouth Alliance to substantially address the problems and make sure homeless people got the very best service from the Council.

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Councillor

Jonathan Drean

Councillor Mark Coker

Whether progress had been made with compiling information on the usage and incidents that had occurred on the cycle path?

Response: A report would be compiled within the next four to six weeks which would provide details of the usage of the city centre cycle lane and also the problems that had been encountered with the temporary scheme.

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Councillor Dave Downie

Councillor Sue Dann

Whether an explanation could be provided on the glaring disparity relating to the time it took to remove fly tipping in different wards across the city (some wards had fly tipping removed within one to two days, whilst in Budshead it took two weeks)?

Response: Fly tipping was dealt with as and when cases were reported, not on a geographical hierarchy nor on a political basis, however this issue would be investigated. Fly tipping within the city had been reduced by 33%. The Council was ‘hot’ on dealing with fly tipping and ensuring that the environmental criminals were caught.

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Councillor Eddie Rennie

Councillor Chris Penberthy

As you may be aware, the Labour Party put a motion to Parliament last week opposing the cruel cut to Universal Credit. What affect would the cut have on Plymouth and its poorest people?

Response: (Councillor Tudor Evans, OBE provided a response due to technical difficulties being encountered by Councillor Chris Penberthy).

There were 22,000 people in Plymouth that claimed Universal Credit. During the debate in Parliament a number of Conservative MPs had stated that this issue could be solved through work, however this benefit provided money to the working poor. The £20 uplift was due to end and the Labour motion had asked the Government whether this would continue.  The £20 uplift was desperately needed as the referrals to food banks had increased, child poverty had increased and the working poor were getting poorer.  This was not the time to withdraw the benefit.

Supplementary: Could the Leader confirm, to the best of his knowledge, that the poorest and the most vulnerable people in the city would suffer if this cut was implemented?

Response: Yes. There was an incredible amount of people in Plymouth that relied on Universal Credit. There had been a dramatic increase in unemployment, wage cuts and shorter working hours.  It was hoped that the Government would maintain the uplift.

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Councillor Pam Buchan

Councillor Chris Penberthy

Councillor Buchan had been disappointed that the Government had not fully funded the discretionary element of the track and trace self-isolation grant scheme and was concerned about the impact this was having on low paid workers.  Thanked the Cabinet Member for campaigning on this issue and asked whether there was anything else that he could do?

Response: The Cabinet Member had been pleased to receive some sort of response from the Government. This would mainly impact low paid workers, who had to self-isolate, would lose their income and were not in receipt of a qualifying benefit.  This was a public health issue and one which he was concerned about.  He would be writing to the ministers again this week. The executive decision that he signed a couple of months ago would finish at the end of this week.  Discussions would be held with the Strategic Director of Customer and Corporate Services to look at the current funding shortfall and opportunities to extend this scheme, alongside the main scheme, until the end of March 2021.

It was essential that the Government continued to support the most financially vulnerable, who did not immediately qualify for this scheme and ensure that the public health need of people isolating, if in low paid jobs and where at risk of losing income continued.  If the Government would not step in and support the vulnerable then this caring Council would. He hoped to be able to make an announcement regarding this issue, later in the week.

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Councillor Patrick Nicholson

Councillor Sue Dann

With regard to tree felling, would the Cabinet Member consider introducing consultations with Ward Members on the reasons for the decision, as scrutiny of the merits of removing trees would be welcomed? On occasion, the Parks Department had felled prominent trees, on Plymouth City Council land, without any apparent reason.

Response: The Cabinet Member took this suggestion on board and would look to adopt this approach going forward. Better engagement with Ward Members had already been discussed relating to how to report back to those who had donated to the tree planting programme, as part of their community grant.

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Councillor Nick Kelly

Councillor Mark Lowry

Whether the wording used for checking the eligibility of an individual for the Council Tax single person discount could be reviewed and made less confrontational? More mature residents found it quite upsetting to receive the letter challenging their eligibility.

Response: This issue had already been brought to the Cabinet Member’s attention and a review of the wording had been requested, noting the concerns of elderly residents regarding the nature of this letter.  If changes were made, Councillor Nick Kelly would be informed,

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Councillor Margaret Corvid

Councillor Sue Dann

Whether information could be provided on how the computer led intelligence that had been gathered in waste and street services was driving efficiency during the pandemic?

Response: The intelligence gathered by the waste collectors had enabled the identification of areas, in particular the side streets that had waste issues, contaminated bins and additional waste which had made a real difference to how the refuse crews were supported.  The waste collectors had been out during the whole of pandemic and the evidence gathered had been vital in providing extra support.

A new system was also being used for tracking evidence based fly tipping and where areas needed to be cleansed.  Extra capacity had been put in to cleaning the back lanes and removing fly tipping. Evidence was also collect on the neighbourhood sweeps. This enabled staff and resources to be more efficiently deployed which was particularly relevant in the inner city areas where there was a high density of population.

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Councillor

Terri Beer

Councillor

Sue Dann

Some elderly residents, not just in Plympton but across the city would be unable to accommodate the new garden waste wheelie bin on their properties.  Could assurance be given by the Cabinet Member that in these cases the residents would be allowed to continue to use the garden waste bags?

Response: The new garden waste wheelie bins had arrived in the city and delivery of them would commence at the end of this month. The new garden waste service had been implemented due to both health and safety issues, with the collectors having to lift tonnes of garden waste and the need to increase efficiency of this service.

It was recognised that not all homes would be able to accommodate the new wheelie bins. Once the new bins had been rolled out, people would be assessed to see if they were eligible for the exemption policy. People would need to contact the Council to apply for an exemption. This however would mean that people eligible for an exemption would not have their garden waste collected at the start of the introduction of the new service in April 2021.  The exemption policy would only affect a minority of people in the city.

Supplementary: Some elderly residents would struggle to get the bins through their properties and out on to the pavement but they were able to manage a bag.

Response: It was acknowledged that there would be some residents that would not be able to have a garden waste wheelie bin on their property.  These residents would need to apply for an exemption which would be fairly assessed.  The exemption policy would be for those residents that genuinely could not keep a wheelie bin on their property.

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Councillor Terri Beer

Councillor Sue Dann

What was the policy for resurfacing residential streets in the city (not the main roads), as there were issues where the foundations were showing through due to wear and tear (these roads had been neglected for years)?

Response: Councillor Sue Dann advised that this was Councillor Mark Coker’s portfolio.

Response: Councillor Mark Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure) advised that all roads/streets and pavements were assessed by a company called Gaist and that this information was available to all councillors. Once the survey had been undertaken, officers would be able to assess which roads/streets needed to be repaired, based on the information provided by Gaist.  Part of this process included repairing roads/streets before they began to show signs of wear and tear, in order to protect them for the future.

The Cabinet Member requested that the name of the roads/streets be provided, in order to raise these concerns with the relevant officers and provide a response.

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Councillor

Chaz Singh

Councillor Tudor Evans

How many councillors either in the Labour Group, Conservative Group or Independents had undertaken the equality and diversity training?

Response: Sought clarification regarding the question relating to whether there was a time limit for when councillors had to do the training, or how many councillors had been trained to this point (not how many councillors would receive the training).

Equality and diversity training would be available to all councillors and should form part of the councillor induction training, following the May 2021 elections for both returning and new councillors.  A detailed response would be provided if Councillor Singh could provide his precise request.

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Councillor

Andrea Johnson

Councillor Tudor Evans

Along with other Members she had been saddened by the news of the loss of the troubled department store, Debenhams and that all thoughts went out to those staff affected by this.  What were the early thoughts on the risk of this becoming a gaping hole in the city centre?

Response: The Council’s Economic Development team and the City Centre Company had been working closely with the company.  The company had folded as the rescue package had not taken place.  The announcement of the closure of the store which had been made today was very sad. The Council wished to see the building retained for shopping, as it was a key store in the city centre. Both the Economic Development team and the City Centre Company were working hard to try and get new investment in the city centre.

There was new investment in the city centre which included the new hotel in the former Woolworths building, the hotel and accommodation in the former Co-op Derry’s building and the major transformation of the former BHS building.  There was a lot of interest in investing in the city centre, so it was too early to be pessimistic.

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Councillor

Nick Kelly

Councillor Sue Dann

What specific actions were being taken to increase the recycling rates in the city, given the Council’s aspirational target was 65%, with the latest recycling figure being 38.2%?

Response:  The Covid pandemic had impacted the amount of domestic waste collected over the last 10 months together with the delay in implementing the garden waste collection service. There would be multiple actions in order to achieve the recycling target.

As part of the Street Service vision and the Climate Emergency Action Plan target for this year, there would be a campaign on waste hierarchy. People would be encouraged to recycle more with education around what could be recycled, as people were still unsure.  The ‘on the go’ recycle bins in the city centre would contain more information as to what could be recycled (coffee cups could not be recycled as they were classed as contaminated waste).

People would also be encouraged to reduce the waste they created and re-use items.   There would be a campaign and narrative around this which linked to a behavioural change action point contained in the Climate Emergency Action Plan.

Supplementary: Whether consideration had been given to turning the recycling centre at Chelson Meadow into a depository for sinks, basins and DIY items that were too good to be smashed up. This would boost the recycling rate and the Council would play a prominent part in facilitating this.

Response: the Council already worked with a couple of providers who assessed whether any items at Chelson Meadow could be re-used. This scheme would be expanded to include the collection of DIY waste, as a separate entity.