Cabinet 22 May 2024, 10.15am | BCP Council

A meeting of the BCP Council Cabinet. Agenda, reports and other documents are available from:
https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=285&MId=5897

for good morning everybody and welcome to the May meeting of cabinet my name is councelor Millie L and I’m the deputy leader of the council and vice chair of cabinet um I’ll be chairing this meeting uh today as councilor Slade as way representing us at a National Conference uh next to me is councelor Richard Burton uh he will be assisting me with chairing today’s meeting um I’d like to welcome all the members of the public who are in the room with us today um and who have given up their time and of course the other counselors who are in the room and online um first of all I’m going to hand over to democratic Services officer to go through the housekeeping for today’s meeting uh thank you so please note that this meeting is being recorded by the council for live broadcast and will be published on the council website for a minimum of 6 months the meeting may also be recorded or streamed for live or subsequent broadcast by members of the public although ultimate discretion in this matter lies with the chair in case of disruption for those in the room please note that if the fire alarm sounds please exit the building by where the nearest available signed fire exit route and make your way to the assembly point at the Wall Memorial in the gardens opposite the front of the building in Bourn Avenue finally please ensure background noise is kept to a minimum our mobile phones and other devices are turned off for switch to silent for the duration of the meeting for those in the room this includes turning off microphones and turning the volume down completely on your laptops thank you thanks Sarah um I’d just like to add that as we have um member um members of the public in the room today um that uh this meeting is held in public and is not a public meeting so I’d like to request that members of the public remain silent throughout the meeting apart from when invited to um speak and give their submitted questions and statements um I’d also like to give the Assurance to the members of the public um that I in to switch up the order of the meeting and bring item 10 on pull part forward on the agenda and deal with it first so that you don’t have to hang around for other items although you are more well more than welcome to stay for the entirety of the meeting if you wish uh so we move to agenda item one which is apologies we have apologies from councilor VI slay leader of the council who I previously mentioned is away at conference this weekend we also have apologies from councelor David Brown who is away having been invited to Buckingham Palace um other than that we’re all present although we have quite a lot to get through um and with engagements and events this afternoon I’m hoping we can keep to time um and get through everything before members have to leave uh for their next meetings so item two on the agenda is Declarations of interest uh I haven’t had any raised with me but is there anything that we should be aware of no if any members of cabinet do uh become aware of anywhere any throughout just let me know so agenda item three is the confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting of cabinet um can I get a proposer and a seconder for last month’s minutes I’m quite happy to uh chair thank you thank you so um councelor Richard Burton to uh propose councelor Andy Martin to all right yeah thank you thank you so agenda item four is public issues we have had no petitions submitted from members of the public on this occasion however we have received one question on agenda item 13 which is the send progress update read the send Improvement plan and safety valve and one question and 48 statements in relation to agenda item 10 which is the Improvement of the environment in poor Park par uh through a trial closure of the park entrance to motor traffic we have a 15minute limit uh for this item of the agenda but considering the number of statements for agenda item 10 um I’d like to double that to 30 minutes to hear as many as possible as we can um in that time frame um we will start though with questions from the public because they Merit an answer from the responsible portfolio holder whereas statements don’t get an answer however we will likely refer to the points raised um as part of the discussion and debate later on um I should also not that we have a lot of statements received where the member of the public has requested that they are read out by uh Sarah Democratic Services officer um so Sarah will make um her way through as many as she can um in that time so they’ probably be read quite quickly so public questions um the first one that we have is from S Baker um is es Baker here today no in that case um can I ask it’s read out by uh Sarah from democratic Services thank you so the question there are two parts of this question part one is there a legality issue over bcp’s approach to closing vehicular access before any consultation even took place po Park was gifted to the people for the people and when eventually the results of the consultation became available I understand that 63% of the very high number of participants desired the vehicular entrance to remain open two what Authority does BCP have to ignore the result of their own consultation and pursuing this undemocratic approach the people have spoken furthermore I might add that as a daily user of the park as a pedestrian and cyclist I have never seen a single survey being conducted on the number of cars using the car park or the number of cars traveling through effectively using the park as a cut through this should have been carried out before any consultation thank you Sarah councelor Hadley I believe you have a response thank you chair um thank you for the question um on the legality issue the eventual conveyance in March 1886 of the land which would become Pool Park was to the corporation of pool this was and I for the land to be laid out and used as a public park and pleasure Gardens for the benefit of the B pool and the inhabitants thereof the management of the park from its Inception has therefore been a matter for the authority to decide repeated surveys have highlighted that the significant flows of traffic on the carriageways through the park detract from the environment for leisure the principal purpose of the park there are five car parking areas with dedicated parking for those with disability and the ability to still use two vehicle entrances to drive into the park at East skate and sell down entrance in determining the best way to manage the park for the future cabinet needs to consider the results of the consultation alongside the other factors as outlined in the paper it was made clear from the beginning of the process that the consultation was not a referendum representative democracy does not work that way indeed the previous decision to reopen keyho Bridge was made against the weight of representations on travel surveys over the recent years a number of surveys have been conducted in the park including those referenced in appendix 11 to the report which were at the sown entrance an all day survey of vehicles on the 17th of May 2016 from 7:00 a.m. to 7: p.m on both Wednesday the 6th of September 2023 before the closure and Wednesday the 7th of February 2024 during the trial there were counts of vehicles pedestrians and cycle movements over the same 12-hour period 7:00 a.m. to 7: p.m. the latter two Surs were conducted by video recording that was then reviewed and classified the results also showed sorry the results show a significant reduction in motor traffic eastbound especially between 4:30 and 6:00 p.m. thank you councelor Hadley um Now we move on to the next question uh which is in relation to agenda item 13 which is on the S progress update um it is from uh Adam saf Sophos however he is not here today and has nominated uh Mr Alex M kinstry to ask on his behalf Alex go ahead thank you good morning I actually had two questions from Mr Sophos check and we just check we’ve got two answers I can confirm that it is two questions given but I think they are all going to be rolled into one answer oh I see well I just read the whole thing then please read the whole thing and be a together okay so the publication of performance data for send Services is most welcome as the council begins a new Improvement plan it’s essential that progress is visible to the most important stakeholders of all the families the scorecard contains data from March can the council commit to publishing an update within the papers for June’s Children’s Services overview and scrutiny committee meeting showing the full data for April and May can the council further commit to publishing a similar update for the committee’s September meeting showing data for June July and August can the these include the following key EHC data number and percentages of plans refused or declined number and percentage of needs assessments refused or declined number of Assessments delayed over 30 weeks number of Assessments delayed over 50 weeks and finally can the council confirm the relevant numbers for the above data during March the second question at February’s Full Count council members passed a motion in relation to safety valve this compelled the council to write to the Secretary of State for leveling up housing and communities the Secretary of State for education and the chair or chief executive of the local government Association variously seeking an extension to the statutory override additional financial assistance and a collaborative approach to these issues across local government have these letters been sent what responses has the council received and how and when will the council publish these documents thank you Mr mckinstry uh councelor Burton thank you very much for reading that questions all those questions and uh thank you Alex um as um always for for for sending them um I’ve I’ve my question my answers here what I’m trying to do is is is get the the gist of what what’s wanting to know my answer isn’t a particular polished answer on this occasion because I’m trying to get to to the backstory of what the information is um start off with a question um about U the percentage of plans refuse declined now the actual numbers on this are can be actually quite complicated in that um several of them are not refusal decline but but they changed by negotiation uh with with the parents um and carers so so an actual number there we need a bit of detail behind it um but um the the uh the but the needs for needs future discussion refusal does not automatically mean they will not get service and a decline can be with agreement with the parent carers um so so those numbers are are available and I’ll get them but um they need to story with it uh the number percentages um the number of Assessments delayed over 30 weeks uh we now have 70 families over 30 weeks um compared with 186 in September uh this will all be completed by the end of this school term uh the number of assessment delayed over 50 weeks well we don’t do 50 week data we do 52 week data um so at the 52 weeks uh it was um looking um at um so so so 52 weeks in April uh 12 uh but we’re working through to complete these by that by end of this by end of July uh there no delays this Academic Year um the council um looking at the uh relevant numbers of above date in March uh 100% uh in uh six weeks timelines um for April um this has been in the 90% since the from September uh an 84% Timeless for 20 weeks excluding a backlog uh 61% 20 weeks including the backlog um now the question about continuing with this data I totally agree that getting this data out in a way that can be understand understandable to people is is really important um at the moment it is available through the parent carers Forum but I think it needs to be able to be um shared more widely and looking at the best way of sharing that now it’s asked about updating for children’s ons and there will be some updates available for the next on meeting um looking at the Autumn meeting um what goes to Children’s ons um is actually um they choose the chair and the committee du so I can’t say you you need to have this data at the committee but I will commit to getting that data available so people can access it without it having to go through children’s ows um so the letters um I can confirm these letters were sent by the leader of the council and to date we have received a response on the chair of the LGA um at this time no other replies have been received the letter will be published as part of the leader’s report in the June council meeting on Tuesday the 4th of June by which time we hope to have response from all three letters thank you councelor Burton so we’re going to move on to statements and and um just to reassure you I did that was a very thorough answer to those questions which was needed and uh we’re not going to include that in the amount of time um of that 30 minutes that we’ve got for uh public uh issues um just so we can get through as many statements as possible um so we’re going to take the statements in order of which they were received by Democratic Services it may be that we don’t get through them all but I can confirm they have all been circulated to Cabinet in advance of this meeting um and they will also be recorded um in the minutes so um let’s have a look at our first statement um Sarah thank you statement number one comes from a resident of BCP um I watched the debate around Paul Park scrutiny group and would like to suggest a compromise consideration some councilors are concerned about making a decision contrary to the public consultation with legal threats and public feeling high this is understandable concerns about interference and misinformation during the consultation are also valid my proposal was twofold one reopen the gate to oneway leaving traffic between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2 p.m. in a second trial this should include logging of traffic and any conflict between Park staff and drivers two set up a citizen assembly to review the impact cost and benefits of different options to report back to the council with a recommendation this will delay a final decision further but this could be a long-term solution that improves the park for all people and protects the council from costly legal action and rebuilds public trust statement number two is from Lucy Allen um it is hugely disappointing that following the on meeting which was flooded with statements from the public Ward members and officers in favor of making the White Cliff Park gate closure permanent that the committee recommends the decision be passed to full Council it is absurd that a non-key decision one which could have been officer made would even be considered by full Council the level of scrutiny at ons was minimal with most board members giving opinions rather than looking at the recommendation based on bcp’s adopted policies preserving a Scenic Drive increasing traffic in a park or being concerned about the Optics of a flawed consultation result is not in any of bcp’s policy documents creating cleaner Greener and more pleasant green spaces is please make this decision at cabinet in line with the officer recommendation and Report uh number three is from Tess Baker given that Paul Park was donated to the people in the late 1800s by Lord wimbor I would question whether BCP Council had any legal right to close the gate to vehicular access before public consultation as a daily user of the park both pedestrian and cyclist firstly I have never encountered a speeding Vehicle drivers stop for geese and ducks and I’ve never noted any traffic surveys being carried out what surveys have taken place during the council to decide immediate closure of the entrance without any public consultation when the results of the public consultation came in I understand 63% of people desired the vehicle access to remain open yet the entrance remains closed this is not democracy and is not acceptable number four statement from K Chambers I write in support of the closure of p park to through traffic it is such a delight to have the space free from the noise fumes pollution and risk of vehicular movements it was originally gifted for people’s Leisure and enjoyment and relaxation and the change that has been made supports this please retain Paul Park as it is now for people plants and Wildlife not cars number five is a statement from David culman um as a parkstone resident in the 2023 election I actively voted for candidates who put the environment first and was delighted to see Emily Haron and chrisen goodle elected the council most associated with supporting the reopening of Keyhole bridge and other standing on anti ltn slpr car Manifesto saw their vote collap electors knew what they doing the Mandate of the cabinet to keep the gate closed without reference to council is clear and is supported by significant majorities of residents actively engaged over the gate closure by Emily and Crispen I have similar findings from interacting with people in the park the evidence is clear returning the park to a park stain sandbanks Road bypass would be against the wishes of your voters Park users and local residents the next statement is from Sue Smith thank you Sarah um Sue Smith would you mind coming up and uh just using the microphone uh there’s a little button on the front to speak the closure is in line with local and National policy and the council’s own LC whip an independent disability audit found no disadvantage to people with disabilities and fears over traffic congestion have proved unfounded a consultation has been run and the pros and cons of the closure have been analyzed the consultation report recognizes the concerns of residents and the council has the ability to address these in final planning some opposition counselors have chosen to turn this policy and evidence-led decision into an emotive issue hence the recommendation that the decision be referred to full Council the recommendation was made on the basis of the number of responses for and against the closure but as both counselors and residents are aware this is a consultation not a referendum residents on both sides have been calling for a prompt decision and will be disappointed by any further delay thank you Miss Smith um I’m GNA go back to Sarah to continue statements so number seven is a statement from John Carter I was surprised to hear the matter of the pool park gate closure may be referred to full Council the closure is supported by numerous local and National policies and I can find nothing in the way of policy that suggests we should have traffic driving through the park it would appear to be a clear-cut choice between doing something that aligns with the council’s long-term aims or doing something that is contrary to those AIMS in a survey on the council’s vision priorities and key objectives 78% of residents agreed that place and environment should be one of the council’s priorities the decision to keep the gate closed to protect the environment in Paul Park is very clear and referring it to for Council merely delays that decision number eight is a statement from Judy Windwood members are elected to make decisions based on approved policy for the good of the area the report States the benefits of closing the gate this was generally ignored members must not be distracted by insecure consultation which did not require names and addresses it was not a referendum around 1980 we lived near the park in a Terrace house with a small garden and two young children the park was my walking route to town and our playground it was a different place then fewer Vehicles the closure Returns part of the park to the state I remind members it’s a park not a highway if people want a pleasant journey from work I suggest they enjoy a walk in the park or try walking cycling or taking a bus to work statement number nine is from Ross Hodder I listened with interest to the on meeting regarding the White Cliff gate trial despite some concern expressed around disabled access and possible increase in traffic on surrounding roads it was reassuring to hear that vehicle access to the car Parks is unchanged and there has been virtually no impact to traffic outside the park the remaining argument therefore is focused around whether access to a Scenic Drive outweighs the improvements to environment and safety to me there is no comparison between the use of valuable public green spaces a convenient shortcut with views and the safety and well-being of all other Park users last year I stopped cycling through the park with my son to the dolphin swimming pool because of the high level of through traffic but now following the White Cliff closure it is safe for families to use I support accepting the officer report recommendation statement 10 from Russell Trent I am writing in support of the permanent closure of Paul Parks white Co gate to motorize traffic and to also call for cabinet to make make the decision either way on this matter I do not agree that it should go to full Council this is a minor change to the operation of a park and a decision that could have been taken by an officer we elect members to shape and determine policy and if BCP council is committed to protecting green spaces and encouraging active travel which should agree with me that the closure is aligned to BCP policy I visit the park regularly with my children sometimes in car mostly on the bus but we visit the park as a destination not as a means to get elsewhere in the burrow Park should not be used to alleviate motorized traffic elsewhere number 11 statement from Gary livmore I am writing in my support for the permanent closure of the White Cliff Pool Park gate closure of the gate aligns with BCP Council policies to reduce traffic especially so in pool park the park is much more pleasant without the constant stream of through traffic one of my older family members who has mobility issues can still access all areas of the park as she did with her late husband but in a more peaceful surroundings remembering the walks they had together a Park is a place to enjoy the tranquility and should not be used as a relief load for traffic elsewhere I find the park environment is much more pleasant to walk around now through traffic has been stopped our green spaces should be protected for future Generations our elected members need to ensure their decision aligns with BCP Council policies number 12 is a statement from David foot I find it ridiculous that you’re still perusing the closing off the road in pool park I live and work in po you’re adding 20 minutes onto my motorcycle ride home with the increased traffic and danger to cyclists and motorcyclists creeping along the inside and outside of traffic let though the fuel used in your stupidity attempt making a difference I can only presume members of the council live on or around this route very much like camp for Cliffs that I understand more speed cameras are to be installed I requested speed humps and all cameras down princess Road that’s a fast Rat Run and was told until a fatality happens nothing will be done I’ve saved that email and we’ll send it to the B effect and the family of who this may affect shame on you for not listening to your constit constituents number 13 is a statement from Ella Elena palowski I’m writing to say that I’m appalled that the wishes of the majority of people 63% who took the time to answer with wellth thought out researched answers the consultation survey requesting that the park remain open are not being listened to this makes a mockery of any future consultation survey we were originally told months ago that the closure would for a month as the consultation took place that was not true it is now obvious that the reopening of the park was never an option this must not be allowed to happen the park must be reopened in accordance with the consultation results number 14 is a statement from a resident of BCP I’m a full-time Paul born wheelchair user spent lots of time in Paul Park I don’t drive and avoid car use but understand a car is sometimes necessary I don’t understand the anger about this the arguments against the closure are nonsensical turning a car or pulling out of a gate isn’t a problem for anyone safe to drive I suffer with fatigue but would never want to be driven through a park without stopping the whole point of a park is that it’s somewhere to spend time not a drive-thru it isn’t MacDonald’s driving out the gate you entered is normal when visiting somewhere by car visiting is now a delight there’s bird song not the rumble of cars I’ve been visiting more since the gate closed it’s back to being a People’s Park thank you Sarah we’ll give you a little rest um whilst we have uh Susan Stockwell in the room who’s going to come and read her statement yesterday I visited Paul Park at dusk on foot via Whitecliff Road gate the first site which greeted me was a group of young women relaxed happy and laughing enjoying traveling along the car-free stretch of road towards the gate on higher scooters a stark contrast indeed to the dire warnings to wh of women including myself being too frightened to visit paol Park without the guardianship of passing Motor Vehicles improved natural surveillance reducing crime when cycling and walking increases and vehicle use decreases is so well proved by ltn low trffic neighborhood data that police elsewhere have supported keeping them my own criminology training was that a statement from a cyclist or pedestrian is needed to secure a conviction EG for Street crime or burglary as the view from a car is simply not good enough to stand up in court dash cams tend to be trained on other motorists not pedestrians thank you uh Mrs Stockwell uh we’re gonna go back to Sarah to continue with the statements so statement 16 comes from Malcolm be I’m a poor householder since 1985 I welcome the Restriction of three traffic in pool park having found the environment more pleasant in recent visits especially in the southern Parts I firmly believe that the park should be a peaceful destination where traffic disturbance should be minimal to maximize enjoyment and safety for Park users I further believe that using the park as a relief from traffic congestion around the Civic Center area is the wrong approach traffic congestion should be addressed at the source and using a public Leisure Park as a relief road is neither a sustainable nor a credible solution instead it draws attention away from the need need to resolve congestion issues while doing little to reduce them statement 17 is from the Thompson family please reopen the gate with immediate effect as per the majority consultation response my 93-year-old relative Park Stone Road enjoys the park not registered disabled we drive through stopping when possible sometimes walking sometimes simply the drive is soothing our inability to take scenic drives we used to is affecting well-being since the closure one more traffic caught in turning in the Park more fumes two significant cues three Conflict by disabled spaces four increased traffic difficulty getting to Nursery Leisure Center five significant traffic parkstone Road six cues towards Lily put seven fast cyclist scooters motorbikes in through Park eight increase in youth’s loitering smashing glass the closure makes no logical sense as is not backed by need or data this issue is making the council unpopular when voter support is essential the council can recover this by applying Common Sense reverse the decision number 18 is a statement from Sophie CLE since the closure I cycle with my kids through the park to after school lessons at the pool and dolphin Center once we’re over sand banks Road we’re passed by a handful of cars all the way to town cycling down Orchard Avenue and through the park it’s so easy that we consistently choose to cycle previously we will be passed by a steady stream of vehicles all along this route cycling with kids in traffic is stressful and with bad weather or kids mood or behavior it often didn’t feel safe enough and we’ normally hop in the car closing the gate has not prevented people from driving into the park but reopening the gate would remove this safe route denying us this choice and putting Journeys like ours back into the car please keep the gate closure and keep the park safe and accessible to all modes of travel for everyone number 19 is a statement from Jane foot my family have lived by the White Cliff Gate entrance for a great many years driving through the park back to our house has been convenient Pleasant and quicker for us when returning from the West we were therefore skeptical about the gate closure and we’re initially against it however we are now enjoying the benefits of left less traffic not only outside our house but also whilst walking our dog and sitting in our garden we now fully appreciate the reasons behind the gate closure and totally support it while our drive home is now a little longer we believe that residents deserve a more peaceful and pleasant experience when using the park the gate closure has made walking in the park feel safe safer I now even cycle into P Town Center which I never used to I hope the cabinet makes the right decision to close the gate permanently number 20 statement from Simon dunsby I should like to say that Paul Park is a park not a rat run my parents took me there in the 8S and now take my children there the grandparents in their late 70s and children feel safer without cars using the park as a road number 21 is from Brian Bowman in addition to this being a waste of taxpayers money I take great offense at a public space being shut off to anybody who has the great Misfortune to no longer have easy Mobility or ability to get in and out of a car easily my late father was in Mobile and one of the few Pleasures he had in life was being able to drive through paol Park through to White Cliffe and have a Scenic tour without the stress of having to get his wheelchair out of the car thank you Sarah uh the next statement is from Ian Lawrence who I believe is here in person Mr Lawrence morning everyone uh 3,388 63% a majority want twlo gate reopened as it adds mileage delay congestion pollution while hitting car dependent old frail young families would be tourists and Park livelihoods proving closures environmental Improvement requires before and after evidence but lacked water Purity noise air quality business takings road traffic accidents or impact on Wildlife measurements invalidating continued closing dots investigated only six disabled regulars not bcp’s disabled thousands findings were statistically irrelevant unrepresentative invalidating closure conclusions traffic census once in September and once in February couldn’t identify Trends as data was too sparse councelor Hadley incorrectly asserted the majority wanted the gate closed despite two3 of consulties who didn’t and that 600 who omitted postcodes voted multiple times for reopening he recommended the assumed wealthy old and disabled who supported car access go to hangers brury head he rejected afternoon only closure as extra Staffing costs while favoring new roundabout and parking conclusion closure’s environmental Improvement trial unproved so please listen to the majority and open the gate thank you thank you Mr Lawrence uh we’re gonna go back to Sarah so statement number 23 comes from Lee Atkins I’m emailing you in regards to the above and to State my utter disgust in what has been happening in and around pool with all of these roads being narrowed for cycle Lanes roads closed for ltn Etc but more importantly the closing of the park for vehicles driving through BCP had had a consultation which shows the residents wanting it open but no councelor Hadley wants his way and will ignore what residents want and just do it I’m emailing Democratic Services we be Democratic about Paul Park and adhere to what residents want the park open for all number 24 is a statement from an Jacobs the closure of this gate is unnecessary and detrimental to the mental health and well-being of both my elderly and disabled parents trying to drive through now is dangerous as the exit is obstructed sometimes gridlocked causing a safety access issue in an emergency I physically unable to push mom or mother-in-law in a wheelchair and as an unpaid carer taking them out for a drive is one of the few small treats I can provide the park is unique in this area for this purpose just close the gate to traffic at around 400 p.m. as you do until 10: a.m. to stop the Rat Run as a council your duty is to serve the taxpayer and the results of your own consultation has clearly given you directive please reopen this gate number 25 is a statement from Daniel Glennon pool park is as its name suggests a public park public park should be a place for urban residents to spend time in nature which Studies have shown is beneficial for mental health for children to play for people to exercise and for encouraging nature they should not be through routes for traffic it’s ludicrous that this closure didn’t happen much sooner BCP has awful congestion and very poor air quality for far too long the needs of car drivers have been placed first in our urban planning it is time to redesign our towns for people not Cars the closure of the gate in Paul Park should be the first measure of many to reduce car dependency in BCP to benefit the physical and mental health of all residents just not not just the vocal motorists we need to encourage cycling walking and wider use of public transport number 26 comes from Gerald Andrews I have lived here for over 62 years and have after being able to drive through Pool Park via Keyhole Bridge the model yacht Lake passed the miniature train waving to passengers and on through this enabled me to relax mentally I do not have time to stop you have now prohibited me from doing this the park is designed so people could drive through in fact in the 1930s motor speed trials were held in the park there have never been any accidents car drivers I’ve seen are always courteous and adhere to the speed limit there is chaos at the on exit with regular Mexican standoffs gates open so everyone can enjoy the park especially people like me who feel better when we can drive through it thank you for reading my letter uh statement from Carol Norman I’m writing to express my support for reopening the White Cliff gate at po Park maintaining vehicle access is crucial the park provides a central Green Space that is particularly beneficial for the mental health of residents especially the elderly and disabled continuous access through the park ensures they can easily reach different are areas without undue physical strain for those experiencing a meltdown the ability to drive directly through the park offers a safety valve providing a calming environment without unnecessary detours the closure has led to increased traffic and Emissions on surrounding roads as vehicles are forced to navigate around the park contradicting environmental goals the 63% of residents who favor opening reopening the gates highlights the community’s preference for accessible inclusive and environmentally conscious use of the park I urge the council to respect the consultation results and reopen the gates for the benefit of all number 208 statement from Mary Scott I urge you to reconsider the closure of White Cliff gate in Paul Park the recent consultation clearly shows that 63% of residents want the gates to remain open ignoring this majority opinion would undermine the UN undermine the Democratic process and Trust in local governance the closure has created daily chaos with buses getting stuck and causing significant disruption at the Oni exit while s benefit they often travel at speeds greater than cars posing hazards to pedestrians SE Regent Park accident addressing the climate emergency requires more strategic Investments enhancing public transport facilities and creating better connectivity for all forms of Transport would be far more effective closing a gate is not a productive solution the council should serve the community’s interest not its own for the benefit of the community please listen to the majority and reopen White Cliff gate to vehicles 29 is a statement from Sebastian Norman Andrews I’m writing to you because I want to tell you why Paul Park should stay open to cars I like the drive through pool park because it makes for a nicer Journey this is really important to me because I have severe anxiety and driving through the park helps me feel calm and safe I really like the views in the park they are pretty and make me feel happy I it is also a safe and familiar Journey for me and my family we’ve always driven through the park and it’s part of our routine I hope you all listen to us and keep the open so everyone can enjoy the park especially people like me who feel better when we can drive through it number 30 is a statement from Unice maren the BCP consultation is very widely believed to contain bias towards the outcome desired by those in control of it despite this the outcome clearly showed the will of the people to reopen the gate the officer report does its best to conceal this clear fact by suggesting that some age groups should have less weight put to their views than others and using differing graph techniques to play Down the clear but unwanted result pool park is the town park and is also named The People’s Park when given to the People by Lord wimborne the people have spoken about their park and want the gate fully reopened the choice is support the portfolio holder and BCP officer or support the will of the people you represent by sending this decision to full Council for decision number 31 there a statement from K Lehi I appreciate the consultation was not a vote but I feel it is undemocratic if the council ignor the views of the consultation and keep the White Cliff gate closed it will undermine faith in counselors who were elected to serve the people of BCP whilst blue badge holders still have full access you have currently removed the prettiest part of the park from people needing to enjoy it by car such as the ill or frail the portfolio holder appears unwilling to consider compromise including the gate closing early which would be cost minimal and also negate the alleged rat run rush hour closure will bring little benefit in reducing pollution due to heav traffic already nearby it is not to stop car pedestrian accidents there have been none and appears simply a vindictive act for some people due to disgruntlement over the keyhole Bridge debacle number 32 is a statement from Sarah Morgan please respect the numbers as responded by residents in your survey they have provided lived experiences through this process and by direct letters not perceptions the survey clearly identifies protected minority groups by age and ability as protected from discrimination by the equality act 2010 please do not exclude them please do not base decisions on perceptions absent data and in appropriate comparisons these do not decide because of approval of other internal infrastructure items irrelevant to the gate access please listen to your electorate number 33 is a statement from Julie wild Julia wild there are no problems specific to the gate in pool park that have or will be solved by its closure indeed closing it has actually created problems making people double back and go the long way around the park has increased fuel usage it also increases fumes causes Stress and Anxiety for drivers and passengers and takes away the sheer pleasure of our beautiful park for far too many people especially the disabled the sea air blows fumes away moving traffic to parkstone Road simply concentrates fumes in other areas as for Safety Drivers routinely slow down for ducks swans and geese what’s an ideal environment in which to teach youngsters how to cross the road safely cyclists who do don’t ring bells ride too fast and on the Pavements are a far greater threat the people have voted via the consultation is anyone listening 34 is a statement from Ian Clark in documents regarding the Trial Gate closure the Heritage fund Grant expenditure the council stated aims to improve safety within the park yet the following failings are evident speed limit signage is an in adequate with only one circular sign on a lamp post at the Kingland road entrance none at the Civic Center entrance and no Road markings between them any signage at the closed right Cliff gate is ineffectual following resurfacing the new speed humps are not as effective as the previous ones to leave the disabled parking areas inside the White Cliff gate cars need to execute a multiple point turn and Care home and disabled mini buses no longer use that section antisocial Behavior could rise with no passing cars with only one car exit into Kingland Road there could be serious congestion drivers may be completely unaware of any speed limit so safety aspects have not been adequately considered statement 35 is from Anthony winter I do not consent to this closure due to the impact this could have on many people’s well-being especially my own I used to drive to pool park to meet friends and walk my dog then proceeding down to the beach for a walk this was a route I would take with my late wife when she was in the later stages of her care and I’m no longer able to relive these memories which I find extremely upsetting as such I no longer visit Pool Park this closure will have had similar impact to many of us elderly and disabled residents of BCP and we feel completely discriminated against by BCP Council statement 36 comes from Sharon hunt in recent years Pool Park speed restrictions were increased and effective traffic calming reduced had the opposite action been taken traffic flow by those wishing to save time would have reduced those who historically used the park as a pleasant driving route would have been the only users my late father-in-law in his last frail weeks of life as the founder of North Haven y club would enjoy us driving him around sandbanks on the way back his request would be drive me through the park many have similar Stories the gate closure leaves people unable to use a park for this type of purpose which is incredibly important to them some have requested that when their time comes they would like the park to be part of their final Journey denying people this right is unfair and bordering on cruelty thank you uh to democratic services that was a lot of reading uh but we are now at the 30 minutes um and uh We’ve made our way through I think we were at 36 comments out of the 48 um so um we will move on from there but just to reassure again that that all of the statements that were submitted have been circulated um and will be considered uh in our decision making and thank you for those who came along and I’m sorry if you didn’t get your chance to uh give your statement in person so we’re going to move on now to agenda item five which is recommendations from overview and scrutiny board and the Committees that are not otherwise on the agenda um councelor Bartlett I can see you’re online do you have any items from overview and scrutiny board that are not on the agenda I don’t thank you thank you councelor Bartlett can I check with councelor Rigby um who is from environment and place overview and scrutiny committee thank you councelor Rigby uh we also have councelor canavan who is chair of Health overview and scrutiny oh I was looking on the on the um on the screen thank you um and counselor Dove from children’s isn’t in the room uh thank you so uh as I said earlier we move on to the decision making part of our agenda um I’d like to bring forward item 10 which is the Improvement of environment in pul park for a trial closure of the park entrance to motor traffic um this is going to be proposed and presented by councelor Hadley do we have a second uh I’ll happily second Deputy leader thank you councelor Martin over to you councelor Hadley thank you chair um we covered a lot of detail in the environment in place over in scrutiny committee last week Paul Park has been closed to motorized traffic before 10:00 a.m. since the 1980s and Kings Park and Mer Park were both entirely closed to through traffic over 20 years ago appendix 9 shows the original conveyance in March 1886 to the bough pool which defines the original primary use to be managed as a park and a pleasure ground we have carefully studied the consultation responses and the many items of correspondence from those Keen to ensure their views were heard including the 26 statements to overview in scrutiny and the 47 statements today all of these have been carefully reviewed but this was never build as a referendum or the only consideration for the authority when Keyhole Bridge was set to be reopened the majority feedback of 82% from the public was to keep it shut and this was overruled by then councelor Mike Green based on his view of the needs of traffic around the park the responses to consultation this time around are very polarized reflecting the campaign that’s been undertaken and the really strong uh uh feelings that the public have about this space the importance of outdoor Leisure space and changing work and Leisure patterns have been highlighted during and since the covid pandemic the pressures on our Urban Parks will only increase especially as there are an increasing number of flats across the the the whole area with no or limited outdoor space this puts more Reliance on our main parks for leisure especially on Pool Park this is not just about suiting the residents living immediately adjacent to the park but enhancing the place as a Leisure destination for all visitors those coming from the East can park alongside the mle boat area or in cops closed car park or enter via the east or sell down Gates there are in particular a range of dedicated parking Bays throughout the park for use by the disabled if you go to any outdoor Leisure attraction the traffic and parking is managed to reduce its impact on the enjoyment of the space much of pool park is taken up by the moting lake and the through traffic has come to dominate the remainder it is important to set this change within the policy context of the council the BCP corporate strategy um includes a vibrant place where people and nature flourish our green spaces flourish and support the well-being of both people and nature the green infrastructure strategy prioritizes healthy living and well-being resilience to climate change nature recovery economic recovery prosperity and placemaking public health dors support and and positive comments in in the papers about um well-being the local cycling walking infrastructure Improvement plan was also mentioned and the park features within that there has been a long-standing ambition to reduce the impact of vehicles in pool park dating back to the 1990s which is supported in a master plan from that time chair given the extensive debate at the environment in place overview and scrutiny committee and comments from several members of that committee highlighting that they were from other towns not really familiar with the park I do not think that this simple change warrants a full Council debate thank you thank you councelor Hadley um just to confirm we have got some counselors in the room and online who aren’t members of cabinet so the process that we usually go through next is to call on the relevant chair of the scrutiny committee to see whether they would like to add anything uh we then go to other counselors for them to have their say uh there is a limit of three minutes as otherwise we will run out of time uh once everyone has said their bit uh we’ll then go to cabinet for a discussion and for any amendments to be debated and then for a decision by a majority vote so this item went to environment and place overview and scrutiny committee last week um the recommendation from that committee has been published alongside the papers for this meeting but I would like to invite councelor R Rigby up to address cabinet on their um on their recommendations thank you Deputy lader and yeah I’ll try and be fairly brief I know you were in the room while we were having this U meeting last week and I’m sure it’s been seen by many of the cabinet members as well so we had a good debate on this we had a lot of public engagement and I expressed at the time and I’ll do so again that if we had this much public engagement on every issue which we brought to um environment and place over and scrutin I’d be very very happy so I really welcome people coming in and asking questions and making statements um the the main debate which we had through that I think has been heard by a lot of the public statements today it was either should people enjoy a scenic drive or can people go using it as a r run and you can still have a SC drive because there what is intended to do with that stretch of road which is um closed from the White Cliff gate coming down is not actually close to disabled access and parking at the moment that was an issue which came up um we also discussed the experiences of the various counselors in the room and who also came as well and their use of the park as well I won’t go into great detail on that what I will do is we did have one recommendation which came out of the debate and that was to refer this matter to full cabinet for decision that was um supported by six members voting for one against and two abstentions um the reason that that was put forward was that it should have further engagement with more councilors being able to be involved we didn’t actually debate that because there seems be some agreement in the room that that would be the decision so there was no further debate on um why anyone voted against this or abstained on it um I know you’ve got a lot to get through so I think I’m happy leaving it there thank you thank you very much councilor Rigby we will be sure to address that recommendation as part of our debate uh now we also have counselors in the room who would like to speak on this item I think I’ve got councelor Harmon um counselor any other counselors wishing to speak uh councelor Bartlett I’ll make a note of your name oh gosh we’ve got a few um councelor Chapman law and councelor canavan so let’s start with uh councelor Harmon uh with respect uh Madam Madame Vice chairman uh councilor but I have also uh asked to speak and I’m in the room I have not been acknowledged thank you thank you very much councilor but I will add you to the list thank you madam Vice counc Harmon thank you chair um at last week’s environment and place overview and scrutiny meeting I spoke about how much councel goodle and I have done to actively engage with parkstone residents on this divisive issue and encourage them to take part in the consultation process and it was hoped that through this process I would have a clear mandate on how to best proceed in representing the views of residents across parkstone Ward yet I don’t it remains a topic that people feel both passionately and polarized about the consultation showed largely strong views were held and this has been our experience across the world as well on the doorstep I’ve spoken to a large number of people in disbelief that the council would think twice about reopening the White Cliff access point given what they deem to be the obvious benefits to all Park users I’ve also had many recent conversations with residents who strongly share the view that given 63% of responses to the consultation want the gate reopened democracy must therefore Prevail and I genuinely wish it were that simple as has been pointed out by many and on both sides there have been flaws in this consultation process I’ve had people tell me that they have filled in the consultation several times and I’ve also spoken to people whose opinion has changed since they filled it in either because they have legitimately changed their mind since experiencing the closure and there have been quite a number of these and I know one of the statements from the public earlier um mentioned that as well or that they first buil in based on what they later found out to be incorrect information or assumptions and I’m really really pleased that the overview and scrutiny board have identified that there are currently serious issues surrounding the consultation process as a whole and we’ll be looking in the next few months at how future consultations across the three towns can be improved to ensure they are meaningful robust and reliable as they absolutely should be and I want to let the residents of parkstone know that I hear them I hear he clearly the passionate voices of those that want the gate reopened as they ask why the council want to fix something they do not believe is broken and I empathize with those who feel their enjoyment of the park has been taken away from them I also hear those that have embraced the closure a move that many feel is a long time coming and I recognize also that there are a large number of residents both young and old able-bodied and those less abled that have benefited from The increased peace safety and Freedom that the trial closure has ushered in it’s fair to say that the views across parkstone are incredibly mixed and I do not envy you cabinet your decision today however I do know and I trust that whatever decision is made it won’t be made lightly and it won’t be made in ignorance I implore you to consider all of the evidence before you I know that all members of cabinet take the role you’ve been elected to carry out incredibly seriously and that you recogn ize the heightened level of public feeling on this particular issue thank you thank you very much councilor Haron um I have just um had a look and of course councelor but you requested to speak so I’m gonna actually uh go to you next so councelor but please go ahead thank you thank you very much Madame Vice chairman um the recommendation in front of you is um from the environment and place scrutiny committee that this matter go to council that’s a recommendation in front of you with regard to this item today um and I am amazed firstly to hear from councelor Hadley that uh regrettably he doesn’t feel that there is enough interest in this matter that warrants this going to full Council where we’ve just heard from Council Harmon who was U most emotive in her application and fair and balanced in what she said that there are 76 members and we all represent a ward the uh consultation was I believe BCP wide therefore we should all be able to speak on this matter because it is of joint and several interest to all Ward members who represent their residents council is definitely a place for this matter it is the Democratic imperative that all elected members are able to speak on behalf of their representatives that’s why we have elections unfortunately this whole matter has been made extremely emotive and comp complex it has become inaccurate we’ve heard about the risk factors with regard to surveys being filled in many times with regard to people filling in surveys who are not domiciled in BCP and therefore skewing the figures which In fairness could skew the figures either way I’m not speaking for or against this particular item I’m speaking on behalf of my residents in Creekmore and the greater good therefore as I said In fairness it could be that if these figures were so massaged we’ve heard that risk that we could have had 63% to who actually was saying close the park or close the the the entrance we don’t know and we’re not able to interrogate properly even though we spent an awful lot of money um having a consultation or or consules coming in to give us um further evidence based on the statistics because the first statistics um were not able to be interpreted appropriately one thing which really concerns me is with the consultation process consultation isn’t just write up a survey pop it out and then get back people’s views and ignore it that’s not how it works how it works is you engage first we have an engagement policy uh it’s very long and uh and it’s a process to have got that it’s a very succinct uh policy and it worked it’s been wholly ignored uh what I believe and what we know should have happened what certainly the public feel should have happened is that we should have asked the public how are we going to engage with you on this how what questions should we be asking you what are your thoughts as to how we engage in the first place then we engage then we consult and then we use that consultation this consultation is not of the people’s as councilor Hadley said he felt it was people’s sentiments that were coming back these aren’t sentiments the public are not stupid they are a sophisticated group of people who with arguments on both sides are saying how they feel about something and we should consider these and not just put them down to sentiment my f concern is the absolute uh way in which this is unprecedented I’ve been Cil 2 secretaries I’ve never known interest in such a small matter now it’s not small to the public don’t get me wrong but what I’m saying is in in the Run of things when we’re talking about multi-million pound budgets this is a tiny matter but there is massive interest therefore I have stated all the reasons before scrutiny when I attended there were seven or eight reasons as to why things needed to be reconsidered my main concern is that the consultation itself is inherently flawed and it should therefore be redone however what should happen in the first instance is this matter needs to go to the council for debate as recommended by your overview and scrutiny committee whom I hope you will feed Council but sorry to interrupt but I’m nearly finished I have nearly finished thank you so much for your patience um I would like this please to be um sent to council to decide on this proposal um as it’s been proven Beyond doubt as how important is to the public per se whether for or against with regard to the closure of this entrance thank you for your Indulgence Madame Vice chairman I’m extremely grateful for hearing for you hearing me today thank you thank you so much councelor but um right we’re gonna go to uh councelor Bartlett followed by councelor Canan and then councelor Chapman law so councelor Bartlett yeah good morning Vice chair um all I would say is uh that I do agree with councelor but uh we have have an overview of scrutiny committee for a purpose uh the matter was debated uh at length and in detail and the overall majority and it was a large majority voted to recommend that this matter go to full Council don’t deny them that that the opportunity given that that’s a democratic process we shouldn’t we should not ignore the recommendations of of all the work that that committee has done on this matter so for that for that uh Point only I would say say that it must go to to uh uh to full Council otherwise if it doesn’t I fear the outcome is already predetermined by this cabinet thank you thank you very much councelor Bartlett uh councelor canavan um thank you chair thank you for this opportunity I didn’t know obviously coming into this meeting whether cabinet would agree to the recommendation from overview and scrutiny to go to full Council um so I I didn’t know whether I was going to get the opportunity to make the comments that I’m about to make paragraph 51 of the paper says that consultation that car has been carried out in in relation to this is in line with established practice and procedures I just want to make the point that was made at the overview and scrutiny committee if that’s the case then those established practices and procedures really need to be looked at again this this consultation is really clumsy and I’ve made that comment before about other other processes that this Council has undertaken we have got to get that right uh because uh we’re not but the other thing that concerns me having having watched the debate at the overviewing scrutiny committee was I think one of the uh difficulties was that in terms of the access especially around access for elderly and disabled or those with limited Mobility that those answers were not those questions were really not answered and that um in in the options set out at paragraph 42b talks about further design and costings um would need to be done for disabled space and vehicle turning and then uh paragraph 60 when it talks about the risk assessment it talks about two things one is about that the fact that that design is unfunded and and therefore nobody could get those residents that were making the comments about this issue were not able to get any clarity about what was intended uh around that design what was going to happen in order to ensure that their access could be uh established and protected so so that I think was unfortunate to say the least but I think the other issue that also comes out of the risk assessments is the reputational damage and and if I’m blunt chair I think it’s too late uh because the way in which is Carri this has been carried out has already caused reputational damage to this Authority and I think that’s really very unfortunate um in terms of where we go from here you know as we see here today that gate is still closed um the has been a trial about uh access you know with the intention of trying to um prevent through traffic which is fine but none of the other options that have been uh highlighted in the paper have been looked at so they haven’t been triled councelor Caravan we’re just getting to the end of your three minutes okay thank you so I am concerned that those other options haven’t been TR for example the point has been made in the representations about uh the Ed closure that hasn’t really been looked at seems to have been very quickly dismissed in the paper uh so I am concerned and I think there is an advantage in in having this debated at Full Count simply because there is a time then to review those those points and to make uh further comment at the council meeting so thank you thank you counselor canavan um right I have councelor Chapman law thank you very much one question we need to answer in what circumstances is it okay to drive through a park and can we facilitate those without costing millions and at the same time stopping the rat running that the figures clearly show is happening the short answer there isn’t one you can still drive through the park I did it the other day drive through this drive from the Civic Center and out through Seldon myself and others who have shown support for the closure have been abused attacked intimidated online for our views on the closure I have seen examples of strawman water bter personal attacks and claims that this is just the beginning and of the supposed goal to close the park two cars completely all designed not to engage in debate but to suppress it everyone is is entitled to their view but it must be accompanied by meaningful discussion without personal attacks I’m here today to speak on behalf of those who want to see the gate stay closed it is true that a large number of submissions for the consultation wanted it wanted it to be reopened however the goals of of a decent proportion of those people wanting to have the park open are those as a three route appear to not be interested in using the park as it is intended to be used that is a park instead they seem to want to use it as a diversion to avoid congestion elsewhere I believe we should be put the needs of the people using the park as a park above those who want to use it as a rat run just like Bournemouth council did with Meritt Park Kings Park all that all those years ago so cabinet for the physical and mental health for real Park users please vote to keep the White Cliff gate closed to traffic thank you very much thank you very much counselor Chapman law can I just ask if there are any other councelors in the room who are not members of cabinet who wish to speak on this item nope no one’s indicating so we are now going to um open this up for cabinet to speak um can I see if anyone would like to say anything on this councilor Andy Martin uh thank you Deputy leader um a huge amount of has been said already uh in different meetings and obviously this morning so I will try and be brief and cut out some of the things I was going to say because those points have been well made I’d first like to say that as a representative from Christ Church who takes my UH responsibilities across the whole of BC P very seriously I think I can hopefully look at this from a physical and political distance uh and not be caught up with the very clear emotion and passions on both sides which I fully accept but I have a a few points and then a quote um some of these points have been made but I’d like to say I that I support this is a park people can still drive in and out out of it they can still enjoy it uh and everything it offers I don’t understand how reducing traffic in a public part Park is not a good thing in the big picture what is our understanding of what a park should be and is let me ask a question if we had the opportunity to create new parks in 2024 would we create new parks by putting roads through them I rather doubt it something that irritates me I have to say is the constant anti motorist refrain about the council I’m a driver I’m not a cyclist I don’t believe this council is anti- motoring it’s it is in fact to reframe it it’s pro- environment and pro safety we as a as a as a council and in our corporate strategy and in our own personal uh views in our Wards we are here to create a su a sustainable Urban environment this is part of that and it fits entirely with the council’s health and well-being agenda and of course we’ve heard this morning there are different as different views and different persp perspectives on what health and well-being is and also uh it fits in with our cleaner Greener safer agenda now several references have been made to democracy this morning in public statements and what the council what we as counselors should do so this is a very this is a rather Arcane quote but I’m going to use it anyway from a philosopher uh who wrote and an MP who wrote to his constituents your representative owes you not only his industry but his judgment and he betrays instead of serving you if serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion what that means is that the yes this is the essence between the difference between a representative and a delegate we are elected to use our judgment in making decisions and not to be mandated I did not get elected to be told what to do I listen then I make a judgment and I think uh one of my colleagues mentioned that just now and I doubt I doubt that any body around the table uh um was elected to uh to not to use their judgment it’s called representative democracy and it’s obvious that on any issue not everyone is going to like the judgments but that is how the system works so my view for what it’s worth is this needs no further delay I support it and I’d like to get on with it thank you thank you very much councelor Martin uh for some fairly philosophical words there um can I ask anyone else uh councelor Mike Cox thank you Deputy leader and uh I wanted to just take a moment to thank all the officers and councelor Harley uh and all those people uh that have engaged in this however I must confess to being somewhat staggered uh that closing a par gate to traffic has caused so many thousands of s petition signatures uh placard waving demonstrations and 47 statements to a cabinet um when the world is falling apart and the country is on its knees BCP has had to endure the biggest reduction in its budget ever with cuts to services to the most vulnerable uh the council officers have had to spend significant resources dealing with this and I share councelor ry’s View and I think it was councelor BS view as well um that we’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on this um Pool Park um is exactly what it says it is it’s a park it’s not a it’s not a cut through it’s not a an opportunity to view the scenery from a a motor vehicle it’s a park uh no one is Banning Parks from entering the park there is no restriction to people en enjoying the park on the contrary uh I think uh personally the statement from a I think it was a Lucy Allen uh sums up my feelings uh perfectly when she said and I quote preserving a Scenic Drive is not in any of bcp’s policy documents creating a Greener cleaner uh and more pleasant Green Space is and she’s absolutely right cleaner Greener safer is font Center and everything we’ve said and everything we do uh as for the recommendations of the on there is no there was no suggestion from on that the recommendations were wrong uh or that they needed changing or that there was any alternatives uh I was struck by the statement made by uh Ian Bings which which we didn’t get time to look at when he when he seems like me to bemoan all the fuss that has been caused and goes on to effect we say that we should be cowards and bow to those with the loudest voices now listening to Residents is vitally important and this is this is so much time there has been this is why so much time and effort has been taken over this item as has already been said on multiple times this is consultation not a referendum taking this to council will only suck up more time uh of officers uh delay the decisions and risk a key objective uh of BCP to be a Gleaner a cleaner Greener and safer Council we have a cabinet system it’s an executive it’s an executive decision not a council decision otherwise every controver every controversial decision would go to council and The Business of the council would grind to a h uh like counselor Martin I didn’t become a counselor to make the most popular decisions I became a counselor to make the right decisions for the long-term health and well-being of the people of BCP and though so therefore I am supporting this recommendation thank you very much councelor Cox if I could ask you to turn your microphone off thank you uh councelor Richard buron oh thank you very much Deputy leader um I i’ I’ve spent quite a lot of time reading the comments um I attended the SC scrutiny meeting I sat in the corner over there quietly I didn’t see anything because say anything because I wanted us to listen um I’ve read a lot of emails um over the past few weeks um I’ve read a lot of Facebook posts um I spend a bit of time in the park I don’t actually go to Paul Park a huge amount now because where I live I I’m a a merly resident um I used to use a par more when I lived more near near a pool and when my daughter was young she learned to to ride a bike actually on the track in p park I have found memories of it um but I have visited three times this week I visited by car twice um I’ve driven through the park with the bits you can I’ve turned around um I I I’ve parked the car um I’ve walked into the park I I haven’t visited by bike recently I have S with the and one thing I one thing I would say is um and I know you didn’t mean this quite like this when you said it I don’t see myself as a cist or a motorist or a walker I see myself as a person who who who chooses to use different sorts of transports at times um one thing that um I would say is that um I I also spoke to a lot of people in the park I I I I was that strange man who accosted strangers in the park to talk to them um and to find out what they thought um what their decisions made today it will disadvantage some people and Advantage others um it will do both to some groups of people um that’s the definition of politics that that what’s what it is our job is to the pros and cons um of the people I’ve spoken to um a number of them were actually on the face of it quite ambivalent um you know I would say yeah a lot of the emails I got they weren’t and a few people I spoke to were definitely in at one camp or another but quite a few weren’t but actually when they thought about it summed up the arguments quite quite well they summed up the pros and cons and I must admit I I wasn’t fair I I I targeted certain per but my portfolio is children services and therefore I I look for people with families and young children I also look for people with who who had visible disabilities I say visible disabilities um and thinking back one family I spoke to sued it up quite well there was a family it was an elder lady in a wheelchair who I wasn’t able to talk to because um she wasn’t able to talk to me very well but she had a Cara with her um she had a Cara’s partner and they had a quite a group of children um and they did say you I introduce myself and as some to use a Parker and they they told me that actually not being able to use that gate that’s closed at the moment did actually cause them some issues um they said it took me a few more minutes to get into the park today and sometimes we like to drive through but when they reflected they said yeah however it’s a nicer environment now we’re in it that they felt that they could get around with the wheelchair better uh they felt that the children they didn’t have to have such tight control they could they could allow them a bit more space because it weren’t so many cars um so so and and that’s what I was getting from lots of people now the bit about constitutions and referendums and voting and things um it’s quite clear a constitution s a consultation it is something which you listen to people’s views um it’s not a referendum a referendum has to have specific um rules and regulations in place you have to ensure that you know in advance of it who is going to be allowed to vote you you need to know um Define what you’re voting on you have to um make sure that people can only vote once um and it has to be done in a certain time frame um with a cons consultation you asking for people’s opinions now we we do that in planning all the time in a council um when you have a planning meeting and it could be for a huge building uh or or or or a single house or a change of something um we we ask people to to consult on that and we listen to them but it’s never never never a number of people voting one and the other in fact we tell people as a council I advise people if point is getting petition what you need to do is say things which affect people’s decisions so so what I’ve done is I’ve I’ve looked looked at that now I also thank people for I I spent a bit of time looking at the history of Paul Park um donated we heard by Lord wimbor in the late 1800s open the Prince of Wales in 1990 the sorry 1890 show my age that first mot motor vehicle in the UK were actually in 1894 and 1895 uh imported Benz v two horsepowers 12 miles an hour that that’s four years after the par was opened so the person who Lord wimbor who who donated the park wasn’t thinking about it for motor traffic um he was at the time by the way a conservative MP I should does say although he did change and become a liberal Democrat in 1904 um I I just s so he did make some bad decisions as well iations so so um on on balance you know and and I have listened to all sides I would say um I think we need to make the decision here today I don’t see any point in taking it to to for Council um all councils have had opportunity here and that’s that scrutiny to talk um and and and on my balance I think that we should keep the gate closed thank you very much uh councelor Burton can I ask any other cabinet members wishing to speak councelor Hannah thank you very much just to explain to people online um a member of the public has taken issue with um a phrase that was uh used by the cabinet by a Cabinet member um during the debate um I just want to remind you that this is um a uh meeting that’s held in public so I won’t be taking any more interruptions um councilor Cox did you want to clarify anything at all I don’t believe I was quoting you I was just interpreting what you said so that’s the way I still excuse me no I’m afraid the time has gone for statements but thank you thank you so we heard the statements at the beginning and um I’m sure that cabinet members present do have that statement on fire so if they would like to refer to it then they have an opportunity to uh during the summing up um but I’m afraid we’re not going to go back and listen to further statements um oh and also just to mention they are published online as well so if anyone else would like to go and have a look they are there um any other cabinet members wishing to speak councelor Hannah uh thank you Deputy leader can I say that I don’t have a prepared speech uh I have been uh reading the paper in detail I’ve been reading the various statements in detail uh I’ve been observing the uh comments uh on Facebook uh on the echo uh I am someone who’s used the park regularly when I lived in pool uh and visited again because of the issue that’s been raised uh and the first thing I want to say is simply a thank you and appreci appreciation to all of the residents who have expressed views through the consultation uh some of them have been emotive but I can understand that there are emotions involved so there’s nothing wrong with that uh but the nature of the consultation as has been said is in order to tease out issues uh and whilst we have very professional officers who write reports and who consider pros and cons of different lines of action uh the whole purpose of any Council consultation is the fact that there will be residents who actually use facilities who have got their own experience of those facilities and who’ve got their own views and consultation enables those views to be expressed uh as has been said it’s not a vote uh numbers are of interest uh but they’re not binding and decisive and there’s also a question question as to how views should be weighed if I may I will risk uh mentioning something that I’ve put on Facebook about a slightly different issue uh which is a hypothetical question I’ve set to those who’ve been commenting which is if you have a consultation at 100 residents of a street would like the speed limit reduced to 20 miles an hour and 500 uh users of the street would like to be able to drive through at 30 miles an hour what should the council do and no one has yet to reply to that saying the 500 out weigh the 100 and I think it’s a similar situation here where I would tend to gra greater weight to the concerns and Views uh obviously there are no residents living in the park but of those who spend time in the park as distinct from those who drive through the park that said I also note that there are different reasons why people drive through the park uh and I share the views of others who and I think the word Rat Run has been used uh I share the views of others who feel the park should most certainly not be used as a Rat Run uh that’s not what it was intended for it’s difficult to actually work out how many of those who used to drive through uh were using it as a r run and how many were using it uh as a pleasant alternative route but can I just address the legitimate concerns of those who feel it has been a pleasant alternative route because one of the aims of the council is to improve the well-being of residents and if I may uh offer a little bit of uh professional comment on that uh I did spend three years a little while ago training as a counselor uh not an elected counselor but as a psychotherapist style counselor and I’m very conscious and it was part of my training uh that part of well-being and part of assisting those with mental health difficulties of whatever kind is experiencing the world outside their home uh ideally Countryside park Pleasant location I hope it won’t take be taken the wrong way if I add to that that nowhere was it suggested in any of my training that the right way to do that is to take a two-minute drive through the right way to do that is to spend time appreciating nature and letting nature have its influence on the internal feelings that are causing whatever difficulties the person is experiencing and the park should be provided for that purpose for people who want to spend time there not simply for people who want to drive through I add to that comment uh as councelor Chapman law has said there is actually a route still in existence for those who want to drive through uh entering via the East Gate or the uh Civic Center gate and driving on through to the celldom gate so that is there it has not been taken away but my advice for those concerned is spend time with nature don’t simply take it as a driveth through all of that said uh the the recommendation from overview and scrutiny has been to put this to full Council I’m not sure what would be added by that process I think a lot has been aired already in the public arena in the scrutiny meeting and in this meeting and personally I’m ready to take a decision on the matter thank you w leader thank you Council Hannah um now we do have councelor brown who is joining us online that means that um he is not able to propose second or or vote in um on agenda items however he is very welcome to speak so uh David go ahead good morning all um apologies I can’t be with you this morning as I’m I’m away in London um but yeah I wanted to speak on this item I listened to the environment that place overview in scrutiny um meeting last week and I’ve listened to all this morning’s statements and questions and over the months I’ve followed the extensive commentary on social media about about Paul Park as well as obviously reading the reports and reading the results of the public consultation and I just wanted to say that you know cabinet’s role is to consider the consultation results yes but alongside all the other information so that’s information from Council officers from the Ward counselors um the results of the traffic surveys which have taken place and importantly also consider that alongside bcp’s stated Council Vision strategy and agreed policies as well as our own experiences and and as a I’ve been a pool counselor in pool for 17 years I’m very familiar with pool park I’m a regular user of pool park with friends and family to walk my dog there um I visited more since the um gate closure um to sort of see and experience of what it what it’s like more more um usually usually driving to the park myself but I’ve also taken part in the um Barrel bike scoot happy scooter training course in the park as well quite recently so in my all my personal experience of using the park particularly late lately I see this has been a sort positive benefit for Park users it feels safer it seems quieter a more pleasant environment and it’s I I feel it’s safer for many of the dog walkers particularly around the part of the park nearest to this gate um just wanted to make clear that a lot of the representations were about closing Pool Park Pool Park will remain open to the public and will remain open for people to drive there as has been said and visit the park I’d like to thank the ward councilors Emily Harmon and um chrispen goodle for their extensive engagement with the local residents and and sharing that with us as as cabinet members as well a lot of the concerns seem to be around losing a Scenic drive-thru the park but as councelor Chapman law um said just recently um that’s still possible from the Civic Center gate so I I used to live on Merck Park presentent in Bournemouth for for some time and used to drive through that Park to access Bournemouth Town Center but that was reviewed and changed some years ago and in my view and experience of that been to the positive benefit of those visiting and using Merck park with little impact on the drivers that used to drive through there and I see this as being very similar um so on balance having listen to all of the views and considered all of the information that we’ve been provided and looked at my own personal experience I just find myself in complete support of the recommendation before cabinet this morning and if I was with you in the room I would be voting in favor of that to that the current trial closure of the White Cliff entrance and exit point would be made permanent in Paul Park thank you very much councelor Brown uh for joining us remotely and um giving your thoughts I’m going to go back to councelor Mike Cox very briefly thanks uh I feel honor boned to uh bypass the system and read councelor Bing’s statement if that’s okay with you um because I certainly didn’t want to misinterpret what you said so I I I will read out in full um my computer just decided to to die a um on statement starts unwittingly BCP has un the unenviable task of trying to find a lasting solution to the fury over the closure of White Cliff gate it may not Chine with the objectives of certain minority groups but unless Council wants adverse publicity in both public and social media to continue I respectfully suggest all parties put aside any Prejudice except the majority of people want the gate to remain open at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow we move uh from view all sides mentioning closure of the gates at 10:00 a.m. quietly open uh White Cliff gates to traffic so uh Vehicles can drive through all three entrances and both exits exactly as they could do before 17th of Jan January importantly make sure there is no publicity whatsoever about the reopening when the public find that they can uh again drive through all entrances the adverse publicity will quickly disappear altogether uh just as just as important BCP needs to learn from this dearle and leave Pool Park alone I certainly agree with the uh element we need to learn from the debacle but I’ll I’ll leave it Al that thank you very much councelor Cox um okay any final input from cabinet members on that so um I think we’re going to um well I I did just want to speak myself as well uh just to thank everyone for the uh contributions um the last few weeks have been really challenging um and I go back quiz and fors on this issue myself um visiting the park a lot to see if the issues are arising also speaking to people who are out and about uh reading the report considering consultations attending overview and scrutiny committee debate um and taking into account all of the information that we have uh before us uh to come to a decision however a decision we must make so I’m just going to pass over to councelor Hadley to sum up and then we’re going to go to a vote thank thank you um chair um yes I think Council har the first um first counselor um who spoke U um summed up very well and in terms of you know this is difficult feelings have run have run very high um and and we’ve heard an awful lot of people awful lot of views from a lot a lot of people we as counselors um don’t don’t get to make easy decisions we have to try and weigh things uh in the balance and to and to contrast the views and and um I didn’t quite catch the Philosopher’s name that councelor Martin referred to but then it’s it’s always been an issue that that you uh uh you don’t get popular because you’re going to upset half the people in whatever whatever U um choice you take um it’s clear that there are issues with the consultation methods that the council use it’s something that cabinet had identified and we had a an overview from from the the head the the director responsible for consultation and OB and scrutiny have said and that was actually a bigger part of the debate in OB and scrutiny um that that it’s something that they would like to come back in fact I think they referred it to the ob and scrutiny board um because it it relates to all of the the business of the council um and I think that was also reflected in in the views and the consultation on this issue that we had very strongly support for for the measure and very strong opposition of the measure and very few in the middle and that’s not the way most people uh actually are quite often either apathetic or or have a much more nuanced view than than being at the either end so we heard from the extremes and not from the center um on on the issue um I I i’ the issue about are we being anti-ages are we being anti- disabled there are an awful lot of older people and disabled people who who gave views on both on on both sides of the debate and and I think and again as as councelor Hannah highlighted uh um it’s about being able to spend time in a pleasant place um um and and and enjoy that that time and and I read U um um several of of the responses which said actually I started thinking this was a bad idea and I’ve experienced it and that’s the whole purpose of doing a trial is to be able to to achieve that um there was reference made to to uh by counc canavan to uh um not having um um looked at other um other methods or other closures as as outlined in the report all the different methods um we have closed the park in the middle we did it in 2016 as a trial uh We’ve also got time closures um in of the key in the high streets in the center of pool U which um obviously AR closed during during the day um so we do we do know from some of those other elements uh um the the the impacts and likelihoods of that and the team in the park uh um have you know have highlighted what is feasible and and for them and and also their experience in talking to the many years of the par because obviously they’re there all the time um I think U um in in summary U um chair I um I I I I really genuinely like to thank everybody for for um for having given the views it is important and it is part of democracy for us to hear those views um but um but we don’t have to go with uh um uh um the the majority of you on on these things we have to try and make the right decision for the future and you know the park was entrusted to the council to look after on behalf of all of the people living in the area um I recognize it’s a it’s a gem for for people much wider than um the those living immediately and um immediately close by um and I hope it long continues to be so but I think we do have to try and make it the best we can for the future um and um and that means I I would still favor um making this per thank you thank you councilor Hadley so the recommendation in the cabinet paper is proposed and seconded and despite us having considered environment and places recommendation we haven’t had any amendments from cabinet so can I take a vote now uh all those in favor of the recommendations as stated please show thank you that is unanimous so thank you to all of those who have attended today uh we’ll break for um uh I think five minutes just to allow those who are who are who are here specifically for item 10 uh to leave if they wish thank you for welcome back to today’s uh meeting of cabinets um we have just finished agenda item number five and are starting at Agenda item six um so this is the shared vision for Bournemouth Christ Church and call which is the 2024 to 28 strategy and delivery plan I’m going to be proposing this paper in councilor slides absence do I have a seconder I’m happy to Second thank you very much councelor Martin so this paper is a follow-up paper to the new corporate strategy which was agreed in January this year it focuses on our place and environment and our people and communities which is the change of direction that we have following the change in administration this time last year once that was decided upon we set to work considering all the feedback from the public the strategies that BCP already has in place as well as what our Ambitions and aims are for our area and for the people that live here to create this paper that really gives the detail behind how the new key priorities and how they will be delivered and monitored um so that residents know what to expect from uh BCP Council over the next few years and also as a do document from which residents can hold us to account both on the pace and the quality of what is being delivered I’ve certainly really enjoyed working on this it is very much a cross cabinet um uh and speaks to all of our different areas of responsibility um it is uh I I think I particularly like the way that it’s written and presented it’s really easy to understand uh it gives a real Clarity around what BCP council is now all about and as we go forward uh we’ll be able to see how we’re actually measuring up to these commitments and whether we’re staying on track to deliver the kind of connation that we we really want to live and work in um so having introduced the paper I’d now like to invite um councelor Bartlett to share with us any input from overview and scrutiny board where this paper was considered last week uh councelor Bartlett do you have anything to add nothing to add to that thank you thank you very much uh counselor Bartlett um now just to open it up to any other counselors in the room is anyone wishing to speak on this item anyone online wishing to speak okay uh so let’s hand this over to Cabinet any cabinet colleagues councelor Mike Haw thank you Deputy leader um I I just wanted to comment that uh too often uh public and private organizations have detailed uh strategy plans we see this sit on shelves with little or no delivery uh and sometimes this can be deliberate and sometimes and more often actually it not it’s because they’ve been blown off course by events uh um or by immedi iate priorities that uh blow it of course um The Saga that we’ve just witnessed uh is certainly a classic case where where we can be blown off course if we’re if we’re if we spend too much time and effort dealing with you know I think everybody concerned relatively small in uh matters uh politicians or any color whatever color really should be judged on what they promise uh and what they deliver particularly uh and this is a really good document which uh we need to make sure it happens thank you councilor Cox any other uh speakers from cabinets councelor Andy Martin I just wanted to thank uh all the teams behind this this is a presentation it’s it’s a fantastic document I’m not just saying that because there’s a picture of Christ Church on the front obviously um but it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s great fantastic design well presented clear uh the narrative is superb uh there’s some targets and Ambitions that to set ourselves against and I just think that the officers have done a great job on this and just to Echo what Mike councelor Cox has said lots of people took part in the consultation um so we need to we need to know they need to know they need to see the outcome of their input into what we have into into uh our strategy so I’m I hope that we’ll be able to share that as far and wide as possible with as many residents as possible thank you thank you Council Martin councelor Wilson thank you um yeah just to Echo um kind of what’s already been said I think um a lot of work has gone into this I had a lot of um queries with it at draft stage so thank you for accommodating some of them um I think it’s a really excellent um uh piece of work that is very accessible to the public some of these documents sometimes aren’t um but I think it’s important as well that uh to say that a delivery plan sits behind all of this and that’s the most important thing it’s okay having nice words a glossy document but we have to deliver on what’s in it and I I’m just looking forward to that I think we should be really held to account by it thank you thank you councelor Wilson councelor Hannah thank you can I endorse as councilor Martin has already said the presentation of the document which I think is first class uh I think we can be really proud of the way that we’re putting across our Ambitions for the future uh and I know that it is a future look document uh but what I really wanted to comment on was the page that sets out our recent successes and I’ve got to say that it does sadden me that I see so many comments in the public Arena that are critical of the council in one way or another uh when officers are working hard to deliver for residents and achieving so much and I think we should just spend a moment looking at that page and reflecting on all of our recent successes two of those I’ll pick out because uh it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on each of them the first one is the big one the big one is that we achieved a balanced budget for the next four years and that is pretty major set against the financial difficulties that uh this Administration inherited and I put it both in terms of the way in which reserves were being eaten Away by the previous administration at a level that could not be sustained and that in itself put a major budget pressure on us that need to save the 50 million a year that uh we did achieve uh in setting the balance budget the other one is the big one that uh I think people outside of this room uh too rarely remember which is the fact that this council’s government grant has been cut over successive years by a total of 100 million pounds per year and we could do so much more if we had that money uh the fact that we’ve managed to achieve a balanced budget and are doing all that we are doing and aiming for all that we aim for I think is a major tribute and I think we can be rightly proud of that I’m proud of our officers for what they’re doing and what they’re aiming to do uh and the other one is in one sense the minor one but it’s the one that appears most frequently uh in terms of public comment uh potholes signs brains and Road markings uh we have attended officers have attended 8,746 locations to fix those can I say thank you to those officers thank you thank you councelor Hannah uh councelor Andy Hadley thank you yes I just endorse the comments of everyone I was I was struck by page 32 not just because it’s got a picture of pool key just to compete with cl with h but um the um because it ties into the national Frameworks the un u um sustainability goals and their purpose goals and and our efforts to try and make sure that we have a a much more sustainable place so from a a climate change perspective but also in terms of the many things that we have to weigh in the balance and our officers have to weigh in the balance in trying to um make sure that are creating a good place for the future a fair place for the future and and dealing with um dealing with our impact on on on the planet as a part of that so it’s important that’s something that we set out back in 2019 actually we we tied tried to tie our our plans into the the sustainability goals and I’m really pleased to see that still there um and and in terms of the pool I’d just like to support what council Hannah just said um I I I spotted a an emergency or a what I consider to be an emergency pothole and the guys were there within 3 hours fixing it so so you know the team really do respond not just on volume but also on urgency when it’s it’s there and U um I think that’s worth celebrating and thanking them for thank you thank you councelor Hadley um so I’m just going to very briefly sum up and say that uh I attended the meeting of overview and scrutiny committee on this and and we listen to what some of the council has raised there were some minor changes um for example including um some more numbers around social homes and affordable homes um improving the reference to staff satisfaction and uh changing one of the photos so um they they have been Incorporated throughout so the final document is actually in the appending one uh which shows those amended changes I just wanted to clarify that for everyone so uh can I take all those in favor of the recommendation thank you that is unanimous so we are now going to move on to agenda item number seven which is the BCP alcohol public spaces protection order review uh councelor Wilson is going to be presenting and proposing this is there a seconder thank thank you councelor Cox uh councelor Wilson um uh thank you chair um this public space protection order also known as a pspo has been in place since July 2001 and expires on the 30th of June 2024 The Proposal is to extend the order in its current form with the same conditions and areas of coverage all Wards are included with the exception of Broadstone merly highcliffe and walkford Commons uh where Wards are not included is because there continues to be no evidence of alcohol related antisocial behavior in public spaces um I should hasten to add that this is not an alcohol ban and focuses on any negative behaviors displayed in public when consuming alcohol which is having a detrimental impact on others in the local locality it allows authorized officers to confiscate alcohol from people acting antisocial or those likely to act in an antisocial Manner and allows them to disperse people from the area a breach of pspo is punishable by a fixed penalty notice or prosecution but does not negate that the police can also deal with the negative behaviors through their own powers and theyve been doing some very practive work in this area in recent months in partnership with us following a judicial review on another pspo the council have had it determined that authorized officers can disperse from an area and as such will be taking a more robust approach to the pspo enforcement in areas where cesas officers operate we have seen an increase in alcohol confisa confiscation and pspo enforcement in recent months uh through the Department of Transport ASB pilot on uh public transport Network that has resulted in one injunction with 15 seizures on the bus Network since February this enhance resource into cesas means there is greater coverage in The Wider areas of the conation whilst the team town the town team sorry uh resource in bour toown Center uh will lend a robust approach to Street drinking in places like the square cabinet are asked to extend the pspo in its current state for a further 3 years to allow continued enforcement of alcohol rated antisocial behavior in public places thank you thank you very much councelor Wilson so this hasn’t been to scrutiny so I don’t need to specifically ask scrutiny chairs uh if there are any recommendation recommendations or the like but I will ask if there are any counselors in the room or online um that if they wish to speak please indicate now no okay so over to Cabinet that’s Mike Cox well I just wanted to add uh to what councelor Wilson has just said and really thank the officers involved um and who’ve done I think a really excellent job uh putting this report together and also collecting the evidence uh I think it’s right that we we look carefully at any orders which may restrict The public’s rights and freedoms uh as a as a nation we have a a very difficult relationship with alcohol although I do feel that this is gradually changing nevertheless it’s important we do listen to the consultations um with the public and maintaining these orders in selected places I think is the right thing to do at this time thank you thank you very much councelor Mike Cox and and also just to add I think that um a lot of councilors will have experienced um problems with uh maybe public drinking that they would rather not have in their WS um and I’m really proud of this Council that we do actually uh take some action there in tackling um antisocial behavior that comes from it um I know that this has uh certainly impacted my ward um councelor Wilson would you like to sum up at all um happy to just kind of say thank you for for the support and I think the the lack of contributions um kind of indicate how just uh important and popular this is um and it’s also very very um popular with the with the public who think that this is an issue and something that we need to be addressing um so yeah hopefully we will see a more robust approach in the future thank you very much Council Wilson uh can I take all those INF favor of the recommendation that’s unanimous thank you wow we’re cering through them now um so we’re actually going to be um amending the agenda again I’m afraid and that is simply because um councelor Wilson needs to go to a very important meeting and he still has a paper to present um so we’re actually going to be swapping around item nine um and 10 so we’ll be bringing item n sorry item eight and nine so we’re going to be bringing item nine forward to do first and then we will go to agenda item eight uh so item nine is uh the council new build housing and quisition strategy uh the reallocations of funds and individual site approvals councilor Wilson over to you to propose uh thank you chair and thank you for accommodating my request uh it’s much appreciated um the council has been awarded seven uh 7.5 million pounds uh in grant funding um all allocated from the Department of leveling up housing and communities also known as dck to obtain accommodation for families with housing needs who have arrived in the UK via Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement and reallocation schemes this report recommends that we accept the three rounds of funding from the the local local Authority housing fund um the report also sets out to enable uh the increase of temporary accommodation within the Cenas program um additional capital is required and it is proposed to move the budget uh within the Cenas program from the provision of private rented homes um which doesn’t meet the needs of our community currently to Temporary accommodation this will reduce our Reliance on bed and breakfast requirement within BCP and in turn will uh reduce our growing Financial Revenue pressure which is putting some councils across the country in serious Financial Strife the three uh there’s also three Housing Development schemes included within the report um which are part of our temporary accommodation program the first of those schemes is an eight bed uh an eight uh an eight property uh three-bedroom house at Su Road for Refugee families living in temporary accommodation which will be rented at affordable rent which is capped at around 62% of Market rent the second scheme is at cresant Road um it’s five one bedroom and three two-bedroom apartments at fortable rent kep a local housing allowance for families leaving bread and breakfast accommodation and the final scheme is at DK cot Road for six one-bedroom Flats is part of our single homelessness accommodation program so um I would like to rec present recommendations are set out thank you thank you very much Council Wilson and can I just check is there a seconder for that paper thank you councelor Hannah um very thank you for seconding uh that item so do we have any counselors in the room or online who are not on cabinet who wish to speak uh I can see councelor Bartlett Council Bartlett would you like please yes thank you very much uh this paper is quite a complex paper it encompasses a number of uh fairly different uh aspects of housing provision uh but I would like to just raise uh or pose a couple of questions if I may and also to raise one or two issues about the costings within within the paper uh the the first uh question is the transfer of the budget of 36.3 million uh to to to a different uh budget uh which will change basically the provision for private rental scheme and my my question is which schemes will be directly affected by that transfer budget I’m assuming it will be princess road which is one of our major developments and for which uh was aimed being partially PRS uh perhaps C councelor Wilson could confirm or otherwise that point um um uh the the other point I wanted to raise is on the cost of of the build of those three developments are listed in the paper just astronomical build costs and I I I quote sorry Road for example 83 bedroom houses uh uh 440k build costs uh on average for each one and and and also uh a very strange figure of 25k for the land cost well if you you can buy a plot of land to build eight three bedroom houses on for 25k I think you’re doing extremely well so I’m not quite sure where that 25k has come from um anyway I won’t go into the other details but the the the build cost for the for the cresant road and uh darot Road are also very very high and and I’m just wondering is that a product of building these in-house or the intention to build our in use our in-house team um and I suspect that these these cost will probably be challenged when this paper goes to to to full Council um I said there there are a whole raft of issues that come out of this paper not least is the is is why we’re not focusing much more on building social housing rather than affordable housing it’s a much bigger question here but if you have enough social housing you don’t actually need to have affordable housing or indeed the PRS housing the council if they focused on social housing um and allow the the uh the private to get on with the rest and let’s face it in the main that’s what they do um but that’s probably a debate for another day uh so I’ll leave it at that thank you very much councelor Ron if you if you could answer thank you thank you very much councelor B I’m just gonna go back to councelor Wilson briefly before we open it up okay uh thank you chair um well we have um uh Nigel Bower and John Thornton who are in our development team so I I’ll let them come up and kind of explain add to anything I say but um in terms of the transfer of the budget um I think uh currently we’re not building private rented um sector uh homes so it makes sense um to move it across to this um this approach because we’re needing to get people out of uh bed and breakfast and into more settled more useful um forms of temporary accommodation um that are going to help their well-being um in terms of Princess Road I think scheme um anyway is a bit of a bit of a stand still because of just the viability of it um we’re we’re really struggling since it was first approved um when I was the portfolio holder back in 2019 um the costs have just skyrocketed and we’re really struggling with that um in terms of the the build cost this is something that always comes up um I think partly it’s to do with uh quality partly it’s to do with the market partly it’s to do with the local Authority regulations that we have to um abide by um I can completely understand um Council bartlet’s queries with this because they they are High um but they are low risk uh in terms of the fact that they are modeled to all provide us with a surplus um so yeah I’m content but I will pass over to um the development team to just expand on anything I said or correct anything I said which could could could be needed thank you very much counselor will Wilson um welcome uh Mr Thornton Mr bow please do uh if you have anything to add to that go ahead I think the only thing I need to add rather than correct is about the land value um that is based on an affordable product land value not a uh market value uh providing Market homes so it is a like a discounted land value which is an accepted modeling method and valuation method thank you i’ just like to add further clarification on the princess Road that’s a name scheme that is outside the PRS budget that we’re talking about and discussing here today so that’s in addition so won’t affect the delivery of Princess Road um if when we get over the the issues currently at hand thank you very much Council Wilson yeah and can we just clarify um Council B’s further point is there any other private rented schemes that are affected by this I assume not because we’re moving away from um but you coming there’s none we’ve got the name scheme which are in the development side which W won’t be affected um but the PRS budget fundamentally got paused during the course of last summer there are no current schemes that will be affected by this thank you very much for offering that explanation uh can I just check are there any other counselors who would like to speak who aren’t on cabinets NOP so let’s open this up to cabinet please councelor Andy Mart um Andy Hadley thank you um yes I I I think perhaps part of this transfer is a reflection of the the the crisis in housing at the moment the fact that the private rent sector is is is is failing residents tenants quite often um because because the landlords either can’t afford or or obviously you know their money better in in in other places and we as Council having to pick that up so I can understand why we’re having to put more effort into the tempor accommodation into U um dealing with people in in in some crisis so I I think you know I welcome the efforts of the team to to try and do what we can to struggle to fill the home thank you thank you very much councelor Hadley uh any other members of cabinet wishing to speak um I was just going to add myself that some of us um attended the uh BCP homelessness partnership yesterday and we discussed uh on on my table in my group uh we talked a lot about tempor accommodation and the the sheer weight and pressure that is on the council in trying to find suitable accommodation um at the moment we have a lot of families who are in very unsuitable uh places um and actually that the priority that maybe we take as a council moving forward on our homelessness strategy is to uh primarily try and Tackle uh that temporary accommodation issue because that is seriously affecting the uh well-being um of many of our families in our communities so councelor Wilson anything to add um no I think um I think it’s a fair Challenge from councilor B around um some of the issues that that that we’re facing and you know in in the coming um months we are going to be engaging with members uh on the issue of housing as we look to um the forward plan in cabinet in September um around reviewing uh where the housing strategy currently is um I think he raises a really important point about the importance of social housing um and I think that’s something that not only we should be doing as Council but we should also be lobbying government to put more money into social housing and enabling us to to to build it um I I I always think it’s important to emphasize though our affordable um our affordable rent is cap and local housing allowance and um as I mentioned in the in my opening um the first scheme is is around 62% of of Market rent which is you know um not as low as social housing but it is is very helpful for some of our residents um yeah so I think that’s the only things that I want to kind of add in addition and just thank um cabinet for their support thank you very much councel Wilson um so can I take all those in favor of the recommendation thank you that is unanimous uh and thank you councelor Wilson uh for for doing that a little bit earlier so we’re going to revert back to agenda item eight which is the sand bank’s Peninsula neighborhood plan apologies to those who are expecting it to come a little bit later um so councelor Martin is going to be presenting and proposing this paper because uh councilor Slade isn’t with us today uh is there a seconder thank you councelor Mike Cox for set second that councilor Martin can I just first draw uh to cabinet’s attention a communication from the sandbanks neighborhood Forum Forum uh advising us that they had withdrawn a letter to the Secretary of State regarding the timetable for the plan and I’d just ask cabinets and note that please um and i’ would also like to share the forum’s acknowledgement um uh of and I quote the help and support of BCP planning team in getting the plan to this final stage in the adoption process which is greatly appreciated um they also say uh the community is excited at the prospect of having a set of policies which will benefit sand banks its residents and visitors for generations to come I thought I would just set the scam with that um I’m very pleased to uh bring this paper forward and to see another neighborhood plan hopefully on the ver of coming to fruition after much hard work by The sandbanks Neighborhood Forum Community uh and our officers uh the plan has been five years in the making and and just a little bit of context for not everybody who may be necessarily uh familiar with neighborhood plans there’s sometimes confusion between neighborhood plan and the local plan so neighborhood plans allow communities to have more influence and control over their local area to ensure they get the right type of development for their neighborhood and much more in terms of ing Environmental Protection and other issues a neighborhood plan forms part of the development plan and sits alongside the local plan and our local plan is in progress as we know prepared by the local planning Authority decisions on planning applications will be made using both the local plan and the neighborhood plan and any other material considerations just to recap on where we are in this process uh the plan has been looked at by the appointed examiner and he’s made a number modifications so um you can find those in paragraph 15 of the report and our officers say that the draft plan incorporating The Examiner modifications would meet or do meet the basic conditions for the the plan so these modifications include matters relating to landscape character Trees Gardens biodiversity public realm and other matters so uh cabinet is asked to accept these modifications laid out in the report uh and uh recommendations one to four which will enable the neighborhood plan to proceed to a referendum on July the 18th um and in such a referendum it is a simple majority uh in recommendation five you’ll note so if we do not agree the modifications from the inspector then that will require a further process um and you can find the uh reference that on paragraph 34 um um on a personal note having been through the process of a local sorry of a that’s me getting confused of a neighborhood plan with Hi H and walkford Parish Council between 2019 and last year when this Council last January when this Council uh voted to make it a made plan uh I think this is uh a great move for sand banks as they have indicated uh and I hope it’s the first of many which will Empower our communities in the planning process so um I urge cabinet to support the recommendations thank you thank you very much councelor uh Martin if I could open it up to any members any councilors who are not members of cabinets just having a quick look around the room nope so over to cabinets anyone like to um speak on this councelor Mike cop thank you Deputy leader uh yeah I was very happy to Second this uh the development of these neighborhood plans is clearly a vitally important part of our planning system and uh and they have to protect the local characteristics and priorities of a particular area and and I really wanted to uh commend the work of all parties particularly those in the local community who will have spent endless amounts of time uh researching and Consulting uh to get this plan to where it is at the moment it’s a thankless task uh but one which the uh the local the local community should be very grateful for thank you thank you councilor fo uh councelor Hadley yeah thank you um obviously in Ptown we have P keys forums some similar with the neighborhood plan and it’s really important and I know the effort that the volunteers involved in in developing AR they plan put into it and as you say some of that is is is maybe not realized by many members of the of the local population but it’s really important I think the other element of this though is is you know the the in the future we are hoping to move to a governance review and to the potential for for for parishing uh the areas of BCP that are not currently Parish which has perhaps more Powers than than a neighborhood plan has uh with with with more comprehensive coverage um because I think it’s great for this community um as it as it is for um as we’ve said in areas like Broadstone um highcliff um and and P pys amongst amongst some um but that doesn’t cover the whole area so so I you know I think this is a great step for for for this this locality um and I look forward to further further work on how we can think about governance for the whole area thank you thank you so much Council Hadley uh any other members of cabinet wishing to speak nope I think just to Echo as well uh that uh we shouldn’t underestimate the sheer amount of effort that goes into uh setting up a neighborhood forum and bringing forward a neighborhood plan um I think it’s brilliant that residents uh get that opportunity to be a bit more um involved in the decision making uh of plan planning applications in in their Ward uh or their area um and I’d really recommend if any other residents who are interested in uh neighborhood planning what a neighborhood plan is uh and what a neighborhood foreign does um then may be a good place to start is to speak to your ward counselor um so can I see if and uh councelor Martin anything you want to say to sum up nothing to add thank you chair thank you so much so can I take all those in favor of the recommendation Briant that’s unanimous thank you very much so we’re now going to uh go back to the original order um of agenda items so we move on to agenda item 11 which is simpler recycling waste reforms um this is going to be presented and proposed by councelor Hadley is there a seconder for this a second thank you councelor Cox uh councelor Hadley thank you leader um Deputy leer I’m sorry I promoted you um so this this um it follows changes to legislation um at National level in terms of of responsibilities of of councils to try and improve recycling rates and to look at um a a level of um equality I guess in terms of the handling of of um of waste across the whole country um it does um um hopefully for us resolve an issue for people in pool who’ve kind of felt they’re subsidizing the other parts of the conation by by not having food waste available to them where we have been collecting food waste in in Bournemouth and Chri area um and it it’s also looking to um a number of other obligations placed upon us including um that that people in Flats will need to U um have food waste U um recycling available for them too um so some of these things are not choices we’ve made they’re things that U um government are telling us we must do um and so you know we are trying to make the best we can of it and make it as workable for for residance and also for the teams that that collect the waste um as as we go forwards um it also enables us to to uh or or demands that we uh we collect commercial food waste um and and and obviously that has obligations for businesses which will be U um for some um a a a challenge um but we’re working through that as best we can uh with u um with with the the the plans for the businesses and in some places where um where residents really struggle to find Space uh then the the opportunities for fortnightly bagged recycling service but that is is not something we can cope with in bulk so it needs to be by exception and for those that really need it um so I recommend this to to council to C thank you very much councelor Hadley now um uh councelor Burton has just raised an interest that we potentially have him and I so councelor Burton would you like to explain that yeah just purely for clarity and it is on my member’s interest I’m a trustee of the charity win on waste um which um does collect raise funds for Charities by doing Recycling and involved in education about recycling um we don’t do anything with food waste um or or film in fact nothing that’s in this paper overlaps what we do at all but I just thought for clarity I ought to mention it thank you very much councelor Burton and I should add as well that I’m a recycling Ambassador for um win on waste but as you mentioned food waste I also run an organization called the branks and rossore Community fridges which deals exclusively with wayte which would otherwise end up in landfill um again that is not a pecuniary interest it’s I’m purely there as a volunteer um so can I see if there are any counselers in the room or online that wish to speak on this no no one is indicating so over to Cabinet councelor Cox thank you TI leader um yes I was very happy to Second this particular uh paper that um particularly as I as I wrote my degree thesis uh entitled economics of recycling back in 1981 uh uh so I’m not sure I should declare an interest um but I was I was also responsible for introducing glass recycling in hillington when I was a counselor there uh which is was always very important to me um but it has been a particular bug bear of mine uh that since being elected uh the pool has not had uh food recycling uh I thought this was grossly unfair uh and irrespective of the merits of recycling it is it is vital that uh all residents of BCP are treated equally uh and that they should get the same service throughout uh the connation so I think this paper is very welcome it will um as as has been kind of implied uh probably create extra Financial pressures which we will have to deal with as part of the budget process um but um I I’m delighted that this inequality has been addressed and I look forward to further initiatives to enhance recycling across BCP thank you thank you very much councelor Cox any other members of cabinet wishing to speak on this cber yeah I’d only like to add with the food waste recycling my ward is one of those Wards which um have probably 80% don’t have food waste recycling with 20% do and we have we have the Str strange situation when the Recyling lry drives past uh some houses uh that don’t have food waste to collect the food waste from others that do and therefore I am more I am very keen on seeing that inequality has stopped um and so that we all have the same service across both my ward and and the council thank you very much Council Burton any other members of cabinet wishing to speak nope uh councelor Hadley anything to add thank you yes yes if I may uh um your the interest that both you and Council Burton declared it’s great um that that stuff is getting diverted from the waste stream you know we need to reduce the amount of waste that we have and and things like the new new new for you facility that we have um but also the work of volunteers and in in um in finding other uses and reuse for for for waste or or reducing it it’s it’s a good thing um it may reduce our Tage recycled but actually that’s a for me that’s definitely a good thing um I think CC mentioned the the uh extra Financial pressures we will get new burdens funding as part of this and we have appealed because the uh the amount of money that we were offered was um significantly less than we thought it would to cost to to undertake this work we could to buy uh new new refuges vehicles and and crew them U and in order to do the food waste in in Poland that’s that’s a significant cost on us um but we will get some funding and we’re waiting to hear whether we’ve been successful in in appearing a slightly larger figure um in terms of of council Burton’s comment about food waste and and the the Lor’s driving driving past houses that reminded me that one of the elements that we are looking at is rebalancing the reals um so looking to to actually try and um ensure that we are are not working in a in a pool and Bournemouth and Christ Church separate area because of history but we’re actually working as efficiently as we can across the whole area so hopefully those lawyers will be stopping outside every house and and and optimizing their roots and and the other element that the team U um and George is on is online has putting awful lot of work into this is looking at the carbon footprint of what we do and how you know the optimization is partly also about trying to reduce the road Ms of our vehicles and as we look forward in terms of where the waist streams go and and reoccuring U our um the the the the people who receive our waste uh we are also looking very much at the carbon footprint of that and how we can maximize uh um the the time that the the teams are are physically collecting waste and not driving to a remote location with it and and and using diesel um uh um or electricity we have some vehicles that are electric ped too um so that was that was it thank you thank you councelor Hadley so can I take all those in favor of the recommendation thank you that is also unanimous um so we’re going to move on to agenda item 12 which is the Truro local Authority trading company business plan uh councelor Brown is now no longer online um having had to um uh come offline um so uh councelor Hanah is going to be proposing this paper um is there a seconder thank you very much councelor Burton councelor Hannah thank you Deputy leader happy to propose the paper which is uh setting out the Truro strategic business plan uh and the direction over the next five years as you said it would normally have been councelor Brown who would have uh introduced and uh provided commentary uh prior to uh coming for a discussion uh he was unable to remain with us uh because of other commitments uh I think it’s wholly inappropriate for me to attempt to substitute for him and I’m extremely grateful to Mr Hornsby uh who is the report author uh who’s come to the table and is ready to provide some introductory comments and indeed to answer questions if there are questions may I pass to him thank you councelor Hannah uh welcome to the table Mr Hornsby is there anything you would like to do in presenting this paper thanks chair I’ll be very I’ll be very brief so um just really to point out this is the first time a strategic business plan from tricuro has come to cabinet and because really it’s the first time we’ve been able to do this in a in a sely BCP forast where previously we had an arrangement where we’re in partnership with dorsa Council and jointly sh shared the ownership of tricuro which is our local Authority Trading Company for adult social care services so just briefly the report is setting out a fiveyear plan and and it’s trying to set out the journey that Truro believe they want to go on and that’s been working in conjunction with myself and councelor brown around the direction of travel for for the company aligned to the corporate strategy um objectives and priorities and also the adult social care um strategic plan it’s quite a focus on Innovation Community engagement Workforce Development and growth but really also striving to be as efficient and well-run organization that supports our most vulnerable adults in the community and at the best price and the best cost that it can um whilst also maintaining quality so the the business plan itself sets out some short medium longterm longer term objectives and that should um consolidate the position of the company as a leading provider of good quality services in the area that’s all I was going to say thank you very much um I just want to look around the room and see if there are any counselors not on cabinet wishing to speak thank you very much Patrick canavan would you like to come up at this point um thank you chair um it’s nice to be sat next to Mr HBY because he’s heard me say this before so um nothing of what I’m about to say will be new to him um as uh HBY said this is the first time the business PL come to camp and it has not yet been to the health and adult social care overview and scrutiny committee but I can assure you and any members of the public listening that it’s on our work program to do that um we I think we’ll want to look quite closely at the impact of the budgetary um decisions on Truro and the way in which they’re reshaping their service to uh accommodate all of that um I have as Mr hansby knows had recently a closure of a a residential C home in my ward which is run by trur and it’s part of the budgetary constraints which the organization is facing so we wanting to um have a particular look at at that but I just wanted to say that within the business plan that’s before you uh today there are a couple of mentions of things like the day opportunities and the creation of community hubs and again you know I I have raised this issue before that there is a real need to try and coordinate this work um and to try and ensure that we make the best use of these premises uh and that that work is in their business plan and I’m practically trying to to ensure that all of the relevant bits of BCP actually act in a coordinated way on this project uh so we we will be wanting to um have a look at that uh so the only other issue I I I did want to uh highlight uh chair if I may it’s just the whole issue of services that trur operate on reablement uh they are looking they are going to have another look at Rea woman I think that’s a really important piece of work uh because we you know we we do need to do something more on on that and ensuring that we work with our health colleagues to uh facilitate those people who need that additional support on uh you know possibly on exit from hospital or other uh circumstances that that we need to get that right so I just wanted to take the opportunity to to say that that work is ongoing and to thank you for your time thank you councelor canavan um I can see online that we have councelor Bartlett indicating councilor Bartlett thank you Deputy leita yeah um uh the on the agenda today it actually says the report um uh details the new shareholder governance Arrangements well I I looked through the report and I couldn’t actually see it unless unless I’ve missed it but I I I am a member of the uh Trier executive shareholder Group which uh previously provided Ed uh governance arrangements from the council to trira now I as far as I’m aware that that executive shareholder group still exist in fact I looked at the uh web page today and I’m still annotated as being a member of it there’s nothing in this paper that talks about the new uh arrangements for governance um I maybe it’s not been discussed yet and it’s something to be detailed but I would be interested to find out what the government arrangements are you know how how will the Public’s interests be reflected in the way that this company is going to um to to be run I I did read through the uh the business plan I don’t have any problems with it I have to say but I am interested in in you know that aspect of it you know the Democratic control of O between you know between the council and the services provided by Tri hero what are the government’s Arrangements going to be thank you thank you councelor Bartlett I’m going to go back to councelor Hannah to answer that but in the meantime just ask if anyone else would like to speak on this who isn’t on cabinet no council Hannah uh thank you Deputy leader I fully understand councilor bartlet’s concerns regarding governance uh that is something which is being reviewed as part of a more General governance review for these bodies uh that was decided uh at January cabinet uh and I believe uh substantial amount of work has already taken place and it will be coming to us in the July cabinet meeting uh so there’ll be an opportunity for Council of Marlet to look at that carefully and no doubt uh bring it to scrutiny as well uh so we look forward to that uh just while uh I’m speaking could I express thanks to councelor canavan for his comments and for his support uh and uh wearing a slightly different hat uh confirm uh our uh concern for the community hubs and for making sure that all Council facilities are well used for the community uh as part of transformation uh that is something that I am working on with officers and with colleague cabinet members so yes grateful to council Canan for that thank you thank you Council Hannah so um any I’m just gonna open this up to cabinet members would anyone on cabinet like to speak Council Mike Co de Deputy leader I just really wanted to comment that uh the the current basis on which trur is is managed is is on the position we’re in because of the departure of of Dorset really presents a unique opportunity I think to to reset or redefine its role and its objectives to work solely um for the residents of PCP and I I think this is a big opportunity that we need to take and I completely take on board the points made about governance um I think these that’s very important uh but I think there’s a big opportunity here and I think this is the first step in along that opportunity thanks thank you councelor Cox any other members of cabinet wish to speak councelor Hadley thank you um yes I’m I’m a little concerned actually that the the the chair of Health and Social care in scrutiny said that they haven’t had a chance to scrutinize this because it it it is uh um it is important that you know if we’re setting the direction for the next 5 years in this document um that um that that you know the people who are are looking at this in detail and understand it and and you know obviously Hold Us hold us and and officers to account um get that opportunity so I just wonder how Dynamic this document is is it a fixed document for for the next five years is it a rolling five years at what point might might anything that that that committee particularly might want to look at would we be able to incorporate or or or change it thank you thank you councelor Hadley um I’m just looking between counc Hannah and Mr Hornsby would Mr horby go ahead thank you um yeah it’s it’s a good point Council Hadley and it it it’s not a rolling five-year business plan there will be further business plans that compact but it will be reviewed regularly so the the objectives are are quite Broad if you look at them and then the how we’ll measure those will be um will become clear as we go through and you’ll note in the report as well that he talks about um additional EAS should there be a requirement for if they were changing things I think the point about uh scrutiny and councilor canavan’s point is we’ve agreed that scrutiny will oversee the delivery of the objectives and and hold both Truro and and officers to account should those um deliverables not happen or if they need a change to be able to comment and and take a view on those but because we’ve set them in the context of The Wider Council strategic objectives it does align with with those responsibilities but take the point about it not coming to over in scrutiny beforehand thank you very much Mr Hornsby um any other members of cabinet wishing to speak if not I’ll go back briefly to councelor Hannah anything to uh I was just going to uh say as Mr Hornsby has already said in the context of scrutiny uh I have absolute confidence that uh the business plan will continue to be scrutinized extremely well and I’m sure that Council canavan will make certain of that thank you I move thank you very much councelor Hannah so um can I take all those in favor of the recommendation that’s passed unanimously thank you so we are going to move on to agenda item 13 which is the send progress update read the send Improvement plan and safety valve uh we have councelor Burton uh presenting and proposing this paper is there a second up thank thank you very much councelor Hannah councelor Burton thank you Deputy leader um the purpose of this paper is to allow cabinet and it was by cabinet request to have an overview of the progress made to date within the sen system at BCP and the efforts across the sen Partnerships uh to continue these improvements on the journey to a better service or dare I say a good service um it also provides a narrative of the B recent safety valve application and the worries regarding the current send funding deficit implication to the council uh the only discussions here are are that we’re happy to note acknowledge the report and its descriptions um I do believe that uh children’s over in scrutiny are also going to have a chance to have a look at this in in the future so it also gives people a chance to have another look at the report if they serve which at a later date um I’m going to start with a slight unofficial correction um with the sentence the send Improvement Journey has been absolute Focus for bcp’s Children’s Service since the DFE and nhse with review visit in July 23 um I would say the absolute Focus started before then um the realization that a lot of improvement meetings had been happening uh with good intentions uh but improvements were too slow coming uh was actually very much in in the mind um and it was with my earliest discussions um with with uh children services officers um officers and I knew that the outcome of the D DFE review would be and we already looking for ways to address it um it’s worth remembering uh what the ultimate goal is here the s Service in BCP um achieves the absolute best outcomes for all children and young people at a cost which is Affordable to our Council taxpayers that that is what the ultimate goal is uh the report is clear that we uh that we where the current Administration look sorry I’ll say again when the current Administration took control last year we’re not there yet but the report shows some good progress that is being made in and the direction of travel the sent service is a partnership between BCP Health Schools and educationists the Dy parents carers and the children young people who use a service uh the only way to achieve a good service for all stakeholders to work as a team and Foster a good trusting relationship this report is all about how far we’ve moved in that direction um I’d like to thank the author Sharon malun of the report I know she isn’t actually uh here to today uh but Kathy Hadley um is in the room and I’m sure if you have any technical um questions that she she’ll to help me very much it answer I’d like to thank the team um for for all the hard work um that’s been put into this report and I hope you found it very interesting to read thank you councelor Burton um I just want to see if there are any councilors not in cabinet in the room who would like to speak councelor canavan if you could come up that would be great thank you um thank you chair just a quick point if I may I just wanted to um thank coun for the reassurance that it can come back to Children’s to for them to have another look at I think that would be most appreciated and I just wondered whether within that we might be able to have a bit more of an update on where we are with safety valve some of you will have heard me wax lyrical about it in certain places but it it it isn’t important issue and I understand that dialogue has to continue um but I think it’s important that as and when we can we do get the opportunity to have another look at where we’re up to on safety valve and particularly to try anyway and offer some reassurance to uh parents that we are you know we are on a journey here and I i’ finally uh I think it would be remiss me not to thank the team for the work that they’ve done to get us to the results that we have I’ve seen in this paper so thank you very much indeed thank you councelor canaban uh I just want to briefly ask if there are any other counselors wishing to speak on this who aren’t on cabinet none indicating so um counselor Burton did you want to go back or should we do that we’ll do that in some do okay let’s open this up to Cabinet um anyone on cabinet wishing to speak councel Hannah uh just in seconding to confirm that councilor Burson has uh clarified what the report is all about but I would want to endorse the thanks to officers for all the work that is being undertaken thank you thank you councelor Hannah uh councelor Hadley thank you yes um I think I I was just going to say something something similar I think it’s a really difficult area we have to do our best by by by the children that are affected and and need U um to have assessments and and and and that that seems to be increasing and I know that it’s it’s you know a significant financial risk to the council in terms of of the overall costs of this um that seems to be accelerating and so um the work is is is really important both both for the the future of those children and also for the financial stability of the council and those things are are high on the minds of a number of a senior team I I know thank you thank you councelor hadly councelor Mike thanks um I again I wanted to to add the thanks to this this it’s clearly a significant improvement from where we started from uh and and everybody involved in that needs to be thanked um I I I just wanted to bring people back to the financial aspects of of this of send um and that the council is in a very very difficult situation regarding send and and we need to bear that in mind I’m hoping that the recent good news that we’ve had regarding send will will mean that in terms of the long term we might start that financial problem might start to ease uh but financially um this council is in a very difficult situation and will require um some sort of not necessarily assistance but some sort of um deferral of uh of um what is it the um the waiver uh in order for us to avoid uh technically going into 114 thank you very much councelor Mike Cox um councelor Adam richond oh Mr Adam richond sorry I didn’t mean to give you an unexpected promotion there Adam go ahead yeah just to clarify I am the council’s Director of Finance I am not a counselor um can I just draw your attention to the financial implications of the report because I think they set out my ongoing concerns as to how council is to supposed to find the cash to cover an annual 30 million pound difference between what we are currently spending on scnd services and the government grant available you know and just to give cabinets some clarification after today’s meeting I will be writing to the Director of Finance at duu to seek advice as to how we resolve that issue thank you very much Mr richens and apologies again um so any other members of cabinet wishing to speak on this form no um councilor Burton would you like to sum up yeah thank you just to come back to a couple of points then um councel Canan yes um I I I also have exactly the same question as you I I um I I know we’re in a very much of okay what next place um and I’m also hopefully we’re gonna have an answer to that soon and as soon as I do get an answer I’ll make sure that that is shared as widely as possible uh so that we all understand what the possibilities are from here um thank you Adam for for for for reminding us as always um I know it’s something which um which we all try to forget every now and again I know your job is not to um and and I think it it actually links back to to um what what council Canan said um it’s all a CLE here isn’t it um we’ve got to get a service which is good um but but affordable and squaring that ccle is is very difficult um and I do know that coming to one of the quite public questions that letters uh are being written by various people to various places uh trying to get some clarification of how we can achieve that thank you very much uh councilor Burton for summing up so we have a proposal and a seconder can I take all those in favor of the recommendation that is unanimous thank you so the last few items Ms uh of this agenda thanks again to everyone we are now moving into the third hour almost um so agenda item 14 is the cabinet forward plan um this was published yesterday um with a few new items so I draw the attent to the attention of all counselors uh the forward plan which looks at what we will be uh making decisions on over the next uh 6 9 12 months um and I really think it’s it’s a good opportunity for all counselors to have a look at some of the things that they they may be concerned about or want to be involved with um uh whether they want to take that through the scrutiny process or another way um it’s a really good way of just seeing what is on our future agenda um so that one is to be noted we are then going to move on to agenda item 15 which is urgent decisions taken by the chief executive in accordance with the Constitution um Gran farence uh CEO do you have any urgent decisions that you’ve taken since the last meeting of cabinet no none since the last meeting leader Deputy leader sorry thank you um so we are now just looking at our final item which is a agenda item 17 our place and environment traffic signal obsolesence Grant and green light fund um now this is an urgent item which has been brought to Cabinet in accordance with the Constitution and pursuant to regulation 11 of the local authorities brackets executive Arrangements brackets meetings and access to information brackets England regulations 2012 in Brackets the regulations this item has come to us since the agenda for this meeting was published uh but it can’t wait until the next meeting and because of that uh the paper isn’t in the main uh uh agenda pack um but it can be viewed in the supplementary pack so this will be uh presented and proposed by councilor Hadley is there a seconder oh I’m actually going to second that one myself um as it relates to Road Safety in one way or another uh councelor hudley over thank youut yes I there are a number of ways in which we try and and grab grant money from from the government and and very often these things are on very short timelines that we then find subsequently they they they shift the timeline and I think this is one of those so so um we applied some considerable time ago for this um it’s about renewal of of existing traffic signals um is is one part of it and then the other is is is about um green light so trying to enhance traffic flows throughout the area uh by by uh by ensuring that um they call it a green light fund but effectively the the you you it making travel more efficient where we can um and we were successful in getting the grant we were one of a reasonbly small number of authorities nationally that were successful so that’s that’s to celebrate um it’s money coming in which is always good there’ll be Capital money to be spent on a very specific purpose um so so um it’s something that um I think we we we we should welcome and the the paper obviously details U um the work that we need to undertake and as with a lot of Grants we also need to do the work quite quickly which is part of why it’s decision to take thank you thank you very much councilor Hadley um are there any members who are not members of cabinet in the room who wish to speak on this nope I’m not seeing any any indication um I just wanted to add as well a huge congratulations to the transport and and infrastructure teams in the council um I think it’s always wonderful when we do get money granted to us rather than money taken away um and doesn’t happen um as often as maybe it should considering our our funding position uh but it’s really good uh to see this this uh that our infrastructure will be updated through the capital Grant fund um can I see if any members of cabinet would like to speak on this nope Council Havey all summed up and everything that’s fine thank you thank you so uh can I take all those in favor of the recommendation to accept thank you that is unanimous so that uh draws the agenda to an end and all that’s left for me to do is wish you a great rest of your day um and to formally close the meeting thank you for