Agenda item

Members' Questions

a)    Councillor Larcombe will ask the following question of Councillor Coppinger, Lead Member for Planning:

 

A survey commissioned by RBWM has exposed significant numbers of ‘unauthorised and tolerated’ developments in the Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury Ward. What action is being taken to rectify the situation please?

 

b)   Councillor Larcombe will ask the following question of Councillor Cannon, Lead Member for Public Protection:

 

Fly tipping is an ever-increasing problem in the Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury area as it is elsewhere. How many successful prosecutions for local fly tipping have there been in the last four years?

 

c)    Councillor Hill will ask the following question of Councillor Dudley, Leader of the Council:

 

Why did you avoid repeated requests to meet Councillors Hill & Taylor to discuss the proposed Vicus Way Car Park?

 

d)   Councillor C. Da Costa will ask the following question of Councillor Johnson, Lead Member for Infrastructure, Transport Policy and Housing:

 

Is the Member responsible for housing aware that Radian has apparently taken legal action, so that they no longer have to consult with residents regarding setting service charges? If successful there will no cap on what is charged. While I understand Radian is a business, I question the ethicsof disempowering those living in social housing, their tenants, our residents.

 

e)    Councillor Knowles will ask the following question of Councillor Johnson, Lead Member for Infrastructure, Transport Policy and Housing:

 

Will you commit to supporting the resurfacing of Bolton Road, particularly the portion between the junctions with Bolton Avenue and Kings Road as part of your commitment to spend £50m on our roads?

 

 

(A Member responding to a question shall be allowed up to two minutes to reply to the initial question, and up to two minutes to reply to a supplementary question. The questioner shall be allowed up to 1 minute to put the supplementary question)

Minutes:

a)    Councillor Larcombe asked the following question of Councillor Coppinger, Lead Member for Planning:

 

A survey commissioned by RBWM has exposed significant numbers of ‘unauthorised and tolerated’ developments in the Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury Ward. What action is being taken to rectify the situation please?

 

Councillor Coppinger responded that he assumed the question referred to the RBWM Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA), which was produced for the Council by consultants arc4 and published in 2018.

 

The study included a review of all types of existing sites and used this to estimate the future needs for Traveller accommodation in the borough.  The study defined terms such as authorised sites, unauthorised development and tolerated sites. 

 

The study showed that there were, in addition to two authorised permanent council sites, six authorised permanent private sites, two temporary private sites and 16 tolerated private sites.   Authorised meant sites that had planning permission. Tolerated sites in the borough were mostly those that had existed in excess of 10 years and were immune from enforcement action.

 

It was recognised there was a relatively high proportion of Traveller pitches and plots in the Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury area. This existing uneven distribution of Traveller sites in the Borough was addressed in the Traveller Local Plan Issues and Option paper, where one of the questions specifically asked was whether there should be a more even distribution across the Borough.  The planning policy team was currently analysing the responses received.

 

By way of a supplementary question, Councillor Larcombe asked if it would be helpful if he supplied the Lead Member with a list of unauthorised and tolerated sites in the ward?

 

Councillor Coppinger responded that he hoped that these would already have been put forward by the ward councillor but if there were any missing he welcomed further input.

 

b)   Councillor Larcombe asked the following question of Councillor Cannon, Lead Member for Public Protection:

 

Fly tipping is an ever-increasing problem in the Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury area as it is elsewhere. How many successful prosecutions for local fly tipping have there been in the last four years?

 

Councillor Cannon responded that fly-tipping was an ever increasing  problem; it was illegal and anti-social and the council was committed to reducing the activity across the Royal Borough through various initiatives.

 

Prosecution was part of that, which could be used. He was aware of seven prosecutions over the last four years: five had related to asbestos, one to household waste and one to a taxi driver throwing waste out of a vehicle. All seven had led to successful prosecution and fines.

 

In addition, the council had been proactive by:

 

·         deploying mobile CCTV at vulnerable sites to act as a visible deterrent; this was not publicised for obvious reasons

·         installed signage and made physical changes to specific locations

·         removed facilities which had previously attracted fly-tipping (for example recycling centres in Ascot and Eton Wick)

·         sought to collect evidence from fly-tipping which had been cleared by Royal Borough contractors, to recover costs and potentially result in prosecutions

 

Reducing fly-tipping was a key priority. It formed part of the suite of key performance measures which were reported quarterly and was showing an improving trend.

 

Councillor Larcombe confirmed he did not have a supplementary question

 

 

Councillor Hill had sent his apologies for the meeting therefore he had asked for his question (c) to be deferred to the next meeting in September 2019.

 

Councillor C. Da Costa confirmed that she had withdrawn her question (d) as she would be working with the Lead Member to resolve the issue for residents.

 

 

e)    Councillor Knowles asked the following question of Councillor Johnson, Lead Member for Infrastructure, Transport Policy and Housing:

 

Will you commit to supporting the resurfacing of Bolton Road, particularly the portion between the junctions with Bolton Avenue and Kings Road as part of your commitment to spend £50m on our roads?

 

Councillor Johnson responded that the council was committed, over the next four years, to invest £50m to deliver infrastructure before housing development. In addition, the council had committed to a 24 hour pothole fix.

 

With respect to the specifics of Bolton Road, he was pleased to confirm that a patching programme for the area of Kings Road had been agreed which would be completed in August 2019. In addition, the section of Bolton Road (between Kings Road and the TA centre) had been assessed and highlighted for resurfacing the following year. This would be subject to approval by Cabinet when considering the full resurfacing programme for 2020/21. In addition, he understood that officers had been in discussions directly with Councillor Knowles regarding resurfacing treatment types and the methodology for technical assessments.

 

By way of a supplementary question, Councillor Knowles commented that he was unsure about the longevity of some treatment types such as surface dressing and believed they had largely been consigned to history.

 

Councillor Johnson responded that Councillor Knowles was correct that there had been some historical issues with surface dressing, particularly in the Bray ward. Volkers were due to redo this work with a slightly modified treatment, which would then be assessed by officers. If it was considered to be above satisfactory then the council would consider re-adopting surface dressing as a mainstream highways technique.