In accordance with Chichester District Council’s scheme for public question time and with reference to standing order 6 in Part 4 A and section 5.6 in Part 5 of the Chichester District Council Constitution, the Cabinet will receive any questions which have been submitted by members of the public in writing by noon on the previous working day. The total time allocated for public question time is 15 minutes subject to the chairman’s discretion to extend that period.
Decision:
[ONE PUBLIC QUESTION – DETAILS SUPPLIED IN THE MINUTES]
Minutes:
One public question had been received from Dr Linda Boize, who was a resident of Chichester.
At Mr Dignum’s invitation Dr Boize came forward and read out the text of her question after she had first expressed (a) her gratitude for being able to ask a question and (b) the concern she and local residents felt at only having become aware of this special meeting and the ensuing Council meeting during the late weekend, in consequence of which she felt that there was likely to be a lower public attendance at both meetings.
The text of Dr Boize’s question and the reply which was then read out by Mrs Taylor had been circulated in hard copy before the start of the meeting (copy attached to the official minutes) and were as follows:
Question by Dr Linda Boize
'Do you think it acceptable to support Option 2 which focuses on cars and lorries when the impact on south Chichester people will be so damaging in loss of houses and trade, loss of connectivity including cyclist, pedestrian and electric buggy connectivity, loss of local green spaces, over 3 years of construction noise, reduced access and increased pollution especially of particulates, flyovers making a concrete ugly scar and to only ask for serious consideration to the seven mitigation points listed in red in the Agenda Supplement, when at the very least implementing these mitigation points is what is needed. And do you think it is acceptable to ignore the widespread call for reopening the case for a northern alternative.'
Response by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning
Before reading out the reply Mrs Taylor thanked Dr Boize for her question.
‘There are two points raised in this question. In response to the first point about the disruption and potential adverse impacts resulting from Option 2, it should be emphasised that the proposed response to Highways England (which Council is being asked to endorse) does not only include the Cabinet report recommendations themselves, but also the very detailed comments in Appendix 3 of the report which set out a range of additional work which Council officers consider that HE should undertake to develop a better A27 scheme to avoid or mitigate potential adverse impacts.
With regard to a northern bypass route, the proposed Council response seeks to respond specifically to the options proposed in the current Highways England consultation. As indicated in Paragraphs 6.5 – 6.6 of the Cabinet report, it is not considered appropriate for the Council to seek to assess options that do not form part of the current consultation, and it is clear that the Department for Transport and Highways England are now only looking to bring forward an online scheme. In any case, it is not clear that alternative offline options would perform better than Option 2 in terms of benefits weighed against environmental costs.’
Supplementary Question by Dr Linda Boize
Mr Dignum acceded to a request by Dr Boize to ask an oral supplementary question, the substance of which was as follows (not a verbatim record). Dr Boize first thanked Mrs Taylor for her reply. She then raised in terms the following point:
‘Do you not think it would be acceptable for Chichester District Council to do what Chichester City Council and West Sussex County Council have already both done namely listen to what their local residents have been saying and then to widen their imagination regarding this strategically important decision which we are all facing and take it upon themselves to raise the issue of the northern route option, notwithstanding that obviously we do not possess the requisite information available for that route as we do for the southern routes?’
Response by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning
Mrs Taylor replied by saying that she was unable to comment on the views expressed or positions adopted by those two councils, each of which was a consultee in its own right and had to respond as it saw fit. Chichester District Council would do likewise later today at the Council meeting when this matter would be fully debated in the light of the recommendations made the Cabinet at this meeting.