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 12:00 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:
[DETAILS OF THREE PUBLIC QUESTIONS IN MINUTES]
Minutes:
Three public questions had been submitted for this special meeting, details of which appear below.
The text of the three public questions had been circulated to CDC members, the public and the press immediately prior to the start of this meeting. Mr Dignum invited each person in turn to come to the designated microphone in order to read out the question before he provided an oral response.
The questions (with the date of submission shown within [ ] at the end of the text) and the answers given by Mr Dignum were as follows.
Question by Mr Phil Ladds
‘Would the Cabinet accept that:
[Saturday 2 June 2018]
Response by Mr Tony Dignum, the Leader of the Council
‘Systra’s analysis of the feedback received from almost 4000 responses to the WSCC led community surveys indicates that for the on-line suggestions, flyovers and underpasses were the most well supported suggested improvements. Support for other on-line junction improvements were more mixed and general comments about current route suggestions were largely negative. The responses to questions concerning new (off-line) routes indicate that there was marginally more support for a multi-purpose or strategic route to the north of the city compared to other off line options. The surveys enable key themes to be identified rather than which suggestion might be the best one.’
Question by Mr Stephen Holcroft
‘Please can you provide details of local parish councils recommendations in regard to promoting a scheme for inclusion in RIS2, specifically the number of councils that are in favour of the mitigated north route, the full southern route, both or no preference as I believe this gives a good indication of public opinion on the matter.’
[Tuesday 5 June 2018]
Response by Mr Tony Dignum, the Leader of the Council
‘The approach taken by Systra to the analysis of the feedback received from almost 4000 responses to the WSCC led community surveys enable key themes to be identified arising from the various on-line, off-line and modal suggestions. Their analysis states the number of respondents expressing support for each suggestion but they advise that the engagement process cannot be seen as a ‘vote’ and they have not attempted to draw conclusions about what the ‘best’ suggestion might be or the way in which particular sectors of the community, including PC’s responded.
Although I am aware that some parish councils have made representations, nowhere near 100% of the District’s parish councils have done so. I therefore cannot provide the analysis you request.’
Question by Mr Gavin Barrett
‘Unlike WSCC at its sub-committee meeting on Monday 4th June, will the deliberations and conclusions of CDC now demonstrate a full and proper respect for the unequivocal findings of the various BABA27 surveys, namely that there is, across the whole Chichester community, a no-better-than 50/50 split on options, together with a clear majority preference for an underpass-based solution on the existing A27 route in its submission to Highways England?’
[Thursday 7 June 2018]
Response by Mr Tony Dignum, the Leader of the Council
‘The approach taken by Systra to the analysis of the feedback received from almost 4000 responses to the WSCC led community surveys enabled key themes to be identified arising from the various on-line, off-line and modal suggestions. The results indicate that for the on-line suggestions, flyovers and underpasses were the most well supported suggested improvements. Support for other on-line junction improvements were more mixed and general comments about current route suggestions were largely negative. The responses to questions concerning new (off-line) routes indicate that there was marginally more support for a multi-purpose or strategic route to the north of the city compared to other off line options. Systra’s analysis states the number of respondents expressing support for each suggestion but they advise that the engagement process cannot be seen as a ‘vote’ and they have not attempted to draw conclusions about what the ‘best’ suggestion might be.’
There were no supplementary questions asked by any of the aforementioned individuals.