Thank you very much good morning please can I welcome everyone to this meeting of cabinet on Wednesday the 24th of January from the Walton Suite in the Winchester Guild Hall the time is 9:30 a.m. my name is uh councelor Martin Tod chairperson of the cabinet and leader of
The council this meeting is live stream from the council’s YouTube channel and the recording will also be available after the meeting subtitles can be switched on and advice on how to turn these on is set out on our website can everyone please ensure their mobile phones are on silent and can I remind
Members to use their microphones in the unlikely event that it is necessary to evacuate the building the fire alarm will sound please follow all the instructions given to you by our team uh can I welcome members of the public to this meeting this morning we will invite you forward when it is time
For you to make your contribution turning to the agenda the first item on the agenda is apologies for absence I don’t think I have any apologies for absence everybody seems to be here um the next one is membership of cabinet bodies and we have no changes there
Third one is uh disclosure of interests Council Council pter thank you um I have a non-prejudicial interest um and non-pecuniary because I am a county counselor uh and uh so I don’t think there’s anything in this agenda today that is covered Andes a uh thank you very much Council Porter and I
Need to make the same uh personal uh non pecuniary interest as a county counselor as well are there any other interests no um I have uh a list of um uh requests to speak from counselors um I have counselors Reed and horl who want to speak on the statement
Of community involvement I have uh councilors Wallace and Bolton who wish to speak on the parking and access Improvement program update um have I understood that correctly is I have good um the next item on the agenda after that is public participation and I’m very pleased to
See uh Mr Ian Tate is here today um to make a deputation on a matter of General relevance uh Mr Tate would you like to come forward and say a few words thank you chair for the opportunity to address cabinet on the 19th of September last year I attended the economy and housing
Policy committee where Andrew Palmer head of new homes at the council gave a presentation on the council’s nutrient mitigation project it was a completely fascinating and very Illuminating presentation and detail that the Council was in the process of upgrading two of its sewage treatment works one in
Northington and the second in the Gooden cheritan as part of that program The Works have now been completed and the council has generated 154 nitrate credits and 15.9 credits for phosphates a kilo of nitrate credit is worth £3,250 and a kilo of phosphates is worth a
100,000 if you buy them from the grer estate so the cost of 117,000 to upgrade those two treatment works has generated credits which could be sold for2 million pounds I know that to my own cost the HRA has to cover the cost of that work but the question is
Could it benefit I appreciate that the council has to mitigate the nutrient issue through its own development program however if you look at the six further priority sites under investigation potentially the credits the nutrient credits there range from 1.7 million up to 12 million don’t know
The cost of the works the Mind boggles Over what the other 40 or so sewage treatment works May generate in credits whilst they have a value availability of nutrient credits is choking off development in our district and and the way that property is assessed if you’re building A2 million pound three-bedroom
House in ch Bolton Avenue your nutrient cost of about 35 40,000 is the same as if you built a three-bedroom house in Winn for a lot less uh on sale at what point the council was looking possibly to offer credits to developers with outstanding uh planning permissions but
That’s being put to one site but perhaps much more important is the 48 sewage treatment works the council owns are effectively discharging poor quality treat untreated or partly treated effluent into our rivers and streams creating oury blooms and generally damaging the life of those Rivers at times of torrential rain how many of
Those SE treatment works become overwhelmed and do they discharge untreated or poorly treated sewage into our Rivers sorry to put you on the spot but can the leader assure me residents of the district that at no time does untreated or partially treated sewage be discharged into our rivers or get into
The aquifer and if not now could he come back to me as a matter of urgency with that reassurance thank you um thank you very much indeed yeah we’re very um uh proud of the fact that we’re the first um local Authority we believe in England to be pushing ahead with this
Kind of Improvement uh and that we are through the first two upgrades and with the further upgrades that are planned uh improving water quality in our Rivers but also helping uh firstly enable our own um house building program as an authority and secondly um have the potential which we are actively you know
And with urgency following up on um of allowing other developers to build as well um uh so developers who have planning permission are just waiting for these credits in order to be able to go ahead um I’m not aware that any that with the way our uh plants are
Constructed that any untreated water does enter the the system um but it is a fair question and I don’t have a definitive answer on that um and I’m willing to investigate and come back to you because like you I would uh see um interventions to avoid that happening as
An absolute priority as I said I’m not aware that it happens I think the way that our I think the Overflow that tends to happen is is um comes out of systems that are quite differently designed uh and sewage systems that are quite differently designed so I think it’s
Unlikely but I think you’re right to say that we owe you an answer but I can reassure you that um this or despite the fact that there is a changing National policy environment um central government has introduced a few initiatives um which which may accelerate this process
But may also have an impact on the market value of the phosphate and nitrate credits that have been generated uh but the overwhelming priority for us is to be making improvements that improve water quality and we are also very keen not just to enable our own development but also to
Unblock development for um other developers one last thought is one of the things we have done and what we will be doing is um being quite public about the proof of concept that we’ve delivered uh and the impact that it’s having because what we’re quite Keen to
Encourage um is that other people are able to look at what we’ve done and people other than ourselves who happen to own these kind of packet um treatment works will also be able to get with the program and be looking to um further improve the water quality in our local
Rivers but thank you very much indeed for the question and thank you for the chance and and councilor Westwood as well who’s been the portfolio holder driving this program so good yes uh it I’m I’m glad that you’ve um had the clear sense of the priority that we’re giving to this
Program um good thank you colleagues we’ll now move on to the main item of the agenda um the next item on the agenda is the minutes of the previous meeting held on December 13 2023 cabinet are you agreed that this is an accurate record thank you um we now move on to um
Leader and Cabinet member announcements um who wishes to make an announcement Council Cutler thank you leader um I have some very good news on fly to which I think is is important to announce uh as as you will be aware um after the uh introduction of uh the
Charges at the at household waste recycling centers uh flight incidents increased across the county since 2019 um but the latest figures for um the year 2223 shows a huge reduction in in in incidents in the Winchester District uh dropping from um 1732 in 2122 to 1,38 a reduction of over
40% um I think this vindicates the approach that our fly tipping team has been T taking I mean this result is the the the top in the uh County only three three other um districts saw a reduction and many of them have continued to see an increase uh and nationally I think
Campbell had a look through all the figures and and we appear to be the fifth best reduction in fly tipping so it really vindicates our approach um to generate the fly tipping team um Gary Brown in particular to generate as much evidence as possible to lead to
Interviews under caution and and um in many cases some prosecutions um currently we have 29 full investigations in in train um five are awaiting issues of summons um there will be one case heard next week and in the last month there have been two prosecutions the last one last week
Resulted in fines and um costs of two nearly two and a half thousand so I’d like to um congratulate the team on the work that they’ve done and thank them for all their efforts we will continue to Bear down on this um Scourge in our Countryside particularly in our
Countryside but sometimes in our towns as well absolutely thank you very much indeed uh councilor Cutler um councilor Becka thank you I have very loud today uh two I’m very pleased to announce that the council will once again be sponsoring halterm football sessions for girls and boys across the district sessions are2 per
Child they’re open to all children aged um six to 13 years old and they’ll be held in week stall C and common and whitly um so as you say two pounds a session run Monday to Friday really really great opportunity for children to get out and active during half term and
I know how difficult it is to keep children occupied during halterm Second announcement is just a follow up from my announcement at the last meeting about the Hampshire together consultation about the hospital reorganization and in particular the closure the proposed closure of Winchester a andd just a
Reminder that there is a zoom session on Friday from 11: till 1 um being run by Hampshire together so I would urge residents if they haven’t participated in one of those sessions already to join join one session there there are further sessions as well um later in February
And some more inperson ones too there’s one a week earlier this week but um yes very important that the foundation trust hear the views of of our residents as much as they can so please residents get involved um and register one of those sessions um indeed and there will also
Be an additional meeting of the uh health and environment policy committee on the 31st of January where counselors will be uh uh interrogating um the hospital trust about their plans as well um councelor Thompson yes thank you leader um I’m delighted to announce that this February halter Middlebrook Street and kingswalk
Will be transformed by glowing galaxies um and that’s the title of this year’s Light Festival both Middlebrook Street and King’s Walk will be filled with twinkly lights stars planets and swirling galaxies and even the northern lights the lights will be on show from the 10th of February until the 18th of
February and are free to be enjoyed by all this Builds on the previous highly successful light events that have been so well received by residents and Vis visitors not only will the event provide a free activity for families to do over halterm but we also hope residents will spend time exploring Middlebrooks Street
And our newly refurbished King’s Walk making the most of our array of independent and creative businesses in the area and the Space theme ties in really nicely with other opportunities to create a whole Galactic day out space enthusiasts for example or those looking to immerse themselves in all things
Science could visit the Winchester Science Center or indeed drop into the cathedral to take in their Festival of the the moon as well as visiting the ark and gaze up at the installation called half a mass of ceramic Boulders suspended in the atrium I really hope that everyone will enjoy seeing the city
Lit up once again in what can be a very dark and gloomy time of the year thank you thank you councelor Thompson um I don’t believe we have any other um announcements this morning um moving on to um the substantive um agenda items the next item is the statement of community involvement on
Pages 13 to 124 of the um of the pack in front of us Um councilor Porter would you like to introduce the paper yes please and I’m delighted to do so um the purpose of the statement of community involvement describes how the public the business and interest groups can get involved in the creation of local planning policy neighborhood planning and the planning
Application decision making process this is essential to improve understanding and openness of the planning process and uh it’s also identifies how people and groups can engage with the planning system in the best way and many people find that a difficult process and so I’m really delighted to be able to explain
This little better this morning um the s the statement of community involvement requires updating every 5 years and it’s really correct to do so as the methods by which the public like to be informed and involved uh can change over time and we see an increasing use for instance of
Uh social media and also of uh the written word in email rather than on in the Press so we felt that this Council although not necessary to consult on it we did so on the draft and that was uh done before Christmas and a number of representations referred to M matters uh
Which we have now made amendments and incorporated into the sci as it sits today um a number of people also actually referred to the actions at planning committee and I just wanted to make that clear that that’s part of the con the uh Constitution and is not specifically part of this application
This uh statement but it is uh important that people understand that the whole planning process is right from the local plan stage right through to the final decisions made on the day about the planning committee planning committee interest near you and it’s important that people understand how they can get
Involved and the statement of community involvement explains that at every turn uh it’s not this paper shows a service level which is the the minimum it can be exceeded if we feel it’s necessary it applies to the planning process and we feel that there are differences in our
Enormous uh District which we need to incorporate if you think many years ago an orange sign on a on a uh letter box was enough now we realize that many more people uh want to be involved and uh we also know that a poster on a local notice board isn’t necessarily the
Answer we put uh radio adverts out for example so there’s a lot that we can do that improves on the statements we’re making here if we feel it’s necessary but this is the minimum level um the sci starts now it’s not after the next local plan which is something I’ve heard some
People sometimes say it is actually starting now and if we agree it today it will be the new statement of community involvement the council has to have an seci so this Council as a planning Authority has a statement of community involvement but so does the South DS
National Park and so does the County Council so if the relate the anything relating to planning whether it’s local plan future plans anything that relates to the particular statement of community involvement for that planning off Authority and uh just to say that it is actually important really that everybody
Understands that this is a current document it is updated on a regular basis um and we are required to do this and so it’s important that we approve it today with any comments that are going to be made and that uh this is one that is used going forward thanks very much
Indeed can I introduce uh Bethy Stokes who uh wrote the paper and Adrien Fox her manager uh so if anybody’s got any queries I may might address them to you thank you thank you very much indeed Council Porter I have two deputations uh requested on this particular paper um or
Uh and the um or two two councilors reg registered to speak no members of the public um the first one is councelor Reed would you like to come forward and um make your comments or ask your question thank you leader um I thank you for the
Opportunity to say a few words on this agenda item it is an import it is important to ensure that the opportunity um is to all members of the public have access to provide comments and even support on occasions um I welcome the report itself with its warts and
All um the reason I say warts and all are there are still some minor Corrections which were agreed to be done but somehow have been overlooked um the terminology parish and town councils um does appear in the document several times however several times there are still town and Parish
Councils it’s not the adopted pattern there are a number of typ typographical errors throughout the proposed document I would hope that the final document will have been read correctly after spending 50 year 50% of my life uh within the printing industry authors are not always the right people
To pick up their own mistakes it requires a totally independent person to do that two little instances on page 73 local plan I believe I was taught anyway in school that the start of a sentence always starts with a capital letter um on page 74 is exactly the same there the pagination
Itself is very poor throughout um Pages running over we’ve even got one page which has got one word on it the end of a sentence which typog typographics it’s not the right answer double folios are a bit of a misleading item apparently should be producing Parish should be producing
Leaflets it says the city council I’m not going to do that but what happens to communities that do not do not have an elected Parish will this be undertaken by for instance of town forign question mark there is great Reliance on the use of electronic equipment throughout the
Whole document there are a large number of people across our district who are unable to use a computer for whatever reason therefore there needs to be other means to ensure that all members of the public should have equal access to be involved thank you chairman for allowing me to
Speak um thank you very much indeed councelor Reed and councel horal good morning and thank you for allowing me to address cabinet this morning on this important important planning matter I have several questions and requests of cabinet firstly can the recommendation be amended to include delegated responsibility to address the typographical errors that
Exist through the document to ensure Clarity for all residents I’m sure that is possible can we also use consistent language with the new Constitution which um as you know has been uh discussed thoroughly over the recent months to add Clarity for all and provide common terminology for example it’s the SCP
Scrutiny committee not the overview and scrutiny committee and there are several of those in the document which I’m sure can be addressed please can you advise what additional actions we will be using to support those residents who are unable to access information digitally I know that they are viewed as a smaller group
But still important across our district in the statement of community involvement we say come along to the council offices and look at copies of the local plan um which is good um in paper form but other documents you may need to pay for this hardly seems open
And full access for all and I just question that some things will need to be paid for and the appropriateness of that decision and finally chair the conundrum of supplementary planning documents doents which we raised at Council last week we currently do not have a plan to
Deal with those as I understand from the an answers given by the portfolio holder last week and we don’t have a plan to deal with those in the current draft local plan yet this document sets out a clear process on how to produce more spds and
In fact encourages this and we as a Council have always embraced spds surely for clarity to all residents we need to understand exactly the status of our current SPD documents within the local Plan before this document shapes further uh documents of that type would you therefore add a note to this
Document to ensure the status of spds are better understood and how we intend to process this going forward because currently uh for those of us who pay attention to this there seems a lack of clarity around these important elements thank you thank you very much indeed Council
Porter would you like to respond to the comments made uh thank you um councilor re regarding typographical effas um I think we have actually investigated the town and Parish issue and I’ll ask uh uh ethy to talk about that in a moment um in terms of pagination that’s difficult to
See because you’ve actually got a lot of that’s deleted on the page so uh that’s there so people can see the changes so it’s not actually the final pagination as it sounds so uh I think that will be resolved when we see the final Pages um
Help for those unable to use a computer or any other electronic means of communication that came up from both you and uh Council horl um it’s made very clear in that exactly how we will talk to people uh and we have always made efforts and that’s why
We talk about this being a minimum level we’ve always made great efforts to talk to people and actually you can ring the planning department and get an immediate answer direct from planning department as we see speak um the overview and scrutiny committee I AC that that needs
To be removed as overview it’s just scrutiny committee um and the last point about spds the point I made about this is it is the paper and the statement of community involvement as would be from now uh the current position is we still are supporting people with spds and we
Won’t change that until we know what the outcome is we can make an amendment to the sci at that point but at the moment we are where we are uh and this is the situation as we find ourselves that’s what I believe I’ll just check Mr Fox that he feels the same
Way Council order that is correct we’re waiting for secondary legislation to clarify exactly the status of spds until that happens I can’t predict what what will happen or won’t happen so it’d be wrong me to put something in the document to uh reflect that and obviously if the system changes it
Changes um and obviously we have to adapt but like I say we are waiting for secondary legislation thank you and uh SNES would you like to just explain the uh town and Parish and Parish and town conversation yes of course thank you Council por and thank you for your comments um having a
Little look at Parish in town the use in which way around it is I believe that all the changes have been made but if you can point out where you think that hasn’t happened um I would be grateful if you could email me separately and I’ll make sure that they are correct um
In every other seci across the UK they use the term town and Parish but in our constitution we use parish and town so for consistency we chose parish and Town Council as the right way around and in terms of the other um areas of consistency I’ll make sure that scrutiny
Committee is is corrected as well um and agent and myself we we’ll take another look at those just to ensure that it’s all correct thank you for your work on this it’s been extensive thank you very much thank you very much indeed Council reporter and I think I think the issue
May be that some of the text that’s been deleted is still shown if you do a search and replace uh it doesn’t actually mean it’s in the document it’s something that is shown that it will be removed um if you look at how the document is laid out
Um cabinet are there any other questions that relate to this particular paper um I do I do have a question for Mr Fox which is or and maybe Council pter which is presumably uh this may be one where when new regulations come forward that change the legal framework that we’re operating
In and there is a bit of we we are dealing with a bit of chaotic situation actually in terms of how the government is handling the planning process um that this may need to come back sooner than it normally would but can I have am I right to understand that if there’s a
Substantive change to regulations and new process is put in place that we will see a revised SEO that’s correct leader like say we are in a period of time with flux where things are changing rapidly and obviously if there is substantial changes we can adapt it obviously the
Key thing is that from a local plan perspective we need to have an up-to-date SE um and obviously that’s what we will do and that’s what we’ll continue to do so we’ll monitor the situation as and when obviously the situation becomes clearer thank you very much indeed and
Then actually there was one other thing I wanted to clar clarify on the subject of supplementary planning documents um my understanding is that a passed local plan with an adopted supplementary planning policy associated with it is not something that the government can unilaterally override and indeed there are some fairly major legal arguments
Going on at the moment in terms of adopted local plans where the governments tried to retrospectively change gu guidance um so there is no legal threat or Jeopardy to our existing supplementary planning documents that we know of for as long as the Lo current local plan is in place any change to
That relates to Future local plans is that is my understanding correct that’s correctly the obviously the sbds remain in force which will obviously linked to a parent policy in the adopted local plan and they will remain in force obviously U up until obviously the local plan is replaced the
Key thing is obviously knowing the future of the spds in terms of obviously what the secondary legislation will let us do or don’t do so that’s what we’re waiting for thank you very much indeed um so colleagues um we’ve had any uh we I’ve asked you for questions do we have any
Debate Council C it’s not so much a debate about the paper but more about the uh the process of presenting um the amended documents um I just wonder if in I think it’s really useful to see where the changes are it may be um helpful to actually have two appendices one being
The final document and one showing the amend amendments that have been made as they go along and that would help clarify some of the questions that have come from from other counselors they’ll be able to see the final thing that pagein will have been sorted and that’s
That side of things but I think it is exceedingly helpful to publish those changes um so so I don’t think we need to lose that but it might be quite useful to see see the final one as well um thank you Council yes it’s a that’s a very good point um any final
Comments um unless there’s any other debate which I’m not seeing any final comments coun no that’s useful feedback because we wanted the public to be able to see where changes have been made uh for the purpose of this cabinet meeting but you’re right it could have been
Useful but um I I hope that Council Reed will understand that the pagination will change as a result of of taking out the deleted items um and it is important that uh our agents and and all the other people that are likely to look at this See Clearly what those deleted items are
So I think having the uh the both published will be useful at this point thank you very much we’ll investigate that definitely um thank you very much indeed um uh right um and what I would like to so I think we’re in a fairly um clear position um the recommendations are
Clear it’s very good to see that the ongoing council’s ongoing um commitment to openness and transparency is still in place I’m afraid we’re done Council PTO um what I would like to do is actually thank Mr Fox and his team for the way that you’ve taken the statement of
Community involvement and used it to have a particularly open and involving approach to consultation in the development of the local plan and it’s been very gratifying to see that recognized with the awards that you’ve won um I think from the rtpi for the quality of consultation that you’ve used
So um to a certain extent we’re always in your hands where we write a fairly uh dry and sterile all bit useful uh guide to how we wish to involve people um and um how we wish people to have a say in how our planning process develops but I
Would like to thank you on behalf of cabinet for the the great work you’ve done of taking those sterile guidelines and running a very involving high participation um uh engaging approach to making sure the voices of local people are heard in our plan development process um so cabinet the uh decision in
Front of us is to accept the recommended changes to the statement of community involvement as set out in the pendex one um arising from the public consultation and to adopt the statement of community uh involvement dated January 2024 um subject to the folding in the the uh the tracked changes that are
Marked attached at appendix one to this report um are those two recommendations agreed thank you very much indeed um we now move on to the parking and access um uh Improvement update um councelor learie would you like to say some words to introduce the paper thank you I’ll just let my
Colleagues join at the table um the provision of management of parking whether that be for bikes buses or cars um is an important element of supporting a vibrant economy but also how we manage the externalities of Road Transport particularly air quality and the output of carbon um as a council we
Aim to provide high quality safe easy to ous parking in convenient locations across the district while while encouraging the use of less polluting edgeof Town parking options for motorized vehicles accessing the city itself the County Council decision to take back on street parking has its pros
And cons but we continue to work closely with them on the movement strategy and it has given us additional capacity to improve and manage better our own car and cycle parking across the district a key part of our spending proposals involve improving the customer experience making it easy to use a
Variety of payment options improving toilets having clear signage improving the quality of surfaces and markings adding extra disabled bays and for cyclists providing undercover parking with CCTV monitoring as well as more cycle stands where needed these improvements are ongoing and the paper shows what we have done
And are doing this year the program for the next financial year and an indicative program for the year after and ask for approval for the major Works program subject to council approval of the budget very much indeed councelor Ley um I have two uh counselors wanting to make
Deputations on this paper um the first one the first name to come in was councelor Wallace would you like to come forward and uh make your points and ask your questions Pi is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Winchester with the latest data shown that
Transport makes up 57% of all CO2 emissions in The District in their draft local transport plan Hampshire County Council stated that National policies on moving to zero emission Vehicles won’t get us far enough quickly us and and a 10% reduction in car uses required between 2019 and 2030 achieving this goal requires a
Coordinated response across all aspects of local transport walking cycling trains and buses to ensure that residents have improved options available for getting around less than 4% of the budget the cabinet is being asked to approve today is to support alternative transport provision and the balance of more 96% is
For car parking my question is how do we start moving the focus onto improving alternative Transport Solutions now this is normally the point at which I stand and return to my seat in the public section however what I just read out is in fact the statement
That I made on this topic at the same meeting last year in response our C the cabinet member advised and I quote only a very small amount is around alternative transport piece but this is something we are looking at and thinking about what we can do more
Of so it comes as a massive disappointment that a year later cabinet is being asked to approve $753,000 for parking and access improvements of which £20,000 or less than 3% is for alternative transport provisions and the balance of 733,000 or 97% is for cars and car
Parking in fact more is being spent on car Park signage than on alternative travel plenty of opportunities exist for improving alternative travel the council’s own carbon neutrality Roat includes page after page of actions that could be taken please can the cabinet member advise when we should anticipate seeing
Real action on alternative TR travel Solutions not thinking not plans but real action because at the moment all the noise that the administration makes about going Greener faster is sounding more and more like green wash and our residents deserve better thank you thank you very much indeed Council Wallace uh Council
Bolton good morning chair and cabinet and thank you for letting speak this morning I welcome the cabinet paper regarding the car parking and access Improvement program opdo I too feel that the council priority should be to support a vibrant local economy and enhance focus on pride in place I’m also
Glad to see that customer experience and improving accessibility high is high on the those priorities given the administration’s introduction of overnight and higher weekend parking charges and the need for greater access to park and walk car parks in order for residents to avoid the central car park charges would it be
Possible to accelerate the replacement of the elevators in the chel car park to ensure Fair access for all the scheduled replacement date of 27/28 is way too far in the future and likely to mean the lift will be increasingly inoperable over the next 4 years the significant cost mentioned to
Upgrade the Brooks car park is of concern especially as there is no provision in this document for its upgrade when will this be scoped out and costed to ensure transparency regarding the true cost of this program especially as the Brooks is trying to grow their retail offer and offer a better choice
To the district residents the middle Brook Street car park is scheduled for an upgrade how is this impacted by the Redevelopment of central Winchester how do these plans work alongside the Regeneration of the area thank you very much uh thank you very much indeed Council Bolton um counc Ley a set of
Questions for you thank you um I think it’s important to say that um this is very much uh the capital program which is attached to um just part of the council’s carbon neutrality action plan and our general PR prr to go Greener faster um the expenditure in here is it does not
Reflect for example um spending of sill um which uh other movements which is connected to the movement strategy um I also feel that we need to remember that um people are paying to use our car parking and they deserve to have a good experience out of it um and we do need
To maintain M our car parking to a good standard we need to keep it safe and we need to um keep it up to Modern standards um councilor Bolton mentioned for example the uh lifts in chazel um I think I’ll ask officers to comment further on that um but those kind of
Aspects of parking are important to keep up to date um I think the P the proposals for spending um in here today um are actually um relatively modest clearly we do have some implications of much bigger spending items coming forward particularly around the Brooks and again I’ll ask officers to um update
Uh those listening today and those in the room on where we are with that uh but I do feel that um as part of um encouraging people to access the town um in other ways this is only a small part of it it doesn’t reflect our charging
Plans it doesn’t reflect um what we’re doing with the county in terms of the conversations we’re having with them it doesn’t include things like our sustainable travel officer and the work they’re doing which all come from different budgets um this is a program attached to a budget um we will be
Having an update of the parking and access um strategy and I think we do need to use that as an opportunity to draw in some of these strands to give us greater Clarity around what we’re doing in terms of um access to the city more generally particularly those walking um and non
And other non-motorized modes so I’ll pass over to um Andy Hickman and Campbell Williams for the detailed response on councelor Bol comments yes thank you we the lift refurbishment or the lift replacement Works being dealt with by our asset management team um but I know that they have recently reassessed those LTS and
They believe they’ve got um a bit more life in them hence the the revised days but I can talk to them I understand that they are more reliable more recently um we have a good um contract in place for maintenance and Reporting faults so hopefully that’s better and and we’re
Obviously looking at extending the operational times of those as well well um with regard to the Brooks we we’re working very closely with the arrow States in terms of how we manage and operate that car park and those discussions are ongoing but we have we are about to commission um a study of
Their handling unit and there’s actually some um funds funding in this program to enable that work to do which will then better inform what we can do and how expensive it’s going to be or or hopefully not but it will give us the information we need to be able to make
Those decisions going forward in terms of the other thing I think was middle Brook Street um we do have some immediate work that we need to do in there um to keep that car park safe and suitable for usage so um we are we we do
Have to do those works now regardless of what’s going on on the Regeneration side of things thank you very much indeed Mr Heckman um since you raised this last time we we’ve made an an immediate change in the lifs Now operate until 8:00 in the evening
And we do have to still um amend a signing in there to reflect that but we we have got on our list to do um Sundays are more complicated because of the way our staff are contracted to work um and we we don’t have um contracted staff on
A Sunday as such so we have to rely on staff working on overtime to do that but we are looking at it to see if we can do it but obviously the limited amount of resource we have been on Sundays focused on sort of operational management things
And and some limited um forcement that we do some as well so so yes we are looking at it but I have got some contractual issues to sort out first like to add to that that a further thing we’re looking at um is providing more disabled spaces and parent and
Toler spaces on the ground floor which obviously makes it easier for people to use avoid using the lift alog together which is um much more preferable thank you very much indeed um Council Le and councelor Porter ask a question about lighting um we’ve um talked about uh the safety of
Car parts and certainly M well-maintained car parts feel much safer uh but also they are practically uh lit in many ways and it’s very reassuring when you go back to a car park in the dark that it is adequately lit do you want want could you just explain how this money will contribute
To any uh lighting improvements or do you have any planned or are they do you think it’s adequate as it is um as somebody who generally comes in by the bus walks or Cycles then um I don’t use the car parts very much in the
Evening so I do rely on others to um keep me informed about whether there are issues um I don’t believe we have any significant lighting up upgrades planned but I I might be um corrected but certainly if issues around lighting are raised in any particular car parts then
We will have a look at that the cont actually the one the one I use is very good which is chel it lights up as you go to it which is very light saving I just wonder if there’s anything in similar way so there is there is some budget in
Here actually uh indicative of £120,000 um in chel to improve the Lighting in there um because we want to make sure that’s as safe as we can be and that’s uh scheduled for replacement at the moment uh in June July 20124 for next winter excellent on the subject of
Lighting um some of our car parks are included in the Hampshire PFI in terms of how they’re lit and Hampshire has just announced that they’re considering further reductions in lighting levels from 80% from 65% dimming to 80% dimming uh and also extending I I don’t know if
This is directly relevant in some car Parks they’re changing the hours as well um so I don’t know do we have control over the level of lighting or will we get caught um by those dimming changes and need to agree something different with Hampshire yeah we have control over that
Decision so they they will consult us before they make make any changes in our car Parks although the lighting is in the PFI because we do get really good value for money from that PFI for lighting Replacements and energy costs we do have full control over that so we
Can decide what we want to do in our car box I mean generally speaking with with lighting just as a point um LED lighting isn’t as bright as the old lighting um so we we you know and that’s part of our decisions about energy requirements and things but our lighting is is fully
Compliant you know all of our car Parks even though it’s not as bright as it used to be and we’re very aware of the need to make them feel safe and use P lighting as well so it goes off when it’s not being used so this will all be
Taken into account in in our future decisions and our spending plans that’s great I think we would want reassurance that um we won’t you know we won’t default to the reductions that count is talking to and we will look to maintain a good level of lighting in our
Car Parks even if the level of the lighting in the streets near our car Parks may not be what it once was um any other comments or questions um debate any anybody wish to debate the paper in front of us uh councelor Thompson uh just a few comments really
Um I welcome this paper um as someone who go regularly attends the uh Winchester bid board meetings on a monthly basis one of the things that does come up is the state of our car parks and obviously with uh the increase in parking charges they um they I do
Believe that we should actually be maintaining the car parks that we um that we own up to a safe a safe and good quality standard um particularly as we tend to be charging slightly more for those um those car parts so I’m very happy to support the upgrade um I’d also
Like to point out that of course this paper refers to the upgrade of um of some of our public toilets as well and again the toilets are a really important um overall um if someone arrives and they need to go to the L and use our facilities they want those facilities to
Be clean and well maintained and actually that really um means that if they are then we are more likely to have repeat visits um and it helps our visitor and our our visitor economy and also for our residents when they do come in and um and uh need to use our public
Toilets so I think that is a really important part of this paper the signage to too actually sign just been mentioned today but of course we do have differential parking charges and uh we are really Keen that residents and visitors alike know that that they have
An option to and can be directed to um a cheaper tariff in different areas of the city and so I really do think that is important um so I’m very happy to support this paper and I welcome it being brought uh before us today thank you thank you very much indeed councel
Thompson anyone else want to say something councelor Cutler well I think councelor Thompson has said most of what I I I wanted to say I’m rather surprised that councelor Wallace should be advocating that we don’t spend money on on car parking at all and and don’t cover up our maintain our our
Requirements for health and safety in particular our actual policy that um um the park and walk policy um an approach for the outo car Parks does require the signage despite what he says about um it being a lot of money to spend on signage um and and I also very much
Welcome the pay machine upgrade particularly in my own Ward we’ve had significant problems with that uh the the reduction in the use of cash and improved machines is terribly important we do need if we are charging for our car par to provide the service that uh public expect House of
Westwood thank you leader um I just wanted to make a few comments around the greenwashing statement that we heard in this paper and um there are numerous things that this Council does that are outside the scope of this paper that address the um the greenness and improvements that we want
To see within this city um just specifically on this paper it’s absolutely vital that we invest in our parking in the city and uh we we’ve heard before at this committee and others uh how the center and businesses in the center are actually thriving really thriving in difficult economic
Environment and and Performing and outperforming many other areas so investment in the car Parks is absolutely required and in that respect I support this paper to address some of the points that Council Wallace uh made which seem to primarily relate to the city area there’s a counselor in uh the
Meon Valley area uh I am a counselor within the city um area one of the wards um there is significant investment going on in terms of improving some of the crossing or the Ural routes that come into the city so for example we’ve invested in Crossings on endover road
And we are currently progressing a new Crossing and a trial on the romsey road connecting up different areas of the city um probably not many people know this here but I also chair the Winchester walking strategy group and uh you know the latest figures I have from
That group are that 57% of Journeys in this city are made on foot and uh so the continued investment that we make outside of the parking the other areas is so important so we are currently working on a scheme to improve the walkability and livability in in a
Certain section of the city related to some of the mini Holland work that was done 18 months two years ago where the funding was withdrawn by the government once we had a great scheme in place to connect our city um I also think in terms of the
Signage um then signage is not just for cars and I’ve had this discussion in the uh in the cabinet meetings that we’ve had in discussing this paper before it’s been brought for decision here today so as chair of the walking strategy group I have done with my group an audit of the
Park and walk car parks and the uh the direction we give and the information we give to to help people get safely from the park and walk car pars the center of the city and some of that investment in signage I’ve had the discussion with the officers before can be directed to
Improving the uh the signage for people as well as cars in terms of promoting better use of those Park and W car Parks so my point I’m trying to make here is I support the investment of parking in the city because it’s so important to the uh
The economy of the city I support the um policy of making the park and ride an attractive Alterna alternative uh so we can manage the Airy within the city but still provide the central places for those people that need to use those and uh I I point uh you know the council
Wallace to the many many other schemes and uh and budgets that we have in place that are promoting green activities across the city and that would also include a significant investment in the Open Spaces within the city whether that be the Open Spaces in the outer areas
Such as or aror and others or indeed within the River Park area itself um so I think uh this council is doing significant work in promoting green activity and uh moving towards Greener travel within this city thank you um thank you very much Council Westwood any other debate Council Ley
Any final thoughts and comments uh thank you um and like to thank my colleagues for their support um clearly this is a very important um area of the council’s work it brings in um a lot of income which allows us to spend um on our um public spaces our toilets um it helps
Us make this a better City and it helps support the economies across the district uh Alford Bishop’s walam denme um it isn’t just about the town although that tends to be where all the focus is um we do need I think and the point has been made to probably do a better
Job of packaging up all the work we’re doing in transport um and thinking about uh the Ping and access strategy which as I say is due for an update soon I think we do need to have a look at the format of that and see whether we can actually
Make better use of that as a more rounded document um we do have the movement strategy clearly with the county um who we work with but that is City focused um we have the LC whip coming up um which is finally now making progress uh which will cover the which will cover
The district as well as the city itself um and we’re also looking at improving those um City parts of that um local cycling and walking infrastructure plan um so I think probably packaging up this better and maybe coming back next year with a more rounded view of all the work
The council’s doing on parking and access um rather than as as has been said a focus on essentially what is the capital program for works thank you very much indeed Council Le indeed um you know the paper we have in front of us today is for the uh parking
Major Works program uh it’s not for everything that we’re doing and as you rightly say there’s a large amount of community uh infrastructure Levy um section 106 and um results of joint work with the county on active travel Inland bids um that is also being put into our
District as well um I think uh I was also very pleased to hear that we’ll be looking at improving facilities for disabled and family parking as well um and and overall the basic concept of saying that if even though it is a priority to make it easy and attractive
For people to use other methods of traffic travel more sustainable methods of travel to um come to our cities Market towns if we do have a car park then we need to do it properly um and even though there are heavy Cuts planned for the maintenance of roads and the
Roads may be falling apart the people used to get to our car Parks but at least when people arrive there hopefully the car park will be a decent standard even if nothing outside the car park is um so um I think this is a really helpful
Overview I think your point of saying it would be really helpful to have an overview that includes all the other work that we’re doing to drive sustainable transport it is well made the recommendations in front of us um are that um we approve 7 53,000 for the car park Major Works program for
2425 subject to full Council approval of the budget and capital investment strategy in February um that we delegate to the head of um program and place in consultation with the corporate head of asset management and the cabinet member for climate emergency uh authority to make minor amendments to the program in
Order to meet the maintenance and operational needs of the parking service throughout the year um and procure the work set out the report and uh evaluate and conclude the required processes and then delegate to the head of program of place and consultation with the cabinet member for the climate emergency
Approval to G evaluation model seek tenders and complete the process for a contract to run and provide car park payment and related back office system so that’s the decision in front of us today cabinet are you agreed agre thank thank you very much indeed the um last
Item on the agenda is to note the future items for consideration by cabinet as shown on the February forward plan are you happy to do that good thank you very much indeed happy to note um so those are noted um I therefore think we’ve covered all the
Items of business in front of the agenda today uh on the agenda today thank you um very much to the members of the public for coming to make their deputation uh thank you for visiting counselors for their comments as well thank you cabinet and officers for all the hard work
That’s gone into making these papers ready today uh and I declare the meeting closed