Question from Councillor K. Mitchell to the Portfolio Holder for City Development
Following the reassurances given by the Portfolio Holder at the Extraordinary Council meeting on the 22nd February 2022, can Councillor Morse please confirm:-
A) How many of the 160 backlogged Planning Enforcement cases have now been closed?
B) How many new Planning Enforcement cases have been opened since the Extraordinary Council meeting?
C) How many Planning Enforcement cases in total currently remain open?
And finally,
D) How confident is the Portfolio Holder that all of the original 160 backlogged cases will be resolved by the time the temporary Planning Enforcement post expires?
Question from Councillor Hannaford to the Leader
The recent survey of 1,500 local women in Exeter, by the Safety of Women At Night (SwaN) has found that over 85%, felt unsafe or very unsafe, walking alone at night in the city centre.
Can the Leader of the City Council please comment on these truly concerning findings?
Local women said that they would feel safer in Exeter city centre if there was an increased police presence, more affordable transport, enhanced CCTV coverage, and better lighting.
Can the Leader of the City Council please update Members on the work the Deputy Leader has been doing on these matters, with others, including in her role as Exeter’s local Councillor Police Advocate and a member of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Panel? Specifically, what progress has been made to secure more women police officers patrolling the city centre?
Does the Leader share my concerns that the service cuts announced by Stagecoach to local bus services at night, make women more vulnerable, as they are waiting even longer for buses?
Is there an update for Council regarding the work being done by the local Community Safety Partnership and Exeter University, to develop an Exeter Safety of Women At Night Charter?
Can the important issue of women's safety in Exeter, including general public safety, drink spiking, toxic masculinity, misogyny and domestic violence and sexual abuse, be properly included in the Council’s scrutiny work programme, and robustly reflected in the Council’s corporate plan?
Minutes:
In accordance with Standing Order No. 8, the following questions were put by Councillor K. Mitchell to the Portfolio Holder for City Development
Following the reassurances given by the Portfolio Holder at the Extraordinary Council meeting on the 22 February 2022, can Councillor Morse please confirm:-
A) How many of the 160 backlogged Planning Enforcement cases have now been closed?
B) How many new Planning Enforcement cases have been opened since the Extraordinary Council meeting?
C) How many Planning Enforcement cases in total currently remain open?
and
D) How confident is the Portfolio Holder that all of the original 160 backlogged cases will be resolved by the time the temporary Planning Enforcement post expires?
The Portfolio Holder for City Development advised that, at the time of writing:-
A) 123 of the cases that were in the backlog had been closed, a total of nearly 77%.
B) an additional 25 cases have been registered since the date of the meeting.
C) there are currently 83 live enforcement cases (some cases were ongoing and not included in the backlogged cases).
D) with nearly 77% of the cases already dealt with, we are confident that the vast majority of the backlog will have been dealt with. However, some of these cases are proceeding to formal action and therefore are likely to be ongoing beyond the six month period. It is never going to be possible to get to a point of having no live enforcement cases on the system but the team has made great progress over the last four months. Given the success of dealing with the backlog and the importance of dealing with potential breaches of planning control effectively, the City Development team are reviewing how we resource the enforcement function going forward.
The Portfolio Holder for City Development thanked the Planning staff for their work on enforcement cases in addition to their on-going case work.
In accordance with Standing Order No. 8, the following question was put by Councillor Hannaford to the Leader
The recent survey of 1,500 local women in Exeter, by the Safety of Women At Night (SwaN) has found that over 85%, felt unsafe or very unsafe, walking alone at night in the city centre.
Can the Leader of the City Council please comment on these truly concerning findings?
Local women said that they would feel safer in Exeter city centre if there was an increased police presence, more affordable transport, enhanced CCTV coverage, and better lighting.
Can the Leader of the City Council please update Members on the work the Deputy Leader has been doing on these matters, with others, including in her role as Exeter’s local Councillor Police Advocate and a member of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Panel? Specifically, what progress has been made to secure more women police officers patrolling the city centre?
Does the Leader share my concerns that the service cuts announced by Stagecoach to local bus services at night, make women more vulnerable, as they are waiting even longer for buses?
Is there an update for Council regarding the work being done by the local Community Safety Partnership and the University of Exeter, to develop an Exeter Safety of Women At Night Charter?
Can the important issue of women's safety in Exeter, including general public safety, drink spiking, toxic masculinity, misogyny and domestic violence and sexual abuse, be properly included in the Council’s scrutiny work programme, and robustly reflected in the Council’s corporate plan?
The Leader thanked Councillor Hannaford for drawing attention to the work of the Exeter Community Safety Partnership over the last few months, which had been led by the University of Exeter.
The Leader stated that it was important to recognise the fantastic response that the survey had with over 1,500 participants. At the heart of this survey was the importance of the city hearing the voices of its communities. Sometimes this was not an easy thing to do, but it was important that the City Council, with the large number of partners that make up the Community Safety Partnership, hear these voices and then act collectively to bring about change.
The Leader was pleased that, as part of the work undertaken by the Community Safety Partnership, a Safety of Women at Night Charter had been established with seven principles that each organisation had to commit to. Exeter City Council had signed up to the Charter, with members of the senior management seeking to embed the seven principles in the work conducted across the organisation. The Leader encouraged others, such as businesses, voluntary and other government organisations within the city to sign up to the Charter to show their commitment in making the city even safer.
The Leader shared Councillor Hannaford’s concern about service cuts and the impact on vulnerable people and women and girls and he was pleased that the County Council’s Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee had the opportunity to cross examine the Stagecoach Managing Director and the assurance that he had given to Councillor Denning with regard to reimbursing taxi fares in the event of last buses being cancelled. It was important to note that Exeter, like other cities, had its isolated problems. However, Exeter remained one of the safest and most vibrant places to live and it was the aim to improve this yet further over the coming year.
The Leader asked the Lord Mayor to invite the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services to respond to other parts of Councillor Hannaford’s question.
The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services reported that, in terms of the deployment of female police officers, she was unable to provide figures and that this was a matter for the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner. In response to Safer Streets funding, this had allowed the City to take the following action:-
· £550,000 being invested in CCTV through a combination of funding from the Home Office, the Police and Crime Commissioner and Exeter City Council and which included an additional 32 CCTV cameras as well as crucial infrastructure upgrades;
· an additional three Full Time Equivalent staff for the Control Room which had been approved at the last Executive;
· additional lighting throughout the city, including festoon lighting in 93 trees in the city, thanks to additional funding from InExeter;
· the re-establishment of Best Bar None which was seeing responsible licensees improving the standards within their premises and undertaking training and awareness to spot the signs of predatory behaviour and prevent drink spiking; and
· working with Devon County Council and Stagecoach to establish a night bus service pilot on a Friday and Saturday night.
Referring to the survey undertaken by a media company on behalf of the University of Exeter, the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services refuted the figure of 85% in relation to the limited response possible to the question on whether women felt safe in Exeter at night, which she considered to be inaccurate as Exeter was, generally, a very safe city.
The Deputy Leader advised Councillor Hannaford that his question would be referred to the Scrutiny Programme Board for consideration by a Scrutiny Committee, where much of the detail that the question raised, could be discussed in detail by that Committee.
Councillor Hannaford, asked a supplementary question as to whether the Council intended to explore the creation of a designated Member Champion or Advocate to promote safety in the city?
The Leader responded that this would also be considered by the Scrutiny Programme Board.
In accordance with Standing Order No. 8, the following question was put by Councillor Sparling to the Portfolio Holder for Net Zero Exeter 2030
In 2017, the Council passed a five-year Energy Strategy and Action Plan with three priority goals; a sustainable corporate estate, an energy neutral Council and a low carbon city.
With this strategy having reached its conclusion, please can the Portfolio Holder explain if these goals have been met and if not, what review process and measures have been put in place to ensure these goals are still met and by when?
The Portfolio Holder Net Zero Exeter 2030 stated that the Energy Strategy and Action Plan would merge with a new Net Zero Action Plan. Remaining energy, sustainability and carbon reduction goals were to be quantified based on viability, changes in technology, the Council’s own operations/estate and Government policy.
There were two interlinked strands, the first being the Council’s own carbon footprint and the second being that of the wider City. The delivery of Net Zero for the Council’s own corporate estate was the priority of the newly formed Net Zero Team, two members of the team having recently been appointed. The team would use a carbon footprint report produced for the Council by the Centre for Energy and the Environment to establish an action plan that will follow accurate targets, projections and opportunities. The Plan would ensure reviewed priority goals were incorporated, and measures to be introduced included an annual assessment of the Council’s Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to identify changes that had taken place each year to enable the evaluation and updating of the actions required to deliver Net Zero.
From a City wide perspective, it would be fair to say that, prior to the declaration of a climate emergency in July 2019, the City Council had already been on a journey to support a low carbon city. The Council had been pursuing a raft of measures designed to give momentum to the goal of supporting a more sustainable city which had been twin tracked to address the City Council’s own emissions and supporting the wider city of Exeter. For example, the City Council had pioneered solar Photovoltaic (PV) installations on its commercial roofs, these PV sites now provided about 40% of the non-domestic generation in the city. The Council had also supported and delivered district heat networks for new residential communities in Monkerton. The Council had led on the retrofit of the Council’s own housing stock and built new Council housing stock to passivhaus standards, also pioneered in the Edwards Court Extra Care Housing accommodation and St. Sidwell’s Point. The Council had also worked on transformational programmes such as the Sport England Local Delivery Pilot to support active travel to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists. Through championing active design principles, it had set out a new strategy for future house building to support the objectives of active travel and supported the initiatives of Devon County Council in this regard.
Greenhouse gas emissions in Exeter had generally been on a downward trajectory since 2008. Estimated GHG emissions of 717 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (kt CO2e) in 2008 had declined by a third to 476 thousand tonnes (kt CO2e) in 2019.
With the declaration of a climate emergency in 2019, the goal had shifted from a low carbon city to achieving a Net Zero city, and the City Council was playing its part to support this goal with the Net Zero Exeter 2030 Plan.
Delivering Net Zero in 2030 required a much greater reduction in emissions. Buildings was the sector with the highest emissions (35%), followed by power (24%) and transport (22%). Lack of progress in the buildings and transport sectors was particularly concerning. The city needed to make significant progress in buildings and transport to deliver Net Zero.
The Chief Executive & Growth Director would be reporting progress in detail on reducing GHG emissions in the city to a Scrutiny Committee in June, prior to consideration by Executive.
Councillor Sparling, asked a supplementary question as to whether, given the merging of the Energy Strategy and Action Plan with the Net Zero Plan, was the Portfolio Holder confident that the goal of a Net Zero Exeter 2030 would be met?
The Portfolio Holder responded that there remained work to do, but with the merger of the two Plans, it had been necessary to re-set goals and that she remained confident that the ultimate goal of a Net Zero Exeter 2030 would be met.