Agenda item

5.1

Petitions

5.1.1

Petition requesting Road Safety Improvements Outside Ecclesfield School

The Council received an electronic petition, containing 240 signatures, requesting road safety improvements outside Ecclesfield School.

Representations on behalf of the petitioners were made by Mr Joel Wirth, Headteacher of the School. He commented that in his 5 years at the school, there had been 6 incidents of students being hit by cars on their way to or from school. Earlier this year one student had received potentially life-changing injuries as a result of being hit by a car near the zebra crossing outside the school, which he stated was poorly-positioned. Mr Wirth had spoken to the student concerned and she had urged the Council’s support in ensuring that action was taken now to prevent the future serious or fatal injury of students in the school.

The school’s situation and its increasing popularity had brought a number of problems. The school’s main exit faced Chapeltown Road, a major arterial route into and out of the City. Although the speed limit had been reduced to 30 miles per hour for a stretch that included the school, petitioners did not believe this offered adequate protection for young people and other road users at critical times of the day. From 3:00 to 3:10pm, 1400 students leave the school site. At this time, both sides of the road were thronged with parked cars. The petitioners believed the single zebra crossing was incorrectly positioned as students leaving school needed to cross either the entrance or exit to the site in order to get to a crossing that lay in the opposite direction to their journey.

To address the problems, the petitioners requested the installation of additional traffic-calming measures at the critical 20 minute period at the end of school. They believed that a time-limited reduction of the speed limit to 15 or 20mph under flashing beacons would have a profound impact on general safety around school.

Secondly, the petitioners urged a comprehensive review along Chapeltown Road during this same period with considerations given to making this a no parking zone. Thirdly, petitioners asked that this same review considered repositioning or widening the current zebra crossing so that safe road crossing was encouraged. They also asked that this same review considered placing additional pavement barriers near the school in order to funnel children towards safe crossings.

Finally, petitioners asked that this same review considered how the queues that developed at bus stops along Chapeltown Road might be better facilitated. Petitioners believed that this review should consider deepening pavements and widening bus shelters (perhaps enhanced by additional pavement barriers) so that students were not compelled to stand on the road (nor pedestrians to walk onto it) while waiting for a bus or using the pavement.

The Council referred the petition to Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Transport. Councillor Iqbal thanked Mr Wirth for the petition. He commented that he understood the concerns of the petitioners. However, the Council had seen unprecedented cuts over the past 6 years. The Council had previously employed School Travel Advisers but no longer had the funding for these. However, Councillor Iqbal said he had taken the issues on board and would discuss matters with Council officers.

5.1.2

Petition Requesting the Council to Save Greenhill’s Trees

The Council received a joint electronic and paper petition containing 733 signatures requesting the Council to save Greenhill’s trees. There was no speaker to the petition, although an accompanying statement had been submitted by Debbie Elsdon.

The Council referred the petition to Councillor Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for Environment.

5.1.3

Petition Requesting the Council to Stop Cutting Down Mature Trees in Sheffield

The Council received an electronic petition containing 316 signatures requesting the Council to stop cutting down mature trees in Sheffield. There was no speaker to the petition.

The Council referred the petition to Councillor Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for Environment.

5.1.4

Petition Requesting the Council to Stop Reducing Parking Spaces in Tinsley

The Council received an electronic petition containing 48 signatures requesting the Council to stop reducing parking spaces in Tinsley. There was no speaker to the petition.

The Council referred the petition to Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Transport.

5.1.5

Petition Requesting a Pedestrian Crossing on Hutcliffe Wood Road

The Council received an electronic petition containing 48 signatures requesting a pedestrian crossing on Hutcliffe Wood Road. There was no speaker to the petition.

The Council referred the petition to Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Transport.

5.2

Public Questions

5.2.1

Public Question in respect of Proposed Closure of BIS (Department for Business Innovation and Skills) Office

Adam Butcher asked what the Council was going to do to help the men and women of the BIS Office in Sheffield. How did this decision relate to the so-called Northern Powerhouse?

Councillor Leigh Bramall, Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Development and Deputy Leader, commented that most people outside of the Government thought that it was a shocking decision to close the BIS office. He had worked with local MPs and the PCS (Public and Commercial Services) Union to look at the rationale for the decision and this had shown that it will actually cost the Government more to move the BIS office.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Julie Dore, had written on several occasions to Sajid Javid MP, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, who had taken the decision, to request a meeting with him. Mr Javid had responded that he had no time in his diary for a meeting over a 4-5 month period, including when he had recently visited Sheffield.

During this visit, Councillor Bramall had managed to speak to Mr Javid to highlight the damage the decision was causing to the Northern Powerhouse and the families of the people who worked at the BIS office. Mr Javid acknowledged this but then proceeded to ignore requests to reverse the decision.

Councillor Bramall would continue to work with Trade Unions and others to try and reverse the decision. The decision was he said a “kick in the teeth” for staff in the City and undermined the idea of a Northern Powerhouse. He said he would work closely with staff to try and find other high quality employment in the City.

5.2.2

Public Question in respect of Public Engagement

Nigel Slack commented that, as a result of the local elections, and others in May, this was the first Full Council meeting of substance since April 6^th. The last Cabinet meeting was on 9^th March and the next will be on 22^nd June. That was 2 months without Full Council and 13 weeks or a quarter of a year without Cabinet. Whilst Mr Slack recognised that Council business did not grind to a complete halt during this period, much of the public engagement, particularly when you add in all the scrutiny and other committees that have to be reformed with new members, does come to a halt.

Mr Slack said that over a normal 4 year ‘by thirds’ election cycle it could be that 6 months of Full Council and 9 months of Cabinet meetings were lost. This loss of business time and public engagement was not, in Mr Slack’s opinion, good for either the economy or the engagement of the people of the city. Was it any wonder, he said, that again turnout had fallen to 35%.

Mr Slack said that we were again faced with a Council of Members elected by some 1 in 4 of the voters and in City Ward by less than 1 in 10. Mr Slack said that he believed this could not be good for democracy or any Administration’s supposed mandate. There were many arguments for changing to 'All Out' elections once every 4 years and only the idea of elections as annual opinion polls seems to be the argument for retaining election 'By Thirds'.

A recent Festival of Debate event saw more than 50% of an informed audience support this change.

Mr Slack therefore asked will the Council agree to look more seriously at the election system for the City and to take advice from experts in the field rather than just the party political tribes that did battle in this Chamber.

In response the Leader of the Council, Councillor Julie Dore, welcomed Mr Slack’s wish to engage with the Council. The turnout in the recent Local Elections had been 35% and the Council should be doing all it could to encourage people to vote. She did not necessarily agree that participation in Cabinet and Council was a reason people did not choose to vote and this was more to do with people’s general trust in politicians and the Electoral system.

Council and Cabinet meetings were not necessarily the best means of engaging with the public. The primary role of the Council Meeting was to agree on business and not many decisions were taken in the Chamber although there were some useful debates. One of the reasons for the Administration introducing Cabinet in the Community was to increase public engagement. This had been done every year for the last 5 years and the Cabinet were constantly looking at ways to improve engagement with the public.

Scrutiny Committees engaged with the public through Task and Finish Groups and the Local Area Partnerships had opportunities for public engagement. The fact that 50% of those at the Festival of Debate event supported electoral change also showed that 50% did not. The electoral system was reviewed to see if it was right for the City at that point in time.

The Council had also been forced to reduce the number of meetings it held as the staff that facilitated these meetings had been reduced as a result of the cuts imposed by the Government and front line services had been protected.

5.2.3

Public Question in respect of Appointment of new Chief Constable

Nigel Slack commented that the agenda for the next Police and Crime Panel presented two papers on the replacement of the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire. The first detailed the procedure for calling for the resignation of the Chief Constable. The second detailed the procedure for the appointment of the new Chief Constable. The first required the Police and Crime Commissioner to get the Police and Crime Panel’s opinion on the matter of the call for resignation and then take the final decision on the call for resignation. The second stated that the recruitment process in respect of the new Chief Constable had started. He said that this seemed incompatible with both natural justice and the statutory obligations in the first paper.

Mr Slack asked whether the Council would ask their representatives on this Scrutiny Panel to challenge this apparent ‘rubber stamp’ exercise to prevent the further erosion of trust in the whole Police administration.

Councillor Julie Dore responded that she had requested that the meeting be deferred or some of the items removed from the agenda as new Members had not had time for a full briefing on the issues concerned. The current incumbent Chief Constable had announced he was due to retire in November and the recruitment process had started at that point. The other issue would be discussed at the Police and Crime Panel.

5.2.4

Public Question in respect of New Retail Quarter

Nigel Slack stated that, having seen this morning’s press release on the Retail Quarter ‘partner’ it was not the worst choice that could have been made. The developer involved appeared to use the right buzzwords – sensitive/sustainable/innovative. There still, however, seemed to be a homogenous design style to many of their individual schemes and the string of high street retailers they bragged about suggested that Sheffield would be creating a City Centre facsimile of many other Cities. He asked how the Council will ensure that the developer delivered on the buzzwords and respect the variety and the living heritage of the City Centre.

Councillor Leigh Bramall commented that he was pleased that a strategic development partner for the New Retail Quarter had been announced and detected a grudging acceptance of this from Mr Slack. This time the Council will be a direct partner in the scheme which had to be economically viable and the scheme would be delivered by the development partner.

He said that it was sometimes erroneous to suggest that all independent shops did not accept larger chains. For example at The Moor the bigger shops provided footfall for more independent shops. A balance needed to be struck and Councillor Bramall recognised the need for independent shops as well as bigger chains. The Sheffield Retail Quarter was a very complex project but the Council was doing the right things to bring this to fruition and Councillor Bramall said he was determined to get there.