To receive any questions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.

Two separate petitions, each bearing over 1,000 signatures have been received as follows, each requesting a debate under the Council’s Petition Scheme;

a)    Petition to keep Westgate House for Bridgnorth Community Use – Paul Passant.

b)    Petition to turn at least 1 in 3 street lights back on in Whitchurch – Jane Kirk.

Each petitioner will be allowed 5 minutes to outline their case, after which there may be a debate of up to 15 minutes maximum.

88.1    Petitions

The Deputy Speaker advised that two petitions, each bearing more than 1,000 signatures had been received, requesting a debate under the Council’s Petition Scheme.  Each petitioner was given 5 minutes to open the debate and outline their case, after which there was a debate;

(a)  Petition to Keep Westgate House for Bridgnorth Community Use.  This was introduced and amplified by Paul Passant, Chairman of the ‘Save Westgate for the Community Campaign’.  Mr Passant urged the Council to support proposals to keep Westgate House for local community use.  Future plans included a walk-in medical centre, some business use, some housing, a restaurant, a construction school and a school of music.  Mr Passant spoke about the poor infrastructure in Bridgnorth for housing and urged the Council to transfer the building as an asset for the community.

In response Mike Owen, Portfolio Holder for Resources Finance and Support thanked Mr Passant for his input but said that Cabinet had made a decision in July 2014 to dispose of Westgate and he stood by that decision.  There were already many community facilities in Bridgnorth town, fulfilling various community roles.  The sale of Westgate House would allow capital receipts and revenue savings and he therefore proposed that for these reasons the Council should take no further action.  This was duly seconded by Mr Robert Tindall.

A recorded vote was requested by Mr Roger Evans and duly agreed:

FOR: P Adams, N Bardsley, T Barker, J Barrow, K Barrow, T Bebb, M Bennett, T Biggins, J Cadwallader, K Calder, D Carroll, L Chapman, S Charmley, P Cherrington, G Dakin, S Davenport, A Davies, D Evans, J Everall, A Hartley, R Hughes, V Hunt, J Hurst-Knight, S Jones, R Macey, M Owen, W Parr, M Pate, M Price, K Roberts, M Shineton, R Tindall, K Turley, D Turner, A Walpole, S West, C Wild, B Williams, L Winwood, M Wood, T Woodward, P Wynn.

AGAINST: A Bannerman, C Barnes, A Boddington, V Bushell, T Clarke, R Evans, H Fraser, N Hartin, T Huffer, J Jones, M Kenny, H Kidd, J Mackenzie, C Mellings, P Moseley, A Mosley, K Pardy, V Parry, D Tremellen and M Williams.

ABSTENTION: C Lea.

The proposal to take no further action was carried with 42 voting for, 20 voting against and 1 abstention:

(b)  Petition to turn back on at least 1 in 3 street lights in Whitchurch - Jane Kirk introduced this petition and urged the Council to switch back on 1 in 3 street lights in Whitchurch for mainly safety reasons but also cited the negative effect on local business’ that reduced lighting was having.  Some of the lights in Whitchurch were owned by Shropshire Council and went off at 10.30 pm and others owned by the Town Council went off at around midnight.

In response the Portfolio Holder for Highways, Mrs Claire Wild, said she proposed to take no further action.  To switch one in three lights back on would create a strobing effect on the eyes when passing through on/off light levels.  She also cited the receipt of 3 polls recently, in support of reduced street lighting and that local police had also confirmed that in some areas where street lighting had been reduced, there had been a reduction in crime levels.  Mrs Wild said there were other remedies available; such as bringing this to the attention of your local councillor, who in turn could raise any issues at a Bronze Level Task Group.  This proposal was duly seconded by Simon Jones.

Mr Mosley said he was willing to test out data through the introduction of a pilot scheme in Whitchurch and suggested that a public meeting be held to find out resident’s views and move this forward.  This was supported by several members who shared the concerns outlined.  However Mrs Wild proposed to take no further action, which was duly seconded and upheld with 37 members voting for this and 24 against.

88.2    Public Questions

          The Speaker advised that three public questions had been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 15 – copy attached to the signed minutes.

(a)  Mrs Joyce Brand asked a question about the closure of the Monkmoor Walk-in Centre in Shrewsbury and the future location of Accident and Emergency services in Shropshire, but made no specific supplementary question at the meeting.  The Leader offered to meet with Mrs Brand outside of the meeting to discuss her concerns in more detail.

(b)  Mr Patrick Cosgrove asked a question about the funding for the continued rollout of broadband in Shropshire and if slower broadband speeds would be given priority over those that were currently quite acceptable.

Supplementary question:

How will the decision on rural broadband extension taken on 10^th December by Shropshire’s Cabinet help my neighbour’s home-based business where his connection speed has dropped from 1.4 Mb to 0.4 Mb in the last eighteen months, so he is now unsure whether to invest many hundreds of pounds in a satellite broadband system, or wait for an announcement from Connecting Shropshire on what to expect from their plans, because there has been no announcement?  There are many, many others in the same situation.

Supplementary answer:

The Leader undertook to get back to Mr Cosgrove on this question following the meeting.

(c)  Ms Vanessa Voysey asked a question about the Cabinet decision to remove any allocation of council tax support grant to Town and Parish Councils for 2015/16 and future years council tax reduction scheme; what consultation had been made, why did Shropshire Council feel it was entitled to retain the money and if this decision could be called in.

Supplementary question

If the Town Councils set their budget in January 2015 and Shropshire Council’s decision on funding is made in February 2015, how does it work out timescale wise for Town and Parish Council’s?

Supplementary answer

The Portfolio Holder for Resources, Finance and Support replied that the decision made by Cabinet on 10^th December had triggered a consultation period ending on 26 February 2015 when Council would take the final decision.