Agenda item

This report sets out the public questions received for this meeting. 

(A)        Edward Richmond’s question to the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services, Councillor Doe, regarding how much Medway Council has spent on Chatham Town Football Club over the last 15 years, was withdrawn because Mr Richmond was unable to attend the meeting. He asked that the question be deferred until the Council meeting on 26 July 2012.

 

(B)       Jon Primett of Chatham asked the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services, Councillor Doe, the following question:

 

         Can the Portfolio Holder confirm the current legal status of Luton Millennium Green?

 

Councillor Doe responded by stating that in February 1998, Medway Council’s predecessor authority granted a 1000-year lease to the Trustees of Luton Millennium Green, so that it could use this Council owned site as a Millennium Green. The Trust was disbanded in 2004 and was removed from the Charities’ Register.  Unfortunately the lease of the Millennium Green was not formally surrendered and as such the land is still registered at the Land Registry as being leased to the Trust.

 

He stated that Medway Council had maintained the land since the Trust was disbanded and was working towards formally terminating the lease with the Millennium Green Trust which was legally complicated by the fact that the tenant no longer existed.

 

He explained that the site was designated as protected open space, an area of Local landscape importance and a site of Nature Conservation Interest in the Local Plan and officers were currently seeking feedback from the community on the future uses and investment in the site, to ensure its importance as an open space continued to be recognised into the future.

 

Jon Primett asked whether the Portfolio Holder considered it viable to restore the site to its former status, with a good play area and as a valuable facility in what was a deprived area.

 

Councillor Doe confirmed that it was the council’s aim to greatly improve the green. He stated that it was a very large area and the council’s funds were currently limited in the new projects that could be undertaken but he wished to work with the local community, over a number of years, in order to bring the site up to a Green Flag standard. However, this would take time and resources and the project would have to be prioritised along with other projects for the resources available. 

 

(C)       Lewis Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question;

 

Is the Council satisfied that by offering the Medway Youth Pass, they are doing enough to help Medway families with their children’s school travel costs, even though the most that a family will save is just £2 per month if using Arriva Buses, because the minimum bus fare is £1.20 for a single journey, £2.40 for a return journey, £12 for a weekly bus pass, or £48 for a monthly bus pass, when using the Kent Youth Pass?

 

Councillor Filmer responded by stating that working within the current financial climate, the Council was doing what it could to support families and children with transport.  This year the Council had launched the Medway Youth Pass, which expanded the half price bus fares to include weekends, and the Council’s policy was to move towards a Freedom Pass in a sustainable and affordable way.  In addition, in recent years the Council had expanded the Yellow Bus scheme which offered dedicated bus services to Medway’s schools and the Council continued to offer transport to children who attended their nearest appropriate school and lived over the minimum distance.

 

However, Councillor Filmer explained that the bus companies were responsible for their own charging policies.  The Council was currently holding discussions with Arriva and Nu-Venture to see if more could be done and if they would allow holders of the Medway Youth Pass to be used on their all day, weekly and monthly season tickets.

 

Lewis Bailey asked the Portfolio Holder whether two manifesto pledges in the last two elections had been broken?

 

Councillor Filmer responded that the manifesto commitment was to work towards a Freedom Pass and that work was currently ongoing.

 

(D)       Emma Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Does the Council offer any help or support with travel costs to families who have two or more children who each use more than one bus to travel to school, and therefore receive no benefit whatsoever from using the Medway Youth Pass; or does the Council think that it is reasonable for that family to pay in excess of £50 for each child, every four weeks for their bus passes; that is, £100 every four weeks for two bus passes for two children; or £150 for three bus passes for three children, etc?

 

Councillor Filmer responded by stating that in addition to the Medway Youth Pass, children who attended their nearest appropriate school and lived over the minimum distance were eligible for free home to school transport. If the child was under eight years old the minimum distance was two miles and if the child was over eight years old the minimum distance was three miles. Children aged between eight and 11-years-old from low income families would also qualify if they lived more than two miles from their nearest appropriate school.

 

The Council also had the Yellow Bus scheme which offers dedicated bus services to Medway’s schools. 

 

         Councillor Filmer stated that whilst the Council was sympathetic to the transport needs of children, it was constrained by the current financial situation which meant that the Council had to save 25% of its budget over four years.

 

         Emma Bailey asked the Portfolio Holder if the overspend on Chatham Bus Station would have been better spent on funding an equivalent to the Kent Freedom Pass for the children of Medway?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded that no-one started a project with the intention of an overspend, so this was not relevant.

 

(E)        Amelia Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

What does the Council intend to do in the immediate future to help the majority of children who do not benefit at all from using the Medway Youth Pass, because they have to use more than one bus to travel to school, and therefore find it cheaper to buy an adult-priced bus pass, because Arriva Buses do not issue a cheaper equivalent child bus pass?

 

Councillor Filmer stated in many circumstances the Medway Youth Pass did help parents and students, but in other situations the discounts offered by the bus company, who were responsible for their own charging policies, may be more applicable to the students’ circumstances. 

 

Councillor Filmer repeated that the Council was currently holding discussions with Arriva and Nu-Venture to see if they would allow holders of the Medway Youth Pass to be used on their all day, weekly and monthly season tickets.

 

(F)        Venetia Iga of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Why is it more expensive when using Arriva Buses, to buy a “child bus pass”, which restricts travel to stated buses only for that particular journey, and cannot be used on any other buses within either the Medway Zone or Inner-Medway Zone; than it is to buy an adult bus pass, which offers unrestricted access to all Arriva buses in the whole of either the Medway Zone or Inner-Medway Zone?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by repeating that the bus companies were responsible for their prices but the Council was working very hard to see what more could be done to assist young people in Medway.

 

(G)       Lorna Barker of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Does the Council think that it is reasonable, for example, that in order to take advantage of the Medway Youth Pass, children are expected to board school buses as early as 7am in the morning; and then to stay on those buses for sometimes up to an hour or more before arriving at schools; for example in Gillingham, some 11 and 12 year old children are expected to walk past Gillingham Station or Gillingham Football Ground on dark winter mornings, to catch the bus which leaves the Arriva Bus Garage at 7am, because the bus does not pass through Gillingham Town Centre but travels to Rainham Mark, then through to Wigmore, Parkwood, Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre, Luton, North Dane Way, Lordswood Shopping Centre, Princes Park (Morrisons), Huntsman’s Corner, Walderslade, Mid-Kent College, and Thomas Aveling School, before finally at the Rochester Grammar Schools?

 

Councillor Filmer responded by stating that the Route 657 departed the bus station in Nelson Road, Gillingham at 7am and was scheduled to arrive at the Rochester Grammar Schools at 8.10am. It was a commercially run service operated by Arriva, who determined the specific route.  He stated he was willing to raise any concerns the questioner had with the bus operators directly.

 

         As a possible alternative, there were frequent services between Gillingham Town Centre and Chatham Waterfront Bus Station. From Chatham, route 145 ran every 10 minutes between Chatham and Warren Wood, with a short walk from Warren Wood to the Rochester Grammar Schools.

 

         Lorna Barker stated that if a child had to use two buses to get to school, to get to Chatham and then another bus onto their grammar school, then the Medway Youth Pass was not effective and they would need to buy an adult pass instead. She asked what the council could do to help parents?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by stating that the Council was in discussions with the two bus companies concerned to overcome this issue.

 

(H)       Jordan Iga of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Is the reason that children are expected to catch a school bus at 7am in the morning, and to stay on that bus for up to an hour or more, because the Council provide too few buses to cover too large an area, resulting in bus journeys being unreasonably long, and, by the end of the journey, often over-crowded?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by stating that the vast majority of buses were provided and operated by the bus companies on a commercial basis without subsidy from the Council.  The Council did subsidise certain routes at a cost of approximately £1 million where they were not commercially viable and where no bus service would be provided if the Council did not offer a subsidy.  This was a subsidy given to bus operators who provided the buses and service themselves.  Councillor Filmer asked the questioner to let him know the services he was referring to and to which schools and he would investigate further the issues which the questioner had raised.

 

(I)           George Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Is the Council aware that if a child in Medway travels to school using two buses, the cheapest option for them is to buy an adult-priced bus pass which costs £50 for four weeks, and that that price applies to all children in primary and secondary school, from the age of five, up until their sixteenth birthday?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by stating that the bus companies set the prices not the Council but the Council was discussing with them what could be done to make it more affordable for children and parents.

 

         George Bailey asked whether this would take place before he went to school in September?

 

         Councillor Filmer stated that he would be as quick as he could but could not promise by September.

 

(J)    Jon Primett of Chatham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Can the Portfolio Holder confirm how road resurfacing that was supposed to happen in 2011/12, e.g. The Fairway, has been moved to the budget year 2012/13, and whether he believes the Council should be more transparent with the public on timescales on resurfacing?

 

Councillor Filmer responded by stating that the road-resurfacing programme for planned works generally consisting of two procedures, conventional surfacing and microsurfacing. The Fairway, given in the example, fell into the second category.

 

         Of the 2011/12 programme, £1.2 million of conventional surfacing was completed during the summer. However due to the availability of the specialist contractor required for Microsurfacing, it was agreed that the microsurfacing programme for both the 2011/12 and 2012/13 programmes would commence in March 2012 and run over into April to pick up both financial years programmes, making better use of the specialist contractor. This work would be completed by 30 April.

 

         Jon Primett asked the Portfolio Holder for his comment on the widely-held view that the resurfacing budget was prioritised by the prestigiousness of the area, that is, with the poorer areas having lower priority for the resurfacing budget?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded that the priority for resurfacing was based on the conditions of the road. All Councillors had been sent an annual list of roads due to be re-surfaced for the past three to four years and reiterated that the condition of the roads was the only determining factor.

 

(K)       Lewis Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Can the Council please explain why is it that students and staff at Medway Universities pay at least one-half of the prices that children who live in Medway pay for their travel passes, and they have access to the whole of the Kent Area; whereas Medway children, who pay the full adult price for their bus passes, do not have access to the whole of the Kent Area, but to either the Medway Zone only or to the Inner-Medway Zone only?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by stating that the concession for university students and staff was arranged between the universities and the bus company directly, the Council had no involvement nor did it put any funds towards it.

 

         Lewis Bailey asked whether the Council believed that children on free school meals, who could not afford to pay for them themselves and hence were given them for free, should go to their nearest school, which may not be the best school for them, purely based on bus travel?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded he had answered the question regarding entitlements earlier in the evening.

 

(L)        Emma Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Does the Council think it is fair that of three children sitting in the same classroom in a Medway school, the child that lives in Medway could be paying the highest cost for their travel to school (a difference of at least £350 per year); even though the distance travelled could be far less than that travelled by the other two children, because the Medway child uses Arriva bus passes and/or the Medway Youth Pass, whereas the other children might use either PlusBus scheme or the Kent Freedom Pass?

 

Councillor Filmer responded by stating that working within the current financial climate, the Council was doing what it could to support families and children with transport and the Council’s policy was to move towards a Freedom Pass in a sustainable and affordable way.  Given the reductions in public finance the Council could not currently afford this, as it would cost at least an additional £2.5 million a year to introduce the Kent scheme, which was the equivalent of increasing council tax by 2.5% and the Council currently had the lowest council tax in Kent. 

 

Councillor Filmer reiterated that the bus companies were responsible for their own charging policies, but the Council was in discussions with Arriva and Nu-Venture to see if they would allow the Medway Youth Pass to be used on their all day, weekly and monthly season tickets.

 

Emma Bailey stated that whilst she appreciated there was regret over the Chatham Bus Station overspend, would the Council tell her who had been held responsible for the overspend of several million pounds, which was approximately the same amount of money as that just quoted by the Portfolio Holder to fund the bus pass, and what action was being taken as if this happened in industry the person responsible would be sacked.

 

Councillor Filmer stated that the regeneration programme was not under his remit but his understanding was that money that was ringfenced for a regeneration project was not transferable to another project, such as bus fares.  

(M)         Amelia Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Why do I have to pay the same price as my parents for an adult bus pass to travel to school, whereas a child in other parts of Kent can buy a substantially reduced child bus pass?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by stating that bus fares were a commercial decision by the local bus operators and the Council was working very hard with the bus companies to ensure as much could be done as possible to assist Medway’s young people.

 

(N)         Venetia Iga of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Why do children have to pay for their travel to school, making Medway the most expensive town for children’s travel in Kent, whereas in London, children’s travel is free, and in the rest of Kent, cheap travel is available for £100 per year when using the Kent Freedom Pass?

 

Councillor Filmer responded by reiterating that the Council’s policy was to move towards a Freedom Pass in a sustainable and affordable way and this year the Council had expanded its current offer with the Medway Youth Pass.  However, given the reductions in public finance, the Council could not currently afford a scheme which would cost an additional £2.5 million a year, which was the equivalent of increasing council tax bills by 2.5%.  Currently the Council had the cheapest council tax in Kent, which was on average £130 less. 

 

Medway Council also traditionally received less than other similar sized unitary authorities in funding from the government.  For example Brighton and Hove, which had a similar population size, received £390 per resident, compared to Medway’s £304 and Kingston upon Hull received £534 per person. 

 

         Whilst the Council was sympathetic to the transport needs of children, it was constrained by the current financial situation which meant that the Council had to save 25% of its budget over the next four years.

 

(O)         Lorna Barker of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Is the Council aware that PlusBus monthly passes, which include bus and train travel, are calculated on a “calendar month” basis, and offer much cheaper travel, than the monthly Arriva Bus passes for adults, which are calculated on a four-weekly basis, and can be used on buses only?

 

Councillor Filmer responded by stating that PlusBus was only available to passengers who hold a rail ticket for a journey to the destination in question, and could not be bought on its own. Nor was it sold for journeys within the PlusBus area (so it could not be purchased as an add-on to a rail journey wholly between Strood and Rainham).

 

The price was set by the bus companies who accepted the ticket.  It was commonplace across the UK for the price to be lower than locally available bus tickets, as it was recognised that people had already paid for a rail journey.

 

         Locally, it was worth noting that the monthly and annual Medway PlusBus tickets were moreexpensive than Arriva's Inner Medway Zone ticket, but cheaper than the whole Medway Zone. However, the latter covered a larger area than Medway PlusBus; for example including the whole of the Isle of Grain, while PlusBus was only valid as far as Hoo.

 

         Lorna Barker asked whether last year’s uncollected council tax amounted to over £5 million and whether this could have paid for the Medway Youth Pass scheme, if had been collected?

 

         Councillor Filmer stated that he did not know the figures that had been quoted.

 

(P)         Jordan Iga of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Could the Council please tell me the numbers of people who have expressed that they would like to use, or have previously used, public transport to travel to school, the number of children who do not use public transport to travel to school, and the reasons given why they do not use, or are no longer using public transport to travel to school – particularly buses?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by stating that each January a school census was carried out which also asked about transport to school. In January 2012 the voluntary responses indicated that there was higher walking and car usage at primary schools, whilst just under 20% of secondary school pupils travel by bus compared to less than 1% of primary school pupils.

 

 (Q)         George Bailey of Gillingham asked the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services, Councillor Filmer, the following question:

 

         Can the Council please tell me if they have surveyed the number of children who use, are expected to use, or have expressed an intention to use, public transport to travel to school, and what type of transport they do use, are expected to use, or have expressed an intention to use?

 

         Councillor Filmer responded by reiterating that the Council carried out a school census on an annual basis and this looked at how children travelled to school. The overwhelming majority of children walked to school, however, in January 2012 the voluntary responses indicated that there was higher walking and car usage at primary schools, whilst just under 20% of secondary school pupils travel by bus compared to less than 1% of primary school pupils.

 

         George Bailey asked if his mum was unable to fund his travel to the Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in September, would the Council suggest that he seek alternative schooling that he could walk to?

 

Councillor Filmer responded that if he was given the circumstances he would look into it further.