Agenda item

Mr Crane (Bewbush)

Can you confirm that the New Town Hall and the other buildings being proposed to be built as part of that development, will they all be fully fitted with sprinklers for fire safety?

Supplementary Question

On the scheme in total, would the Council have to take out any loans to fund the schemes?

Councillor Skudder (Cabinet Member for Resources)

Yes, I believe that they will. All the buildings would meet the required fire safety standards.

Councillor Lamb (Leader of the Council)

Yes, in line with the report that the Council had agreed, there would be some private financing as part of that.

Mr Browning (Three Bridges)

My question relates to the proposed boundary changes relating to Tinsley Lane. The proposed boundary is the A211, which has a rammed footbridge and a road flyover, to Three Bridges. How do you justify this as to travel to Langley Green parade from Tinsley Lane residents would have to cross two major roads and the industrial area?

Supplementary Question

The crossing of Gatwick Road is greater than the A211, in my view and there are WSCC reports that mention this road’s over capacity. Given this your justification doesn’t seem to add up?

Councillor Lunnon (Chair of Governance Committee)

The principle focus of the boundary review across the Borough is to seek electoral equality. Unfortunately that has meant we’ve had to propose making boundaries that may not make everyone happy. But we’ve done our best at creating a proposal that should be acceptable by the Boundary Commission, otherwise they’ll impose a set of boundaries on us that ignores the core neighbourhood values of Crawley.

Councillor Lunnon (Chair of Governance Committee)

I do understand your frustration that the proposed scheme that we are going to debate later, is not to your taste, but I believe it is the best and fairest scheme for the Borough as a whole.

Councillor Burrett (Vice Chair of Governance Committee )

In response to the original question, I don’t believe the proposed scheme is justifiable and there is a scheme being proposed tonight that does keep the whole of Three Bridges together.

Mr Tantrum (Three Bridges)

It sounds that the decision of the boundaries has already been made?

Supplementary Question

We as residents vote you in and clearly there is a strong view amongst Tinsley Lane that the proposals are not acceptable. Votes will be influenced by the decision you take.

Councillor Lunnon (Chair of Governance Committee)

Just to be clear we are discussing a report that has been discussed at both  the Electoral Boundaries Working Group and Governance Committee. We are to discuss the recommendations from both of those bodies tonight and the Full Council will then be taking a decision of the Council’s view of the proposed boundaries for submission.

Councillor Lunnon (Chair of Governance Committee)

As I mentioned previously, we understand that some residents may not be happy with the proposals but we had to look at the Town as a whole to achieve electoral equality.

Mr Jones (Three Bridges)

I believe there are three criteria that needs to be considered when reviewing ward boundaries, but I’ve only heard about one, aren’t the other two given equal weight and why haven’t they been addressed?

Councillor Lunnon (Chair of Governance Committee)

The other two criteria are firstly Effective Local Government, which having checked, and does apply in this case is about over working of Councillors especially when relating to Parishes.

The second community cohesion, there is an argument that Tinsley Lane as a location has more in common with Manor Royal, as they share services such as grass cutting with this area compared to Three Bridges.

Mrs Tantrum (Three Bridges)

As you’ve mentioned the Boundary Commission guidelines state that the Wards should reflect interests and identities of the local communities. For Tinsley Lane you have ignored this completely, with all our local facilities being in Three Bridges. How can you ignore one of the most important criteria?

Supplementary Question

I do not agree with what you’ve stated Manor Royal is a business area, whilst Tinsley Green is a residential Community. A Councillor representing Manor Royal won’t look after us just the businesses or the residents over in Langley Green?

Councillor Lunnon (Chair of Governance Committee)

The proposed new ward is called Langley Green and Manor Royal, which is in essence split into two areas of interest one being Langley Green and the other which was Manor Royal which I believe has a clear communities of interests with Tinsley Lane. Especially with the housing developments proposed on Gatwick Road.

Councillor Lunnon (Chair of Governance Committee)

Telling future Councillors that they’ll disregards your views seems unfair and I do not believe that would be the case no matter which party the Councillor was from.

Ms Handman (Furnace Green)

Why has the Council found it acceptable to licence 9 of the Town Houses on Aintree Road as HMO’s, which break the covenant on these properties over single occupation?

Supplementary Question

Who should be sued over the breaking of the covenant the Council or the landlords?

Councillor P. Smith (Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development)

I don’t know the answer, it’s a planning matter. But if you leave your name, I’ll get a written response to you on this matter.

Councillor P. Smith (Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development)

Again I’m sorry I’ll have to write to you on this matter. But please feel free to directly contact me over this outside of the meeting. I am happy to discuss the matter further with you.

Mr Millar (Three Bridges)

In preparation for the Boundary Review a survey was commissioned over how residents identified as a neighbourhood. As Three Bridges residents are the most affected by the proposals why were they invited to take part? Also how were people chosen to take part?

Councillor Lamb (Leader of the Council)

The consultation was Borough wide and open to everyone. It was advertised in Crawley Live which gets delivered to every household. The Boundary Commission are forcing us to have 3 Member wards and that across the Town, not just Tinsley Lane. We are trying to evidence the importance of the Neighbourhood principle, and put forward an option with a mixed pattern of wards, but they may impose a 3 Member ward pattern on us and the boundaries would be altered even further. We know electoral equality is a key factor and that is what our proposed scheme is trying to achieve for the Borough as a whole.