Agenda item

The following Notices of Motion submitted to the County Council by the following Councillors have been referred to the Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order 8(2) for consideration, to refer it to another Committee or make a recommendation back to the Council:

 

(a)  Better Buses for Devon (Councillor Hannaford) – see agenda item 7 and Report CET/22/22 on the ‘Future management of local bus network in Devon’

(b)  First not Second Homes (Councillor Hannaford)

(c)  MOT Certification Scheme (Councillor Letch)

(d)  Implementation Process of 20mph Roads and Zones  (Councillor Hodgson) – see agenda item 8 and Report CET/22/23 on the ‘20mph projects prioritised for delivery in 2022/23’.

(a) Better Buses for Devon (Councillor Hannaford)

 

RESOLVED that it is recommended that Council in response to the Devon Devolution deal seek to gain powers for the franchising of local bus services as a longer-term option, following the introduction of the Enhanced Partnership in the autumn.

 

(b) First not Second Homes (Councillor Hannaford)

 

RESOLVED that Council continues to play a leading role in the work of the Team Devon Housing Taskforce which is addressing Devon’s serious and ongoing housing crisis.

 

(c) MOT Certification Scheme (Councillor Letch)

 

RESOLVED that Council recognises the robust safety inspection process that is in place to ensure highway assets are maintained in a safe condition for the travelling public and that this provides the level of assurance achieved by the MOT certification scheme.

 

(d) Implementation Process of 20mph Roads and Zones (Councillor Hodgson)

 

RESOLVED that Council ask the Cabinet to provide an appropriate level of funding for the continuation of the roll out of 20mph speed limits, when considering all the proposals for the 2023/24 Local Transport Plan Integrated Transport Block expenditure in the autumn.

(a) Better Buses for Devon (Councillor Hannaford)

 

(Councillor Hannaford attended in accordance with Standing Order 8

 

The wording of the Motion highlighted below;

 

That this Council:-

 

a)    Notes with great concern the huge reduction in the bus network across Devon, that has taken place since privatisation, deregulation, and under funding.

b)    Believes buses are essential to freeing up congested road space, to cleaning up the air that we all breathe and above all to connecting people to jobs, friends and life opportunities.

c)    Records the specific ongoing problems that our local school pupils and college students have in properly attending their places of education across Devon through inaccessible public transport.

d)   Concludes that the bus service in Devon now presents itself as a failed model, to the extent that it no longer has widespread public confidence, because of its serious long term poor performance and post pandemic dysfunctionality.

e)    Notes the completely unacceptable regional imbalances in funding for public transport services which prioritise the South East of England, and believes this must be radically reformed, and central government must do more to provide significant funding to revitalise local transport in the South West.

f)     Wants to develop, design and achieve a good public transport system that runs where people need it, when people need it and at a price that is affordable.

g)    Understands that the Government's impact assessment of the Bus Service Act (2017) highlighted that public control would better address six out of seven Local Transport Authority objectives compared to an enhanced partnership and was the only method likely to deliver a “significant increase in patronage”.

h)    Supports exercising powers to bring Devon’s bus services back under local control via franchising, at the earliest practicable date.

i)     Acknowledges that the costs of franchising cannot be estimated accurately until a “notice of intent” has been released and the associated statutory powers to access bus operators' commercial data is employed.

 

Therefore, this Council requests that the Administration:-

 

(i)            To conduct a statutory assessment of franchising at the earliest possible opportunity in 2022.

(ii)          Explore a notice of intent to prepare a franchising assessment at the earliest opportunity.

 

Members considered the earlier Report in the agenda (agenda item 7), from the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/22/22) on the ‘Future management of local bus network in Devon’ and the proposals for franchising in the future to inform this Motion.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken.

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED that it is recommended that Council in response to the Devon Devolution deal seek to gain powers for the franchising of local bus services as a longer-term option, following the introduction of the Enhanced Partnership in the autumn.

 

(b) First not Second Homes (Councillor Hannaford)

 

(Councillor Hannaford attended in accordance with Standing Order 8 and Councillor Biederman attended in accordance with 25(2) and spoke to this item).

           

The wording of the Motion is below;

 

In response to Devon’s serious and ongoing housing crisis council supports the following measures:

 

1) New powers from Government for Councils to progressively raise taxes on holiday lets and unused second homes, up to a quadrupling of council tax, where homes are left empty for much of the year. 

 

2) A licensing regime for second homes, Airbnbs and holiday lets - with a minimum of 51% of homes in any community being for local people. Councils should have the powers to raise this level to reflect local circumstances. 

 

3) A " Last Shop in the Village Fund" - powers for local councils to introduce a Community Infrastructure Levy on holiday lets and Airbnbs, administered by local authorities, to support local shops, pharmacies, post offices and pubs. 

 

4) Commitment to build affordable homes and social housing across the South West with a priority for local people. 

 

5) Lock in the discount of new homes for future renters and buyers to ensure affordable homes are not lost after the first families move on. 

 

Council therefore resolves to formally write to the Government, including the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, requesting the appropriate changes in legislation to secure these much needed changes as a matter of urgency. 

 

Furthermore, Council resolves to formally write to all our local Devon Members of Parliament advising them of the Councils decision, urging them to also urgently propose, lobby for, support and crucially vote for these vital measures in Parliament. 

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (CSO/22/11) which referred to the Council’s previous resolution on this matter (2 December 2021) which agreed to assess the potential to offer accommodation to new social and key workers, establish a Devon strategic housing taskforce and also write to Devon Members of Parliament asking them to support changes to legislation and policy to address the housing problems in Devon. The briefing note also explained the matters in the Notice of Motion that were being addressed and progressed.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions already undertaken and any other relevant factors:

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED that Council continues to play a leading role in the work of the Team Devon Housing Taskforce which is addressing Devon’s serious and ongoing housing crisis.

 

(c) MOT Certification Scheme (Councillor Letch)

 

(Councillor Letch attended in accordance with Standing Order 8

 

The wording of the Motion is below;

 

‘This Council recognises the value of the MOT Certificate scheme to assure roadworthiness of vehicles and will investigate the way to introduce an MOT Certificate scheme for the County's roads to assure everyone that they are fit for use by us all.’

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (CSO/22/11) which referred to the duties of a Highway Authority as set out in the Highways Act 1980, including Section 41 and the duty to maintain the public highway.  The Highways and Traffic Management team manages a programme of Highway Safety Inspections across the whole of the highway asset including carriageways, footways, cycleways and public rights of way and this was outlined in the briefing note. The Authority had adopted a risk based approach to the inspection process with a variable frequency based on the strategic importance of the asset. The result of the assessment defined an appropriate response from immediate to no further action and the table 1.0 and response category definitions had been developed following consultation with Safety Inspectors, Insurance Manager, County Solicitor and other Stakeholders.

 

The Council also encouraged the public to report potholes through it’s ‘Report a Problem’ web portal and the process for how these were dealt with.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken:

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED that Council recognises the robust safety inspection process that is in place to ensure highway assets are maintained in a safe condition for the travelling public and that this provides the level of assurance achieved by the MOT certification scheme.

 

(d) Implementation Process of 20mph Roads and Zones (Councillor Hodgson)

 

The wording of the Motion is below;

 

‘In light of the level of response to the recent call by DCC for Town and Parish Councils to nominate roads for 20mph speed limits and zones, the Council will seek to investigate, support and implement at least 50% of the applications in this financial year, and consider the remainder for implementation in 2023/24’.

 

Members considered the earlier Report in the agenda (agenda item 8) from the Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/22/23) on ‘20mph projects prioritised for delivery in 2022/23’ and the proposals for 20mph schemes and zones to inform this Motion.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken.

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED that Council ask the Cabinet to provide an appropriate level of funding for the continuation of the roll out of 20mph speed limits, when considering all the proposals for the 2023/24 Local Transport Plan Integrated Transport Block expenditure in the autumn.