The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.
For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.
Minutes:
Karuna Tharmananthar (Extinction Rebellion) made the following statement in relation to Agenda Item 11, Garden Town Charter and Checklist:-
The Council had declared a climate emergency almost nine months ago and quite a lot had happened since then, but not all was good news. The most significant factor was that the risk of the temperature exceeding 1.5 degrees had increased and the World Meteorological Organisation had published findings that forecast an increase of 3 degrees, which would have a huge impact in terms of security, flooding and wellbeing. However, there was still an opportunity to take action. Dealing with climate not only dealt with the climate disaster effects, but it also brought some co-benefits in terms of health, wellbeing, sustainability and so on. Later on in the agenda, discussions would be had on the Design Guide for Taunton Garden Town, which was one area he would like to focus on, specifically building new homes. New homes had a legacy for carbon footprints, from when they were built, but more importantly throughout their lifespan and it was really important that the Council addressed the standard of homes that were built in the town. He gave an example of some new homes that had been built in Norwich which had met the carbon neutral standards and offered social and community benefits, which showed that it could be achieved. The design and construction techniques were available to deliver that within the area. The Standard that was mentioned in the Guide was adopted in 2012 in collaboration with Government. Since then, over 1.4 million homes had been built and only 104 had met the carbon neutral standards. He asked what the Council hoped to achieve by adopting a Standard that had failed to deliver homes for the future. He asked Councillors to challenge what they were being presented with and asked them to think of their constituents and their future generations to ensure that officers came up with a Standard that delivered carbon neutral homes for the future and gave a clear message to Developers that the Council would not allow homes that did not contribute positively to the Council’s target towards carbon neutrality.
Alan Debenham asked the following questions:-
Question 1
It's bad enough calling the new merged council Somerset West and Taunton instead of what was tacitly agreed at a full Council meeting in October 2018 should have been Taunton Deane and West Somerset. Now we have the added stupidity of calling it the awkward to say "SWTC" instead of "SWAT", just as Bath and North East Somerset Council calls itself "BANES". Please could the Council be helpful to everyone in recognising and calling its name by adopting SWAT as it’s easily said and remembered name??
Question 2
Its good news to see the North Taunton Woolaway Project progressed with 86 net gain in rented dwellings. After spending some £45 million of public funds to finance this whole project where do the public stand regarding future tenants' 'Right to Buy' at previous big discounts thereby putting the new properties into probable private purchase with no rented replacements, with new private ownership sales speculation for private profit as happened on a large scale at the onset of the Thatcher Council House big discounted, non-replaced ’giveaways’ back in 1980??
Question 5
In terms of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climate records, nothing higher than 280 ppm (parts per million) existed for the whole of human existence until the industrial revolution. Very latest news puts ever increasing CO2 levels at over 415 ppm, now more than likely to accelerate into a 3 degrees rise in global temperatures by 2100 – double the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement –with sea levels rising probably 15 feet or more which, for example, exceeds the Hinkley C designed sea-wall defence height of some 13 feet, supposedly protecting a high-level radioactive on-site storage facility.
Given that the Government,
as well as SWAT, have declared "Climate Emergencies", surely
Planning Committee must now make climate change mitigation an
immediate material consideration in all planning and building
regulation matters?
AND with all existing planning and development permissions no
longer fit for purpose, surely these MUST be reviewed ASAP for
large uplifted sea level rises?
The Leader would provide a written answer to all of Alan Debenham’s questions.
Pip Sheard (Cycle Network) made the following statement in relation to a petition submitted to Full Council:-
The petition that was being presented, was to go to both Somerset West and Taunton Council and Somerset County Council (SCC) and it called for funding bids from Government to achieve a transformational improvement to Taunton’s cycling and walking network. It had been signed by 1788 residents and was supported by 8 Parish Councils, along with 40 doctors, mainly consultants from Musgrove Park Hospital. SCC had failed to gain funding for schemes from bids to the Department of Transport and recently over £15 million had been spent on road schemes. The petition asked for the next bid to be for Taunton cycling projects. Taunton had massive potential for more cycling and walking journeys as an alternative to short car trips, which was highlighted in the Garden Town Vision. 50% of car journeys within the town were under 2 miles. An increase of cycling and walking would give multiple benefits, which included a reduction in pollution and congestion, improved health and even more reliable journey times. It also meant that residents saved money and it gave freedom and independence to those who did not have access to a car and needed to get a bus. An efficient transport system supported the economy and crucially what they were doing supported the Council’s Garden Town Vision and Draft Climate Change Strategy. Cycling to work in Taunton was already double the national average but there had not been a vast amount of investment over the last 15 years, so with investment they believed that Taunton could become a beacon cycling town as well as a Garden Town with good links to the surrounding towns and villages. They looked forward to the Council’s receipt of the petition.
Steve Altria (Creech St Michael Parish Council) made the following statement in relation to Agenda Item 12, Creech St Michael Neighbourhood Development Plan:-
Many of the surrounding villages had been involved in the consultation on the Development Plan and he wanted to commend the Plan to the Council and thanked the officers for their support in getting the Plan to this stage and he looked forward to working with the Council in the delivery of the Plan, in particular dealing with the road safety issues in Creech St Michael.