Issue - meetings

Executive Business Report

Meeting: 15/07/2020 - Council (Item 17)

17 Executive Business Report pdf icon PDF 395 KB

Report of the Leader of the Council setting out the details of the business undertaken by the Executive.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Leader of the Council was submitted setting out the details of the business undertaken by the Executive.

 

The Leader and the Cabinet made statements and responded to questions.

 

The following questions were submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.1

 

1.  Unkempt Cemeteries

 

Question from Councillor S Galton to Councillor Hammond

 

Would the Leader commit to making this the last year anyone has to be met with unacceptably unkempt cemeteries; but especially on sensitive days such as Mother's Day or Father's Day when a far higher than normal number of visits will be made to pay respect.

 

Answer

 

The Bereavement Services team are acutely aware of the need to support our bereaved communities and families, particularly on significant days, by ensuring that our cemeteries are welcoming and well looked after.

 

This year, given the unprecedented situation created by the COVID 19 pandemic, the Council took the difficult decision to suspend non-essential work, which included in this case, grass cutting and routine work within our cemeteries, to redirect our resources to excavating additional graves during the pandemic.  This was not a decision taken lightly and we understand that for some the reduced level of upkeep will have caused distress, for which we are very sorry.

 

We have now undertaken a review and are taking actions to address, and bring our cemeteries back into the order that we all wish to maintain going forward. Grass cutting is therefore underway at Hollybrook, South Stoneham, St Mary Extra and Millbrook. As Councillors will understand, land maintenance within our cemeteries is a skilled and labour-intensive task, but one that is now back in train.

 

2.  Emergency Travel Schemes

 

Question from Councillor S Galton to Councillor Leggett

 

Could the Cabinet Member explain his thought process for the vast majority of emergency travel schemes being placed on our main arterial routes; rather than focusing on facilitating and encouraging active travel in our residential areas and implementing other schemes as the priority such as:

 

 

   "School streets"

   20mph speed limits in conjunction with other measures to   create "quiet" low traffic residential zones

   Using the emergency modal filter powers made available   to tackle long standing "rat run" issues

 

Answer

 

The Green transport Recovery Plan presents a range of measures to support the increase in active travel and help stop the spread of C-19 through measures that support social distancing. These have been programmed from the spring through to autumn 2020.

Early schemes implemented have been focused on corridors that provide vital links between main residential areas and major areas of employment such as the hospital, schools and leisure. This ensures the interventions are along routes where the propensity for active travel is greatest as identified in the Cycling Strategy (2017) but also crucially along corridors that are high frequency bus corridors where viable and sustainable alternatives to the bus are required for key workers and for the 30% of Southampton residents that don’t have access to a car. It is also important to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17