The opportunity is given to members of the public to put questions to Cabinet Members or Committee Chairs provided that a question does not relate to:
· Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings or
· Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers.
Minutes:
38.1 A Gloucester resident stated that over a year ago, as a newly hhsrs certified person he had offered his services to inspect all the Houses in Multiple Occupation in Gloucester for free, due to the twenty per cent cuts imposed by the Council on environmental health officers. He noted that the last prosecution of a rogue landlord in Gloucester was in 2015.
He stated that this week someone voluntarily had given information of a suspected property in breach of its licence accompanied with photographs and testimonial by e-mail to the environmental health contact in the Council. He asked Councillor James how he would feel if similar information was being gained from a known vulnerable person on a social media platform at the request of a responsible person. Would he feel if that was morally, ethically and legally correct.
38.2 Councillor James advised that the gentleman’s offer made to the Cabinet had been declined as it was not appropriate for volunteers to undertake that function. He advised that the last prosecution of a landlord was in October 2017 and ensuring a satisfactory standard for private rented accommodation was a priority for the Council. He stated that we all had a duty to protect vulnerable people and that this included not raising individual cases in a public forum or meeting.
38.3 Another Gloucester resident asked the Cabinet Member for Housing Strategy and Planning if he was aware that residents of the Greyfriars development while having some parking provision were reliant on on-street parking and a difficult situation was worsening as the City centre population increased. He asked if a review could be considered.
38.4 In the absence of Councillor Organ, Councillor James advised that on-street parking was a County Council responsibility and he noted that there was a motion to be tabled later on the agenda which welcomed the County Council’s forthcoming review of parking in Gloucestershire and called for parking in the inner city wards of Gloucester to be reviewed at an early stage of the review process.