Agenda item
Member Questions
A maximum period of fifteen minutes is allowed for Member questions. Questions must be directed to the Chair and must relate to the remit of the committee but may not relate to applications for determination at the meeting.
Questions will be asked in the order notice of them was received, except that the Chair may group together similar questions.
The deadline for submitting questions is 5.00pm on the working day before the day of the meeting unless the Chair agrees that the question relates to an urgent matter, in which case the deadline is 9.30am on the day of the meeting.
A member may submit no more than two questions. At the meeting the member may ask a supplementary question arising directly from the original question or the reply. The maximum length of a supplementary question is one minute.
The response to a question or supplementary question may take the form of:
a) A direct oral response (maximum length: 2 minutes);
b) Where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication; or
c) Where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated later to the questioner.
Minutes:
Councillor Daryl Corps asked a member question.
“As the member for Moreton West, I felt compelled to ask the Chair of the O&S Committee the following regarding the local plan update and potential new plan on behalf of the residents in Moreton in Marsh that takes up a considerable amount of the local plan update document you will be discussing.
Chair, on behalf of the residents in Moreton in Marsh, a town familiar with extensive, some may say 'badly planned over development' over the past 15 years - can we please have a proper environmental study conducted? And for a master plan, the sheer scale of the number of dwellings right around the town surely warrants this right now, as part of this process? 1500 homes, albeit over time will dramatically change the town, and we need to know what we can actually cope with.
It's what the town deserves considering the scale and extremely high numbers of potential new dwellings the document mentions. Cirencester has a masterplan and such scale warrants one for Moreton to investigate the genuine feasibility. Harm has been done to Moreton in the past without such a plan. We cannot repeat bad decisions of the past when we have the opportunity to do the right thing for the people of Moreton today.
It's very scary to think that the current 'mega-estate' at Dunstall Farm, currently being built by Spitfire Homes is heading for a condition breach at just 50 homes - just 50! Regarding Thames Water and the inability of the existing pumping station to deal with sewage from the development, we could be facing a potential public health disaster in the middle of our town if the sewage pumping station fails at 51 houses.
The numbers mentioned warrant a full and extremely urgent full environmental study, and development plan that residents, the North Cotswold Hospital, Doctor's surgeries and business owners can have complete visibility over. The Hospital, Doctors Surgeries and Business’s will want to know about the infrastructure, but it will be the Residents who will want to know their homes will not be waterlogged.
Can the Residents of Moreton in Marsh rely on The Cotswolds O&S Committee to fully scrutinise any future proposals and ensure that the Council is kept fully up to date as any new information regarding future proposals comes through in the future on behalf of the Residents in Moreton in Marsh.
Thank you to the Chair for hearing my questions and request.”
The Chair thanked Councillor Corps for the question and stated that they were aware of the concerns they raised. The Chair suggested that the Committee recommends that Cabinet set up a Working Group to address the issues raised by Councillor Corps and by the member of the public, and that they would discuss this further as part of the item on the Local Plan.
Councillor Corps asked a supplementary question to request a timescale for the group being set up. The Chair agreed with the member stated that this would be discussed as part of the item on the local plan, as it would be for the Committee to decide.