To consider any questions the appropriate notice for which
have been given under Section
4.19 of the Constitution.
Minutes:
(1) Question from Councillor
Sion Jones
As the original question received from the member quoted the incorrect figures from the press, the following question was asked instead:
"Is it possible for
the Cabinet Member to consider
a new strategy for car parks in
Gwynedd for the future and
to consider the businesses here in Gwynedd, that are eager
to introduce free parking during the day in a bid to attract more business?"
Answer from Councillor Dafydd Meurig,
Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory
(The Cabinet Member's written response to the original question was distributed to the members in advance).
"Obviously, I have had a different question to the question asked by you originally. One thing about incorrect
figures is where someone gets incorrect
figures in reality. If someone
has taken them from the newspaper,
then the message there is about not believing everything you read in
the newspapers. It is a matter of picking up the phone to check whether the figures are correct
or not. But to answer the question that was on the paper, we have created an income
of £390,000 from parking fines, which is not £1.4m. I don't know if
the member has had an opportunity to read the Auditor General for Wales report on tax
and creating income in local governments
that was published around 3-4 weeks ago, but the Auditor
praised and encouraged councils to think strategically about how they fundraise
and that it is something that the Regulatory Department had been doing in
the field of car parks. Compared to the rest of Wales, we are definitely not at the top. The council
that makes most income from car parks charges something
like £7m in a year compared to £1.6m here. Wales is behind in terms
of car parking fees compared to Scotland. The parking income for every
1000 in the population in Wales is £17.31 compared to Scotland, where it is £19.22 and £39.65 in England. Therefore, I would not agree that we have been
overcharging our parking fee income."
A supplementary question by Councillor
Sion Jones
“Would the Cabinet Member consider forming a steering group to look at what impact
offering free parking for an
hour or two
every day would have on
promoting businesses here in Gwynedd?"
Answer from Councillor Dafydd Meurig,
Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory
"By all means. Parking
fees is a financial matter, which is a matter for the full Council, and we are talking about
an income of £1.6m. The only place we could
spend that is on maintaining our highways and if we take those
fees down to nothing, that £1.6m would need to be sought somewhere else, of course. I'm sure that we remember that, a few months
ago, we made a decision in this
Council about our priorities and you will remember
the long list of cuts that were in
front of us and, if you look at this
£1.6m, if we charge nothing at all on car parks, the next on the list, I believe, was closing Neuadd
Dwyfor. And if we go further
down the list, for £1.6m, there are around
11-12 places we would have to cut. Number 59 was closing three leisure
centres. Number 65 was abolishing four social worker jobs. Number 72 was closing Barmouth Bridge. Number 76 was abolishing the mobile library. Number 78 was closing Pont yr
Aber. Therefore,
we would have to go that far to look for the gap of £1.6m.
This would be a matter for the Council in its
financial discussions, but if there
is a piece of work to do to
look at what impact free parking
would have on the county, I would see no
objection to look into that."
(2) Question from Councillor
Elfed Williams
"With Gwynedd Youth Clubs having
a moratorium of one year, is it possible to do the same with the County's
Libraries?"
Answer from Councillor Ioan Thomas,
Cabinet Member for Housing, Customer Care and Libraries, Deprivation and Equality
(The Cabinet Member's written response was distributed to the members in advance).
"The Economy and Community Department is responsible for the Library Service and the Youth Service. Councillor Mair
Rowlands is responsible for
the Youth Service. It is fair to say that
both fields are on a different
timetable with different financial implications. The first part of the written response discusses where we are with the libraries,
and the second part discusses where we are with the Youth
Service. To conclude, there
are no financial
implications for Gwynedd Council not to change the youth service pattern
in 2017. But any delay to the work programme of the Libraries Service would lead to an additional
financial deficit that the Council would have to fund. And consider the list that Councillor
Dafydd Meurig was discussing earlier."