Motions
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Councillors were able to submit Motions on Notice for consideration at meetings of Council.
a) The following motion was submitted for consideration by Councillor Peter Roberts:
That Council agrees that building on Council owned garage sites must include due regard to the health and well-being of the people it affects, must be at the majority consent of the garage tenants, with any build benefiting substantially more residents than it impairs and must not substantially diminish the quality of life of the garage tenants once displaced.
Minutes:
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Councillors were able to submit Motions on Notice for consideration at meetings of Council.
a) The following motion was submitted for consideration by Councillor Peter Roberts:
That Council agrees that building on Council owned garage sites must include due regard to the health and well-being of the people it affects, must be at the majority consent of the garage tenants, with any build benefiting substantially more residents than it impairs and must not substantially diminish the quality of life of the garage tenants once displaced.
Councillor Roberts confirmed that his motion related to a garage site in Whitwell.
Councillor Ross Walker seconded Councillor Roberts’ motion and reserved his right to speak. He raised concern that although he was aware the Council needed to make money and make good use of public money, it seemed that this was at the expense of services. Garages were provided for people and were in use and would be taken away from tenants and houses built on them.
Councillor Duncan McGregor replied that parking was an issue in each parish in the District. The housing waiting list for a Council property in Whitwell was long and it was more important to house people. However, the Council could look at helping with parking in different ways. Through the Council’s Housing Service, Members could apply to an Environmental Fund to help with an environmental issue in their ward and parking may be something that could be considered.
Councillor James Watson agreed with Councillor McGregor’s statement and added that the Council was also about equal treatment of people. Residents who had a Council garage would have those garages removed and the houses proposed to be built would have garages, thus he felt that people were being treated differently.
The Chair noted that under current planning law, any new build property required parking provision for at least 2 vehicles and not the construction of specific garages. The Leader noted that generally, older garages were not big enough to accommodate modern cars, he added that it was important the Council built affordable houses for people who wanted to stay in the District.
In summing up his motion, Councillor Roberts agreed that the Council should build houses on sites that were not utilised, and that older garages were not quite big enough for modern cars but he felt that where garage sites were used, and were it would affect people adversely, the Council should provide more parking or leave the garage sites alone. Residents in the new properties would get a parking space but existing residents were being ignored.
On being put to the vote, the motion was lost.