Councillor Wainwright was proposed and seconded for the position of Chairman.

Councillor C Walker was proposed and seconded for the position of Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED:-

That Councillor Wainwright be elected Chairman and Councillor C Walker be elected Vice-chairman of the Gorleston Area Public Forum for the 2022/23 Municipal Year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Flaxman-Taylor, Plant, Price, Smith & Wells.

There were no declarations of interest given at the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2022 were confirmed.

There were no matters arising from the above minutes.

The Chairman informed the Public Forum that County Councillor Plant was unable to attend the meeting tonight and had not provided a written update in his absence.

However, County Councillor C Walker reported that she would email the Director of Highways, Transport & Waste and ask him to provide an update to be recorded in the minutes as to where the Council was in respect to the White Lion Steps; the response received is as follows:-

Dear Cllr Walker

 
As the legal side of matters is progressing, we obviously cannot comment on those, but just to reassure you, after discussions and advice from our legal team, we have sent letters to the relevant landowners basically requesting that they remove their material which is blocking the public highway.

 
In addition to this, hopefully you are already aware that there was £100,000 of capital funding approved by Cabinet earlier this year as part of the 2022/23 highway capital programme.  This is to enable the implementation of the permanent solution, subject to the outcome of the legal processes (which in some cases can take years to bring to a conclusion).

 
As part of this, as well as the ongoing works to ensure the steps remain open and useable by the public by the ongoing works such as clearing overgrown vegetation, maintaining the temporary hoardings and repairing the flint wall, over the coming weeks we will be undertaking investigatory works at both the top and bottom of the steps.  This needs to be carefully progressed to ensure both safety for our contractors and the public.  The results of this investigatory work will help inform the longer term solution.

 
Needless to say, that both in engineering, safety and legal terms, this is a complex situation which is taking time to work through, but please can I assure you that our teams are doing all they can to get the steps fully reopened.

(i) A member of the public asked for an update in regard to the planning permission granted for the former Ferryside building and associated land.

The Chairman reported that the planning application had been refused by the DC Committee but had been subsequently granted at appeal but had not, as yet, been built out. The hoardings which had been erected around the site had a detrimental effect on the street scene.

(ii) Councillor C Walker reported that discussions were taking place regarding the possible closure of Gorleston Fire Station and operating solely out of Great Yarmouth. This would be possible with the opening of the Third River Crossing next year which would reduce the traffic demands on the existing two bridges and allow fire engines to attend fires within the given time limits.

(iii) Future agenda items:-

White Lion Steps

Potential Fire Station Closure.

(i) Councillor Fairhead gave an update in relation to the refurbishment of the clock at the Palace Cinema.

(ii) Councillor C Walker gave an update in relation to Gorleston Library operating as a Warm Community Hub over the winter period for local residents in need.

Closure 19:00.