Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the RECREATION AND HERITAGE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on Thursday 23 January, 2003.

PRESENT:

Councillors: J.V. Bryant (Chairman); Mrs. S.E. Allbright; R.J. Baulk; Mrs. E.M. Byrom; K.G. Chapman; P.J. Chegwyn; J. Coles; C.R.H. Davidovitz; R.J. Ellis; E.F. Gale; M.S. Geddes; B.T. Gurden; Mrs. K. Heron; Mrs. P.G.E. Holden-Brown; Jo Kelly; P.K. Mason; P.A. Pierce; R.H. Price; A.W. Rice, TD; K.P.J. Searle; M.L. Sheehan; Mrs. M.D. Snaith; D.F. Wright.

60 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations made.

61 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 November, 2002 were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.

62 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

    (i) Romsey Library

    Mrs Valerie Smith, a member of the public, had written in and praised the excellent and cheerful way that the staff at Romsey Library had maintained the service during the recent building works.

    (ii) Library Opening Hours

    The hours at Lymington Library were to be extended with closure at 7 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday respectively; Sunday opening had started at Havant Library.

63 REVENUE BUDGET 2003/04

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer and Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on the revenue budget for 2003/04. The Director of Recreation and Heritage stressed the importance of the budget which was proposing the taking of difficult decisions about redirecting funds in order to lend substance to the new policy directions of the department. He drew particular attention to the proposed virement of £500,000 from the Book Fund in each of the next two years to augment the programme of library maintenance and improvement. The County Treasurer advised that the revised budget was on target apart from the Milestones Museum in respect of which appropriate action was being taken. The Head of Library and Information Services felt that the £500,000 reduction in the Book Fund could be satisfactorily managed by concentrating on popular books/media and through the reservation scheme members of the public would still be able to access any book/media of their choosing.

RESOLVED:

    (i) That the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage be recommended to approve for submission to the Cabinet.

      (a) the base budget for 2003/04 (as set out in Appendix 1 and Annexes 1 to 4 and Appendix 4 to the report)

      (b) the proposals for efficiency improvements and for savings (as set out in Appendix 2 to the report)

      (c) the proposals for new growth and redeployment of resources (as set out in Appendix 3 to the report)

      (d) the proposal for viring £500,000 from the base budget to the capital programme for the first two years, 2003/04 and 2004/05 (as set out in paragraph 4.6 to the report)

      (e) the summarised trading accounts for business units (as set out in Appendix 5 to the report).

    (ii) That the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage be recommended to make the point to the Cabinet that in finalising the County Council's overall budget proposals consideration be given to the comments made by the Director of Recreation and Heritage in paragraphs 4.4 - 4.9 to the report.

    (iii) That the Executive Member be recommended to approve the following library fines on overdue books, spoken word, CDs, cassettes and information videos with effect from 1 April 2003:

    Adult users 10p per day

    Children (aged 5-17) 1p per day

    Children (under 5) Free

64 CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2003/04 TO 2006/07

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage and County Treasurer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on the capital programme for 2003/04 to 2006/07. The Executive Member had been requested to prepare proposals for a locally-resourced capital programme for the 4 year period within the guidelines of the current capital programme adjusted for inflation and capital schemes supported by scheme or programme specific Government grants and borrowing approvals for 2003/04 and those expected to be supported in the next three years. Possible capital projects should also be considered which might be suitable for the private finance initiative and attract revenue support from the Government towards their capital element in 2004/05 to 2006/07.


RESOLVED:

That the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage be recommended to approve for submission to the Cabinet.

      (i) An increase in the guidelines by £500,000 to £1,071,000 in the first two years by viring £500,000 from the revenue budget.

      (ii) The capital programme for 2003/04 to 2006/07 as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

65 SPORT STRATEGY

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on a framework for the development of a sport strategy for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sports Partnership. As part of the work on the strategy a workshop had been held involving sports development officers from local authorities and governing body development officers and the report from the workshop would form the basis of an agenda for wider consultation with sports groups and organisations.

RESOLVED:

That the framework for the development of a sport strategy for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership as set out in the report be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration.

66 FORTHCOMING ITEMS

The Committee received the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on proposed items for the Committee and the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage during 2003.

67 THE HAMPSHIRE WOOD FAIR AND THE HAMPSHIRE WOODLAND WEEK

Phil Allen reported that the Hampshire Wood Fair was to be held during 14th and 15th June at the Milestones Museum in Basingstoke and would involve over 70 demonstrators. In addition, a Hampshire Woodland Week was to held between 7th and 15th June and would create a host of different wood related educational opportunities at libraries, country parks, museums and outdoor centres.

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