Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE held on Wednesday 3 September 2003 at The Castle, Winchester.

PRESENT:

Councillors: P.R.C. Hutcheson (Chairman); J.E. Coles; C.R.H. Davidovitz; Mrs P.M. Devereux; M.S. Geddes; K. House; R.J. Kimber; T.G. Knight; P. Luffman; M.J. Roberts; Sir James J. Scott, J.D. Shaw and J.K. West

Also in attendance: Councillors Mrs E.M. Byrom; K.B. Estlin and J.K. Glen

155. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally at the time of the debate declare their interest, and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

156. MINUTES

    The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 July 2003 (Item 2 in the Minute Book) were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.

    Arising thereon:-

    (i) Minute 145: Term Maintenance Contract - Councillor West raised

      concerns in respect of gully cleansing. The Executive Member for Environment advised that this matter should be raised on a district-by-district basis with the relevant Highways Unit Engineer.

    (ii) Minute 148: Management Review of the Highway Development Control Service - Councillor West requested an update. The Executive Member for Environment reported that several district councils were satisfied with the proposals and the new arrangements would be taken forward. For those that were not, there would be officer negotiations in the first instance, followed by the appropriate Cabinet Member involvement if necessary. In respect of East Hampshire, discussions were continuing.

157. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

(i) The Chairman advised Members of a Hampshire and Isle of Wight

      Local Authorities (HIOWLA) conference on Affordable Housing that would be held on the morning of Tuesday 28 October 2003 at the Winchester Guildhall. Five nominations were sought and Councillors Mrs Devereux, House, Hutcheson, Kimber and Roberts were appointed to attend the conference.

    (ii) Following discussion, it was agreed that the venue for the Committee's meetings in 2004 would continue to be the Conference Room in Ashburton Court.

158. MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

    Councillor Estlin, Executive Member for Environment answered questions from Councillor Roberts concerning bus services that operate across the Surrey/Hampshire border, Quality Bus Partnerships and future initiatives for public transport services for older people.

159. DEPUTATIONS

No requests to make a deputation had been received.

160. REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING 2003/04

The Committee considered a report of the County Treasurer and Director of Environment (Item 6 in the Minute Book) presenting the first budget monitoring review for 2003/04 for the Environment services. The County Treasurer confirmed that:-

(i) the Cabinet had authorised the 2002/03 overspending of £256,000 to

    be accommodated from central balances;

    (ii) the savings target for the year for the Environment Department of

    £603,000 was on target for the first quarter;

    (iii) at the end of the first quarter indications were that there would be continuing pressure on the public transport budget; and

    (iv) in the first quarter household waste volumes were 2.8% lower than in the comparable period for 2002/03 and the overall levels of recycled material had increased by 10.5% and hence a reduction in material being landfilled.

    During the course of the debate, Members raised concerns in respect of public transport, staffing and waste infrastructure issues. In particular, the continuing problem of recruitment and retention of School Crossing Patrol Officers was highlighted. The Executive Member for Environment confirmed that there had been substantial improvement since the service had come under the control of the Environment Department and every effort would be made to continue to improve the service.

    RESOLVED:

    That the report be noted.

161. LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN - ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 2003

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 7 in the Minute Book) which provided an update on the delivery of the Local Transport Plan (LTP) and the content of the County Council's third Annual Progress Report (APR) submitted to the Government Office of the South East (GOSE) and the Department for Transport on 31 July 2003. It was noted that due to the `excellent' status awarded to the County Council following the first Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), it is no longer a requirement to submit an APR. However, the Director of Environment reported that the County Council would continue to produce an APR, which not only demonstrated best practice but also details progress against national and local objectives and targets. Consideration had also been given to the fact that the Department of Transport still required some of the information contained in the APR and it was therefore felt prudent to produce the full document rather than produce parts of it in order to avoid this information being misinterpreted or taken out of context.

    During the ensuing discussion, Members' questions in respect of the achievement of cycling and casualty reduction targets were answered with particular emphasis on Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets.

    RESOLVED:

    That the report be noted.

162. DRAFT TRANSPORT CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2004/05 AND 2005/06 FOR CONSULTATION

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in the Minute Book) detailing the background to, and the draft transport capital programme for 2004/05 and provisional programmes for 2005/06 and beyond. The Director of Environment reported that these indicative programmes would be considered by the area Transportation Panels in the autumn and comments considered prior to the submission of reports to the Executive Member for Environment for decision.

    Members' raised concern about the current position of the A3 major scheme bid to Government and the potential impact should the bid not be successful. The Director of Environment reported that at the start of the process, indications were that this bid would be welcomed and funding was available. However, the Department for Transport had experienced a number of unforeseen difficulties since the bid had been submitted and this had led to the delay in a decision being made; it was originally expected in 2002 and is now anticipated for the end of the year.

    Members emphasised the importance of looking beyond the current LTP period in order to highlight issues/difficulties that may lay ahead and called for an impact analysis, covering the next 4-5 years to be conducted. The request was noted by officers. In addition, it was hoped that an enhanced level of funding would be made available for School Travel Plans which Members felt was an important area of work. The Executive Member for Environment noted this request and reported that the overall number of schools in Hampshire who had produced a School Travel Plan to date was disappointingly low.


    RESOLVED:

    That the Executive Member for Environment be advised:-

    (i) of the Committee's views relating to expenditure devoted to the various
    area strategies and specific policy areas, for consideration in formulating
    future Local Transport Plan programmes;

    (ii) that the Committee expressed enthusiasm for Safer Routes to School

    schemes and School Travel Plans; and

    (iii) that the Committee recommend that (ii) above be communicated to the

    Education Policy Review Committee.

163. REVIEW OF TRANSPORT STRATEGY AREAS AND TRANSPORTATION STRATEGY PANELS


    The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in the Minute Book) detailing the current arrangements in respect of Transportation Strategy Panels and issues affecting the efficient delivery of transport policies and strategies. Members' agreed that it was appropriate to consider a review of the existing arrangements and any proposals should be complementary to the County Council's new executive arrangements introduced in 2001. As detailed in paragraph 4.6 of the report, any proposals will be subject to the consideration of Cabinet in the light of corporate issues.

    RESOLVED:

    That the Executive Member for Environment be advised that:-

    (i) Existing Transport Strategy Areas should be rationalised to fewer areas,
    and better aligned with the range of sub-regional and other corporate policy

    developments.

    (ii) New Area Strategy Panels should consider a wider agenda to better
    integrate transport and spatial planning matters, and the administration of
    the Panels should be efficient and consider the new executive arrangements
    that have been introduced since Panels were first established.

164. REQUESTS BY MEMBERS FOR ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED AT A

    FUTURE MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE

    A request had been received from Councillor Roberts:-

    ~ To consider an evaluation of the priorities, assessment and balance to be struck with regard to all aspects of highway expenditure within the current allocation of County Council structures.

    Following discussion, Councillor Roberts agreed to withdraw his request in favour of the matter being discussed at the next round of Highway Management Advisory Panel meetings scheduled for the autumn. In addition, the Executive Member for Environment also offered to hold a seminar.

    With the concurrence of the Chairman, Councillor West raised the continuing problem of ragwort and the dangers it presented to livestock. It was agreed that a recent note issued by the Local Government Association regarding consultation on the Ragwort Control Bill would be circulated to Members. It was confirmed that Members' should contact the appropriate Highways Unit if they have further concerns.

165. ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE - FORWARD PLAN

    The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive and Director of Environment (Item 11 in the Minute Book) setting out issues which the Committee may wish to discuss at future meetings.

    RESOLVED:

    (i) that an item on School Travel Plans and Safer Routes to School addressing three key areas: performance, resourcing (County and District) and future direction/policy be added to the list of items for the Committee's meeting on 29 October 2003;

    (ii) that an item on waste issues/update on Project Integra be added to the Forward Plan, timing to be confirmed; and

    (iii) that the relevant officers review the priority order of items currently on the Forward Plan.

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