Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE held on Wednesday 29 October 2003 at The Castle, Winchester.
PRESENT:
Councillors: P.R.C. Hutcheson (Chairman); C.R.H. Davidovitz; Mrs P.M. Devereux; W.J. Filer; B.T. Gurden; Mrs K. Heron; R.J. Kimber; T.G. Knight; R.H. Price; M.J. Roberts; Sir James J. Scott, J.D. Shaw; J.K. West
Also in attendance: Councillors K.B. Estlin and J.K. Glen
166. 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.
167. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 3 September 2003 (Item 2 in the Minute Book) were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.
Arising thereon:-
Minute 158: Members' Questions
Councillor Roberts requested an update on the impact on Hampshire of decisions by Surrey County Council to reduce the subsidy paid towards some bus services covering the Hampshire/Surrey border. In response Councillor Estlin advised that County officers were working closely with Surrey officers and Stagecoach representatives to review the services.
168. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Councillor Estlin reported that £25m had been received by the County Council for the integrated A3 bus corridor between Horndean and Portsmouth and this would entail, inter alia, new bus shelters, new information displays and CCTV. A benefit of this allocation by the Government would allow monies to be transferred to other schemes within the County.
169. MEMBERS' QUESTIONS
No questions to the Executive Member for Environment had been received.
170. DEPUTATIONS
No request to make a deputation had been received.
171. BUS PRIORITY POLICY
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 6 in the Minute Book) which set out a draft policy document on bus priority which would be circulated to key stakeholders for their comments. In May 2003 the Committee had appointed a Sub-Group of Members and officers to prepare the draft policy guidance and their main concern had been that the difficulty of identifying private hire vehicles as taxis could have led to abuse of bus priority facilities by other cars.
The Sub-Group had, through a process of discussion and research from elsewhere in the United Kingdom agreed on a draft bus priority policy guidance consisting of a summary policy statement and a technical issues paper.
During the course of the debate Members reiterated their concerns about the use of bus lanes by taxis and expressed support for the drawing up of a taxi strategy for the County. The point was also made that private car drivers should be involved in the stakeholder consultation process.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the draft policy guidance be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Environment for approval for consultation with those organisations listed in Appendix 4 to the report.
(ii) That the Executive Member for Environment be advised of the Committee's view that local taxi licensing authorities should be encouraged to engage with operators who provide hire vehicles to develop a system where these vehicles are easily identifiable (to help alleviate potential bus priority enforcement problems).
(iii) That officers in the Environment Department be assigned to undertake this work.
(iv) That a progress report be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee.
(v) That a Sub-Group of the Committee consisting of Councillors Kimber, Price and Roberts, with the support of relevant officers, considers the potential role for a taxi strategy for the County and reports back to the Committee early in 2004.
172. ARRANGEMENTS FOR REGIONAL AND SUB-REGIONAL PLANNING
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 7 in the Minute Book) which covered the South Hampshire Study and a report considered by the Cabinet on the arrangements for regional and sub-regional planning in relation to Hampshire. The Chairman and Councillors Mrs Devereux, Kimber and Roberts declared personal interests on account of them being Members of the Blackwater Valley Network Members Steering Group. The study analysed the current situation and presented a range of forecasts of the future in respect of South Hampshire's economy, transport, housing and the environment whilst the Cabinet report set out the next steps for deciding if sub-regional strategies are needed for South Hampshire, the western corridor and the Blackwater Valley. The Member steering arrangements proposed would be at Leader/Executive Member level but the paper envisaged reports being presented to the Environment Policy Review Committee as work progressed to facilitate a wider debate on the key issues.
During the ensuing debate Members welcomed the South Hampshire study and stressed the impact of Government decisions such as those on deep water ports and National Parks on the area and the need to provide adequate social facilities when new housing is being provided. As regards arrangements for regional and sub-regional planning, Members were concerned that the ambitious timetable of the work on the inaugural Regional Spatial Strategy triggered by the Planning Committee of the South East England Regional Assembly, would not allow the County Council to participate adequately in the consultation process. It was reported that a South East England Regional Assembly Workshop was to be held on 17 November and three places were available for Policy Review Committee Members.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the South Hampshire Study be welcomed and the comments of the Committee as set out above be taken account of by officers.
(ii) That the efforts to achieve a suitable timetable for the Regional Spatial Strategy be supported.
(iii) That Councillors Davidovitz, Roberts or Luffman and a Liberal Democrat representative represent the Committee at the South East England Regional Assembly Workshop to be held on 17 November.
173. HAMPSHIRE NATURAL RESOURCES INITIATIVE - DELIVERY UPDATE
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the Hampshire Natural Resources (HNRI) Business Plan which is delivering a number of key aims of the County Council. Councillor Knight declared a personal interest being a deputy Member of Project Integra. Attention was drawn to the programme to achieve the HNRI vision by dividing it into three phases for business planning purposes. Progress was being made in various areas in the short term such as a programme of projects to meet the public service agreement target of diverting waste from landfill, contributing to the material resources strategy concept and the launch and project management of the Bar End, Winchester Household Waste Recycling Centre and Eco Centre.
RESOLVED:
That the report be noted.
174. SCHOOL TRAVEL PLANS AND SAFER ROUTES TO SCHOOL
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in the Minute Book) which reviewed the Authority's school travel plans and safer routes to school programme, with particular reference to historic performance, current resources (County and District level) and future policies. It proposed that the Committee seeks a joint meeting with the Education Policy Review Committee to take the programme forward.
In the ensuing discussion, Members stressed the need to adopt best practice for school travel plans and the need to monitor their effectiveness. The Committee was advised that schools would need to reach level three of the process by the end of 2003 to receive adequate funding and that all the County Highway Panels would receive at their Spring meetings a list of schools in the relevant area and the level of work reached on school travel plans. It was felt that the question of why so many schools have not taken up transport plans should be an item for scrutiny by the Committee.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the Executive Member for Environment be advised that the proportion of funds devoted to school travel should be revisited when the 2004/05 capital programme is agreed.
(ii) That the Authority's performance on school travel and the current position on resources be noted.
(iii) That Councillors Mrs Heron, Roberts and a Liberal Democrat Member represent the Committee at a joint task group with the Education Policy Review Committee which is to be established to examine how best to promote safe and sustainable school travel related to existing schools and to review the planning process for new sites to take full account of the County Council's transport policies and targets.
175. MEASURING PERFORMANCE IN THE ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the discussions to date of a sub-group which had been established to monitor the effectiveness of the Environment Department's activities. The Sub-Group had decided that the most manageable way of proceeding would be to consider each of the services provided by the Department and to explore how the best value performance indicators and other targets could be used both to demonstrate the effective outcome of existing policies and highlight both the positive and negative consequences of changes. In September 2003 the Sub-Group had looked critically at their achievements over the last six months and had felt that it would be better if the whole Committee were to be engaged in the process of measuring performance and setting targets.
The Committee felt that the officers should produce a programme for work over the next year and arrange seminars as appropriate with a 9.00 a.m. start prior to some meetings of the Committee; specific reports on particular items could also be presented to these seminars. It was further suggested that the performance of the Department when compared with other Councils and its performance against targets should be set out in a tabular form for ease of reference.
RESOLVED:
That seminars be held at 9.00 a.m. prior to some meetings of the Committee to receive reports concerning the measuring of performance in the Environment Department and specific reports on other particular items.
176. ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLIMENTS AND COMPLAINTS MONITORING 2002/03
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on complaints and compliments recorded during the period April 2002 to March 2003. It was reported that the Environment Department is currently reviewing the methods used for the management of complaints/ compliment information and working to improve the capture of the information in a consistent manner. Members noted that the definition of complaints and defects is different and requested that information on how soon defects are sorted out be submitted to the Committee.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the report be noted.
(ii) That the Committee continues to receive an annual report on complaints and compliments.
177. ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE - FORWARD PLAN
The Committee received a list (Item 12 in the Minute Book) on issues which they might wish to discuss at future meetings; in addition it was felt that an update on the Planning Bill should be received and it was further suggested that one of the seminars prior to the commencement of formal business should consider sustainability initiatives.
RESOLVED:
That the report be noted.
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