Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE held on 30 June 2004 at The Castle, Winchester.
PRESENT:
Councillors: PRC Hutcheson (Chairman); Mrs E M Byrom; C R H Davidovitz;
L T Dunsdon; W J Filer; M S Geddes; B T Gurden; Mrs K Heron; 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: Councillor Capt K B Estlin and J K Glen.
Also in attendance at the invitation of the Chairman for Item 6 Visit of the Highways Agency: Councillors D G Allen; Mrs A E Bailey; I F E Beagley; F J Bright; K G Chapman; Dr R J Ellis; E F Gale; P K Mason; R C McIntosh; P A Pierce; J Stocks and Dr J G L Wall.
229. 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. No declarations were made.
230. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 May 2004 (Item 2 in the Minute Book)
were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.
231. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS
(i) Welcomed Stuart Jarvis to the appointment of Deputy Director of the
Environment Department.
(ii) Thanked Debbie Vaughan for her assistance with the Environment
PRC since its inauguration.
(iii) Welcomed Lindsey Hawke-Davies as Debbie's replacement on the
Environment PRC.
(iv) Reported Councillor Davidovitz standing down as a Member of the
PRC prior to commencing his role as a Cabinet Member with
responsibility for internal and external communications,
external relationships and efficiency with effect from 1 July 2004.
(v) Reported the Government's announcement on the designation of the
New Forest as a National Park but with the exclusion of Lymington,
Avon Valley and Waterside from within the Park boundaries. It was
noted that Fawley Power Station had also been included. It was noted
that an appeal could be lodged against additions to the boundary but
no right of appeal against deletions.
232. MEMBERS' QUESTIONS
No questions to the Executive Member for Environment or the Executive
Member for Spatial Strategy had been received.
233. DEPUTATIONS
No requests to make a deputation had been received.
234. VISIT OF THE HIGHWAYS AGENCY
The Chairman introduced Martin McMahon, Route Manager, Area 3
Team for Central Southern England (A34, A303 and M3), from the
Highways Agency who had been invited to attend the meeting to present the
Motorway and Trunk Road Network Programme for 2004/05 and Route
Management Strategies. He thanked the Chairman for the invitation to
address the Committee, welcomed the opportunity for the Highways Agency
to work more closely with the County Council and hoped that this first annual
meeting would strengthen the County Council's relationship with the
Highways Agency. He considered that these annual meetings would provide
Members with the opportunity to enter into discussion and raise questions
about policy, programmes of work and other matters relating to the motorway
and trunk road network.
Mr McMahon gave an interesting presentation which focussed on the whole
of the Hampshire Motorway and Trunk Road Network. The Works
Programme for 2004/05 in respect of Motorways and Trunk Roads was
detailed as follows subject to final budget confirmation:
· M3 Junctions 4 to 8 rutting repairs
· M3 Junction 8/A303 Link Roads
· M27 Communications Upgrade
· M27 Junction 11 Westbound Repairs
· A27 Hillsea to Warbington lighting
· A34 Whitchurch to Litchfield Resurfacing Phase 2
The Route Management Strategies which had been designed to consider
particular routes were identified as follows:
· A3 desk study - underway
· A34 final report due later this year for consultation
· A303 final report published
· Exeter to Southampton A30, A35 and A31 published in April 2002.
· M3 public consultation shortly
· South Coast M27 and A27 to Emsworth - Stakeholder workshop on
14 July to which Hampshire County Council would be invited.
Members noted that new Traffic Officers would be responsible for some of
the duties of the Police on Motorways; these Officers were already operating in the West Midlands as a pilot and would appear on Motorways in
Hampshire in Spring 2005. Copies of the leaflets on Highways Agency
Traffic Officers and South East Road Works and Traffic Information and the
Policy for Noise Mitigation on Trunk Roads and Motorways referred to by
Martin McMahon in his presentation would be circulated separately to all
members following the meeting.
The Chairman advised that all Members of the County Council had been
invited to attend the Policy Review Committee meeting for this item and to
submit questions of a strategic nature to be answered by the Highways
Agency. Mr McMahon answered Members' detailed questions and
remained at the meeting in order to participate in the debate.
Members were interested to hear that all schemes identified were subject to a
vigorous process and funds were allocated on a priority basis following this
process. 80% of the budget had been committed and a review of current
schemes had taken place regarding the remaining 20%.
At its meeting on 1 April 2004 the County Council referred the following
Notice of Motion from Councillor J G L Wall to the Environment Policy
Review Committee for consideration. As the visit of the Highways Agency
had already been scheduled for the Environment Policy Review Committee
meeting on 30 June 2004, it was agreed that this matter would be dealt
with at that time.
Councillor Wall addressed the Committee on his Motion:
"Hampshire County Council calls on the Government to change the current
Arrangements regarding the collection of litter on trunk roads.
The Highways Agency, which is responsible for all aspects of the highways
under their control except litter, should be required to either:
(i) undertake this responsibility themselves to agreed standards;
or, preferably:
(ii) resource district councils sufficiently to do the job properly, including
all necessary equipment and operational support.
(Currently, litter collection on trunk roads is the responsibility of district councils, who have neither the equipment nor adequate budgets to carry this out effectively and can only work on the highways at the discretion of the Highways Agency)
If option (i) above is pursued, since District Councils are responsible for litter collection on all other roads, they should retain responsibility for overseeing the litter condition of the trunk roads within their area and have powers to enforce against the Highways Agency as necessary.
The Chief Executive is instructed to write to the Minister of Transport with a request for prompt action on this matter on the lines suggested".
Councillor Wall expanded on his Motion and considered that the specific
locations for concern to be south from Whitchurch and south from Sutton
Scotney on the A34. He raised concern about the appropriate clearance action
being taken for litter on trunk roads.
The Chairman introduced Robert Heathcock, representing Winchester City
Council who gave a short presentation to put forward the City Council's
perspective as one of the waste collection authorities for the specific
locations concerned. He reported that current Health and Safety requirements
had led to a limited number of contractors who are equipped to undertake this
type of work which had resulted in difficulties in finding contractors able to
carry out the work and increased cost of delivering the service. District
Councils were also only responsible for litter collection on roads up to their
designated boundary which had led to inconsistent standards; for example,
only part of a trunk road being cleaned.
Mr Heathcock answered Members' detailed questions and remained at the
meeting in order to participate in the debate.
Mr McMahon, whilst recognising the problem, reported that the Highways
Agency did not have sufficient funds in its current budget to undertake this
work and that working partnerships with Local Authorities were being
developed to improve the service.
The Chairman thanked Mr McMahon for taking the time to attend the
meeting and giving input to the debate on what was a very important area of
concern for Members. Mr Heathcock was also thanked for attending on
behalf of Winchester City Council.
The Committee having heard all the points of view, agreed the following
recommendation to be submitted to the County Council on 22 July;-
RESOLVED
That this Council lobby Government for a change in the legislation regarding
responsibility for litter collection on trunk roads, so that this becomes the
responsibility of the Highways Agency with appropriate funding thereof.
235. TERM MAINTENANCE CONTRACT (RAYNESWAY)/HIGHWAY
PERFORMANCE
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 7
in the Minute Book) updating Members on the current situation regarding the
present highway Term Maintenance Contract. Mr Stewart Newell, Director of
Raynesway Construction Southern Limited as the County Council's Term
Maintenance Contractor, was in attendance for this item. The report was very
comprehensive and provided information on the current contract and some of
the issues affecting it.
During the course of discussions, officers addressed a number of concerns
raised by Members. In particular, Members emphasised the importance of
maintaining adequate street lighting, regular grass cutting and weed control
and welcomed Performance Indicators to measure the effectiveness of the
highway maintenance service. Members were asked to direct specific
questions to individual district based Assistant Chief Engineers and to the
Local Highway and Transport Advisory Panels which could react
appropriately.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the report be noted.
(ii) That the Director of Environment report back to the Environment
Policy Review Committee on street lighting.
236. TRANSPORT CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2003/04 AND 2004/05 PROGRESS REPORT AND PROGRAMME AMENDMENTS
The Committee considered a report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in
the Minute Book) detailing 2003/04 and 2004/05 programme amendments
which were proposed to reflect slippage in the programmes and variations in
costs in some of the schemes. Members noted that there were a number of
minor amendments to finalise the 2003/04 programme and changes to the
2004/05 programme to bring it into line with new strategy areas. Members
also noted that a review of developers' contributions would be undertaken to
identify funds to supplement schemes.
RESOLVED:
That the Executive Member for Environment be advised that:
(i) The proposed final Transport Capital Programme for 2003/04 be
approved as set out in Appendix 1.
(ii) The proposed revised Transport Capital Programme for 2004/05 be
approved as set out in Appendix 2.
237. FINAL ACCOUNTS 2003/04
The Committee considered a report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in
the Minute Book) summarising the Environment Service spending in
2003/04. The County Treasurer confirmed that there was a net under-spend of
£36,000 (0.04%) against the 2003/04 adjusted revenue cash limit of £83m. It
was noted that expenditure for Waste Management had been lower than
estimated with a continued increase in recycling rates, and reductions had
been avoided on public transport despite an increase in pressures.
The Executive Member for Environment congratulated officers, at all levels,
for achieving such a good outturn which reflected a great deal of effort across
the Environment Department.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the report be noted.
(ii) That £18,000 of the under-spending in 2003/04 be carried forward and
added to the 2004/05 budget as set out in paragraph 1.6 of the report.
(iii) That the departmental assurance statement of the Chief Internal
Auditor be noted.
238. IT STRATEGY
The Committee considered a report of the Director of Environment (Item 10
in the Minute Book) setting out how decisions on investment in Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) were made and prioritised. Members noted that there was an ongoing active replacement programme for
mainframe systems throughout the County Council.
RESOLVED;
That the report be noted.
239. ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLIMENTS AND COMPLAINTS
MONITORING
The Committee considered a report of the Director of Environment (Item 11 in
the Minute Book) detailing complaints and compliments recorded during the
period April 2003 to March 2004 and following on from the Annual Report
covering the period April 2002 to March 2003 presented to the Committee on
29 October 2003. It was reported that the Environment Department was giving
consideration to rolling out Public Enquiry Manager (PEM), a type of contact
management system with the public, to all services to effectively capture
complaints.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the report be noted
(ii) That the specific action being taken to investigate feasibility of
expanding the use of Public Enquiry Manager across the Environment
Department be noted.
240. REQUESTS BY MEMBERS FOR ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED AT A
FUTURE MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE
The Committee considered requests submitted by Councillor Roberts as
follows:
"Rail aspects of Materials Recovery Facility at Holybourne"
"Outcome of the Government's Strategic Review of the Rail System"
"National Cycling and Walking Strategy Document"
RESOLVED:
That these matters be added to the Committee's list of items for future
consideration.
241. ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE - FORWARD
PLAN
The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive and Director of
Environment (Item 13 in the Minute Book) setting out issues for future
consideration by the Committee.
RESOLVED
That a Sub Group of the Policy Review Committee be established
on a trial basis to review the process for future business by which Members
could request items to be considered by a future meeting of the Committee.
The Committee agreed that a Sub Group of 4 Members comprising the
Chairman, Vice- Chairman and 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Labour be
appointed.
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