AT A MEETING of the RECREATION AND HERITAGE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester, on Thursday 18 November 2004.

PRESENT:

Councillors: M.S. Geddes (Chairman); K.G. Chapman; P.J. Chegwyn; Dr. R.J. Ellis; E.F.Gale; B.T. Gurden; Jo Kelly; P.K. Mason R.H. Price; K.P.J. Searle; Mrs M.D. Snaith

Also in attendance: Councillor J. Waddington, Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage.

175 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or a personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally declare at the time of the debate their interest, and having regards 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 is discussed.

No such interests were declared.

176 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 September, 2004 were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.

177 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman announced that the Countryside Service had organised a major event on 16 September 2004 for Parish and Town Councils which focussed upon Access to the Countryside. The event, which had been hosted by, and organised, on behalf of the Hampshire Access Forum, had been well attended with 160 representatives from 97 Parish and Town Councils. Its prime purpose was to sustain and develop the County Council's key partnership with the parishes in this key area of work and it was hoped to build on the event in the future. Members who attended the event commended officers on the excellent presentation and congratulated all those involved.

178 MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

Councillor P.J. Chegwyn requested that the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage update the Policy Review Committee (PRC) on the progress that had been made with the Arts Office Review.

In his response the Executive Member, Councillor Waddington, replied that the Review had commenced in April 2004 and a consultant Mr Alun Bond had been appointed to undertake a large consultation exercise and put forward a series of recommendations on issues that needed to be addressed. Mr Bond's report was submitted to the Director of Recreation and Heritage in August. Since that time a considerable amount of work had been undertaken by the staff in the Arts Office in response to the recommendations made. A detailed report on the subject would be presented to the Policy Review Committee on 20 January 2005.

179 DEPUTATIONS

No requests to make deputations were received.

180 RECREATION AND HERITAGE EVENTS - RESULTS OF RESEARCH

The Committee received a powerpoint presentation by the Director of the Recreation and Heritage on the results of research undertaken for two major events held by the Recreation and Heritage Department in 2004, namely the Queen Elizabeth Country Park Show held on 10-11 July and a concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra held on 31 July at the Royal Victoria Country Park.

Members were informed of the methodology employed in the research and the details of the statistical information gathered which would be used to target more accurately persons/groups likely to attend specific events. Copies of the presentation material would be sent to all Members of the Policy Review Committee.

Members found the information extremely useful and requested information on costs incurred and benefits arising to the County Council in future presentations. It was noted that in both cases the events were run by outside bodies and that they had absorbed the costs.

181 BUDGET MONITORING

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer and the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 7 in the Minute Book) which provided an update on the financial position report in September and presented monitoring information on progress against the workforce plan and performance indicator targets for the Recreation and Heritage Department.


The County Treasurer reminded Members that at the previous meeting in September a projected overspend of £354,000 had been reported. Management action had been taken since to implement a series of measures to bring spending back in line with the budget including a possible transfer from capital to revenue.

RESOLVED:

That the proposals set out below be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration:

(a) that the financial position be noted;

(b) that the continuing action being taken to restrict the overspend be endorsed; and

(c) that the proposal to use the underspend at Calshot Activities Centre to reduce the borrowing requirement be noted.

182 PARTNERSHIP FUNDING AND SUPPORT IN RECREATION AND HERITAGE

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the final recommendations for future arrangements to improve the overall management of the Recreation and Heritage partnership funding and support following an external consultation with partner organisations and other interested parties.

The Director or Recreation and Heritage introduced the report and explained the key features of the recommendations.

During the course of the discussion the following points were raised (inter alia):


· Concern that in respect of the proposal to pool the grants, the decisions on the their allocation and evaluation would not be made by the officers with specific knowledge of the areas they knew best.


· The problem of convincing other strategic partners and organisations of the added value in supporting the arts. The contribution of grants from the district councils and the Arts Council had generally been limited in the past.


· Pressure on meeting corporate budget targets could affect the provision and inflation-proofing of grants.


· Smaller organisations and new applicants could lose out should the larger organisations be awarded grants for longer periods.


· There was a perceived need to support some organisations for periods longer than a year to give them to stability to plan ahead.


· The phrase `relevant members' in paragraph 5.1, last bullet, point should be clarified to read ` local member and, where appropriate, lead members of all parties.


RESOLVED:

That the proposals set out be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration:


(i) That the proposals set out in paragraph 5 of the report be supported with the

exception of the pooling of grants and subject to any agreement not exceeding

three years.


(ii) That paragraph 5.1, last bullet point, be amended to read "the final decision on all

grant applications should be made the Executive Member on the advice of

officers and with the benefit of the views of the local Member and, where

appropriate, lead Members of all parties."

183 WINCHESTER CULTURAL CENTRE PROJECT APPRAISAL

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the design project appraisal for the proposed extension and alterations to Winchester Library in Jewry Street to form a new cultural centre.

The Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services expanded on the report explaining that the Winchester Cultural Centre would be the flagship Discovery Centre for Hampshire. The proposals provided for an integrated lending and reference library along with an art gallery, museum exhibition, education room, IT suite, people's network area, hall/lecture theatre and other facilities.

Members supported the proposals but were concerned about the revenue implications and the affect on building costs should unforeseen difficulties be encountered once building had commenced. It was noted that the revenue costs would be in the region of £220,000 and that measures would be taken to mitigate any hidden risks.

RESOLVED:

That the proposals set out in the report be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for consideration.

184 THE MOBILE LIBRARY SERVICE - FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the current position with the Mobile Library Service and sought endorsement for the future proposed changes.


Particular attention was drawn to a new development in the use of mobile libraries in conjunction with the BBC. Once a month a live broadcast would take place from one of the new vans. It was likely the live broadcasts would take place from sites in such locations as Liss, Clanfield and Whiteley.

At the request of the Committee, the officers undertook to re-examine the figures to ensure that leasing would be more cost effective than owning the vehicles, as advised.


RESOLVED:

That the approach outlined in the report for changes in the way the mobile fleet operates be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration.

185 MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES COUNCIL: REPORT OF THE ARCHIVES TASK FORCE

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on the Archives Task Force report `Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future', which provided a framework for the future development of archives across the United Kingdom.

The Director of Recreation and Heritage explained that the Archives Task Force report set out a vision for the future which would make archive collections across the UK accessible to everyone, develop new ways for users to access the collections, and demonstrate how the archives domain could support specific public service targets through social, educational and economic impact.

RESOLVED:

That the Archives Task Force Report `Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future' be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for consideration.

186 OFSTED INSPECTORS REPORT ON OUTDOOR EDUCATION

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 12 in the Minute Book)on the report into the quality of teaching and learning in Outdoor Education Centres across England and Wales which included the Calshot Activities Centre.

Members congratulated the staff who worked at the outdoor centre on their contribution to the outcome of the report. An earlier inspector's report had commented on the high quality of equipment, facilities, teaching and management he had encountered during his inspection at the Calshot Centre.

RESOLVED:

That the highly positive report from OFSTED be welcomed and the report be submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for consideration with the following recommendation:

That the Executive Member be requested to reaffirm the commitment of the Recreation and Heritage Department, in partnership with the Education Department, to the vision of the Hampshire Outdoor Service to provide high quality and safe outdoor learning to young people across Hampshire

187 OUTCOME OF THE LIFELONG LEARNING BEST VALUE REVIEW

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 13 in the Minute book) on the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review. The report was presented to Members prior to its presentation to Cabinet for approval.

Members noted that the Review had been undertaken by a team of officers representing each department working alongside five elected Members - Councillors Allbright, Chapman, Dash, Kelly and Kimber. The five elected Members also formed part of the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review Member Panel to make key decisions at critical review stages. From a range of five options for service delivery, the team had decided that `Partnership working, supporting a mixed economy of supply' should form the basis for the review outcome. The programme of best value services formed a key element in supporting Corporate Strategy Aim 5 - Improving Services. Lifelong Learning contributes to all six Corporate Strategy aims. A key target of the Review was to produce a corporate Lifelong Learning Strategy in order to facilitate the achievement of the desired outcomes. The Review produced two improvement plans, the first designed to ensure County Council departments were best set up to deliver the Lifelong Learning Strategy and the second which covered a first selection of actions to be progressed to achieve the key outcomes of the Strategy.

Members hoped that the outcome of the Review would give significant scope for shared action plans, result in less duplication of work across departments and indicate where the opportunity arose to use the County Council's own expertise.

Mr J. Wilkinson, the Assistant County Education Officer, was thanked for all his hard work and congratulated on the compilation of the Outcome Report of the Best Value Review of Lifelong Learning and Improvement Plans.

RESOLVED:

That the outcome of the report of the Best Value Review of Lifelong Learning be noted and comments made in discussion forwarded to the Cabinet as appropriate.

188 THE COUNTY COUNCIL'S APPROACH TOWARDS THE MANAGEMENT OF THE NEW RIGHTS OF ACCESS TO OPEN ACCESS LAND

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 14 in the Minute Book) on the County Council's approach towards the management of the new rights of access to open access land.

The Director of Recreation and Heritage explained that the new rights of access to certain mapped areas of countryside would come into effect on 14 December 2004 in relation to which the County Council would have new powers although not duties. He stressed that it was not known at the present time what interest the new rights would generate.

Concern was expressed by the Members at the potential implications for the Rights of Way Section in terms of increased workload. The Director of Recreation and Heritage was aware of this possible problem but believed that the review recently undertaken within the service would obviate this. It was agreed that the situation would be monitored and a further report be made to the Committee six months after the commencement of the new rights.

RESOLVED:

That the proposals set out below be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration:


(a) the flexible approach towards the management of the new rights of access which

is also supported by the Hampshire Countryside Access Forum;


(b) the Executive Member endorses this approach at his November Decision Day meeting; and


(c) an assessment report on the impact on the Rights of Way Section on the introduction of the new rights of access to Open Access Land be brought to the Policy Review Committee six months after the commencement of the new rights.

189 EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED:

That, by virtue of paragraph 8 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the following item.

190 ARGOED MOUNTAIN CENTRE - DINING ROOM EXTENSION

The Committee considered a confidential report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 16 in the Minute Book) on the proposed extension to the dining room.

RESOLVED:

That the principle of extending the dining room facilities at the Hampshire Mountain Centre be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration.

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