Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the RECREATION AND HERITAGE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester, on Thursday, 14 July 2005.
PRESENT:
Councillors: K. G. Chapman (Chairman); I.F.E. Beagley; A. Broadhurst; P.J. Chegwyn; B.T. Gurden; R.J. Kimber; J. Maxwell; R. H. Price; Mrs E.F. Still; D. Wright
Also in attendance: Councillor Mrs M. Snaith, Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage.
10. 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.
11. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2005 were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.
12. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS
The Chairman announced that The Green Flag, a national accreditation scheme, had been awarded to both the Queen Elizabeth and Staunton Country Parks, the first County Council Country Parks to be so recognised in the South East Region. Officers were warmly congratulated on their fine achievement.
It was noted that a questionnaire would be emailed to Members to seek their views and opinions on the Recreation and Heritage Members' Tour held on 12 July 2005.
The Chairman proposed that a social event be held in December for County Councillors and members of staff.
13. MEMBERS' QUESTIONS
There were none.
14. DEPUTATIONS
No requests to make deputations were received.
15. MORI RESIDENTS SURVEY 2005 - IMPLICATIONS FOR RECREATION AND HERITAGE
The Committee received a presentation (Item 6 in the Minute Book) given by John Parry, Principal Research Consultant in the Recreation and Heritage Department, on his analysis of the MORI Residents Survey, which had been conducted to ascertain people's opinions of the services provided by the County Council. Face to face interviews had been conducted with 1,712 people aged 16 years and older during December 2004 and January 2005. The basic premise of the survey had been to try to discover which services people used or benefited from and their levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The analysis showed that overall the net satisfaction level of residents with Recreation and Heritage services had increased from 69% in 1999 to 77% in 2005. The Director of Recreation and Heritage advised that this analysis of the results of the survey would greatly assist the Department in formulating its future service plans.
16. MONITORING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
The Committee noted the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 7 in the Minute book) on the main issues arising from the routine monitoring of customer feedback during the year ending 31 March 2005.
RESOLVED:
That the information on the monitoring of customer feedback in the year ending
31 March 2005 contained in the report be noted and submitted for consideration by the
Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage and the Standards Committee.
17. PROPOSED CHANGES TO PRIORITY GUIDELINES FOR DEALING WITH CLAIMS UNDER SECTION 53(5) WILDLIFE AND COUNTRYSIDE ACT 1981
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 8 in the Minute book) which sought Members' approval to change the current policy for dealing with claims to amend the Definitive Map of Public Rights of Way made under section 53(5) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The Director of Recreation and Heritage explained that due to increasing pressures brought about by new legislation and customer expectations, a backlog of work had built up. Investigations were time consuming and in many cases took a considerable time to complete.
RESOLVED:
That a change in the prioritisation of Definitive Map Modification Applications be submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for her consideration.
18. FINAL ACCOUNTS 2004/05 - RECREATION AND HERITAGE SERVICE
The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer and the Director of Recreation and Heritage ( Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the Recreation and Heritage service's spending in 2004/05.
RESOLVED:
That the following recommendations be submitted to the Executive Member for her consideration:
(i) That the final accounts for 2004/05 be approved.
(ii) That the cash limit adjustments, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report be
approved.
(iii) That the additional cost of capital schemes completed in 2004/05 be deducted
from the 2005/06 capital programme limit.
19. FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE MONITORING 2005/06
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage and the County Treasurer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the current financial situation for the Recreation and Heritage Department in 2005/06 and the proposed approach to monitoring the revenue budget and capital programme in both financial and performance terms.
RESOLVED:
That the following recommendations be submitted to the Executive Member for her consideration:
(i) That the current financial situation be noted.
(ii) That the action taken to achieve the annual savings requirement be approved (paragraph 3).
(iii) That the transfer from revenue to capital of £198,000 for the library refurbishment programme be approved (paragraph 2.2).
(iv) That the approach to monitoring the budget and performance outlined in the report be endorsed (paragraph 4).
(v) That the allocation of the capital programme be approved (paragraph 5).
20. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY PERFORMANCE REPORT
The Committee received a presentation and considered a report by Jane Goodwin, Equality and Diversity Manager of Human Resources Department and Mohammed Mossadaq of Social Services Department on the Equality and Diversity Performance Report (Item 11 in the Minute Book).
Members noted that the report was the outcome of the best value review of Equality and Diversity, the review of the Race Equality Scheme and the annual assessment of the County Council's performance against the Equality Standard for Local Government.
The report advised of the actions required to achieve continued improvement to ensure the Council met its statutory requirements on human rights, race, age, sexual orientation, gender, disability and religion and continued to progress towards level 3 of the Equality Standard.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the Members of the Committee are fully aware of their role to support the
implementation of the Equality Plan and Race Scheme.
(ii) That the Members understand their role in monitoring the requirement for
reports to show the outcome of Race and Equality Impact Assessment.