COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS, 30 MARCH 2006

HAMPSHIRE

At a Meeting of Hampshire County Council held at The Castle, Winchester on Thursday 30 March 2006.

Chairman:

p Councillor John K. West

Vice Chairman:

p Councillor Mrs. P. A. West

Councillors:

96 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ludlow, Mrs. McNair Scott, Neal, Mrs. Porter and Mrs. Peskett. Councillor McNair Scott was attending an LGA event, Councillors Neal and Porter were attending a CIPFA seminar and Councillor Peskett was attending a youth justice event, all as representatives of the County Council.

97 PRESENTATION TO HONORARY ALDERMAN LIZ BARRON

Honorary Alderman Liz Barron had been appointed to that office by the County Council at a special meeting on 8 December 2005 in recognition of the eminent service that she had rendered to the County Council over many years. The Leader of the Council, Councillor T. K. Thornber C.B.E., presented the certificate of appointment to former County Councillor Liz Barron and the Council applauded wholeheartedly. She thanked the Council for bestowing the office of Honorary Alderman upon her and expressed her appreciation to the Council. The Leader of the Council, the Leaders of the Minority Groups and a number of other Members all paid tribute to the outstanding service Honorary Alderman Liz Barron had given to the County Council, and her significant contributions at national level to Fire Service issues and locally in serving her own community.

98 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.

99 MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting of the County Council held on 22 February 2006 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

100 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman reported to the Council the recent retirement of Bob Lisney, (Assistant Director - Natural Resources) from the Environment Department, Malcolm Cole, (Head of Policy) in the Chief Executive's Department and Lyn Jones, Manager of the Castle Restaurant. The Council joined with the Chairman in wishing each of them a long and happy retirement.

The Chairman had had the pleasure to host a reception for scouting volunteers in the Great Hall, Winchester on 22 February, Thinking Day in the scouting calendar when scouts and guides remember their founders, Robert Baden Powell and his wife Olive, who shared 22 February as their Birthday. The event had been a great success.

On 16 March the Chairman had hosted a concert arranged by Hampshire Music Service at the Anvil Theatre, Basingstoke when a varied programme had allowed young people of all ages to participate. There had been many fine performances by these talented young Hampshire people who both enjoyed themselves and gave enjoyment to others.

During April the Chairman would be hosting a tea party and presentation at Serle's House for 14 members of staff who had each achieved 40 or more years of service working for the County Council.

The Chairman was delighted to report in relation to the Christmas Carol service that the sum of £500 had been collected and distributed to branches of HomeStart throughout Hampshire.

In conclusion, it was with regret that the Chairman reported the passing of Captain Richard Holmes of Winchester, a captain in the Parachute Regiment who had been killed in Iraq, and also the passing of Colin Ingleby MacKenzie who had captained Hampshire County Cricket Club to victory in the County Cricket Championship of 1961 and had later been President of the MCC.

101 LEADER'S REPORT

The Leader referred to the Wanless Social Care Review "Securing Good Care for Older People" and invited Members to take a summary of the report, copies of which were available at the meeting.

The Leader was delighted to report that the County Council's Student Support Unit had had renewal of its charter mark confirmed on 28 March 2006. The external assessor had concluded that the Unit was an excellent example of a local authority maintaining and improving the standard of service whilst far reaching changes were being made to centralise nationally.

Further good news was that the County Council had recently won the SOCPO Wellbeing Award which recognised that the County Council was committed to Wellbeing both internally for staff and also within the community and with partners across Hampshire.

The Leader was pleased to report the election of Tim Light, a long serving member of the County Treasurer's staff and an audit senior, as Vice President of the Association of Accounting Technicians. In 2007 he would become the twenty seventh President of the Association.

The Leader also took the opportunity to congratulate Hampshire's Youth Council on work they had done in the Gmina area of Poland on introducing the concept of youth councils there. The local mayor had congratulated them and thanked them on their work and the Leader displayed pennants and a plaque which had been presented to the Youth Council's representatives during the visit.

To keep Members informed of progress with the implementation of the Council's decision on 30^th January 2006 following the democratic review, the Leader took the opportunity to update the Council on actions being taken. There were three main strands:

(a) Improved information systems to assist all Members in keeping abreast of Cabinet and Executive Member decisions;

(b) Revised Policy Review Committee roles, encompassing much more Scrutiny of the Executive;

(c) The organisation at local level of Hampshire Action Teams.

All would come into effect from 1 October 2006 and in the interim Members would be kept informed, trained and involved in defining the new roles of the Policy Review Committees and the role of the HATs.

The specification for the new IT system designed to give all Members readily accessible information on proposed decisions had been agreed, and IT services were working on the necessary systems. This was designed to give all Members and the public early notice of potential decisions thus enabling them to make their views known. There would no longer be a need for Policy Review Committees to mirror Executive Member Decision Days. Instead, through the enhanced IT system, all Members could make their views known on proposed decisions. The Policy Review Committees ( their draft terms of reference were circulated) would establish a review programme to review any area within their terms of reference for in-depth analysis and report to the Cabinet and Council.

The Leader declared his determination to re-invigorate the Scrutiny process and made clear his expectation that, based on this hypothesis, some pilot projects should be established and run by the Policy Review Committees before 1 October 2006. At the Annual Meeting of the Council in May the Leader expected the Council to deal with the terms of reference, size of committees, chairmanships, and proportionality and related Constitutional issues.

In the meantime Members would be asked for their preferred membership of these committees, probably based on 12 members.

In addition there would remain 5 standing committees:

· Regulatory Committee

· Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee

· Standards Committee

· Governance Committee

· Employment in Hampshire County Council Committee

An extra meeting of the Governance Committee before the Annual Meeting of the Council would consider changes to the Constitution to give effect to these arrangements.

In relation to the planned Hampshire Action Teams, as good test beds of size, 7 HATs would be established with the following nominated as Chairmen who will work on their development and operation:

· New Forest - Councillor Nigel Clarke

· East Hampshire, Winchester, Havant - Councillor Sam James

· Rushmoor and Hart - Councillor Eric Neal

· Eastleigh - Councillor Colin Davidovitz

· Fareham and Gosport - Councillor Geoff Hockley

· Test Valley - Councillor Roy Perry

· Basingstoke and Deane - Councillor John Maxwell

Initial work had been done on terms of reference and these would be worked on in more detail with this group. No County Council services would be excluded - the HATs would ensure that the local services of all County Council departments were integrated into their overall work in a streamlined way.

Seminars would be arranged shortly for both the work on HATs and the changing Scrutiny function. Thursday 27 April was set aside in the County Council diary.

The Leader concluded on the democratic review by reminding the Council that every council's Executive was bound by legal requirements as to decision making procedures but that the County Council had always been more open than these constraints required. That principle underpinned everything the County Council has done for many years but that did not mean to say that the Council's internal arrangements could not be improved upon. The Executive would be looking more closely at how decision making could be made more efficient whilst at the same time ensuring that Members were kept fully informed about decisions to be made, especially those which concerned their County Electoral Divisions, and that decision making continued to be open and transparent. The officers were reviewing protocols and procedures and, when they had proposals to make, they would be discussing opportunities for efficiency gains with the Leader and the Cabinet.

In conclusion, the Leader referred to a meeting he had participated in with Council Leaders from Kent and Surrey with David Miliband, MP, the Local Government Minister, in order to discuss Local Government Reorganisation. Mr. Miliband was seeking a genuine debate on the best form of governance and he had said that he was open to ideas and options. At the heart of his ambitions were strategic leadership, neighbourhood flexibility and empowerment, value for money and coterminosity with other delivery partners. The Leader explained that two tier areas and shire unitary authorities could make proposals and Mr. Miliband had mentioned links with "city regions". Mr. Miliband had also mentioned that costs should have a short pay back period, but he had left the question of transitional costs open. A White Paper was expected in June which would finalise the Government's position on reorganisation. The expectation was that councils would have to opt into new structures and competing proposals would be judged on the criteria which the Leader had mentioned. The Leader understood that Mr Miliband was looking to present a Bill by the end of this year with primary legislation in 2007, elections to new structures in 2008, and for those structures to be operational in 2009. In December 2006 Mr Miliband expected Sir Michael Lyons to report on how the new structures would be financed. Whilst it would be an understatement to say that this programme was ambitious, the Leader believed that it was clear that the Government wanted change.

102 QUESTIONS UNDER STANDING ORDER 20(b)

Councillor Thornber, the Leader of the Council, answered a question from Councillor Dowden about Gershon Savings in the context of demands on the Social Care budget.

Councillor Knight, Executive Member for Environment: South Hampshire and Resource Management, answered a question from Councillor Boulton concerning the control of ragwort on roadside verges and it was agreed that the response be copied to all Members of the Council.

Councillor Mrs Banks, Executive Member for Adult Social Care answered a question by Councillor Bailey about the assessment of "substantial" need for Adult Care Services and the availability and cost of these services.

Councillor Thornber, Leader of the Council, answered a question from Councillor Buckley in relation to the use of energy efficient light bulbs at the Council's Headquarters Offices in Winchester.

Councillor Thornber, Leader of the Council, answered a question from Councillor Dowden in relation to NHS healthcare criteria and the impact on demand for County Council services.

103 HAMPSHIRE ACTION TEAMS

As mentioned under the report of the Leader, the approval of the County Council was sought to the appointment of Chairmen to take a leading role in the development of the concept of Hampshire Action Teams. The Leader repeated that the HATs arrangements were to operate as pilot projects from which the Council would learn.

RESOLVED:

That the following Members be appointed as Chairmen for the areas indicated:

Councillor Nigel Clarke - New Forest

Councillor Sam James - East Hampshire, Havant and Winchester

Councillor Colin Davidovitz - Eastleigh

Councillor Roy Perry - Test Valley

Councillor John Maxwell - Basingstoke and Deane

Councillor Geoff Hockley - Fareham and Gosport

Councillor Eric Neal - Hart and Rushmoor

104 HAMPSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK - CORE STRATEGY

Given the proximity of the Cabinet meeting on 20 March to the agenda despatch for the Council meeting, this item had been included on the agenda with the concurrence of the Chairman under Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 in order to ensure that timely decisions were taken to meet the submission timetable of the First Secretary of State.

Councillor J.K. Glen, Executive Member for Environment: North Hampshire and Spatial Strategy presented the report on behalf of the Leader and Cabinet and the Council adopted the recommendations contained therein.

RESOLVED:

(i) That approval be given to the Strategy Development Plan document (hereinafter called the Strategy) and the consequential proposals map (Local Development document) as part of the Hampshire Minerals Waste and Local Development Framework:

(a) For submission to the First Secretary of State;

(b) For final public consultation pursuant to Regulation 28 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) England Regulations 2004

(c) As a basis for future plan-making and development control processes;

(ii) That the Director of Environment, in consultation with the Executive Member for Environment: North Hampshire and Spatial Strategy, be authorised to make any minor amendments provided these do not alter the emphasis and direction of the strategy or its policies.

105 BUSINESS AT THE COUNTY COUNCIL BUDGET MEETING IN FEBRUARY - NOTICE OF MOTION

The Council considered the following Notice of Motion submitted in accordance with Standing Order 17 by Councillor Jo Kelly and seconded by Councillor Anne Edwards:

"That, unless decisions of the Council are required for reasons of urgency, or to comply with Government or statutory deadlines, or the Council's own procedural rules, no other business than confirming the minutes of the previous meeting and determining the following year's budget be dealt with at the February meeting of the County Council."

There followed a wide ranging debate when a number of procedural issues were raised. Whilst a number of Members supported the thrust of the motion, the majority were not in favour of it. There was general acceptance that the pressure of business at the budget meeting on 22 February 2006 had resulted in the presentations to the new Honorary Aldermen being briefer than need otherwise have been the case, and, as a guide for the future, it was felt that such presentations should not form part of the budget meeting. The Leader of the Council was also mindful that the programme of Council meetings each year allowed a degree of flexibility in relation to business planning.

Having considered the Notice of Motion it was

RESOLVED:

That the Motion be not approved.

106 HAMPSHIRE POLICE AUTHORITY

No questions under Standing Order 20(d) had been received and, on this occasion, there was no report of the Authority.

107 HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY

The Council considered the report of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority. No questions had been received under Standing Order 20(e).

108 REPORTS FOR INFORMATION

The Council received the reports of the following:

a) The Cabinet/Leader;

b) Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee: with the leave of the Council, the Chairman of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee reported on a recent meeting he had attended with the Strategic Health Authority concerning the structure of health organisation in Hampshire.

The meeting closed at 3.25 p.m.