AT A MEETING of the ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on Thursday 22 June 2006.

PRESENT:

Also in attendance: Councillors J. K. Glen and T. G. Knight.

113. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors A. Carew, D. Simpson and S. D. T. Woodward.

114. 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.

115. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2006 were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.

Arising thereon:

Minute 109 - Chairman's Communications

The Chairman reminded Members to submit questions for the Highway Agency's visit on 25 July 2006.

116. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were no Chairman's Communications.

117. MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

No questions to the Executive Member for Environment : North Hampshire

and Spatial Strategy and the Executive Member for Environment :

South Hampshire and Resource Management had been received.

118. FINAL ACCOUNTS 2005/06 - ENVIRONMENT

The Committee considered a report of the County Treasurer and Director of

Environment (Item 7 in the Minute Book) summarising the Environment

Service's spending in 2005/06. The County Treasurer confirmed that there was

an overspend of £562,000 on the winter maintenance budget. In response to a

Member's question, the Director of Environment advised that the winter had

been relatively mild overall but that the County Council had carried out more

precautionary salting because of an extended cold spell around Christmas. This

had resulted in an overspend.

During the course of the ensuing discussion, Members questions were

answered and they supported the need to establish a Sub Group to review bus

passenger transport costs and associated matters in more detail, if these were

related issues not being covered by the planned Scrutiny Review of Transport

in the Community.

RESOLVED:

(i) That the report having been presented, Members offered comments which

were noted by the Executive Member for Environment : South Hampshire

and Resource Management.

(ii) That a Sub Group of the Policy Review Committee be established

to review issues of passenger transport costs and activities, where these

were not within the scope of the Review of Transport in the Community.

The Committee agreed that a Sub Group of 5 Members comprising

Councillors Clarke, Mrs Devereux, Mrs Edwards, House and Hockley be

appointed and meet to initially review the scope of the proposed work and

the brief for the Review of Transport in the Community.

119. CAPITAL PROGRAMME - PROGRESS AND

AMENDMENTS

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in

the Minute Book) providing progress and revisions to the 2005/06

Environment capital programme amendments reflecting programme and cost

variations on individual schemes.

The County Treasurer and Director of Environment amplified the report and

Members noted the increased costs to the Chilworth and Southampton cycle

route project and Rookes Lane/Ridgeway Lane scheme in Lymington, the

re-programming of schemes from the 2005/06 programme into 2006/07 and the

amendments resulting from slippage from the 2005/06 programme.

RESOLVED:

That the report having been presented, Members offered comments which were

noted by the Executive Member for Environment : South Hampshire and

Resource Management.

120. CAPITAL PROGRAMME - SUB PROGRAMMES

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Environment (Item 9 in

the Minute Book) which put forward programmes for the use of the

allocations for Rail Stations and Interchanges, Public Transport Information

and Air Quality within the 2006/07 Integrated Transport Capital Programme.

In response to a Member's question, the Director of Environment advised that

the County Council was still continuing with developing alternative measures

to tackle congestion on the Gosport peninsula in conjunction with Portsmouth

City Council and discussions were still taking place with Central Government

about funding for tackling the problems in this area.

In response to a Member's question, the Director of Environment agreed to

consider the opportunity for the sale of the text messaging service to generate

additional income for this service if the pilot proved to be successful and

commercially viable.

Members noted that in respect of air quality issues, the full evaluation of the

Multi Initiatives for Rationalised Accessibility and Clean Liveable

EnvironmentS (MIRACLES) project would soon be available. The Director of

Environment advised he was working closely with District Councils to support

their Action Plans for `designated air quality management areas'; and this was

an area of significant potential for the development of the County Council's

approach and service delivery.

Members suggested that an item of future business on this subject should be

added to the forward plan.

RESOLVED:

That the report having been presented, Members offered comments which were

noted by the Executive Member for Environment : South Hampshire and

Resource Management.

121. RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION ON DRAFT

SOUTH EAST PLAN

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Environment (Item 10 in

the Minute Book) seeking approval of the proposed County Council response

to Government consultation on the draft South East Plan, to be considered by

the Cabinet at its meeting on 26 June 2006.

Members noted that the report focussed on three key themes: the amount of

development proposed; infrastructure provision; and sustainable development

and quality of life.

Members expressed their disappointment that the Cabinet report had not been

circulated to them in advance of the meeting. The Director of Environment

explained that the report had not been available until the morning of this

Committee for despatch to Cabinet Members.

The Committee adjourned whilst the report was distributed to Members for

consideration. A copy of the report is set out in the minute book.

The Director of Environment took Members through Annex 1 Individual

Representations and Members generally noted and supported the proposed

response but asked Cabinet to consider the following amendments to the

proposed County Council response.

Policy H5 (Housing Density and Design). The Committee supported an

amendment to the proposed response which called for the inclusion of the

target average density figure of 40 dwellings per hectare within the text of the

policy (as currently drafted in the South East Plan) and deletion of the word

`only' from the phrase `only in appropriate locations'. Therefore the final part

of the first sentence of the Policy Review Committee's recommended Policy

H5 would now read "....., higher housing densities will be encouraged in

appropriate locations, with an overall regional target of 40 dwellings per

hectare over the Plan period".

Market Towns. The South East Plan in Section D8 - Management of the Built

and Historic Environment defines Market Towns in the supporting text of

Policy BE5 as special communities but limits the definition to a population size

of between 3,000 and 10,000 people. This was felt to be out of step with the

characteristics of Market Towns in Hampshire, whose population was often in

excess of 10,000 people and also contrary to both South East England

Development Agency's (SEEDA) funding programmes (defines Market Town

upper limit 20,000 population) and Government policy in the Rural White

Paper (defines Market Town populations as 2,000 - 20,000).

Members therefore proposed that the definition in the supporting text be

amended to refer to populations of between 2,000 and 20,000 people rather

than 3,000 and 10,000.

The other area of significant debate concerned the list of strategic gaps

identified in the South Hampshire sub regional policy SH3. After a full and

detailed debate a number of propositions emerged and no consensus was

achieved for any of them. The Committee narrowly resolved in favour of the

proposed Cabinet response to this Policy as drafted, over the alternative

advocated by Policy for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) of deleting the list

and having a policy, purely enabling gaps to be defined in District Local

Development Documents/Forums.

RESOLVED:

That in considering the report the Committee offered the comments above

which it believed the Cabinet should take into account when considering the

matter.

122. ENVIRONMENT POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE -

FORWARD PLAN

The Committee received and noted a report of the Chief Executive and

Director of Environment (Item 11 in the Minute Book) setting out issues for

future consideration and proposed the addition of an item on air quality

management.