Contact: Philippa Smart, ext 7336 e mail: [email protected]

1. Summary and Purpose

1.1 The role of the Environment and Transportation Policy Review Committee is to consider how effectively the policies, services and decisions of Hampshire County Council support a positive and sustainable environment, accessibility to services for all and effective management of natural resources. In addition to scrutinising the work of the Executive and the County Council as an organisation, the Committee also monitors the impact of external agencies on the people of Hampshire, to the extent that these impact on the areas of environment and transportation.

1.2 This report provides members with pre scrutiny information on three topics, the first of which relates to Hampshire County Council's Environment Department, the second to a related external agency, and the third to a partnership group. Each topic is supported by an Appendix containing the detailed subject matter.

Topics for information

2. Environment Best Value Performance Indicators: half year report

The half year report of the Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) forms part of Hampshire County Council's annual cycle of performance measurement. This half year report allows comparisons of Hampshire County Council's performance against other local authorities, as well as comparisons within the county between the position as at the 30 September 2006 and that of previous years.

The Direction of Travel column indicates where performance has either improved or decreased since last year. As information is lacking for the 2006 half year outturn for a large proportion of indicators, no comparisons can be made for these.

3. Environment Agency `State of the Environment 2006' report

The Environment Agency, which was set up under the Environment Act 1995, is the leading public body for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales. The agency works closely with local authorities and other government agencies to make sure that the environment is well looked after.

The Environment Agency's assessment of the environment in South East England in 2006, as outlined in the report `State of the Environment 2006', covers the area of the south east, as defined by the Government Office for the South East, covering nineteen county and unitary authorities and fifty five district councils.

Trends for the south east include:

· an increase in the amount of waste recycled with less waste now going to landfill sites

· domestic water use has been reduced and more homes are fitted with water meters

· fewer water pollution incidents, and water quality is better overall

· wildlife sites are improving

The fragility of the state of the environment is identified in terms of:

· increase use of energy

· growth in the total waste produced

· increases in cases of illegal waste dumping

· a growing population and new development is bringing increasing demands on the environment

4. Revised Water Strategy Action Plan

The Hampshire Water Strategy, and accompanying action plan, was developed by the Hampshire Water multi agency partnership in 2003. It attempts to address all the key issues facing the county's freshwater environment, in relation to pollution, increasing demand, flooding and climate change.

The multi agency Hampshire Water Partnership includes representatives of all the major stakeholders who have an interest in water resources and environment in Hampshire across the private, public and voluntary sectors.

The original action plan was revisited in 2006, along with the membership of the partnership which expanded during 2006 to include ten new organisations. The updated Action Plan lists twenty two actions for achieving the partnership's overall aim and related objectives. The actions fall broadly under three topic areas:

· Partnership management and communications

· Public engagement and awareness raising

· Influence and lobbying

The Environment Agency's flood awareness campaign, launched in November 2006, encourages the public to take responsibility for reducing the effects of floods by taking easy steps to prepare for an eventual flood to reduce the emotional and financial costs. The annual average damage from flooding in England and Wales is estimated at £1 billion and this figure is set to increase if the risk continues to be ignored.

5. Financial implications

5.1 None as a direct result of this report

6. Impact assessment

6.1 None as a direct result of this report

7. Crime prevention

7.1 None as a result of this report

8. Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background information

8.1 The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied on to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list includes-

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

None.