Archived decisions

1. DECLARATION 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 save for

exercising any right to speak in accordance with

Paragraph 12 of the Code.

There were no declarations of interest.

2. WORK PROGRAMME

The Chief Executive outlined the Committee's work programme (Item 2 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That the Committee's Work Programme be approved

subject to the issues raised at this meeting.

3. MINUTES

The Minutes of the Committee held on 24 March2009 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

4. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

a. Budget Briefing

The Chairman reported that one of the areas the Select Committees look at on a regular basis was the budget and performance information. The budget proposals were scrutinised at the January Select Committee meetings, as the departmental budgets were agreed by the Executive Members in January. The whole budget is then debated at full Council in February.

As the budget setting process followed an annual cycle of review and preparation each Select Committee had an informal (i.e. not in public) twice a year on budgets and departmental performance information. This was in addition to the formal public meetings and was intended to provide an opportunity for Members to familiarise themselves with the budget setting process and performance of the County Council. The briefings could highlight to members where the budget pressures and performance issues were in the departments the Select Committees scrutinise. Members could then use this information to help identify areas for further scrutiny. These briefings took place in November/December in the lead in to the new years budget proposals, and July when the end of year results are available. All members of the Committee were urged to attend these to enable them to keep up to date with the budget process prior to consideration by Members of the budget in January.

b. New Scrutiny Officer

The Chairman reported that Katie Benton would be joining the Scrutiny Team in mid August and would have responsibilities for taking the officer lead on this Committee's work programme, as well as that for Safe and Healthy People Select Committee.

c. Minerals Plan

The Chairman reported that the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development and Future Waste Management Operations Plan was being considered by Cabinet on 27 July 2009. As this was such a key document She had arranged that it be tabled at this meeting for your information. She intended to invite the Executive Member for Environment to arrange for the Committee to be provided with an update on progress with this work at the meeting in October.

5. ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE AND HOUSING GROWTH

The Chairman presented the report of the Road Infrastructure and Housing Growth Review Panel (Item 5 in the Minute Book)

The review group set its objectives through posing three questions:

· In the light of population growth, how were Hampshire County Council and key partners assessing the needs for, and building development proposals for, road infrastructure across the county ?

· Could the current process be improved by the means of a mechanism to prioritise schemes in the developmental phase, ensuring that the wider network can cope, and, if so, what would such a mechanism be like ?

· What role did County Councillors, acting for the Highways and Transport Authority, play in contributing to and influencing road infrastructure developments, and how might that evolve ?

After consideration of all the evidence the Review Panel concluded that:

With regard to how the needs and developments for road infrastructure were predicted and planned for:

The changes in the planning legislation that replaced the County Structure Plan with the South East Plan and Local Development Frameworks meant that while the role of the county, as the Highway Authority, continued in place, the relationship of the Authority to partners changed. A new pattern of relationships was emerging, but more from pragmatic necessity than through a planned approach. The review panel believed that this was an opportunity for the County Council to strengthen its county-wide role in relationship to transport assessments, particularly in respect of road infrastructure requirements

The county needed to continue to work at being ahead of the game if it wanted to be successful in accessing the different funding streams for road related schemes identified through the planning process. A review of the resourcing of this process was called for.

With regard to whether the current process for assessing needs and building development proposals could be improved, the following conclusions were arrived at:

· The changes to the way major road related schemes used to be prioritised, and the new way of tailoring scheme development to priorities associated with funding sources, have been considerable. The new arrangements require elected Members, officers, and other partner organisations to be more versatile in anticipating and seizing opportunities where they arise. Although there is less control over what was prioritised county-wide, there is transparency about what could be prioritised by others, whether by region or from other funding streams, built into the shaping of bids.

· The review panel supported the trend to broader sub-regional approaches to prioritising transport, and hence road related developments; this makes sense as well in relation to housing and business growth. However, the leadership role played by the County as a highways authority needed to be supported by a commitment to resourcing by other partners as well.

· Although prioritisation is less in the gift of the county than in the past, there is a continuing need to ensure that the formulation of particular proposals and bids are undertaken with priority road user groups, in particular the emergency services.

With regard to how the County Councillor role might evolve, the following conclusions were arrived at:

· All elected Members would benefit from briefings to update their knowledge of the current transport policy and funding context.

· Members wished to be kept informed by the Highways Agency of plans in their area regarding the strategic road network.

· Links for non-executive members to partnership bodies like Transport for South Hampshire could be improved.

· Members wished to be consulted more regarding schemes affecting their local area.

· All elected Members would like to have the opportunity to provide input at the stage of developing bids for funding

Members had a dual role of input to areas such as road infrastructure planning; in relation to their local area representational role, and their role representing the County as a whole bearing in mind sub-regional issues. Ideally members involvement in road infrastructure would contribute an understanding of the county wide context whilst allowing for the development of a greater understanding of the needs and priorities of local communities.

The Committee agreed the recommendations and took the view that the neighbouring unitary authorities should be included in any transport group established, Recommendation A and that Recommendation I should be amended to refer to Hampshire Action Teams or their successors.

RESOLVED

That:

a. Subject to the suggested amendments the

recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel be

agreed and presented to the Executive Member for Environment and Transportation for consideration of the recommendations.

b. The monitoring of outcomes of the review be

included in the Committee's work programme.

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6. TRANSPORT IN THE COMMUNITY

The Director of the Environment presented a report updating the Committee on the responses to the recommendations arising from the review of Transport in the Community (Item 6 in the Minute Book). The review of Transport in the Community, initiated in 2007 by Hampshire County Council's Environment and Transportation Select Committee, produced a final report in summer 2008. This provided a wide-ranging analysis of the issues and opportunities for passenger transport to identify and meet the needs and aspirations of residents, to engage more fully with stakeholders and other service providers and to examine best practice across the country. The recommendations of the Select Committee had been incorporated within a series of measures, such as the community transport review, the programme of rural transport pilots, the home to school transport initiative and the bus subsidy criteria work. A significant piece of work which had incorporated recommendations of the Select Committee concerns the passenger transport forums which had been extended in their coverage and remodelled.

Details were given about:

· Progress in Reviewing the Bus Subsidy Mechanism (Recommendation B)

· Community Transport Competitive Tendering Outcome and Legal Basis (Recommendation F)

· Area Review Process - Review of Stakeholders (Recommendation J)

· Area Review Process - Is it fit for purpose? (Recommendation K (ii))

· Transport Forums - Identifying Needs, Contributing to Solutions (Recommendation N)

· Passenger Transport Group to Review Progress of the LTP Accessibility Strategy (Recommendation P)

· Work to ensure the prompt adoption of school travel plans (Recommendation W(ii))

· Yellow Bus Pilot update (Recommendation W(ii))

Following questions about the Yellow bus scheme and its costings the Scottish approach to the Bus Subsidy scheme and Transport Forums it was agreed that reports on each of these should be presented to a future meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

That reports on the costings of the Yellow Bus Scheme, the Scottish approach to the Bus Subsidy scheme and Transport Forums be presented to a future meeting of the Committee.

7. WIDTH OF RURAL ROADS

The Director of the Environment presented a report outlining the history or rural roads and how they were taken on and managed by the local authority (Item 7 in the Minute Book). The road network in Hampshire has evolved over many centuries. The lanes in Hampshire formed from earlier cart tracks linking village and town communities. As such there was no formal design of this network and it followed the natural terrain along the most accessible routes. The tracks were poorly maintained until the mid 19th Century when, following the Highways Act of 1835 and the Local Government Act 1888, lanes were taken on and managed by the local authority and from that time organised regular maintenance took place. Country lanes were generally made up from locally found unbound material with a compacted gravel mix, it was not until the mid 1930s that they were all surfaced with `bound material', tarmacadam mainly to reduce the dust created by motorised vehicles and pneumatic car tyres (the dustless road). The structure of the country lanes remained much as the original construction with only limited additional tarmacadam or bitumen surfacing as top layers that has been added over the last 80 years. The road foundations, although not designed, have over time strengthened and become generally well compacted and, unless disturbed or weakened by water penetration, are able to withstand normal traffic usage. Modern day traffic loadings did, however, adversely impact on lanes, particularly heavy goods vehicles, and where there are significant number of lorry movements the structure at the edges may become weakened and strengthening may be required. The road network in Hampshire was some 8,500 kilometres (6,000 miles) and the length of rural unclassified country lanes was 1,676 kilometres. It could be seen, therefore, that Hampshire had a relatively high proportion of county lanes and was designated as a Rural Shire County. The verges alongside county lanes were an important feature and add considerably to the sense of place and rural setting. Highway verges were the largest landholding of the County Council and were an important habitat for flora and fauna; biodiversity was an important factor in verge management. At locations of special importance specific grass cutting and management regimes were in place to sustain the biodiversity.

The widths of our country lanes had historically been dictated by the traffic using them and are generally narrow where they serve as single access routes to local communities. The road widths varied from around 3.0 metres to 5.5 metres across the region. It was generally recognised from design standards that a road width of 5.5 metres was the minimum desirable width for a modern day car and heavy goods vehicle to pass. Vehicles had not become wider but traffic had increased significantly over time on our lanes and the wheel-loading of heavy goods vehicles had increased to cause more damage and conflict for passing vehicles. As a result it was apparent that our lanes were increasingly suffering from deterioration and over-running at the road edge is a common problem where vehicles pass on the lanes. Informal passing places and `give and take' arrangements usually worked satisfactorily and were accepted locally unless, and until, traffic volumes make these informal arrangements impractical. There was a also a presumption from the outset that county lanes were not widened. This was a particularly strong position in the New Forest where the highway limit was the edge of the bound highway surface although the County Council did have responsibility for the first metre of the verge for maintenance reasons. Widening of, and realignment of, lanes could encourage higher speeds and the undulating and sometimes twisty alignment could act as speed constraints and the safety record of the rural county lane is relatively good. It is a challenge to retain the character and distinctiveness of our country lanes whilst at the same time enabling traffic usage. As such an array of traffic management techniques was required.

The country lanes of Hampshire give the County its sense of place and it was important that the character of these was maintained. The road structure was relatively fragile and very susceptible to extreme weather and traffic loading. The challenge was to manage the traffic in a way that minimises the impact on country lanes. This was achieved by striking a balance between the conflicting demands and applying appropriate traffic management physical measures where appropriate.

RESOLVED:

That the report be received and noted.

The Chairman invites the Executive Member for Environment to update the Committee on work in progress on the Minerals Plan at the next meeting

The Chairman communicates the review report to the Executive Member for Environment

The Scrutiny Officer arranges for copies of the report to be circulated to stakeholders.

The Director of the Environment presents reports on the costings of the Yellow Bus Scheme, the Scottish approach to the Bus Subsidy scheme and Transport Forums be presented to a future meeting of the Committee.

The Scrutiny Officer adds these to the Work Programme.