Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the CABINET of the HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Monday, 27 July 2009.

PRESENT:

Chairman:

p Councillor T.K. Thornber, CBE

Also present with the agreement of the Chairman:

Councillors: K Chapman, P.R. Edgar; K. Evans; K. Mans, Mrs S Wheale and Mrs P. West

13 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

None.

14 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 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. The declaration to be made at the time of the relevant debate. No such declarations were declared.

15 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 June were confirmed as a correct record.

16 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Chairman requested that confidential papers included with the agenda be returned to the Chief Executive at the end of the meeting.

17 SOUTH EAST HAMPSHIRE BUS RAPID TRANSIT SCHEME: PHASE 1 FAREHAM - GOSPORT (LESS EXEMPT APPENDIX)

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Director of Environment (Item 5 in the Minute Book) seeking approval to continue to the implementation and delivery stage of the Bus Rapid Transit scheme, subject to planning permission being granted. Cabinet noted that a condition of the £20m funding from the government's Community Infrastructure Fund 2 (CIF2) was completion of the scheme by 31 March 2011, which imposed a tight timescale for the County Council to deliver the project. However, the Director of Environment explained that following a tender exercise a preferred bidder had been identified and subject to planning permission could be on site immediately, with construction works commencing in the autumn.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 1.

18 HAMPSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK AND FUTURE WASTE MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Director of Environment (Item 6 in the Minute Book) proposing approval of the Minerals and Waste Development Framework approach and evaluation of further waste infrastructure options with Veolia aimed at eliminating the landfilling of residual waste. The Director of Environment reported relevant minerals planning matters since the Council's approval of the Minerals Plan in July 2008. A successful application had come forward for the Plumley Wood site near Ringwood, an appeal decision was expected within a few months on a site near Milford on Sea (which was not included in the Plan) and a planning application was expected shortly in respect of the Kingsley Quarry site.

The recommendations set out in the report were agreed and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 2.

19 SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES ACT 2007

The Director of Environment circulated a briefing note (Item 7 in the Minute Book) outlining the consultation response on the County Council's proposed submission under the Sustainable Communities Act. The Director explained that of the 5000 residents surveyed, 1003 responses had been received, with 67% supportive of the proposed submission, 8% against and 25% not specifying a preference. A consultation with local councils through a report to a recent meeting of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Authorities (HIOWLA), had resulted in almost unanimous support but a minor amendment to the submission had been requested, that planning powers be held by the `most appropriate local authority'. Letters of support had been received from Essex County Council, Kent County Council and two Hampshire MPs, and a further letter of support was expected from Hertfordshire County Council. On balance, Cabinet agreed to continue with the original wording but to clarify the intention for full involvement of district councils in the planning process in the submission. The Director sought guidance on the response to a particular question.

RESOLVED:

That authority be delegated to the Director of Environment to finalise and submit by 31 July 2009 the County Council's submission under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007.

20 FUTURE USE OF OAK FARM COMMUNITY SCHOOL SITE

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) concerning the future community use of the school site and the wider context in respect of Building Schools for the Future in this area. During the discussion, the Cabinet noted that work was in progress to explore the options for the site post August 2011.

Cabinet approved the recommendations set out in the report subject to the following amendments:

· Third recommendation - deletion of the word "(Education)"

· Forth recommendation - additional of the word "partnership" before "funding"

The decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 3.

21 INTERIM ARRANGEMENTS TO SUPPORT THE COUNCILLOR CALL FOR ACTION - DRAFT PROTOCOL

Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive (Item 9 in the Minute Book) recommending approval of a Protocol to support the Councillor Call for Action (CCfA). The Chief Executive explained that, following discussion at a recent meeting, the Policy and Resources Select Committee had supported the proposed Protocol and had commented that it would formalise practice already adopted by Members when responding to constituents queries.

During the discussion Cabinet raised several issues of concern including the need to emphasize that members should use the CCfA only after exhausting the usual management processes, and that CCfA issues should not be referred to Hampshire Action Teams, as they did not have an executive remit. Cabinet resolved to defer the decision for further exploration of the above points as well as consideration of a communications strategy.


A decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 4.

22 CONSULTATION RESPONSE ON "PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE DELIVERY OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES' AND FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITIES' FREEDOMS AND FLEXIBILITIES AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE AREA ASSESSMENT"

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Executive regarding the County Council's proposed response to the consultation. Cabinet expressed concern in respect of the proposal to merge Rights of Way improvement plans with Local Transport Plans. Cabinet also considered that local government should be free from unnecessary burdens such as the Charging for Residential Accommodation Guide (CRAG). It was agreed that these two issues would be outlined in a covering letter.

Cabinet also agreed the following amendments to the proposed response:-

· Page 6 - Within the section headed `General Comments', the following sentence was removed: "The Freedom to not have this anchor document has never been exercised for these reasons."

· Page 7 - The section entitled `Council tax capping' was reworded as follows:

Improve accountability by giving the Council the freedom to set Council Tax after local consultation.

· Page 8 - The sections entitled `PFI credits' and `Capital allocations' were merged and reworded as follows:

Creating a level playing field in capital allocations as the current funding system is haphazard in its impact depending upon the approach of individual Government departments. At present there is a mixture of capital grant, borrowing allocations and private finance initiative schemes.

Revenue support is therefore distorted depending upon the choice of funding stream. Local authorities at the revenue grant floor are further disadvantaged and may not be able to take up the full borrowing allocations because there is no marginal grant increase support to finance those.

The Government should introduce a more level playing field for capital allocations which are not dependent upon the funding stream and leave local authorities to determine their own best value financing options in accordance with the prudential code on borrowing.

Cabinet agreed the proposed consultation response, subject to the amendments outlined above. The decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 5.

23 2008/09 - END OF YEAR FINANCIAL REPORT

Cabinet considered and approved the report of the County Treasurer (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on the 2008/09 final accounts. The County Treasurer highlighted key points within the report including the overall underspend of £5.1m which could be used for one-off investment or to reduce the projected County Tax increase of 3.8% in 2011/12. During the discussion it was noted that the formula grant for 2010/11 would remain unchanged. However, the formula grant for 2011/12 was unknown and a 2.3% cut on local government spending was expected would could result in a cash freeze or reduction.


Cabinet approved the recommendations as set out in the report and the decision record is attached to the minutes as Appendix 6.

24 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED:

That in relation to the following items the press and public be excluded from the meeting, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of proceedings, that if a member of the public were present during the items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exempt information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the report.

25 SOUTH EAST HAMPSHIRE BUS RAPID TRANSIT SCHEME: PHASE 1 FAREHAM - GOSPORT (EXEMPT APPENDIX)

Cabinet considered and approved the exempt report of the Director of Environment (Item 12 in the Minute Book) which contained exempt information relating to the South East Hampshire Bus Rapid Transit Scheme.