Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were noted from Cllr Bill Withers. Cllr Jan Warwick, the Conservative Substitute Member attended in his place.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

No Deputations were received.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

Waste Symposium Update

The Chairman announced that the proposed Waste Symposium that had been mentioned at a recent waste briefing had been postponed. The symposium was intended to discuss arrangements for the proposed Super Material Recovery Facility.  However, this had been put on hold until there was clarity on the implications of recent Government announcements regarding a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, as announced by Michael Gove in March, and the intention of the Government to transpose into UK legislation the higher recycling targets set out in the Circular Economy Framework that the EU Council adopted on May 22nd.

The Director of Economy, Transport, and Environment and his team were continuing to work with all our waste partners, and would be taking an update on these issues and the finding of their recent 1:1 discussions with all partners at the HIOWLGA AGM on 15th June.

ETE Public Consultation

The Chairman announced that the Economy, Transport, and Environment Department would be conducting an eight week public consultation from the 11th June to the 5th August.  This was a secondary consultation, following the initial consultation on proposals for Transformation to 2019 last year.   This time, the focus would be on two specific areas, namely on proposals to make savings through the following measures:

-    Introducing part night lighting in some areas of the county

-    Changes to the support provided by the County Council for public transport

-    Changes to the administration of the National Concessionary Fares Scheme in Hampshire.

The County Council would be promoting the consultation with the district and parish councils, and the voluntary sector through targeted letters, engagement sessions and events, and the local transport forums; and the opportunity to respond both online and in hard format was being promoted through press releases and social media.

For the Select Committee to pre-scrutinise a report regarding a review of the residential 20mph speed limit pilot programme. The report is due to be considered by the Executive Member for Environment & Transport at his Decision Day at 2pm on 5 June 2018.

The Select Committee received a report on behalf of the Director of Economy Transport & Environment, regarding a review of 20mph speed limit pilot schemes (see Item 6 in the Minute Book). The report was due to be considered by the Executive Member for Environment and Transport at his decision day later that day.

Members heard that fourteen 20mph speed limit pilot schemes had been implemented since 2012. The review demonstrated there had been an average reduction in speed in those areas of 0.4mph. This was consistent with national research on signed only speed limits. There had been no impact on casualty rates.

Members asked questions for clarification and discussed the findings of the review. Members heard that in the areas where there were reductions this was likely to be where people were driving close to the 20mph speed limit beforehand. It was noted that these schemes were based on signage only. 20mph Zones were different and involved traffic calming measures.

It was noted that the recommendation to the Executive Member was to leave the existing pilot schemes in place, but not implement further schemes.

It was noted that the Police prioritise enforcement of speed limits based on where there is evidence of risk. The policy of the County Council was also to focus our limited resources on evidence based interventions which would have the greatest impact on casualty reduction. If an area of road was reported by residents as dangerous, officers would look into it and give their professional opinion.

Some Members commented that if residents were concerned about speed, an option available to them was to set up a speedwatch group. Other Members commented that speed limits signal the socially acceptable limit and should be used to encourage a culture of lower speeds.

Cllr Simpson proposed amended recommendations to the Executive Member for Environment and Transport as follows:

That the Executive Member for Environment and Transport notes the

evaluation of recent Residential 20mph Speed Limit Pilots and agrees that  that the existing schemes will be retained.

That any future speed limit schemes will be prioritised in accordance with the Traffic Management policy approved in 2016.

This was put to the vote but not carried with 4 in favour and 10 against.

The Chairman proposed the recommendation as given in the cover report. This was put to the vote and carried with 4 against and 10 in favour:

RECOMMENDED:

That the Economy, Transport and Environment Select Committee support the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Member for Environment

and Transport in section 1 (page 1) of the report.

For the Select Committee to pre-scrutinise a report regarding a proposed permit scheme for works on the Highway. The report is due to be considered by the Executive Member for Environment & Transport at his Decision Day at 2:00pm on 5 June 2018.

The Select Committee received a report and supporting presentation on behalf of the Director of Economy Transport & Environment, regarding proposals to develop a Highways Permit Scheme for managing street works in Hampshire (see Item 7 in the Minute Book). The report was due to be considered by the Executive Member for Environment and Transport at his decision day later that day.

Members heard that the County Council has a duty to co-ordinate works on the highway, and those undertaking the works have a duty to work with the County Council. Central Government was encouraging Councils to move to Permit schemes for managing works rather than noticing schemes. Hampshire County Council currently operated a noticing scheme but was proposing to develop a permit scheme. This would enable the County Council to charge a fee for permits for working on the highway, to cover the additional costs incurred in co-ordinating the works. It was also possible to impose fines if companies fail to comply with the conditions of their permit, whereas if companies don’t comply with notices the Council usually have to take them to court for the original offence.

The evidence from other authorities that had moved to permit schemes indicated that it could also result in around a 5% reduction in the overall number of works. The proposed Hampshire scheme would apply to all works, including the County Councils works, but permit charges would be minimal to zero for works that would have little impact on traffic. The intention behind the permit scheme is to manage congestion impacts and minimise traffic disruption. There would also be a discount offered if companies voluntarily offer innovative ways of working to reduce congestion impact.

Members asked questions for clarification and discussed the proposals. It was noted that co-ordinating works of developers could be challenging, as the legislation strictly didn’t cover them. It was noted that if approved, it would be planned to roll out the permit scheme in April 2019.

RECOMMENDED:

That the Economy, Transport and Environment Select Committee support the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Member for Environment

and Transport in section 1 (page 1) of the report.

To receive a presentation providing an update on work to tackle fly tipping since the approval of the Fly Tipping Strategy in March 2017.

The Select Committee received a presentation on behalf of the Director of Economy Transport & Environment providing an update on tackling fly tipping (see Item 8 in the Minute Book). It was noted that a strategy regarding fly tipping had been agreed in 2017, and an officer appointed in August 2017 to co-ordinate work on this.

It was reported that overall the tonnage of fly tipped waste had decreased, although reporting of incidents had increased. Due to a successful funding bid the County Council was due to start using covert surveillance cameras to catch fly tippers, with a pilot planned at Yateley Common.

Joint Operations had been run with a range of organisations including the Police where all cars were stopped at a particular stretch of road. A number of misdemeanors were identified with fines issued. The fly tipping officer had a place on the Police Rural Crime Partnership and would use this to increase the profile of fly tipping issues, and would also be attending a national fly tipping prevention group. An Intelligence and Enforcement Working Group had also been formed including representatives from Hampshire Local Authorities, and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council had appointed a dedicated fly tipping officer.

The County Council was building a case to prosecute a serial fly tipper and providing training for trading standards officers about fly tipping. A social media video had also been created to promote messages about using reputable waste collection companies.

Members commented on the disparity in flytip tonnage across the districts, and requested future updates include the number of incidents as well as an alternative measure. It was responded that the data on tonnage was more reliable than the data on incidents. Information on the material being fly tipped was also requested.

A Member asked if traders were fly tipping waste due to lack of opportunities for commercial waste disposal. It was responded that there were plenty of places that take trade waste, the motivation was more likely to avoid the cost of disposing of waste that way.

A Member asked if fly tipping had gone up since the introduction of charges for certain types of waste at Household Waste Recycling Centres. It was responded that the evidence to date was that it had gone down.

RESOLVED:

The update be noted, and the topic remain on the work programme for a further update in future.  

To consider the work programme of topics to be considered by this Select Committee in future.

The Chairman presented the work programme for the Economy Transport & Environment Select Committee and invited Members to email any topic suggestions to himself and the supporting Democratic and Member Services Officer.

Cllr Tod requested an update on the Walking and Cycling Strategies, with a preference for the cycling strategy sooner. The Chairman agreed to look in to it with officers.

RESOLVED:

The Work Programme be agreed, subject to any amendments made at this meeting.