Agenda and minutes

§  Supt. Paul Bartolomeo – Hampshire Constabulary

§  Paul Bright – Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium

§  Councillor Brian Burchfield – Deputy Leader, Hart District Council

§  Councillor Trevor Cartwright – Leader, Fareham Borough Council

§  Tim Colman – Federation of Small Businesses (Wessex)

§  John Coughlan – Chief Executive, Hampshire County Council

§  Andy Ferrier – Test Valley Borough Council

§  Councillor Sandra Hawke – Test Valley Borough Council

§  Geoff Howsego – Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service

§  Councillor Keith Mans – Hampshire County Council

§  Councillor Roy Perry – Leader, Hampshire County Council

§  Steve Tilbury – Winchester City Council

§  Councillor Victoria Weston – Winchester City Council

§  Councillor Anne Winstanley – representing Eastleigh Borough Council and the Hampshire Association of Local Councils

Apologies were received from:

§  Alison Barnes – Chief Executive, New Forest National Park Authority

§  Councillor Michael Cheshire – Leader, Havant Borough Council

§  Councillor Ferris Cowper – Leader, East Hampshire District Council

§  Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre – Chairman, New Forest National Park Authority

§  Dave Curry – Chief Officer, Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service

§  Geoff French – Chairman, Enterprise M3 LEP

§  Dominic Hardy – NHS England (Wessex)

§  Councillor Keith House – Leader, Eastleigh Borough Council

§  Sandy Hopkins – Chief Executive, East Hampshire District and Havant Borough Councils

§  Bob Jackson – Chief Executive, New Forest District Council

§  Andrew Lloyd – Chief Executive, Rushmoor Borough Council

§  Steven Lugg – Chief Executive, Hampshire Association of Local Councils

§  Chief Constable Andy Marsh – Hampshire Constabulary

§  Councillor Peter Moyle – Leader, Rushmoor Borough Council

§  Councillor Barry Rickman – Leader, New Forest District Council

§  Councillor Stephen Parker – Leader, Hart District Council

Councillor Roy Perry welcomed everyone to the meeting.

James Strachan, Hampshire County Council’s Assistant Director of Research & Resources will give a presentation on progress with a Devolution deal for Hampshire.

The Hampshire Partnership received a Devolution update presentation from James Strachan, Assistant Director of Research & Resources at Hampshire County Council providing an update on devolution for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.  As a contextual backdrop, James outlined the national picture and the various devolution deals that had been secured to date followed by the journey for the 19 signatories to the Hampshire-wide Combined Authority bid, which was prepared and submitted in 72 days. 

The 19 signatories comprise: Hampshire County Council, the 11 District and Borough Councils, the three Unitary Councils of the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton and the two Local Enterprise Partnerships – M3 and Solent.  Strong support of Hampshire MPs is being provided by way of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight All-Party Parliamentary Group chaired by Ranil Jayawardena MP.

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has a population of 1.9m and is the gateway to the global economy.  It has five major airports, four leading universities, 80,000 businesses including major sectors such as aerospace, marine technology, pharma and science and has deep water ports of global significance.  It also has a world-class environment supporting the economy.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight has a number of challenging factors to contend with such as housing pressures, a transport system operating at capacity, a skills shortage and ageing workforce, an infrastructure gap which affects development and productivity below the South East average.  It also has the difficult task of balancing growth with environmental priorities.

A deal was therefore considered vital to see greater control over local priorities and services, and greater powers being devolved.  The benefits of the bid submitted would raise productivity to the South East average; see the implementation of 100% business rates retention from 2017; earlier delivery of 76,000 homes and 4,000 more in priority categories; provide a 10-year period of certainty in regard to infrastructure funding and provision of integrated business support, skills, training and welfare systems to support growth.

During the course of debate concern was expressed about the skills shortage and the effect that has on the economy and about housebuilding the importance of infrastructure provision to support the level of housebuilding and issues regarding the timely release of land by developers.  Deeper devolution to parish councils was also highlighted and the need to ensure that local businesses are fully engaged going forward.

The Partnership would be kept informed of the progress of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Combined Authority bid.

Stuart Jarvis, Hampshire County Council’s Director of Economy, Transport and Environment will give a presentation about preparations by Hampshire Highways and local communities to improve flood resilience together with an update on work being undertaken to minimise flood risk and how the new catchment- based approach to flood risk is helping to address the complex nature of flooding in Hampshire and overcome some of the challenges associated with the national funding formula.

The Hampshire Partnership received a Flood resilience presentation from Stuart Jarvis, Director of Economy, Transport and Environment at Hampshire County Council providing an update on winter preparations.

Stuart provided some contextual background of events nationally over the last few years as a result of extreme weather conditions such as Cockermouth in Cumbria due to unprecedented levels of rainfall in 2009 and again in 2015 with Storm Desmond: 5,000 properties damaged in its wake, the closure of main road and rail links and hundreds of homes without power.

Much work had been done by Hampshire Highways to minimise flood risk by identifying ‘wet spots’ during the Summer and Autumn for additional gully cleansing; extra emergency crews and tankers on standby when heavy rainfall is forecast and ensuring that the stock of sandbags is replenished.

Local communities also have an important role to play and it is essential that they take sensible precautions themselves to minimise risks. Robust Emergency Community Plans have been developed in partnership with Emergency Planning teams and the Fire and Police services; 53 plans are in place across Hampshire, which contain flood risk reduction measures, local leads and useful contacts.  A lot of work has also been carried out with landowners in respect of ditch clearing and maintenance of ordinary watercourses.

It was noted that engineering solutions in flood protection will always have a part to play and the County Council has invested £2.5m in local schemes and submitted 33 bids to the Environment Agency, 12 of which were successful.  The Government has also introduced a limited ‘small schemes’ pathfinder and Hampshire was one of six areas to secure funding of £77,000 to support initial work on a package of schemes in the Bourne Valley.  There is also the potential to resubmit to Government a groundwater pathfinder for funding on flood protection schemes.    It was also noted that Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service has more assets than in 2013, has access to neighbouring resources for major flooding should they be required and are as prepared as possible.

Ian Hoult, Hampshire County Council’s Head of Emergency Planning will give a presentation on the work undertaken in Hampshire to date in response to the Government’s resettlement programme for Syrian vulnerable persons.

The Hampshire Partnership received a Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme presentation from Ian Hoult, Head of Emergency Planning & Resilience at Hampshire County Council providing an update on the positive work being done collectively as the Hampshire response to the Government’s SVPRP.

Ian reported that the Programme was announced by the Prime Minister on 7 September 2015 to resettle 20,000 people in the UK from camps in Syria and border countries over a five year period, with 1,000 people in the first tranche prior to Christmas.  Eligibility criteria had been set and a process in place including medical screening prior to the commencement of a visa application process.  Richard Harrington MP has been appointed as the Minister leading on the programme. 

The Government has asked all UK Local Authorities to make an offer to host a number of refugees under the Programme and some local authorities, particularly in the north of England and mostly larger cities are well integrated into refugee programmes.  Two families will be resettled into Hampshire before Christmas.

The Partnership noted that there was strong political support for the Programme locally.  Learning from other Councils was important to see how they were dealing with challenges such as social integration, being mindful of the rurality of parts of Hampshire, and instances of negative press.

None

None

Tuesday 12 April (replaces the meeting previously scheduled for 29 February)

Tuesday 19 July 2016

Thursday 10 November 2016

All meetings will commence at 10.30am in the Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth II Court, The Castle, Winchester

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting of The Hampshire Partnership on 29 February 2016 would be postponed until 12 April with further meetings be agreed for 19 July and 10 November 2016. All meetings would commence at 10.30am in Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth II Court (Podium Level), Hampshire County Council, Winchester.