Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were noted from Councillors Rhydian Vaughan and Sarah Pankhurst and the Chairman welcomed Councillor Graham Burgess, in attendance as the Conservative Substitute and Councillor Malcolm Wallace, in attendance as the Substitute Member for the Independent Group.

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 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 Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 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.

No declarations were made.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and agreed.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

No deputations were received on this occasion.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

There were no formal announcements.

To consider a report from the Universal Services Task & Finish Working Group, which looked at the savings proposals to be taken to Cabinet.

The Committee received a report (item 7 in the minute book) presenting the recommendations of the cross-party Working Group formed to scrutinise the approach and outcomes of the Stage 2 consultation in relation to Savings Programme 2025 proposals within the remit of the Universal Services Select Committee.

The Chairman on the Task and Finish Group, Councillor Jackie Branson, introduced the report, noting that the working group agreed that mitigations should be considered as much as possible across all of the streams.

The working group report would be included in the packs of future meetings so the specific points raised for each stream could be considered.

RESOLVED:

The Universal Services Select Committee noted:

·         That the cross-party Working Group held four meetings between 5 January and 22 May 2024 and had the opportunity to discuss the consultation process and the consultation feedback.

·         That following this scrutiny the Working Group unanimously agreed that the Consultation had been a comprehensive process which had given residents the information and opportunity to make reasoned responses and that it provided the County Council with sufficient information to consider the impacts of the proposals on the residents of Hampshire.

·         The Working Group’s observations, questions, and recommendations outlined in paragraphs 22 – 39 and considers these while scrutinising final proposals and formulating feedback and recommendations to Cabinet. In particular that:

o   In respect of the proposals to remove school patrol crossings that as part of any review care is taken to ensure the costs of introducing safety measures do not exceed any savings and that all necessary highways works to improve safety (such as new crossings) are in place before the related patrol is removed to reduce potential safety impacts. In addition, the Select Committee may wish to scrutinise potential impacts arising from the loss of the social value of school crossing patrols over and above their traffic management function.

o   In respect of the impacts relating to street lighting proposals that the County Council should when receiving requests to vary lighting in individual locations consider other factors such as personal security/safety and travel safety and not just consider specific crime or road accident statistical data in determining requests.

o   That should HWRCs be closed that remaining ones do not also have reduced operating hours to avoid an accumulation of impact and that before final decisions are made the cost of closing and decommissioning sites should be fully scrutinised together with a detailed capacity plan for peak times and a highways impact and residents journey length and time assessment.

o   For Countryside parking a business case should be prepared.

o   That a further impact assessment on the passenger transport proposals (paragraph 30) should be considered by the Select Committee before scrutiny of these proposals and any recommendation is made to Cabinet.

o   The need for a clear and simple communications strategy in respect of the Highways (Planned) Maintenance Reduction proposal and the reduction in winter services.

To pre-scrutinise the following SP25 savings proposals going to Cabinet:

-       Highways Maintenance (Appendix 1 for Cabinet)

-       Rural Parking (Appendix 5 for Cabinet)

The Committee received a report from the Director of Universal Services (item 7 in the minute book), providing the Draft Report to Cabinet and proposals prepared by Officers.

The two streams were considered separately at the meeting and can be found under items 7a (Highways Maintenance) and 7b (Rural Parking) in the minute book.

The Highways Maintenance proposals and Equality Impact Assessment.

The Committee considered the Cabinet appendix on Highways Maintenance (item 7a in the minute book), which was summarised by the Director of Universal Services.

In response to Members questions it was heard that:

·         The amount paid by Hampshire residents for tax and fossil fuel levy (FFL) was not included in the report due to it being a complicated formula with assumptions required and not being within the remit of the decision.

·         The County Council worked hard to keep utility companies accountable for work done on the highway

·         The majority of the £7.5million was ring-fenced but did not prevent seeking further grant money to assist.

·         Repairs and maintenance done on the highway was prioritised on a safety basis with surveys completed each year. Further work would be done with the communications team to help further explain to the public the criteria behind roadworks and why some were prioritised over others.

RESOLVED:

The Select Committee supported the following recommendations to Cabinet:

·         To note the outcome of the 2024 Future Services Consultation in relation to the proposal to reduce the annual highway maintenance for planned maintenance activities by £7.5 million from April 2025.

·         That Cabinet approves the reduction in the annual highway maintenance budget for planned maintenance activity by £7.5 million from April 2025.

The Rural Parking proposals and Equality Impact Assessment.

The Committee considered the Cabinet appendix on Rural Parking (item 7b in the minute book), which was summarised by the Director of Universal Services.

In response to Members questions it was heard that:

·         Income from the proposed parking charges would be invested in maintaining the sites, as well as funding the wider countryside portfolio.

·         In response to concerns about the costs to introduce and enforce the proposed parking charges, it was confirmed that the parking facilities were already in place and any necessary spend to enable the introduction of charges was minimal. It was further noted that the introduction of Automatic Numberplate Recognition (ANPR) or CCTV provision at the sites noted in the report was not within scope of the initial proposals.

·         To keep proposals inline with other sites, there were no plans to introduce concessionary parking

·         Subject to Cabinet decision, a pilot scheme would be looked at and could be a something assessed as part of the Universal Services Select Committee work programme.

A vote was held on the recommendations made within the report, which were agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED:

The Select Committee supported the following recommendations to Cabinet:

·         To note the outcome of the 2024 Future Services Consultation in relation to the proposals on Rural Countryside Parking.

·         Implementation of charging at rural countryside car parking sites wholly owned by the Council with 20 or more spaces where commercially viable from April 2025, with a phased introduction to allow supporting infrastructure to be put in place.

·         Implementation of charging at rural countryside car parking sites in joint ownership with the Council and/or under 20 spaces where commercially viable. This may include consolidation of sites within a local area, or expansion of existing sites.

·         Where implemented, charges at rural countryside car parking sites would be reviewed annually and amended in accordance with the current pricing policy (as amended from time to time).

·         Income from car parking charging would contribute to the costs to Hampshire County Council of managing Hampshire Countryside Sites.

·         That authority is delegated to the Director of Universal Services, in consultation with the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services, to progress and make any necessary arrangements to implement these decisions.

The Executive Lead Member for Universal Services was invited to address the meeting, who thanked Committee for its thorough consideration on the two elements of the saving programme, noting that Cabinet would give full consideration of the recommendations of the Committee.