Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were noted from Councillors Barry Dunning, David Drew, Rupert Kyrle and Sarah Pankhurst. The Chairman welcomed Councillor Juliet Henderson, in attendance as the Conservative Substitute, Councillor Martin Tod, as the Liberal Democrat Substitute and Councillor Malcolm Wallace, 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 Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 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 receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

The Select Committee received no public deputations but welcomed Councillor Jackie Porter, who spoke as a local Member on item 5b of the agenda, Passenger Transport.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman noted the report of the working group, which was received at the previous meeting. Councillor Jackie Branson, Chairman of the working group, was invited to make comment on behalf of the working group. Members heard that a significant amount of time had been spent considering the feedback received through the public consultation on the items before brought forward for scrutiny and the meeting. It was further heard that the working group, had acknowledged that winter services for highways had not been reviewed for many years and that there had been changes in road and highway usage which may necessitate change to the service.

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

-       Highways winter services (Appendix 2 for Cabinet)

-       Passenger Transport (Appendix 3 for Cabinet)

The Committee received a report from the Director of Universal Services (item 5 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 5a (Highways Winter Service) and 5b (Passenger Transport) in the minute book.

The Highways winter services proposals and Equality Impact Assessment.

The Committee considered the Cabinet appendix on Highways Winter Services (item 5a in the minute book), which was summarised by the Director of Universal Services.

In response to Members questions it was heard that:

• The last major review of the service was undertaken in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s.
• Hampshire County Council had never been outside of compliance with national guidance, however the local network had grown considerably since the previous review.
• The proposals presented would provide for what was needed to be treated only, and had been driven principally by guidance from central government as service provision was currently in excess of national requirements.
• Road classification, traffic usage and topography were taken into consideration when determining routes.
• The proposal to delegate authority to the Director of Universal Services would allow operational decisions to be made effectivity, in line with national guidance. Any changes would be notified to Members, so that they could inform local residents.
• Grit spreading treatment was noted to travel onto footpaths as well as covering roadways. The priority for winter treatment was carriageways, with footpaths not in scope of the consultation, however it was noted that freezing events were generally of such a short duration it was not practical to salt most footpaths, as the frost melts naturally.
• Priority two and community routes were treated subject to resources during significant freezing events. There was no clear national guidance for secondary and community routes, and therefore provision was made through local choice.

Following comments from Members it was agreed that the Chairman would write to Cabinet and make a suggestion on behalf of the Select Committee that relevant local member/s be involved in the development of proposed revisions to Priority Two and Community Route treatment networks, before decisions are taken under the proposed delegated authority to the Director of Universal Services. It was recognised by the Committee that this must be undertaken proportionately and within officer resource capacity. Further the Select Committee proposed to include a review of the revisions to the Priority Two and Community routes to its work programme for the forthcoming year.

Following the Committee’s suggestion, the Director of Universal Services agreed to engage with and inform local members on proposed revisions to Priority Two and Community Route treatment networks.

RESOLVED:

That the Select Committee support the following recommendations to Cabinet:

That Cabinet approves the following recommendations:

1.    To note the outcome of the 2024 Future Services Consultation in relation to the proposal to reduce the annual budget for Highways Winter Services by £1 million.

2.    That Hampshire County Council undertakes a review and then updates its Highway Winter Services in consideration of changes to travelling behaviours and recent updates to national guidance. The review and subsequent implementation are predicted to provide annual budget savings of £1 million from April 2025. This would be achieved through the revision and implementation of revised winter service treatment routes developed in accordance with current national guidelines, as well as through operational efficiency savings arising from the changes.

3.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

The Passenger Transport proposals and Equality Impact Assessment.

The Committee considered the Cabinet appendix on Passenger Transport (item 5b in the minute book), which was summarised by the Director of Universal Services.

The Chairman thanked the Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care and Children and Young People Select Committees for their letters on this matter, which had been appended to the reports.

Councillor Martin Tod declared a non-pecuniary interest as the Leader of Winchester City Council, who were noted as co-founders in report.

In response to Members questions it was heard that:

• The use of local community transport schemes was offered as a mitigating measure and Members questioned how these services might expand.
• Additional school runs would be operated by community transport only where it would be practical and not all vehicles would have a school route assigned.

·         The current booking software for community transport was 25 years old. Funding had be awarded to Solent Transport Future, following a successful bid to the transport zone funding, to introduce a new booking system. The new system would enable services to be operated more effectively and allow for the combination of routes and would provide details of how many people travelled on each service per hour.

• The proposals sought only to remove services where it would not have a consequential impact on transport for schools.
• If the proposals were approved, officers would be seeking new tenders from community transport to provide routes to local hospitals wherever possible.

·         It was recognised that the withdrawal of the concessionary pass for carers and the use of passes before 9am for older persons would require them to pay for fares, however it was noted that the current fare cap meant the cost for a single bus journey was set at £2.

·         How many users to be impacted by the changes to community transport scheme, to be available during school hours. Basingstoke has a more extensive service than other areas, but many do not provide the travel service before 9am.

·         It was noted that the impact of these changes would be more disproportionate for rural communities, however, with one exception, community transport schemes were contracted to operate across entire district and borough areas, not just larger towns and cities.

·         and the funding has now been confirmed by the new government to be used for the new booking software for community transport.

Councillor Branson proposed an amendment to the recommendations, to replace those proposed in the officer’s report, which was seconded by Councillor Juliet Henderson:

That the Select Committee support the following two recommendations made by officers to the Cabinet, set out in Appendix 3:

1. To note the outcome of the 2024 Future Services Consultation in relation to the proposals on the future of the Passenger Transport provision.

2. To note the changes to the proposals that were set out in the Future Services Consultation, as detailed within this report as a result of the responses received.

And that the Select Committee further recommends that:

3. In view of the representations received from the Chairmen  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.