Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

All Members were present and no apologies were noted.

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

Under matters arising it was confirmed that the letter from the Leader regarding the Government Waste Strategy Consultation had been circulated to Members. The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

There were no deputations for the meeting.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

Councillor Humby was welcomed to the meeting and congratulated on his new role as the Deputy Leader. The Chairman also confirmed that a Cabinet meeting was scheduled for the 17 June, which would focus on climate change.

To pre-scrutinise a report regarding the consultation on the Draft National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy launched by the Government on 9 May 2019, prior to decision of the Executive Member for

Environment and Transport in the afternoon.

The Committee considered a presentation and report from Simon Cramp,  Environmental Initiatives Manager (item 6 in the minute book), which asked Committee to scrutinise the consultation on the Draft National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy launched by the Government on 9 May 2019.

The officer described how climate change predictions indicated that the UK will experience wetter winters and drier summers, with an increased likelihood of more intense rainfall leading to flooding. Additionally, the continuing sea level rise and increased storminess will have profound impacts for the coastline. The scale of potential future flooding and coastal change is significant and therefore the Risk Management Strategy was created to help alleviate the concerns.

The Strategy was an ambitious agenda for the County Council requiring a great deal of strategic planning to influence the direction of the strategy.

A great deal of investment had been made since 2014, with £6 million being spent in Buckskin and £6.6 million in Romsey, largely paid for by the County Council due to lack of government funding. More was expected across the County going forward.

During questions, members learned that:

·         A coordinated approach was important going forward, working with the Flood Committees;

·         Water management was important and water bodies attended and participated in the Regional Flood and Coastal Committees. Their focus was on reducing demand rather than increasing supply;

·         Lots of areas of Hampshire would be looked at and assessed, including Lepe and Lymington;

·         It was important to ensure that alleviating risk in one area did not create a funnel effect and cause potential issues elsewhere, so investing in infrastructure and resilience was crucial;

·         Natural flood management proposals were being looked at, which would be lower cost to the County Council;

Members acknowledged that flooding and climate change was an issue that affected everyone and something that needed prioritisation.

RESOLVED:

The Economy, Transport and Environment Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Member for Environment and Transport in paragraphs 2-4 (page 1) of the attached report; being:

a)    That the Executive Member for Environment and Transport notes the content and potential impacts of the Government’s consultation on the Draft National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy and endorses the key principles to form a basis for the County Council’s detailed response, as set out in paragraphs 13-24 of the supporting report.

b)    That the Executive Member for Environment and Transport approves the next steps for submission set out in the supporting report.

c)    That authority is delegated to the Director of Economy, Transport, and Environment to make all necessary arrangements to approve and submit the detailed response to Government in consultation with the Executive Member for Environment and Transport.

To receive a presentation regarding fly-tipping and for the Select Committee to be updated following it previously being discussed at the June 2018 meeting.

The Select Committee received a presentation from Gareth Roberts, Senior Project Officer (item 7 in the minute book) with an update on the reduction and management of fly-tipping in Hampshire.

Members learned that a recent arrest had been made for fly-tipping on a large scale through organised crime with several vehicles seized.

Through Joint Operations with partners such as the Environment Agency and Hampshire Constabulary, 600 vehicles were stop-checked in 2018, which was well received by the public. CCTV had also been installed across several Hampshire areas to discourage offenders, with signs put up as a deterrent.

The Intelligence and Enforcement Working Group had continued to meet on a quarterly basis. The group included various partners and was an opportunity to discuss best practice and share intelligence. It was also where new ideas and schemes were discussed and agreed.

The number of reported incidents appeared to have increased according to the Project Integra chart, but in some events this was due to changes in the way some local authorities had recorded incidents. A recent media campaign[1] had encouraged people to check waste collectors were licensed, along with report fly-tipping and whilst there had been more reports, the tonnage of fly-tipping had decreased according to 2017/18 figures.

Officers had been liaising with private land owners to ensure that any material fly-tipped on their land was left alone and reported so that evidence could be gathered to assist with investigation and secure convictions. There had also been extensive engagement with HALC (Hampshire Association of Local Councils) to support Parish Councils with initiatives in their local areas.

During questions, Members learned that:

·         Research was being done to try and improve the recording process with fly-tipping and discount duplicate reports, as done with Highways and potholes;

·         The tonnage data for 2018/19 was currently being processed and anticipated to be available in November 2019;

·         CCTV was approximately £180 with signage costs in addition;

·         There was nothing specific to fly-tipping under the Magistrate Sentencing Guidelines and so the criteria for prosecutions varied, meaning evidence was crucial to ascertain convictions.

Officers were thanked for their hard work and Councillor Humby was thanked for championing the work and progress to date.

Members agreed that a further update be added to the Work Programme for June 2020.

To receive an update on strategic transport matters for Economy, Transport and Environment; including Transport for the South East and the Transforming Cities Fund.

Cllr Kyrle left the meeting

The Select Committee received a presentation from Keith Wilcox, Assistant Director of Transport; David Wilson, Head of Implementation and Frank Baxter, Head of Integrated Transport (item 8 in the minute book) on strategic transport.

Members learned that everyday in Hampshire 450,000 people drove to work with 96% of daily journeys being made on roads, cycle ways and footways. The roads in Hampshire stretched 5344 miles. The highway network was the life blood of the economy and therefore it was crucial it was well maintained.

The Transport for South East (TfSE) was a regional transport strategy that covered 7.5 million people and two national parks (slide 7). It supported good economic growth and enabled joined-up proposals to be investigated for greater benefit across the south. Hampshire also worked closely with the Solent and EM3 LEPs on economic strategies, which supplied a lot of funding to Hampshire County Council major projects.

Passenger transport was another large area for strategic transport with 31millions bus passengers, 91,000 Dial-A-Ride trips per annum and a recorded 250,000 concessionary pass holders (slide 11). Hampshire had been the first Shire County to release a contactless payment option on buses, and there had been 5 million contactless journeys to date. There had been a big development with journey planning and real time technology, and with the installation off WiFi on many services, it was making public transport more desirable than ever before.

Members were taken through the process of major schemes and how they are planned and implemented, with the Gosport BRT and Botley Bypass used as examples (slides 16 and 18). Officers also discussed the details behind specific works like the Basingstoke BRT and Waterside, as part of the proposed port expansion (slide 23).

Looking ahead, there were considerations regarding the LTP and whether it needed updating to accommodate policy and governance changes effecting highways, funding and the environment as a whole. (slide 31).

Officers and Members were pleased that there had been some great successes over recent years, but acknowledged the need to be agile, flexible, commercial and innovative in changing times with a changing agenda.

During questions, Members learned:

·         Local roads were also taken into account when doing major schemes and improved if necessary;

·         Work was continuing regarding the adoption of private roads where applicable.;

·         Research was still being done on the details and benefits to the location of the M3/M4 link road;

·         Local cycling and walking plans were incorporated into the local strategies;

·         Highways England had concluded that the improvements proposed for Junction 6 of the M3 had cost benefits but traffic conditions had also improved;

·         There were bids planned to help connectivity across Basingstoke and work would continue.

Officers were thanked for their presentation and hard work and for maintaining Hampshire’s high profile with the highways work. Councillor Humby congratulated Stuart Jarvis for his effective leadership.

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

The Select Committee considered the Work Programme (item 9 in the minute book) and several items were proposed to be added to the schedule:

·         Recycled products (James Potter and Veolia to present) – January 2020

·         Highways England presentation – January 2020

·         Review of street lighting and any connection with crime – June 2020.

·         Fly-tipping update – June 2020

RESOLVED:

The Economy, Transport and Environment Select Committee approved the attached work programme, with the inclusion of the subjects discussed at the meeting (listed above).