Agenda and minutes

·         John Bonney & Andy Bowers – Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service

·         Councillor Tony Briggs – Havant Borough Council

·         Councillor Trevor Cartwright & Peter Grimwood – Fareham Borough Council

·         Councillor Ferris Cowper – East Hampshire District Council

·         Councillor Ken Crookes – Hart District Council

·         Simon Eden – Winchester City Council

·         Dr Hugh Freeman – representing Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Groups

·         Geoff French, EM3 Local Enterprise Partnership

·         Julian Johnson & Alison Barnes – New Forest National Park Authority

·         Gill Kneller – representing Sandy Hopkins, Chief Executive of East Hampshire District and Havant Borough Councils

·         Councillor Michael Lane – Gosport Borough Council

·         Ally Lee-Dudley, Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium

·         Andrew Lloyd, Rushmoor Borough Council

·         Andy Marsh – Hampshire Police

·         Lt. Col. Philip Mileham – representing the Armed Forces

·         Councillor Roy Perry, Andrew Smith & Debbie Vaughan – Hampshire County Council

·         Councillor Royston Smith, Chairman of Hampshire Fire & Rescue Authority

·         Roger Tetstall – Test Valley Borough Council

·         Councillor Clive Sanders & Laura Taylor, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council

·         Date Yates – New Forest District Council

Apologies were received from:

·         Dawn Baxendale, Chief Executive, Southampton City Council

·         Councillor Ian Carr, Leader, Test Valley Borough Council

·         Tim Colman, Federation of Small Businesses (Wessex Branch)

·         Tony Curtis, Chief Executive, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council –    represented by Laura Taylor, Director of Governance & Commissioning

·         Gillian Finch, Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium – represented by Ally Lee-Dudley

·         Debbie Fleming, NHS England (Wessex Area Team)

·         Sandy Hopkins, Chief Executive, East Hampshire District, and Havant Borough Councils
Councillor Keith House, Leader, Eastleigh Borough Council

·         Councillor Simon Letts, Leader, Southampton City Council

·         Steven Lugg, Chief Executive, Hampshire Association of Local Councils

·         Ian Lycett, Chief Executive, Gosport Borough Council

·         Councillor Peter Moyle, Leader, Rushmoor Borough Council

·         Councillor Barry Rickman, Leader, New Forest District Council

·         Nick Tustian, Chief Executive, Eastleigh Borough Council

·         Councillor Anne Winstanley, Hampshire Association of Local Councils

·         Councillor Keith Wood, Leader, Winchester City Council

The Chairman, Councillor Roy Perry, opened the meeting and the for the benefit of some first time attendees invited introductions from those present. The Chairman made a number of announcements as below.

Following the announcement that Debbie Fleming would be taking up the post of Chief Executive of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust on 1 April, Councillor Perry extended best wishes for the future and thanks for the contribution Debbie had made to the Partnership.  Felicity Cox would take up the post of Interim Area Director (Wessex) on 1 April and the Partnership looked forward to working with Felicity.

Councillor Perry reported on a recent meeting with representatives of the North Hampshire Hospitals Trust and suggested that they be invited to a future meeting of the Partnership to discuss the work they are doing to  provide services to communities in the north of the county.

Councillor Perry had written to colleagues regarding the retirement of Dame Mary Fagan, the Lord Lieutenant for Hampshire in September and confirmed that Hampshire County Council would be hosting an event on 9 September to recognise the outstanding commitment Dame Mary had made to Hampshire during her years of service.

Councillor Perry confirmed that a Rural Strategy paper prepared by Hampshire County Council would be circulated to District Council partners and Hampshire Police inviting their comments on proposals that may impact upon them.

Pertinent to the agenda item on flooding and recent events, Councillor Perry confirmed that a meeting was being convened with utility companies providing services to the Hampshire area.  Thanks were extended to all those who were involved in responding to the problems caused by the severe weather, many of whom were present.  Councillor Perry also confirmed that a frontline reception had been organised for 29 April 2014 at the Great Hall in Winchester to recognise the sterling work that had been done by all involved.

Karen and Neil will provide an update on the latest position with the Hampshire Broadband Project, supported by a briefing note. This will be followed by a discussion on the next steps, communication and how best to take forward issues around ‘hard to reach’ areas.

Karen Murray, Director of Culture, Communities and Business Services at Hampshire County Council introduced the previously circulated report providing progress with the Hampshire Superfast Broadband Programme to date including the latest position with match-funding by central government to that of local authorities in support of lifting the national availability of Superfast services to 95% - provisional allocation for Hampshire is £7.69m.  The Government had also announced a new ambition of 99% availability of Superfast services by 2018 however, presently it was not clear how this coverage could be achieved and that other solutions might be required for the final 5% to ensure that acceptable value-for-money was achieved.  The paper was supported by a presentation by Neil Jones, Assistant Director – Business Services, Hampshire County Council providing visual data mapping progress to date and discussing some of the communication issues and frequently asked questions.  It was noted that Phase One of the Programme remains ahead of schedule with Phase Two of the Programme due to start on schedule in April, which would result in an additional 8,000 premises able to access superfast broadband speeds.   The report Hampshire Broadband report and supporting presentation Hampshire Broadband presentation are available on The Hampshire Partnership website.

During the course of discussion, the importance of good communication and engagement was highlighted, particularly to reflect an effective partnership approach.  Attention was drawn to paragraph 5.3 of the report which set out a range of communications that were planned which included a community briefing event on 1 April 2014 with BT and Talk Talk for which approximately 100 people had indicated attendance.  As with Phase One of the Programme, a map for Phase Two based on location information confirmed by BT would be available on line this month. It was also noted that the Business Briefing sessions referred to in paragraph 5.4 of the report had been well received and there was merit in continuing with this approach.

Hampshire had experienced severe weather conditions over the last few months and the Partnership received three presentations delivered by John Bonney, Chief Fire Officer; Stuart Jarvis, Director of Economy, Transport and Environment; and Rob Carr, Joint Head of Finance which focussed on:

(a)       The unprecedented response activity by a wide range of partners including local authorities, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, Police, Armed Forces, voluntary organisations, Housing Associations and community groups to deal with flooding and associated issues.  The presentation is available on The Hampshire Partnership website Flooding response presentation.

(b)       Flood risk management, including the impact on the highway network, recovery measures and post recovery activity, and the role of the Lead Local Flood Authority.   The presentation is available on The Hampshire Partnership website Flood risk management presentation.  A leaflet providing details of the Hampshire Groundwater Pathfinder Proposition was circulated.

(c)        The availability of financial support schemes and other funding including support to homeowners, businesses, farming and local authorities.  The presentation is available on The Hampshire Partnership website Flood financial support schemes and other funding.

During the course of discussion the importance of learning the lessons regarding what worked well and identifying areas for improvement was highlighted and a series of de-briefings would be held, to which it was agreed Parish Councils should be invited to attend.  Some concern was expressed about the complexity of the guidance for the Business Support Scheme particularly in regard to determining loss of earnings.  In conclusion all agreed that the partnership working had been superb however, concern was expressed about the level of engagement by some of the utility companies for which there was room for improvement.  Councillor Perry confirmed that the utility companies had been invited to the meeting that was being convened, as referred to in paragraph 3 of these Minutes.

It was noted that the update of the Supporting Troubled Families Programme for Hampshire had been deferred and would be discussed at a future meeting.

None.

<INSERT DATES>

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

Schedule of Meetings 2014-15
10.30am
Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth II Court (Podium)
Hampshire County Council Offices, Winchester

·        Thursday 26 June 2014

·        Tuesday 23 September 2014

·        Tuesday 9 December 2014

·        Wednesday 4 March 2015