To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Diana Toynbee.

To receive details of any councillor nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Cllr Stef Simmons was present as the named substitute for Cllr Diana Toynbee.

To receive declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 13 November 2024.

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Documents containing questions received from members of the public and the responses given, plus supplementary questions and their respective responses were published as a supplement to the published agenda and papers.

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

No questions had been received from councillors.

To set out the progress to date on the development of the new Local Transport Plan (LTP) and seek comments from scrutiny.

The committee considered a report on the Local Transport Plan. The Chairperson introduced the officers to present the council’s report.

The principal points of the discussion are summarised below:

1. The Head of Transport and Access Services referenced the report as published in the papers and noted what the LTP development process is and the aim to have a draft LTP in place by the end of March prior to a period of public consultation.

2. The Chairperson asked what the risks of delay to the draft LTP timeline and what mitigations are in place.

3. The Service Director, Economy & Growth responded that the reason for delay to the programme is due to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was out to consultation following the General Election last year. The outcome of that was that housing numbers allocated to the county have risen significantly. Therefore, there needs to be consideration of the LTP alongside the growth in population in the county. In terms of the risks of delay from the original plans, there are no hard deadlines from government as to when the LTP needs to be finished. With the publication of the NPPF in December, the LTP team is working through the implications for that and how to take forward the Local Plan to manage that alongside the LTP.

4. The Chairperson asked what the likelihood of a draft LTP is for the March committee meeting.

5. Will Pratt (WSP) responded that a draft LTP and the required statutory environmental assessments should be ready by the end of March.

6. In response to a question about how alignment is ensured with the daughter documents to the LTP, such as the LCWIP, Will Pratt noted that the development of the LTP is cognizant of relevant related plans and strategies.

7. In response to a question about potential government revisions to the LTP guidance and funding for councils and LTPs, Will Pratt noted that the new government is looking to publish new LTP guidance and there might be links to carbon around that. The current draft Herefordshire LTP is mindful of the draft LTP guidance that was produced a few years ago.

8. In response to a question about whether the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an iterative process and that the high-level objectives of the LTP have fully taken into account the SEA findings, Will Pratt noted that the objectives reflect what was approved at Cabinet and which went out to consultation. In terms of progressing the SEA, that has been done alongside and in an iterative process with the LTP. A draft of the SEA has to be consulted alongside the draft LTP which is being worked to.

9. Councillor Stef Simmons noted that in relation to the emerging strategy and priorities for the transport network, there is some concern that there is a lack of a priority for nature enhancement/protection in line with targets for a nature and climate emergency.

10. The Head of Transport and Access Services clarified that the council’s engagement mechanism with bus operators is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

This report provides an overview of the development Market Town Investment Plans for Herefordshire’s five market towns in 2021-22, in order to seek the views of the scrutiny committee on the benefits of the process and how projects identified are being progressed. 

The committee considered a report on the Market Towns Investment Plans (MTIP). The Chairperson introduced the officers to present the council’s report.

The Service Director, Economy & Growth clarified that the purpose of advancing the MTIPs was to facilitate the development of a Towns Plan in response to Hereford’s allocation of funding from the Stronger Towns Fund. This plan was intended to inform the government on how the funding should be utilized. The commission was convened in 2020, with the objective of developing the plan locally in collaboration with town councils and local residents to establish an evidence-based framework for resource allocation. Subsequently, the MTIPs were utilized in the subsequent round of Levelling up funds to facilitate bids for government funding allocations.

In response to a question regarding the feasibility studies for the next stage, the Head of Economy & Regeneration stated that while limited funding opportunities have recently been offered by the government, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) has been identified as a potential source of funding to support the development of feasibility studies for each market town. This will enable them to progress some of the projects outlined within their MTIPs. Engagement with town councils has been undertaken to identify the priorities that should be included in feasibility studies using the UKSPF feasibility funding, and then developing detailed specifications and commissioning consultants to take these projects forward between December 2024 and March 2025.

The Chairperson asked each of the town council clerks, present at the meeting, to feed back their views to the committee, particularly on the process initially for creating the MTIPs, and how it was handled, and whether they were engaged with sufficiently, in and how it can possibly be improved in the future.

The principal points of the subsequent discussion are summarised below:

1. Liz Kelso (Clerk of Kington Town Council) provided a brief overview of the MTIPs for Kington Town Council which included feasibility studies regarding, in particular, car parking, Kington High Street Regeneration and Kington Market Hall and surrounds and; Kington Police and Fire Station relocation and redevelopment.

2. Karen Mitchell provided a brief overview of the MTIPs for Bromyard and Winslow Town Council which included feasibility studies regarding, in particular, an EcoHub, Bromyard Eastern Enhancement, Greenway, Health and Wellbeing Hub, and; skills development.

3. The Service Director Economy & Growth noted that bringing forward capital schemes is complicated when the council does not own land. A lot of the projects that are in the MTIPs are long-standing ambitions for the areas that have not come about in the 2021-22 period. It helps to construct a case for them and helps to allocate resources when taking them forward.

4. The Chairperson commented that the potential for the feasibility studies to make recommendations that could unlock funding to take individual projects to a shovel-ready stage would be good so that if funding does become available, there are projects ready to be started.

5. The Service Director Economy & Growth added the investment to get projects shovel-ready is a revenue cost and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

To consider the draft work programme for Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer presented the draft work programme for the Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

The committee unanimously agreed the draft work programme for Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee.

Resolved that:

The committee agree the draft work programme for Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee contained in the work programme report attached as appendix 1, which will be subject to monthly review, as the basis of their primary focus for the remainder of the municipal year.

The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 12 March 2025, 10:00 am.

The next scheduled meeting in public was confirmed as Wednesday 12 March 2025, 10:00 am.