To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors WU Attfield, PJ Edwards, RI Matthews and JK Swinburne. 

Councillors Edwards and Matthews asked that it be recorded that they were absent because they had prejudicial interests because each had a relative who farmed one of the Smallholdings.

Apologies were also received from Councillor RJ Phillips – Leader of the Council  who had also requested that it be recorded that he was absent because of a prejudicial interest.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

There were no declarations of interest other than those notified in advance by Councillors Edwards and Matthews as referred to in Minute 50 above.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2008.

RESOLVED:   That the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2008 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

There were no suggestions from members of the public.

To consider the findings of a review of the smallholdings estate strategy.

The Committee considered the findings of a review of the smallholdings estate strategy.

The Committee had before it the report on the Smallholdings Estate Strategy Review, the Minutes and reports of its meetings of 19 November 2007 and 10 March 2008, when it had considered the policy and requested an overarching review, a report on the importance of the County Farms Service to the rural economy produced by Sir Donald Curry, Chairman of the Sustainable Farming and Food Delivery Group in November 2008; and an example of a tenancy agreement.

The Cabinet Member (Resources) stated that the report before the Committee represented an overarching review of the Smallholdings Estate Strategy.  He drew attention also to the appended report on the importance of the County Farms Service to the rural economy produced by Sir Donald Curry.

He explained that the review had comprised an examination of the rationale for holding the smallholdings estate as an asset.  This had included an option appraisal, which had examined both value for money and the contribution to the rural economy.  Given that there was no corporate need to realise a capital receipt by disposing of the estate it had been concluded that retention of the estate was the best option.

Having reached that conclusion, consideration had been given to the development and maintenance of the estate.  The intention was to help as many people as possible embark on a career in farming.  There would be disposals and acquisitions of land over time to support this objective. 

The current policy objective of achieving capital receipts from the estate of £10m over a ten year period would be revoked.  However, capital receipts would be generated as the estate developed.  A development plan would be prepared.

The proposals for developing and managing the estate set out in the report did not generally represent a new direction but provided clarity.  He highlighted that it was proposed that holdings would be let on fixed term business tenancies of up to six years for the initial letting with an option for a second six year term on a larger holding on the estate with progression then to the private sector.

He concluded by saying that the aim was to support sustainable farming and he would welcome the Committee’s views to inform the proposed report to Cabinet in January.

The Director of Resources said the report was intended to address the Committee’s previously expressed concerns and show how the smallholdings estate could support the Council’s priorities for Herefordshire.  One of the objectives was to ensure that management of the smallholdings estate was integrated into the overall asset management arrangements. 

She presented the report in detail, commenting first on the following sections of the report, including the context of the review, the review methodology, the legislative framework and the appraisal of the key options involving both a financial and non-financial assessment. 

This work had concluded that the financial assessment supported the view that the smalholdings estate should be retained and developed in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.