In the absence of the Dean of Hereford, the Very Reverend Peter Haynes led the Council in prayer.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Mrs. E.M. Bew, H. Bramer, M.R. Cunningham, N.J.J. Davies, J.G.S. Guthrie, Brig. P. Jones, CBE, R Preece, D.C. Taylor and P. Turpin.

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

Councillor W.L.S. Bowen declared a personal interest in the report on the Public Service Trust at Agenda Item 9(b), paragraph 1.1(iii) as a non-executive member of the National Health Service.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 28th July, 2006.

Before signing the minutes of the meeting held on 28th July, 2006, the Chairman proposed that Minute 28, Page 8, final paragraph be amended to read: "…Councillor Mrs. French expressed sadness at Councillor Hunt's response and again encouraged Members to use the service and report any failings to her."

RESOLVED:  That, subject to the above amendment, the minutes of the meeting held on 28th July, 2006 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive the Chairman's announcements and petitions from members of the public.

The Chairman announced that the Council had received an ISO 14001 certificate in recognition of its environmental performance.  He presented the certificate to Councillor P.J. Edwards, Cabinet Member (Environment) who praised the Council, its employees and the officers in the sustainability team who had all played their part in gaining the certificate.

The Chairman asked Council to note that the next Civic Service was to be held on 11th March, 2007.  He said that the arrangement were being finalised and further details and invitations would be sent out well in advance of the date.

He drew Council's attention to the new leaflet "Thinking of becoming a Herefordshire Councillor?" aimed at prospective candidates in the May 2007 elections and advised that further copies were available from the Members Support Office.

The Council joined the Chairman in congratulating Councillor Mrs. M.D. Lloyd-Hayes on being granted the Freedom of the City of London.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Under the Constitution a member of the public can ask a Cabinet Member or Chairman of a Committee any question relevant to a matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties, or which affects the County, as long as a copy of the question is deposited with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services more than six clear working days before the meeting.  One question had been received and included in the agenda.  The question and response is set out below:

Question from Mr. C.J. Grover, Bromyard

Bromyard Household Waste Site

As the members of the Council are aware several million pounds of the long term Waste Disposal Contract were spent between, I believe, 1999 and 2002 upgrading sites throughout the county.  The Bromyard one in particular provides an excellent service to the local community.  It has however one major drawback which is the deteriorating condition of the approach road which is in an extremely bad state of repair and a disgrace for any self respecting organisation. Nobody has made any attempt to carry out maintenance in the last six years although one or two potholes on probably the best part were filled in with concrete a couple of weeks ago.

The official response from the Chairman of Planning and local Ward Councillor is that the road is owned by different people and it is therefore too difficult to do anything until the UDP is finally approved and the site will be improved. I would say from the date of this question it would be very optimistic to quote two years for this improvement even to start. This site road is pounded at least three times a week by the heavy skip trucks and will continue to deteriorate. It is amazing that none of the three owners of the road have ever been approached by the Council concerning maintenance since the site was built. 

Clearly there is a difficulty over ownership and the degree of responsibility the Waste Disposal firm has but the question is how  much longer are the Council prepared to ignore the situation since they chose the site and are, as we ratepayers see it ,ultimately responsible."

Councillor P.J. Edwards, Cabinet Member (Environment) accepted that the site access road was not ideal.  He explained that the access to the site did not belong to the Council.  He advised that the Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards and the Head of Property Services in conjunction with the Council's Waste Management Contractors would be approaching the owners of the road to discuss the best way to secure improvements both in the short-term and in the longer-term.

To receive any written questions.

Councillors may ask questions of Cabinet Members and Chairmen of Committees so long as a copy of the question is deposited with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.  A list of questions, set out in the order in which they had been received, was circulated at the beginning of the meeting.  Councillors may also, at the discretion of the Chairman, ask one additional  question on the same topic.

Question asked by Councillor D.C. Taylor - for the Cabinet Member (Highways and Transportation)

"I understand that the Madley Parish Council have been consulted about the removal of two 100 metre lengths of hedge and provision of post and rail fencing.  Also two 30 metre lengths of tarmac on the Madley to Bridge Sollars Road.  Could he advise me when this work is to start as traffic when two large vehicles meet is horrendous?"

Councillor D.B. Wilcox, Cabinet Member (Highways and Transportation) confirmed that discussions had taken place with Madley Parish Council regarding the need to improve the C1098 Madley to Bridge Sollars road by the introduction of two additional passing places.  The proposed scheme would provide two passing places, one each side of the carriageway, at different locations in the vicinity of Bage Farm.   He advised that, in order to facilitate this work and improve visibility, it would be necessary to remove a total of approximately 200 metres of hedgerow (100 metres on either side of the road) and either, erect post and rail fencing or re-plant the hedge, set back from the road.

Subject to all the necessary permissions being granted and agreement being reached with the landowner, it was hoped to be able to commence the works during the current financial year with a start date anticipated in March 2007.

Question asked by Councillor Mrs. E.A. Taylor 

"When checking on-line it's clear from the May agenda, that the November meeting takes place on the 10th November and there is nothing on the Agenda of 28th July to indicate a change of date.  As there is so much criticism of the council of late, it is even more important to engage with the public and not exclude them.  I note from the Agenda there is only one question from members of the public and that is from an ex-cabinet member. 

My question to council is, "How have the Council informed the 170,000 people who live in Herefordshire of the change of date of the next Council meeting?""

Councillor R.J. Phillips, the Leader of the Council said that the change of date had been approved by Council at its meeting on 28th July and the date had been changed on the Council's website within a week of the decision.  He advised that the normal method of giving members of the public advance notice of meetings of the council is through a notice of public meetings which is issued fortnightly.  The revised date had been included in these notices (which are issued  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

To consider any Notices of Motion.

There were no Notices of Motion.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meetings held on

(a)               7th and 28th September and 12th October, 2006 and

(b)               26th October, 2006.  (To Follow)

The Chairman indicated that he intended to take any discussion on the Rotherwas Relief Road and Rotherwas Futures at Item 9.1 on page 31 of the agenda.  This included any questions on the call-in of the decision as set out in the report of the Strategic Monitoring Committee on page 39 of the agenda.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor R.J. Phillips, presented the report of the meetings of Cabinet held on 7th and 28th September and 12th October, 2006.

In relation to Item 5.1 Building Schools for the Future - A local Member expressed his pleasure about the grant to the Minster College, Leominster and urged the Council to take note of the public consultation exercise particularly people's views on Westfield School.

In relation to Item 7.1(i) Integrated Performance Report - In response to a comment on partner organisations' performance, Councillor Mrs. J.P. French, Cabinet Member (Corporate and Customer Services and Human Resources) replied that performance management and interrogation of reports was very important.  The Council and partners were jointly responsible for delivering on certain targets and both needed to be held to account.  She said she would be happy to assist any Councillors to understand the figures.

The Cabinet Member (Social Care Adult and Housing) agreed to speak to a Member after the meeting about a particular instance in which it was alleged that homeless people were being actively discouraged from registering as homeless.  She agreed that homelessness was a very serious issue.  The Leader stated the Council could not abdicate its responsibility for homelessness but the issue was a national problem that required primary legislation from central government.

In relation to Item 9.1 Rotherwas Futures and Rotherwas Access Road - In response to a query about alternative funding options for the Rotherwas Access Road (other than housing developments) the Leader said that the development of the Rotherwas Industrial Estate and the building of the access road was vital to the future economic viability of the County.  Various other options for funding the projects had been considered.  These included:

·        Selling the Industrial Estate or other assets of the Council.  This had been rejected because of the implications of the loss of revenue.  The sale of the Industrial Estate alone would mean a loss of £1 million a year.  The only way to recoup this would be by raising Council Tax, something the Council was keen to avoid as it would put an unacceptable financial strain on the people of Herefordshire.

·        Increasing the Council Tax - the Council is aware that it needs to limit the amount of Council Tax increases in order to reduce the tax burden on the people of Herefordshire.

The only viable option was to negotiate with the housing developers on their contribution towards the development of much needed infrastructure.

Councillor T,M. James, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said that this matter had been fully debated at the previous meeting of Council on 28th July, 2006.  He did not think there were any alternatives.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meetings held on 9th August and 26th September, 2006.

Councillor R.I. Mathews presented the report of the meetings of the Regulatory Committee held on 9th August and 26th September, 2006.

He drew the Council's attention to the progress made in relation to Public Path Diversion Orders.

In response to a query about taxis registered in neighbouring counties operating in Herefordshire, he confirmed that these taxis were not allowed to tout for business or use taxi ranks, but acknowledged that it was difficult to monitor and enforce.  He urged any Members who knew of such activity to report it to him for further investigation.

RESOLVED:That the report of the meetings of the Regulatory Committee held on 9th August and 26th September, 2006 be received.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meetings held on 25th August and 29th September, 2006.

Councillor T.W. Hunt presented the report of the meetings of the Planning Committee held on 25th August and 29th September, 2006.

Councillor Hunt reminded Council of a seminar on Planning Obligations to be held on Monday, 13th November at 2.00 p.m.

He responded to a number of comments and queries as follows:

Retrospective applications - He confirmed that officers were involved in discussions and working towards solutions, particularly in relation to large developers.

Estech - He confirmed that he felt the Estech application should have been dealt with by the main Planning Committee because it involved a strategic element which involved the whole county.

When a question was posed about the future of Area Planning Sub-Committees, the Chief Executive intervened and advised that any discussion which involved an amendment to the Constitution would have to follow the proper procedure and could not be debated at Council without proper notice. 

RESOLVED:That the report of the meetings of the Planning Committee held on 25th August and 29th September, 2006 be received.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meetings held on 15th September and 16th October, 2006.

Councillor T.M. James presented the report of the meetings of the Strategic Monitoring Committee held on 15th September and 16th October, 2006.

RESOLVED:That the report of the meetings of the Strategic Monitoring Committee held on 15th September and 16th October, 2006 be received.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meetings held on 22nd September, 2006.

Councillor A.C.R. Chappell presented the report of the meeting of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee held on 22nd September, 2006.

RESOLVED:That the report of the meeting of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee held on 22nd September, 2006 be received.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meeting held on 19th October, 2006.

The Chief Executive presented the report of the Panel which had met to review the current Members' Allowance Scheme and to make recommendations which would take effect from the elections in May 2007.  He explained that the report was being presented at this time, rather than after the Elections, as it would be clear that those voting would not automatically benefit from the decision.  He explained that the Panel did not revisit the basic principles of the scheme but confined their discussion to the suitability of the allowances compared to other authorities of a similar nature and with neighbouring authorities and to those Committees where the workload has increased, or was expected to increase, significantly.

In response to a request that Vice-Chairmen be given an allowance, he explained that government guidance placed a restriction of the number of Special Responsibility Allowances that could be granted and if Vice-Chairmen were to be included this number would be exceeded.  He said the Panel had considered this point and was of the view that if the Vice-Chairman was undertaking a substantial workload there should be an informal arrangement between Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen to recompense this.  One Committee Chairman said he would be prepared to do this.

One Councillor suggested that Cabinet Members should be paid a higher allowance with adjustments made elsewhere to stay within the proposed budget.  The Leader advised that the allowance paid to Cabinet Members and the Leader had been voluntarily frozen over the last three years.

One Councillor felt that the basic allowance was still too low to attract younger people and that the workload was such that it was difficult for anyone who was employed to take on the role.

The Chief Executive confirmed that the Panel had discussed many of these issues, but that government guidelines did not allow them to make recommendations on higher figures.  He confirmed that the Council could approve allowances below the level of the recommendations of the Panel but it would be unwise to go much above the recommendations because of public perception if the Council was to ignore the advice of an Independent Panel.

RESOLVED:                        That the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel held on 19th October, 2006 be received and

THAT  (a)            the Basic Allowance be amended to £7,000 (current £6,165);

(b)            Special Responsibility Allowances be amended as follows:

Band 1                     £27,000  (current £26,586)

Band 2                     £11,000  (current £10,635)

Band 3                      £8,500   (current £8,212)

Band 4                      £1,500   (current £1,368)

(c)        Special Responsibility Allowances be attached to the following at the Band Indicated:

(i)                 Chairman of Audit and Corporate Governance Committee – Band 3 (pro rata 50 %);

(ii)               Chairman of Regulatory Committee – Band 3;

(iii)             Chairman of Standards Committee – Band 3 (pro rata 50%);

(d)       the Childcare and Dependent Carers' Allowance be set at the current market hourly rates;

(e)       no change be made to the Members’ Travel and Subsistence allowances which is currently set within the scale of rates used by the Inland Revenue;

(f)        Members’ Allowances  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meeting held on 20th October, 2006.

In the absence of the Chairman, Mr. Robert Rogers, the Vice-Chairman, Mr. David Stevens presented the report of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 20th October, 2006.

RESOLVED:That the report of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 20th October, 2006 be received.

To receive the report of the meeting of the West Mercia Police Authority held on 26th September, 2006  Councillor B. Hunt has been nominated for the purpose of answering questions on the discharge of the functions of the Police Authority.  (Report to follow)

Councillor B. Hunt presented the report of the West Mercia Police Authority held on 26th September, 2006.

Councillor Hunt responded to a number of queries and comments as follows:

Stop Search - He reported that, generally, West Mercia Police Officers conducting stop searches were polite and helpful but often stop searches were carried out in contentious circumstances and whereas some of those being stopped and searched co-operated with the police officers, others did not.  Police officers had discretion to respond to these situations accordingly.

Neighbourhood Watch Officers - He said the response was often down to who was contacted.  There did not appear to be an agreed standard of response.  He would take this up.

Removal of speed camera on Aylestone Hill, Hereford - He said that he understood the location of speed cameras was being investigated but could not comment on individual cameras.  He said that, in future, it may fall to local authorities to decide on locations for speed cameras.

Community Support Officers - He confirmed that these posts were part funded by the Home Office and would only attract continued funding if they demonstrated value for money.

Leominster and Hereford Police Stations - He advised that the new police station on the Industrial Estate, Leominster was due to open during 2007 and that the refurbishment of Hereford Police Station was being undertaken in stages and was due for completion in 2008.

RESOLVED:That the report of the meeting of the West Mercia Police Authority held on 26th September, 2006 be received.

To receive the report of the meeting of the Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Authority held on 28th September, 2006.

Councillor G.W. Davies presented the report of the meeting of the Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Authority which was held on 28th September, 2006.

In response to a concern that the Regional Fire Control Room In Wolverhampton would be too remote from Herefordshire, Councillor Davies said that he had been assured that distance was immaterial as all operations would be computerised.  He also advised that the Fire Control Room was expected to be operational by 2010.

RESOLVED:That the report of the meeting of the Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Authority which were held on 28th September, 2006 be received.