To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors BA Durkin, TM James, JG Jarvis and RL Mayo.  Apologies had also been received from Mr P Sell, an education co-optee.

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

The following substitutions were made: Councillor PGH Cutter for Councillor BA Durkin; Councillor NP Nenadich for Councillor JG Jarvis; and Councillor JA Hyde for Councillor RL Mayo.

To receive any declarations of interest by members.

No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a scrutiny committee meeting so long as the question is directly related to an item listed on the agenda below.  If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than two working days before the meeting to the officer named on the cover of this agenda.)

Note: To ensure that the committee has sufficient time to consider the call-in, it is not intended that verbal questions will be received from the public at the meeting.  Please submit questions in writing no later than 4.00pm on Friday 9 January 2015; these should be relevant to the call-in notice, provided at page 11/12 of this agenda.

Attention was drawn to Supplement 1 to the agenda which contained ten questions received from the public, together with officer responses to those questions considered relevant to the call-in.  The Chairman advised that written responses would be provided to the remainder in due course, in the order submitted.

To consider the call-in of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Executive Committee decision.

The Chairman welcomed attendees and invited the Assistant Director, Governance to outline the circumstances of this call-in.  The principal points included:

1.       The call-in related to a decision about the Marches Enterprise Zone taken by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Joint Executive Committee (JEC) at its meeting on 11 December 2014.

2.       The JEC was a decision-making body recognised by law; Cabinet had approved the establishment of a joint committee to exercise executive functions in relation to the Marches LEP on 31 July 2014.  Councillor AW Johnson was Herefordshire Council’s representative on the JEC and was representing the decision-making body at this meeting.

3.       The call-in primarily related to the non-listing of the ‘Hereford Enterprise Zone, Accelerating Delivery: Investment Strategy’ prepared by DTZ (the DTZ report) on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).  Following the receipt of the call-in notice, the Assistant Director, Governance had circulated an email to committee members explaining that, although not required legally or by the Constitution (due to the exempt information contained in the report), a better approach would have been to have listed the DTZ report as a background paper given that this had been relied upon in the preparation of the JEC report.  The Assistant Director, Governance had provided the document, with Appendix C removed, to committee members and it had been published on the council’s website.  Appendix C, with appropriate redactions, was included within Supplement 1 to the agenda.

4.       The call-in notice stated that ‘Further concerns regarding the substance of the decision and the options considered cannot be ruled out at this stage’.  It was noted that the JEC report was in the public domain prior to call-in and the committee should focus on new issues that came to light with the publication of the DTZ report.

The Chairman invited the Assistant Director Place Based Commissioning to comment on the briefing note included in Supplement 1 to the agenda ‘Policy background regarding infrastructure to support the development of the Hereford Enterprise Zone’.  Attention was drawn to the following:

a.       The decision of the JEC ‘allocates future business rate income to support the development of the Hereford Enterprise Zone (HEZ) by providing funding for such infrastructure as may be required to enable the HEZ to be completed.  However, this decision does not pre-determine what infrastructure (if any) may be required nor pre-empt decisions that would need to be taken locally in the future regarding the details of what infrastructure should be provided and where.’

b.       The remainder of the briefing note provided background on: the purpose of the Local Development Order (LDO); the consultation undertaken on the LDO, including with the Highways Agency; the recognised need for further infrastructure investment to enable the full development of the HEZ; the strategic policy context, including the draft Local Development Framework (LDF); and the timetable for the LDF examination process.

Committee members that submitted the call-in notice made a number of comments, including:

i.        Investment was not being challenged  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

It is intended that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday 26 January 2015 be postponed to provide resources for this call-in meeting and to accommodate an additional meeting in relation to Edgar Street Football Ground, likely to be on the afternoon of Tuesday 10 February 2015.

A further meeting will be arranged during the week commencing 23 February 2015 to deal with other business in the work programme.

A meeting scheduled for 26 January 2015 was postponed. 

It was suggested that the next meeting be held on 10 February 2015 but a committee member requested that this be rescheduled, as it would coincide with the start of the examination sessions on the Local Development Framework.

[The next meeting was subsequently confirmed as Wednesday 18 February 2015 at 10.00am]