To serve a Prohibition Notice under Regulation 8 (2) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions)(England) Regulations 2020

To approve the proposed expenditure of capital grants for schools building, maintenance and accessibility improvement works.

The Department for Education provides capital funding to local authorities responsible for schools. This funding includes the schools condition allocations which is intended for the maintenance of community and voluntary controlled schools, and basic need allocation which is intended for the provision of additional school places to meet the needs of growing populations. An individual pupil needs budget is intended for any accessibility improvement works identified to enable children with special educational needs to attend schools.

The distribution of this funding is determined in accordance with the principles set out in the schools capital investments strategy and is based on regular condition surveys and assessments of current and forecast demand for places.

Appendix 1 provides the details of the schemes being proposed as part of this programme of works.

To provide support to at risk suppliers responsible for important services, and to ensure public transport services are sufficient to meet the travel needs of key workers and vulnerable members of the community during the current COVID-19 emergency.

The Secretary of State for Transport issued guidance on 25th March 2020 regarding maintaining essential bus services and supporting bus operators financially during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Council to provide grant funding to up to three private nurseries to enable children of key workers to attend childcare provision for the next 8 weeks.

Pre-school settings and child minders will largely by Monday 27th March be closed. Those that remain open do not have the capacity to take on any more children in three areas of the county where there may be a need from a key worker and/or vulnerable child perspective as a response to COVID-19. Herefordshire Council has a statutory responsibility to provide childcare for children of key workers and vulnerable families. In order to fulfill this duty Herefordshire Council needs to set up emergency hubs for pre-school age children of vulnerable families and key workers to attend.

Given the present Covid19 emergency an assessment has concluded that the continued use of public toilets represents an unacceptable risk to the public and contracted cleaning staff.
Toilet paper and soap are being taken from the toilets rendering them unhygienic and unsafe to use as hand washing cannot be undertaken.
It is not possible to constantly restock toilets to ensure they are useable given the frequency of theft and national shortages of toilet paper and soap.
Cleaning staff are concerned for their safety and welfare.
Local Police officers have challenged why the toilets remain open as the availability of these facilities can be seen to encourage the public to not stay at home.
Therefore on the grounds of safety the public toilets should close as soon as possible.

Government requires neighbouring local authorities, other planning authorities and prescribed bodies to co-operate on strategic planning matters and to agree on these matters in order to demonstrate effective and on-going joint working by strategic plan-making authorities.

Any strategic and other cross-boundary matters should be identified in any signed agreements, as should the cooperation between plan making authorities in addressing any such issues.

This Memorandum of Understanding demonstrates how Herefordshire Council and Powys Council have co-operated and sets out how strategic matters will be addressed through future planning policy development, following this co-operation. By being a signatory, Herefordshire Council is giving a public commitment that the duty to cooperate has been fulfilled, that effective joint-working on cross-boundary strategic matters has taken place, and that the strategic matters have been addressed rather than deferred. This MoU could be used as a pre-cursor to any identified future need for a Statement of Common Ground with Powys Council and any other relevant bodies.

This agreement will not prevent Herefordshire Council or Powys Council from making representations to their respective minerals or waste plans or from participating at either authority’s examinations in public.

Strategic cross boundary issues, in this instance, relate to minerals provision, the safeguarding of mineral resources and their associated infrastructure. Herefordshire Council has worked, and will continue to work with Powys Council on these matters. Whilst at present, there are no strategic matters of concern, should any issues arise at future stages of the emerging MWLP or in relation to emerging minerals or waste plans in Powys, then these will be addressed as part of the ongoing duty to cooperate requirements.

Given the present Covid19 emergency an assessment has concluded that the continued use of public toilets represents an unacceptable risk to the public and contracted cleaning staff.
• Toilet paper and soap are being taken from the toilets rendering them unhygienic and unsafe to use as hand washing cannot be undertaken
• It is not possible to constantly restock toilets to ensure they are useable given the frequency of theft and national shortages of toilet paper and soap
• Cleaning staff are concerned for their safety and welfare
• Local Police officers have challenged why the toilets remain open as the availability of these facilities can be seen to encourage the public to not stay at home
Therefore on the grounds of safety the public toilets should close as soon as possible

Agreed to fund £15 per week for two weeks for children eligible for free school meals. Numbers identified are c.2,770 but this may increase as more families identify themselves. Any increase before Easter next week will not be considerable.

The unprecedented significant impact of the covid-19 outbreak is having ramifications across society and notably the economy.

In line with the social distancing guidance, current government advice is that large gatherings should not take place. While the risks of transmitting the disease at mass gatherings are relatively low, these steps will also allow emergency services that would have been deployed for these events to be prioritised in alleviating pressure on public services.

Council staff employed in the managing these fairs both in advance of and whilst the fairs are in situ, can be redeployed elsewhere within the organisation to assist with other vital services.

In order to ensure a continued supply of new bookstock, the contract for the supply of books to Herefordshire Council’s Library service has been re-procured. Herefordshire is part of the West Mercia Consortium and the contract was procured in association with the library services of Staffordshire, Telford & Wrekin, Shropshire and Worcestershire as working in a consortium enables the maximum possible discount and benefit to be achieved. The process followed the ESPO procurement framework and the process was led by the Procurement Team at Shropshire Council to ensure full compliance. The new contract will take effect from April 1st 2020.

The Department of Transport are introducing Streetmanager, this is a permit scheme to manage the works on the highway network. The proposal was for introduction in April but due to the current C19 conditions this has now been programmed for July. To introduce the scheme the council will move to a Herefordshire permit Scheme, the council have produced a framework scheme with cost benefit analysis. Before any decision is made as to introducing the scheme, the council will need to consult on the proposed scheme to take on board any concerns

An OT report was received and family was added to accessible homes register (AHR) June 2017, as the family’s current accommodation no longer met their needs. The family have three boys and one of their boys has cerebral Palsy. They are currently living in a two bedroom flat. The property is too small as they need a three bed property and their current property is not wheelchair accessible.

The family’s support networks are within the Goodrich area and therefore the family were keen to stay within the vicinity. There are no development sites coming forward in the near future to accommodate the family’s needs by way of a purpose built accessible unit.

The council have recently been in discussions with HHL who are the family’s landlord as they have identified a property that could be adapted to meet their needs. It will require disabled facility grant funding (DFG) which has been approved, but this does not fully cover the cost of the works that need to be undertaken. The costs to undertake the extension is £70,000. The total amount payable under DFG is £30,000

Because the landlord is a housing association they are not eligible for the discretionary DFG top up. Strategic Housing has been approached to provide the top up of £40,000

At the present time the CCTV equipment and transmission links are being renewed across the market towns in a bid to reduce the annual fibre optic costs. This in turn will reduce the overall annual revenue budget. In each market town Ledbury, Leominster and Ross-on-Wye there will be one digital fibre optic with all of the analogue fibre optics being decommissioned. The new digital fibre optics are charged for on a five year contract.
There are 4 analogue fibre circuits which are still required for cameras in Hereford city. The current contract for the analogue circuits ceases on 31 March 2020. A new five year contract for the analogue circuits will allow for both of the BT Redcare contracts to cease on the same date.

To make appointments to the committees of the Council and outside bodies in line with the rules of political proportionality.

To approve expenditure of up to £250k from the Development Partnership Activities capital budget to support the initial development of Development and Regeneration Programme (DRP) projects. The initial development will include: the options analyses and feasibility studies required to progress projects to the point at which a New Project Request can be raised; and due diligence required to support negotiations to acquire sites that are not currently in council ownership.

There is no foul drainage network in the vicinity of the North Magazine area of the Hereford Enterprise Zone. A new foul drainage sewer is being designed to connect to the nearest part of the network which will then serve the North Magazine area, including the Shell Store.

A Section 104 (sewerage adoption) and Section 106 (sewerage connections) agreements are required with DCWW to enable them to adopt the new sewer and make a connection to the existing sewer network. The legal agreements have to be in place before the installation can start.

This new sewer will also provide the means of connection for the new NMiTE development.

During the period of the Covid-19 outbreak, it is necessary to purchase essential PPE for council staff.

The PPE is required in order to ensure the safety of council staff whilst carrying out critical business for the council. This will include travelling around the county and having face to face meetings where necessary and essential.

The unprecedented significant impact of the covid-19 outbreak is having ramifications across society and notably the economy.

• Whilst Government advice has stated on 23.03.2020 that market traders could continue if they were offering essential items, a number of traders have already decided not to trade at this time
• Current terms and conditions relating to the operation the retail markets state - Normal Market Days are, WEDNESDAY TO SATURDAY of each week. Emergency conditions may require an adjustment to this rule.
• There is a concern being shared by enforcement partners that the ‘Stay at home’ message is not being adhered to as it should be.
• It would be difficult to provide social distancing and would require policing causing extra stain on the system
• Relevant council staff within this service area could now be temporarily redeployed to other vital service areas.

The unprecedented significant impact of the covid-19 outbreak is having ramifications across society and notably the economy.

• Whilst Government advice on 23.03.2020 has indicated that street trading could conceivably continue if they were offering takeaway food/drink or other essential items, a number of traders have already decided not to trade at this time.
• As stated in Trader conditions – 3.8 The Council may terminate or suspend the consent with 14 days notice in writing and without notice in cases of emergencies.
• There is a concern being shared by enforcement partners that the ‘Stay at home’ message is not being adhered to as fully as it should be.
• It would be difficult to provide social distancing and would require policing, causing extra stain on the system.
• Highways amenity licences for pavement cafes should also be suspended during the covid-19 outbreak, in line with government advice.
• Relevant council staff within this service area could now be temporarily redeployed to other vital service areas.

The unprecedented, significant impact of the covid-19 outbreak is having ramifications across society. The suspension of these services following emergency measures introduced by Government on 23rd March 2020.

The unprecedented, significant impact of the covid-19 outbreak is having ramifications across society. The suspension of this services following emergency measures introduced by Government on 23rd March 2020.

Customers should be advised that they can now make a claim for child benefit or universal credit prior to the birth being registered, where they have not been able to do so because of these measures.

To approve the recommendations following an options appraisal.

The Car Park Charges and Operations formal decision is found here (dated 23rd March 2020):
https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=6722

This decision suspends all car parking charges countywide from the 1 April 2020 for up to 3 months, and repurposes the use of the Bus Station car park for emergency workers only.

This decision was taken in response the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.

Following further restrictive measures imposed by the UK Government on 23 March 2020 (after the decision was made) it is considered appropriate to implement immediately rather than on the 1 April 2020

The above contract is due to expire on the 31 March 2020 (this was a 3 + 3 year contract).

The CCTV service is currently funded through financial contributions from Herefordshire Council, Police and Crime Commissioner West Mercia, Hereford City Council, Hereford Cathedral, Ledbury Town Council, Leominster Town Council, Ross-on-Wye Town Council and Hereford BID.

On 24 February 2020 the PCC has pledged a grant extension for 1 year to cover costs up to 31 March 2021. It was hoped that with the PCC elections in May 2020 taking place the appointed PCC would be able to commit to further grant terms post 31 March 2021. Due to all elections being postponed to 2021 including the PCC elections an exemption from contract procedure rules is therefore requested to enable the contract to be extended for one year (up until 31st March 2021), whilst a procurement process is undertaken in the Summer of 2020 to put in place a new contract from April 2021.

Whilst this process takes place, we will be investigating alternative sources of funding to help ensure future delivery of the service.

To consider a proposal to implement Permit Holder Only Parking Bays and Waiting Restrictions on Lichfield Avenue, Hereford and the surrounding junctions.
The extents of the study area are shown in Appendix A.
The recommendation is proposed for the following reasons:
• For avoiding danger to persons or other traffic using the road or any other road or preventing the likelihood of any such danger arising.
• For preserving and improving the amenity of the area through which the road runs.
• For the enhancement of the visibility at various junctions.
• To make the road easier to navigate for the local bus service

Various remedial works and upgrades were required following the EICR
(Electrical Installation Condition Report) on the High Town “Pop Up” Power Units and funds were allocated. During these works it has become apparent that the manhole covers over the “Pop Ups” are in need of replacement.

The decision has been taken due to the unprecedented threat to Public Health posed by the outbreak of COVID-19.

Closing Household Recycling Centres will support the national government restriction:
• For people to stay at home except for shopping for basic necessities, daily exercise, any medical need and travelling to and from essential work
• And that gatherings in public of more than two people who do not live together are prohibited.

The decision has been taken to protect the public from the threat of COVID19

Approval to spend up to £15k of maintenance at Westfield School. The additional works will be funded from the existing school capital maintenance budget

Herefordshire Council requires the associated groundworks completed for water and gas utility services installations and connections to the North Magazine and Shell Store within the Enterprise Zone. The works are to be undertaken along Skylon View, Rotherwas, Hereford, HR2 6LB.

A full open market tender exercise has been undertaken through the Council’s procurement processes and recommendations signed off by the Council’s procurement team. Owen Pell were the recommended tenderer.

This issue has been considered by the relevant Project Board overseeing HEZ activity and has secured approval from that Group – in particular from finance and procurement representatives.

The tender is for a 7 week delivery period, and fits in with the Shell Store development timetables, provided this project commences next week.

Work on the redevelopment of the £7.3m Shell Store project is now underway and due to be completed by mid May.

All necessary utilities need to be in place at that time. Delays in utility installation will results in delays in the completion testing regime and extra costs associated in delaying the handover of the building.

Currently the nearest water mains is located on Skylon View some 600 yards away from the Shell Store. This proposal will form an essential part of extending the mains up to the Shell Store, whilst also serving development already underway or in negotiation on N3, N4, N4a and N26, as well as future developments on the North Magazine.

‘Lay only’ services for the installation of gas and water have already been approved, with works ready to be carried out to coordinate with these civil works.


This work is part of a tranche of groundworks for which a £750,000 budget was approved as part of Enterprise Zone Capital Interventions Phase 5 on 8 August 2019, and will be funded from future capital receipts on the HEZ site.