To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Bruce Baker.

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

Cllr Dave Davies was present as the named substitute for Cllr Bruce Baker.

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

Cllr Roger Phillips noted that the Co-Chair Herefordshire Destination Business Improvement District (DBID) owns properties in his ward.

The Chairperson noted that he is a board member of the Herefordshire DBID as a representative of one of the market towns.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 9 September 2025.

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 September 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

No questions had been received from members of the public.

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

No questions had been received from councillors.

To review the governance and delivery structures, impact in inclusivity of the Destination Management Plan, and future decisions and policy stance.

The committee considered a report on the Tourism in Herefordshire item.

The principal points of the subsequent discussion are summarised below:

1. The Service Director Economy and Growth noted that:
   1. The economic plan is being reviewed for the county and that will be progressed through Cabinet in the coming weeks.
   2. Tourism promotes the county as a place to live, work, and study. Some of the key strengths as a county are around natural environment, culture, and a sense of community.

2. In response to a question about the upcoming ballot, the Chief Executive Herefordshire DBID noted that:
   1. Destination Business Improvement Districts (DBIDs) operate for a five-year term and every five years they must ballot their levy payers to approve their operation for the following five years.
   2. On the voting slip, members are asked to answer a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. For the Herefordshire DBID to continue, this question must be answered ‘yes’ in two ways: first, at least 51% of voting members must vote in favour; and second, those ‘yes’ votes must represent at least 51% of the total combined rateable value.
   3. If a no vote was received, the work of the Herefordshire DBID would cease.

3. The Service Director Economy and Growth added that the council is also entitled to vote, as it owns assets that fall within the definition of the Herefordshire DBID, including, for example, car parks, museums, and libraries. As a result, the council holds 23 votes and must decide whether to vote in favour, abstain, or vote against. In the previous ballot, held nearly five years ago, the council voted in favour of establishing the Herefordshire DBID.

4. In response to a question about whether tourism is a council-led strategic priority delivered through partnership or is it a DBID-led marketing function with limited public sector integration, the Service Director Economy and Growth noted that:
   1. Tourism is important to the council but it does not individually support or have an officer for any other sector or industry. Instead, the way in which the council supports economic development generally is around the provision of business support through the growth hub for any industry.
   2. It has an economic strategy where the council prioritises support for sectoral growth in the key sectors where it has an opportunity to support the growth of the economy through.
   3. In the past, local authorities tended to have tourism officers and ran some tourism functions themselves. However, this has predominantly changed across the country because of funding situations and because of the DBID model supporting itself.
   4. The council took a decision about six to seven years ago to provide funding to develop a feasibility study to assess whether the Herefordshire DBID itself was feasible and whether there were enough businesses to support it and what kind of levy it would need to charge. The council also provided around £100k in investment at the time to support the development of the business plan and initial ballot to create the Herefordshire DBID, so that over the five years it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

To consider the draft work programme for Herefordshire Council’s scrutiny committees for the municipal years 2025/6 and 2026/7.

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer presented the draft work programme for the Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the municipal year 2025/26 and the first eight months of the 2026/27 municipal year.

Resolved

That:

a)    The committee agree the draft work programme 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.

b)    The committee note the work programme for the other scrutiny committees and identify any opportunities for collaboration or alignment of work.

The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 15^th April 2026, 14:00 pm.

The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 15th April 2026, 2:00 pm.