To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Roger Phillips and 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 Roger Phillips, and Cllr Robert Highfield was present as the named substitute for Cllr Bruce Baker.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 15 January 2025.

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Documents containing questions received from members of the public and the responses given, plus supplementary questions and their respective responses were published as a supplement to the published agenda and papers.

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

No questions had been received from councillors.

To provide a review of winter maintenance of highways following the 2024/25 winter period, endorsing or otherwise the current arrangements and providing recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Roads and Regulatory Services ahead of the 2025/26 winter season.

The committee considered a report on Highways Winter Maintenance.

The slides presented by the Head of Highways and Traffic are outlined below (in italics), with the principal points noted below.

A The Head of Highways and Traffic introduced the presentation and welcomed the opportunity to update the committee on Highways Winter Maintenance.

B The Head of Highways and Traffic presented:

Background

b.1 Clarifications were provided around what resources are available and what fleet and equipment is available.

Current Fleet

Routes, Salt and Decision Making

b.2 The county is split into three domains – North, South-East and South-West – due to the diverse geography for decision-making purposes.

b.3 There are cross-boundary agreements with surrounding counties including Powys, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Monmouthshire. Treatment is carried on to a suitable point and equally they will stray over into Herefordshire to do likewise.

b.4 There are two depots – Thorn and Kingsland – where salt storage facilities exist.

b.5 A contract exists with Metdesk for a four-year period who draw on data from county weather stations.

b.6 Decisions are also recorded through Vaisala to ensure that treatment is suitably reflected.

Routes

C The Engineering Manager presented:

Operations Model

c.1 The various stages of operation were outlined. A forecast is received from Metdesk which helps to inform what the teams do.

c.2 There are three decision-makers who are on a rota. It is decided what the treatment should be, the time of it, and the spread of salt.

c.3 Once a decision has been made, the supervisors get the information out to the drivers, loaders, depots, and mobilises all of the teams to start treatment.

c.4 At the end, data is recorded through Vaisala to reflect the appropriate decision-making throughout.

Forecasting – Metdesk

c.5 The forecasting carried out by Metdesk helps to inform the decisions made whether to treat the routes.

c.6 Monitoring is done 24/7 and the team monitors over night to ensure that there is no significant change in weather to help better inform treatment.

24 Hour Summary

Salt Spread Rates

2-5 Day Summary

c.7 The 2–5-day summary helps to provide a foresight on what is expected weather wise and when it will hit. It helps to provide the teams a bit more time to plan and prepare prior to potential treatment.

c.8 The 2-5 day summary also helps to prepare ahead to ensure that adequate resources are available for treatment.

Site Graphs

Camera Wall

c.9 It was clarified that there are seven weather stations, across the county, with cameras to enable better decision-making when it comes to treatment. At each of the stations, there are a number of sensors which get surface temperature, deep temperature, and air temperatures.

c.10 It was added that access is not limited only to Herefordshire, access is available to the A49 and other surrounding roads with National Highways. This is helpful to forecast what weather could be like in Herefordshire.

Vaisala Manager

c.11 It was noted that the council has a contract with Vaisala who manage the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

To provide the committee with an update to recommendations made by the committee since July 2023.

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer presented the update on recommendations made by the Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee report.

The principal points of the subsequent discussion are summarised below:

1. The Statutory Scrutiny Officer presented a set of the recommendations that the committee made since July 2023. It was noted that work had begun to collate and share these recommendations since July 2024 where at that point there had been a change in staff members.

2. It was noted that there were two issues needed to be cleared up on: firstly, the understanding between the difference of actions and recommendations. Actions have therefore been kept away from recommendations. Secondly, it was ensured that a grip on responses to recommendations was made.

3. It was added that recommendations have properly been sent out to the relevant officers for response. It was noted that where the service had failed to comprehensively record that had been done.

4. As of July 2024, it was decided that recommendations lacking responses would be redistributed to officers for follow-up. All recommendations included in the agenda papers have been forwarded to the officers, and the responses received so far are incorporated into those documents.

5. The Chair thanked the Democratic Services Officer for contributions to the process. It was noted that ensuring accountability and escalation is essential to obtain responses to recommendations. A suggestion was made to establish a procedure where officers are prompted for replies, and if no responses are forthcoming, the matter is escalated, with relevant officers, directors, and the committee Chair included in the communications sent to officers.

6. It was suggested that all scrutiny committees have a similar system for chasing after responses for recommendations.

7. The Statutory Scrutiny Officer responded that it would be helpful to consult the other scrutiny committees to enable the opportunity to pull together a more unified approach to the process on recommendations.

8. In response to a question about why a lot of financial details were left confidential and whether the council needs to provide clear justification as to why that information was left confidential, the Statutory Scrutiny Officer suggested that the portfolio holder is asked to account for that in the meeting and to ask whether they can provide any more detail as to why the commercial confidentiality requires them to disclose this information. Therefore, it was suggested that the questions are asked first before recommendations are made.

Resolved:

That Herefordshire Council:

1. Ensures that the statutory scrutiny officer drafts a cross-scrutiny committee protocol, to ensure timely responses with faster escalation as required to outstanding recommendations.

To consider the work programme for Herefordshire Council’s Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer presented the draft work programme for the Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

The committee unanimously agreed the draft work programme for Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee.

Resolved that:

The committee agree the work programme for Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee contained in the work programme report attached as appendix 1.

The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 13 May 2025, 14:00 pm.

The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 3 June 2025, 10:00 am.