To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies had been received from Councillor David Davies.

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

There had been no named substitutes.

To receive declarations of interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 24 March 2025.

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 March 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 members of the Council.

To provide a review of road safety across Herefordshire, endorsing or otherwise the current arrangements and providing recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Roads and Regulatory Services.

The Head of Highways and Traffic introduced the report. The Chair thanked officers and attending partners for their contributions to the report and explained that the committee had set out several objectives in relation to the topic, the intention was to:

• Understand the impact of speed limits on road user safety and the current council policy.
• Look at best practice on the provision of road architecture.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the School Street Safety initiative.
• Scrutinise the administration of Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) across the council.
• Scrutinise the enforcement of road safety measures, including speed limits.

1. The committee enquired as to whether the Council had a road safety strategy, similar to that of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC’s), with defined priorities and outcomes.

2. The committee asked if the council and partners were missing incidents, given that many minor collisions were not reported to police, and near-miss/dangerous driving data was excluded.

3. The committee discussed public perceptions of road safety and how they potentially affected walking/cycling uptake.

4. In relation to behaviour and enforcement the committee asked whether driver behaviour such as drink/drug driving and speeding was analysed beyond location specific collisions.

To consider the work programme for the committee.

1.     The Chair introduced the item and outlined proposals for a revised approach to the Committee’s work programme. Reference was made to the recent review of scrutiny following governance changes in 2022, which recommended a more flexible working model, including the use of task and finish groups and spotlight reviews, rather than relying solely on six fixed meetings per year.

2.     The Chair proposed moving to a quarterly cycle of formal meetings in June, September, December and March, the rationale for choosing these months was to avoid pressure from budget-related activity in January/February and potentially limited availability of officers/members in July/August. It was stressed that the proposed model would be supplemented by informal meetings to oversee and support task and finish work.

3.     The Chair recommended Bus Provision as the first subject for a task and finish group, citing its complexity and importance. A draft set of Terms of Reference had been prepared and would be refined with officer/director input and circulated to members.

4.     In response to questions and concerns from committee members, the Statutory Scrutiny Officer clarified the distinction between informal working groups and formal task and finish groups, explaining that the latter could draw from members across the council (excluding Cabinet members) and could provide greater flexibility to explore strategic issues.

At the conclusion of the debate the following resolutions were unanimously agreed by the committee.

Resolved:

·       That the ESSC move to a quarterly cycle of formal meetings (September, December, March, June), supplemented by informal sessions as required and that a committee work programme be agreed in an informal meeting.

·       That Bus Provision be confirmed as the subject of the first task and finish group.

Actions:

·       That nominations be sought for task and finish group membership, with the Chair to be drawn from ESSC members (excluding the Committee Chair). External co-optees could be appointed to provide independent perspectives.

·       That the Chair meet with the Corporate Director of Economy and Environment to secure officer support and refine the draft terms of reference.

·       That the Committee hold an informal meeting in July 2025 to finalise arrangements for the task and finish group.

Monday 7 July 2025, 10am

To be confirmed.