To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor DW Greenow.  Apologies were also received from Councillor DB Wilcox, Cabinet Member (Highways & Transportation).

To receive details any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

There were no named substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

No interests were declared.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

The Chairman reported that Mr P McKay had submitted a list of 22 areas for scrutiny.  As they all related to the Public Rights of Way Service he proposed dealing with the list under that agenda item.

To inform the Committee of the work of the Herefordshire Local Access Forum.

The Chairman introduced Mr R Gething (Chairman) and Mr N Barnes, (Vice-Chairman) of the Herefordshire Local Access Forum (HLAF) who informed the Committee of the work of the HLAF.

Mr Gething thanked the Committee for the opportunity to address the meeting.  An outline of the areas they wished to cover had been set out in the agenda, including the terms of reference for the HLAF.

The principal points highlighted during the brief presentation by Mr Gething were:

• HLAF was a statutory body set up under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to give independent advice to the local authority and other specified bodies on access, rights of way and other associated matters, at a strategic level;
• In addition to the main body HLAF also has a number of working groups to look at legislation, route development and rights of way improvement plans (ROWIP);
• They worked with neighbouring authorities e.g. Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, to achieve cross border initiatives;
• They had been one of five LAFs in England that took part in a National Pathfinder Project on recording rights of ways - part of the Discovering lost ways project – which had resulted in a report to the government minister.
• Contributions had been made through consultation processes to a number of important local and regional strategic policy issues.
• The HLAF would continue to work with the Council on the review of the ROWIP, provide an independent focus and promote the adoption of best practice in the management of rights of way.
• An indication was given of the range of issues considered at HLAF meetings noting that main meetings were open to the public.

In response to questions the following principal points were noted:

• HLAF meetings were advertised through the Rights of Way section of the Council’s web site.  While greater publicity was being looked at this had to be balanced against the costs involved.  A suggestion was made that meeting dates could be included in Herefordshire Matters.
• Public rights of way provided many benefits to the public e.g. through health promotion and tourism income.
• Greater national awareness of the work in Herefordshire had been achieved through taking part in the National Pathfinder Project.
• Noting that parish councils had a large number of footpaths through them, the Forum would welcome being contacted on any general or strategic issues. The Forum also wished to see further support to the Parish Paths Scheme and would welcome Parish Footpath officers attending the Forum meetings.
• HLAF were satisfied that reports and advice given to the Council were being adequately dealt with.

The Chairman thanked Mr Gething and Mr Barnes for the presentation and for answering the Committee’s questions.

RESOLVED: That the presentation be noted and the Herefordshire Local Access Forum thanked for the work they undertake.

To update the Committee on progress of both the single Planning Committee and the enforcement function.

The Committee received an update on the progress of both the single Planning Committee and the planning enforcement function.

The Assistant Director – Environment, Planning and Waste, presented a two part report.  The first part outlined the background, introduction and current operation of the new Planning Committee including statistics on the number of applications considered and duration of meetings. The report also set out a number of key issues for the future which he briefly expanded upon.

The Cabinet Member (Environment and Strategic Housing) commented that the issues raised by the Audit Commission and the Committee’s own scrutiny review and subsequent comments by Councillors had been taken into account.  He emphasised that proper ground rules were in place to ensure that planning decisions were in accordance with the law.  Based on evidence of concern raised by the local community, Councillors had a defined process to enable applications to be redirected to Planning Committee.  Councillors were also now able to become more involved in applications at a ward level.

The Assistant Director - Environment Planning and Waste, presented the second part of the report which set out that the recent restructuring of the Planning Service had brought about the creation of a dedicated planning enforcement team with the objective of raising the level, intensity and monitoring of the enforcement regime under the Town and Country Planning Acts.  The report also set out recent enforcement activity and key elements that the team would be focusing on.

Responding to concerns raised about application registration times the Assistant Director – Environment, Planning and Waste reported that he was already looking at possible improvements to the system.

Noting that no Section 215 notices had been issued the message this relayed to property owners was questioned.  The Assistant Director – Environment, Planning and Waste responded that properties potentially subject to a S215 notice were monitored.

Responding to various questions concerning Section 106 income and conditions the Assistant Director – Environment, Planning and Waste responded that for the last 16 months an officer had been appointed to increase the monitoring of S106 agreements.  While not all agreements related to financial commitments some £1.1m had been secured.  However, the economic downturn had affected or delayed the performance of some agreements.

Inspection work undertaken by the Planning Service was undertaken based on a schedule of priorities and was normally undertaken within 5 working days.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted and a Member briefing note be provided on the work of the Section 106 officer together with progress on implementing and monitoring agreements.

At this point the Committee adjourned for 5 minutes and reconvened at 3.12 pm

To inform of the scope of the key areas of the rights of way service, clarify Amey and Council roles, outcomes and progress towards those outcomes.  The report also sets out to address or clarify some of the regular rights of way related queries raised by members of the public, including the relationship between the List of Streets and the definitive map.

The Committee was informed of the scope of the key areas of the rights of way service and received clarification on Amey and the Council’s roles, outcomes and progress towards those outcomes.  The agenda report also clarified some of the regular rights of way related issues raised by members of the public, including the relationship between the statutory List of Streets and the Definitive Map.

The Chairman reported that a detailed list of suggested areas for scrutiny had been received from Mr McKay – copies of which had been circulated to Committee members.  As the list related to subjects for debate under this agenda item the Chairman proposed that the list be passed to officers.  Officers would then inform the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of their response to the issues raised.  The Chairman and Vice Chairman would then consider whether to recommend to the Committee that any further report(s) be considered for inclusion in the committee work programme.

The Chairman further reported that a question had been submitted by Mr Everitt.  While the question related to a number of personal issues it mainly asked whether a satisfactory and acceptable level of rights of way service was being provided.  The Chairman and Vice Chairman undertook to incorporate the issues raised into the Committee’s questions.

The Parks, Countryside and Leisure Development Manager (PCLD Manager) reminded the Committee that in response to the existing backlog of work in the service, the transfer of the service to Amey Herefordshire, and a number of queries from the public, the Committee had requested a report on the service.  He presented the agenda report which set out:

• an overview of the service including its transfer to Amey;
• the responsibilities of Amey and the Council;
• the public rights of way legal order functions including performance in achieving those orders; statistics on the outstanding legal order work; the method of prioritisation and how the backlog was being tackled.
• the historic position regarding maintenance of the network, the current backlog position, the method of prioritisation of works, the involvement of the parish councils, and initiatives to tackle the backlog.
• benchmarking against other authorities as further set out in Appendix D to the report (Shropshire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire)
• the methods that the Council and Amey used to communicate, promote and engage with local communities and the wider public.
• the characteristics, differences and questions raised by members of the public concerning the List of Streets and the Definitive Map.
• the designation and inspection of unsurfaced county roads.

Based on themes identified in the report the following principal points were made:

Service Transfer

Noting the budget and staffing position described in the report, questions were asked about how the extra staff were being funded and whether this would result in less resources for maintenance purposes.  In response the Committee were informed that these were not extra posts but the employment of five staff now brought the staff complement up to full strength.  The costs would be met from the staffing budget.

Details  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To Consider the Committee work programme.

The Committee considered its work programme.

RESOLVED: That the Committee work programme be agreed and recommended to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee for approval.