To receive apologies for absence.

No apologies were received.

To receive 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.

Councillors MAF Hubbard, TM James, and RWV Stockton declared personal interests.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 2nd July, 2007.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes for the meeting held on 2nd July, 2007, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

There were no suggestions from Members of the Public.

To receive a presentation by the Cabinet Member (Economic Development and Community Services) informing the Committee of policy issues affecting this programme area and the main priorities.

Councillor AJM Blackshaw (Cabinet Member – Economic Development and Community Services) presented his report, copies of which were circulated at the meeting.

The report set out current issues and priorities for the next 12 month period, major decisions expected to be taken, and areas identified for performance improvement.  The Cabinet Member concluded by noting that with ever increasing pressure on budgets it would be a continuing challenge to maintain performance and strive for improvement.

In the course of discussion the following principal points were made:

·         A question was asked about the approach to making budget savings, suggesting that the measures under consideration seemed to involve service reduction rather than focusing on cost reduction.  In this context reference was made to the proposal to reduce the opening time for Leominster Tourist Information Centre to six months which it was stated would have a big impact on service but would only generate a small saving.  The Cabinet Member said that consideration had to be given to making savings on non-statutory services.  It was difficult to make significant savings and the focus was therefore on making small reductions across a number of areas.

·         The Head of Economic and Community Services noted that there was an immediate pressure to meet the fact that budgets for 2007/08 had only been increased to account for pay inflation. To balance the budget for 2007/08 savings of £108,000 would need to be secured.  The position at Leominster was being reviewed and it was now proposed to delay a decision for a year and look at other options. 

·         The national thinking regarding the transfer of assets owned by local authorities to local ownership and the possibility of a role for the Herefordshire Association of Local Councils was raised.  It was suggested that a protocol could be developed.

·         A further question was asked as to whether the Council could inform Community Groups of proposed disposals and liaise with them over ways in which those groups might take local ownership of assets.  The Cabinet Member said that discussions were taking place.  A Member noted that the maintenance costs of buildings were often beyond the abilities of local bodies to meet.

·         The Cabinet Member commented that he was mindful of the desire to maintain a presence in the Market Towns.  However, it was important to manage assets effectively.  This could involve wider working across the directorate and also across directorates as a whole.

·         In response to a question about the proposed development of Ross Library the Cabinet Member confirmed his intention to engage with Local Members.

·         It was questioned whether the resource was available to meet the new requirement that decisions on public path order applications be made within 4 months.

·         That it was important that the resource implications of the Crime and Disorder Act and the change to the operation of the Community Safety and Drugs Partnership were reflected in the Medium Term Financial Management Strategy.

·         That consideration should be given to the potential role Parish Councils might have in relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

To inform the Committee of action plans arising from the Cultural Services Inspection, Review of Hereford City Partnership, and the 18-35 Review.

The Committee was informed of action plans arising from the Audit Commission’s Cultural Services Inspection and the scrutiny reviews of the Hereford City Partnership and how Herefordshire could retain 18-35 year olds in the County and attract them to it (the 18-35 review).

The Head of Economic and Community Services presented the report. 

Further to the report to the Committee in July 2007 she reported that work to complete the actions in the Cultural Services action plan, a copy of which was appended to the report, was on track.

Following consideration by the Committee in March 2007 the Scrutiny Review of the Hereford City Partnership and the 18-35 Review had been considered by Cabinet on 6th September 2007.  Action plans reflecting those recommendations accepted by Cabinet were also appended to the report.

It was proposed to present a progress report on each of the three action plans to the next meeting.

In the ensuing discussion the following principal points were made:

Cultural Services Inspection

It was asked what progress was being made against recommendation 1b:  the development of performance measures concerned with value for money.  It was reported that value for money measures were contributing to the review of the Halo Contract Scrutiny Review.  Measures for cost per user and cost per resident had been developed for libraries and tourist information centres.

A question was asked about action R1c:  measure the effectiveness of tourism.  The Head of Economic and Community Services said that an assessment had been made using the Cambridge model.  This showed tourism benefited the County to the sum of £291 million.  It was requested that a copy of the report be sent to Members undertaking the Scrutiny Review.

18-35 Review

A Member expressed disappointment that the review contained no cutting edge, innovative approaches.  As a rural County there was surely an opportunity to be at the forefront of developing green, sustainable initiatives.

It was suggested that promotion of existing businesses was overlooked. 

Reference was made to the “Young Chamber” run by the Chamber of Commerce and Business Start Up schemes.

That the mixed development of the former Ledbury Cottage Hospital to include business units should be monitored to see if that model could be successfully applied and supported elsewhere.

The Cabinet Member (Economic Development and Community Services) said that the need to engage young people was recognised.  There was a challenge both to attract businesses and to ensure that talent was available to employers within the County.  

The Director of Adult and Community Services commented that whilst there were low levels of unemployment in the County wage levels were also low.  The key was to improve the skills of the workforce.  The development of the Edgar Street Grid, Rotherwas and the learning village did present opportunities.  The Council was supporting partners such as the College of Technology and encouraging training and vocational activities with the business community.

It was suggested that the statistics on wage levels may not be entirely reliable because of the number of small  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

To update Members on the proposal to relocate the Tourist Information Centre in Ledbury.

The Committee was informed of the position on the proposed relocation of the Tourist Information Centre (TIC) in Ledbury.

The Head of Economic and Community Services presented the report.  She noted that Ledbury and Area Development Trust (LADT) was finalising its report on future use of the Masters House and this needed to be linked to work by the Council on future use of facilities in the Town.  It was intended that a further report would be made to the Committee’s next meeting.

Councillor Swinburne as Local Member welcomed the way in which a recent meeting with the LADT had been open to a range of options.  She commented on the importance of the TIC’s link to local businesses.  She emphasised the importance of explaining the issues relating to the future of the TIC clearly to the public and demonstrating that the level of service to them would not be diminished.

The Cabinet Member (Economic Development and Community Services) endorsed the need for communication and emphasised the role of local members in that process.

A Member noted that the role local members could play and their accountability for and ownership of proposals depended on the extent to which they had been consulted on proposals and had contributed to them.

RESOLVED:  That a further report be presented to the next meeting.

To provide an update on the revenue budget.

The Committee considered an update on the projected revenue budget outturn for 2007/08 for Economic and Community Services.

The report showed a projected overspend of £40,000.  The Director of Adult and Community Services reported that he expected that the budget would be brought into balance by the year end.  He noted that the impact of absorbing inflationary increases in non-pay areas in accordance with the corporate strategy had been significant, amounting to £108,000.

In response to a question he confirmed that the outturn took account of the required Gershon efficiency savings.

RESOLVED: that the projected revenue budget outturn for 2007/08 for Economic and Community Services be noted.

To report on the performance indicators position and other performance management information for the Economic and Community Services Division within the Adult and Community Services Directorate.

The Committee considered the performance indicators position and other performance information for the Economic and Community Services Division.

It was noted that future reports would report performance on an exception basis.

In the course of discussion the following principal points were made:

·         It was requested that where it was indicated that an indicator was only measured annually the date when the measurement would take place should be indicated in the report.

·         In relation to the LPSA 2 target for reducing violent crime it was noted that if performance for the remaining three quarters was equal to the target for the first quarter the number of crimes would greatly exceed the target.  Similarly the LPSA 2 target for a 15% reduction in overall British Crime Survey recorded crime would be missed because performance indicators on criminal damage and violent crimes contributed to this overall indicator.

·         Performance against BVPI 178: percentage of footpaths and rights of way easy to use by the public was also raised, noting that this compared very unfavourably with upper quartile performance.  It was suggested in reply that engaging volunteer help might generate some improvement in performance.

The Committee noted the report.

To consider the Committee’s work programme.

The Committee noted that taking account of discussions earlier in the meeting reports on Ledbury TIC, and progress reports on various action plans would be added to the programme for the next meeting, together with a report on Rotherwas Futures.

A report on the Edgar Street Grid would be scheduled for April 2008.

It was proposed to bring scoping reports forward for the future reviews of Future Economic Policy and the Community and Safety Drugs Partnership. 

RESOLVED:   That the work programme as amended be approved and reported to the Strategic Monitoring Committee.