To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor MAF Hubbard and Mr G Woodman.

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.

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2008.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes for the meeting held on 17 July 2008, 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 the public for future scrutiny.

To receive a report on the Scrutiny Review of the Edgar Street Grid Project, held on 30 September 2008 at the Courtyard.

The Committee considered a report on the Scrutiny Review of the Edgar Street Project, held on 30^th September 2008 at the Courtyard Centre for the Arts, Hereford, presented by the Head of Economic and Community Services.

The Cabinet Member (Economic Development and Community Services) replied to a query from a Member by saying that the Council was adopting a holistic approach to the regeneration of the city, and that this included the carbon footprint.  Measures were being considered ranging from Park & Ride, the transport infrastructure and the passage of traffic through and around the city.  Discussions were underway with Arriva regarding the Transport Hub, and the first meeting of the Working Group to address the matter would take place in January 2009.  Consideration was also being given to the issue of lorry and freight transport into the city.  He added that the reduction of emissions from traffic travelling around the city looking for car parking spaces should not be underestimated.

A Member thanked Officers for the report, and suggested that it would be possible to get better engagement with the project if greater linkage could be demonstrated between the project and the city, especially on Widemarsh and Catherine Streets.  The Chief Executive, ESG Ltd said that there was a great deal of work in hand with the project, and one of the options was to siphon more traffic out of the inner ring road.  One way of doing this would be to increase the size of the link road.  The Cabinet Member added that Ben Hamilton-Bailey had been engaged as an urban design consultant and was nationally renowned in his field.  It was important that the image of the city itself should be carefully considered, and central to this was the impact of Blue School Street and the link with Widemarsh Street.  There would need to be a commonality of image for the area and choice of materials that would provide a link to the city in visual terms.  Mr Hamilton-Bailey would help to ensure that the single city concept was achieved.

The Committee considered the recommendations of the report.  It was agreed that Cabinet be requested to consider Recommendation 7.1, that the scheme be referred to as ‘The Expanded City Centre’.  It was further agreed that Cabinet be requested to consider Recommendation 7.2, subject to the following amendment: 

Consultation – The importance of full consultation is recognised both to ensure the best results for the people of Herefordshire, but also to ensure compliance with planning regulations.  ESG Ltd should continue with its current consultation (both giving and receiving) and to investigate and use other innovative methods of consultation as appropriate. 

It was agreed that Cabinet be requested to consider Recommendations 7.3 and 7.4.

A Member stated that it was imperative that better linkages should be created to the Courtyard, and asked that the recommendation be strengthened.  The Chief Executive, ESG Ltd replied to a comment from another Member by saying that there was ongoing detailed analysis  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

To provide an up date on the projected revenue outturn for financial year 2008/09 for the Economic and Community Services Division within the Regeneration Directorate and Cultural Services functions within the Environment and Culture Directorate.

The Committee noted the Community Services Revenue outturn 2007/08. The Environment & Culture Accountant reported that the total Community Services budget for 2008/09 had increased to £9,925,722 from £9,789,458. The net increase of £136,264 related to the transfer of budget relating to the annual contributions to Job Evaluation costs for staff transferred to HALO and Amey Wye Valley Ltd.  The budget had previously been held centrally. The Council was required to meet the financial impact of increases in pay of the transferred posts affected by the single status agreement.  The original central budget had been set based on reasonable assumptions about pay grades but funding had become insufficient as staff progressed through the grades.  Cabinet had agreed that this should be covered by reserves.  There was a reduction of £165k in Economic Development which related to income from commercial premises previously used to fund Edgar Street Grid (ESG) operational costs. The funding had now ceased and Advantage West Midlands would now directly grant fund the operational costs of ESG.  There was a reduction of Management budget by £28,231 following the disaggregation of the Head of Service budgets. This reflected a transfer of the budget associated with the reorganisation of Directorates.

A Member expressed concern that the report did not include a clear exposition of what actions were being undertaken with regard to the budget out-turn.  He asked that reports should not, in the future, condone apparent inactivity.

In reply to a query, the Director of Environment and Culture said that the main area of overspend in Cultural Services was as a result of the cost of maintaining the public access computers within libraries.  There had been an increase in the Service Level Agreement, and whilst there was capital to purchase computers, there was no revenue to support their operation.  The amount was not insignificant, and measures were being taken to address the issue.  He undertook to circulate a note to Members laying out the detail of the measures.   The Interim Head of Culture and Leisure added that there were eighty PC’s in a network, and the contract allowed for the maintenance of the infrastructure, the network and the PC’s themselves.  The charges were consistent across the Authority.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted and that the next report should indicate action taken to address the projected overspends.

To report on the performance indicator position and other performance management information for the Economic and Community Services Division within the Regeneration Directorate and Cultural Services functions within the Environment and Culture Directorate.

The Committee noted the report on the performance indicator position and other performance management information for the Economic and Community Services Division within the Regeneration Directorate and Cultural Services functions within the Environment and Culture Directorate. The Improvement Manager reported that following the merger of the two Directorates, the report still had a transitional format. It was intended that the report would be harmonised with the performance reports that were submitted to the Strategic Monitoring Committee and Cabinet.   In the ensuing discussion, the following points were raised:

·         In reply to concerns from Members over the veracity of the data and its bearing on the status of the PI, the Improvement Manager said that, in this baseline year, if there was no historical data the PI was flagged as amber.  The Committee would be provided with a clearer view at future meetings, when the new indicators were fully operational.  He concurred with Members that there should be no discrepancy between the reporting of amber and green PIs, and that this would be rectified in the future.

·         In reply to further concerns, the Head of Economic and Community Services said that the PIs that were reported on were designed to provide the Committee with a cross section of the work of the service.  Some of the national PIs were not prioritised within the County, and it was not considered appropriate to include them in the report.

·         Councillor Smith thanked Officers for the report, but said that he did not consider the document to be fit for purpose in its existing format, and proposed that it should be rejected. The Improvement Manager suggested that an informal meeting of the Directors and the Chairman and Vice Chairman be held to address the structure of the report and to address the issues that had been raised.

RESOLVED:

That:   (a)        the report on performance be noted,

            and;

            (b)       areas of concern and exception continue to be monitored.

To consider the Committee’s work programme.

The Committee considered its work programme.

The work programme at Appendix 1 was noted.  It was agreed that a report on the Flavours of Herefordshire Food Festival would be received at the next meeting as well as a report on the PACT meetings.

RESOLVED: That subject to the above amendments, the work programme be approved and reported to the Strategic Monitoring Committee.

Statement from the Cabinet Member (Economic Development and Community Services)

The Cabinet Member (Economic Development and Community Services) reported that of the twelve finalists for the 2008 Enterprising Britain awards, Herefordshire had won the Runner up prize, with Scarborough taking the title of UK Enterprise Capital. The Awards Ceremony had been held at 11 Downing Street the previous evening. He thanked the Head of Economic and Community Services and her team for all the work they had put into the project, and congratulated them on their success.

The Council had taken a holistic vision for Herefordshire and the City that would be used as the building blocks to help regenerate the County.  The City itself would be taken forward to the 2009 competition with the intention of winning.