To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors ME Cooper and PM Morgan.

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

Councillor AE Gray declared a personal interest in agenda item 5: Sustainable Community Strategy (Refresh) as a provider of care.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2010.

It was reported that the last word of paragraph 2 of Minute no 6 on page 4 of the Minutes should read “January”, not February and had been amended.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting as amended 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 consider whether to make any comments to Cabinet on the refresh of Herefordshire’s Sustainable Community Strategy covering the period 2010 – 2013.

(Councillor AE Gray declared a personal interest.)

The Committee considered whether to make any comments to Cabinet on the refresh of Herefordshire’s Sustainable Community Strategy covering the period 2010-2013.

The Head of Partnership Support presented the report. She drew attention to the six priority themes for the County; guiding principles for Partnership working developed during the refresh; and the intention that the Strategy should highlight the key issues and challenges facing the County.

The Leader of the Council commented on the importance of all partners working together to deliver the agreed priorities in the context of financial constraints.  He considered that compared with many areas partners were co-operating well but there were some cultural issues to address.  For example, where public bodies were answerable to Government departments this could distort priorities.  There was a need to ensure that their actions were aligned to the needs of the County. 

In discussion the following principal points were made:

·         That is was important that Partners were accountable for delivering the Strategy, reflecting the way in which Councillors were accountable to the electorate.  The role of the scrutiny committees in holding partners to account was noted.

The Head of Partnership Support stated that she recognised the importance of accountability to the community and efforts were being made to enhance that accountability.  She expressed an interest in examining how the Partnership could work with the scrutiny committees as part of this process.

·         Members observed that the document required further editing and made a number of detailed comments, highlighting a number of typographical and grammatical changes identifying some areas where there appeared to be inconsistency and where the text needed to be updated, and requesting that the statistical evidence base be checked and terms used in the document more clearly explained.

·         It was suggested that the section on Stronger Communities should be strengthened.  It needed to highlight the need to address the problem faced by parts of the community where the population was ageing, there was no affordable housing, and no house building, meaning it was difficult for young people to live in those communities, which in turn was leading to a decline in local services.  The Local Development Framework did not address this concern and the Strategy needed to link to that.  Noting that affordable housing could sometimes be interpreted as meaning small houses, Members suggested that sensible mixed developments were needed.  The importance of local people being given priority when allocating affordable housing was also stressed.

·         Members emphasised the critical role housing played in health, education, safety and family life and the importance of the Strategy fully reflecting this point.

·         The section on Children and Young People needed to reflect the pressures on the viability of schools and most importantly emphasise the need to continue to strive to maintain and improve educational standards.

·         It was noted that the draft document appeared to provide for considerable design work and colour photographs.  It was suggested consideration be given to producing a simplified document that would keep  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To consider the Committee’s work programme including a request from the Executive to review the impact of the severe winter weather as part of that programme.

The Committee considered its work programme including a request from the Executive to review the impact of the severe winter weather as part of that programme.

The Leader commented on the benefits he thought could be derived from a review of the response to the severe weather by the various partners in the County.

It was agreed that the review be undertaken as a “one day” review by the Committee as a whole.

RESOLVED:

That    (a)        a review of the impact of the severe winter weather be included within the work programme; and

            (b)       the work programme as amended be approved as a basis for further development.