To receive questions from members of the public.

The Chairman reminded Council that under the Constitution a member of the public could ask a Cabinet Member or Chairman of a Committee any question relevant to a matter in relation to which the Council had powers or duties, or which affected the County, as long as a copy of that question was deposited with the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Democratic more than six clear working days before the meeting.

 

1       Question from Ms Susana Piohtee, Transition Hereford

As you will know, after a great deal of campaigning, the Sustainable Communities Act is now a reality.

 

In the introductory information it says:  ‘the Sustainable Communities Act is a new law that empowers citizens and councils to ask for help from government to promote sustainable communities – and then requires the government to reach agreement with them.  This is NOT the usual consultation everyone is so fed up with – government cannot just say ‘no’ to all the good proposals and ideas that local people have.  This is new wording and precedent in law.  The whole process will start in October when the government will write to councils inviting them to ‘opt in’ to the Sustainable Communities Act.  It is crucial that your council does this, otherwise you and your community will be excluded from the process and your voice will not be heard.

 

Given the amount of development planned for our county over the next years, this Act will provide the Herefordshire Council with a useful tool with which to challenge government on the appropriateness of some of its requirements of this Council.  How are you going to respond to this invitation to ‘opt in’ when invited to do so in October?

 

Answer from Councillor AJM Blackshaw Cabinet Member Economic Development and Community Services

 

1       The Sustainable Communities Act 2007 received the Royal Assent in October 2007. The Act requires the Secretary of State to make regulations and publish guidance relating to the procedure to be followed concerning proposals made under section 2 of the Act (proposals that would contribute to promoting the sustainability of local communities). Before doing so, the Secretary of State is obliged to consult local government on the regulations and on the guidance. This consultation took place earlier in this year and the guidance was finally published on July 9th 2008.

 

The regulations will come before Parliament in the near future and Government will also be consulting on the approach to producing Local Spending Reports during the summer of 2008.

 

The Secretary of State will issue first invitations to local authorities by 23 October 2008 and arrangements for the first Local Spending Reports should be in place by 23 April 2009.

 

Herefordshire Council is currently monitoring these developments and identifying procedures that it needs to put in place, to comply with the new regulations.  A seminar will be held in the autumn to brief all Members on the impact of the Sustainable Communities Act.

 

2       Question from Ms Barbara Evans, Kingsthorn

Is it permissible within the Council's constitution for political groups on the Council to receive financial donations from external bodies?

 

Answer from Mr Kevin O’Keefe, Legal Practice Manager, Assistant Chief Executive’s Office

 

The Council’s Constitution explains and regulates how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are to be followed to ensure that decision making is efficient, transparent and accountable to local people.  The Constitution deals with all relevant governance issues within the Council.  The Constitution does not however regulate the internal processes of political parties or how they receive financial donations from third parties other than a requirement in 2.8A.1 requiring Members to give formal notice in the Register of Interests of any person who has made a payment to him or her in respect of their election expenses or other expenses incurred in carrying out their duties.

 

         National legislation provides a framework regulating the wider issues of political donations.

 

3       Questions from Brian Organ, Tillington

Following a number of accidents in the village of Tillington.  The road through Tillington being a high risk road in view of the number of activities conducted on the Village road including horse riding, walking, running and cycling.  I have presented a number of questions to which I would appreciate numbered answers.

 

3.1    Do the Council accept the Department of Transport definition of a village as having more than 20 houses?

 

3.2    Does the Council accept that Tillington has more than 20 houses?

 

3.3    Does the Council accept that in addition to 20 houses Tillington has a School, a Garage, a village shop, a village pub and a village cricket ground?

3.4    Does the Council accept the Department of Transport recommendation that the norm for the speed limit through a village should be 30 mph?

 

3.5    Does the Council accept its own Local Transport plan that states it intends to have “a stepped up speed limit reductions programme to provide more villages with 30 mph limits”?

 

3.6    Does the Council accept its own five year Local Transport Plan that it requires more school 20 mph zones to enable more children to walk and cycle to school?

 

3.7    In the light of the Department for Transport recommendations and Herefordshire’s Local Transport plan safety objectives why is Tillington not a 30 mph speed limit and the school a 20 mph zone?

 

3.8    Does the Council accept the Department of Transport sponsored research findings that an increase of 10% in speed causes a 30% increase in the accident rate for poor quality roads, as defined in TRL report 511 , such as the one through Tillington?

 

3.9    Could the Council give the number of Schools that have had a 20 mph zone instigated in the current 06/07 to 11/12 5 year plan?

 

3.10What are the mobility objectives for the road through the village of Tillington?

 

3.11 Can I have a copy of the Single Carriageway Rural Roads and the speed assessment framework?

 

Answer from Councillor DB Wilcox Cabinet Member Highways and Transportation

 

3.1    In Traffic Advisory Leaflet 01/04 (DfT, 2004) the Department for Transport set out its current policy on achieving lower speed limits in villages, this includes a broad definition of what constitutes a village.  For the purpose of applying a village speed limit of 30mph they state that a definition can be based on the following simple criteria relating to frontage development and distance.

·        20 or more houses (on one or both sides of the road); and

·        A minimum length of 600 metres.

As a rural county we recognise the importance of reducing speeds in villages and support this guidance in this regard.  Our speed limit policy favours the introduction of 30mph limits at villages and other rural settlements.  It states that the minimum lenth of a limit should be 600m and that the access rate per kilometre over the restricted length should be more than 20 for a 30mph limit to be considered.

 

Our policy will actually allow the introduction of 30mph limits at settlements of less than 20 houses, provided that they are concentrated within a 600m length.  This allows us to properly consider the merits of 30mph limits for the many smaller hamlets throughout Herefordshire.

 

The DfT policy, in circular 01/2006, makes it clear that alternative limits of 40 or 50mph should be considered where criteria for a 30 limit are not met.  Our policy supports this with the use of the following :

 

·        A 40mph limit should be considered if the access rate if 15 to 20 per Kilometre; and

·        A 50mph limit should be considered if the access rate if 10 to 15 per Kilometre.

 

3.2    Yes.

 

3.3    Yes.

 

3.4    The Department for Transport in circular 01/2006 states that it is government policy that, were appropriate, a 30mph limit should be the norm in villages. Our speed limit policy supports the introduction of 30mph limits at villages and other small rural settlements.

 

3.5    In Local Transport Plan 2 we state that we seek to ensure speed limits are appropriate to the road and contribute to improving road safety.

3.6    The aim is to introduce 20mph zones outside most schools in the county. It is recognised that successful 20mph zones should be generally self enforcing. As such careful consideration has to be paid to the design of the most appropriate measures for each school.

 

3.7    When the Council last considered the speed limit it was following a request to extend the 40mph limit. This met with our policy and was introduced. The access rate did not support a lower limit at that time.

We can consider a 30mph limit in accordance with the Council’s protocol for introducing such limits and assuming that this is supported locally.

We plan to deliver a 20mph zone at the School. Our priorities are informed by the accident history at each of the schools. This has identified eight other schools as priority sites and we propose to deliver part time 20mph limits at all eight by 2010. Burghill Primary will be considered in the next phase of our programme. In the short-term we will be delivering sign improvements at the school this year.

 

3.8    In principle, the Council agrees that an increase in speed can cause an increase in accident rates.  TRL Report 511 states that :-

 

- a 10% increase in mean speed results in a 26% increase in frequency of ALL injury accidents

 

It is important to understand that "Mean" average speed takes into account that the speeds of individual vehicles vary and does not relate to the speed limit that may be in place. 

 

Whilst the research undertaken by TRL offers some important findings it is important to ensure that these are considered in the light of local conditions and the Council’s approach to speed limits on county roads seeks to ensure that the appropriate speed limit is introduced taking into account all relevant factors as highlighted above.

 

3.9    Four school 20mph zone schemes have now been implemented during the period of the LTP2 (2006/7 to 2010/11). These comprise, Wyebridge Sports College (formerly Haywood High), St Thomas Cantilupe, Whitecross High School and Specialist Sports College and Sutton Primary School.

 

3.10The road through Tillington provides for the movement of traffic, pedestrians and cyclists through and within the village .  Whilst the Council does not set specific mobility objectives for individual roads, the Local Transport Plan sets out the transport objectives for the County and indicates the kind of measures that may be introduced in suitable locations to support the delivery of the strategy.  Measures within the Local Transport Plan include pedestrian and cycle improvements and measures to provide safer routes to school. 

 

Any requests for specific improvements pertaining to Tillington can be made to the Highways department through the Streets number (01432) 261800 or directly to Mairead Lane Construction Manager on (01432) 260944.  These requests would then be considered in the light of the overall strategy and available funding.

 

3.11 The TRL publication ‘Developing a Speed Management Assessment Framework for Rural Single carriageway Roads is available as a free download from the TRL. Their website address is www.trl.co.uk , if you go to their online store, reports and publications and type in speed management you will have an opportunity to either purchase a hard copy or acquire it as a download.

Further information on national policy in regard to speed management can be found on the Department for Transport website www.dft.gov.uk

The Local Transport Plan 2 is available on our own website www.herefordshire.gov.uk

 

3       Question from Brian Organ, Tillington

3.12    Why cannot members of the public put supplementary questions to the Council in the light of the ones received, as for instance happens in Portsmouth City Council.  An inability to ask supplementary questions to answers given severely limits the democratic process.  A system of supplementary questioning is allowed in many Councils, why not Hereford?

 

Answer from Mr Kevin O’Keefe, Legal Practice Manager for Assistant Chief Executive’s Office

 

3.12Paragraph 4.24 of the Council’s current Constitution provides an opportunity for this meeting to receive questions from members of the public and sets out a framework by which the Council will deal with providing the fullest possible answers to questions received.  At present there is a provision precluding the raising of supplementary questions.  The Council has an ongoing constitutional review working group which continually analyses the constitution with a view to keeping it compliant with best practice and all relevant legal requirements.  The point raised is a valid one which will be fed into the work of the review group to enable it to receive careful consideration.

 

4              Question from Mrs R Gill

My husband and I, and my twin boys currently live with my mother.  We have been classed as Silver on the homepoint scheme for four years.  There is a possibility that we may be given a piece of land to build our own home, therefore relieving the council of our housing need burden.  However with the section 106 agreement contribution which has been brought in this would mean we would have to find about £20,000 for our four bedroom house.

 

In view of the current economic climate, mortgage and housing shortages and approaching a recession, does the administration think that it is morally right to impose this "roof tax" on first time buyers like myself on one plus dwellings, especially when it was contrary to your own officers’ recommendations?  Also with the present construction industry redundancies, does the administration realise the impact this decision is having on small building firms?

 

I know it is being said that the money is for the extra burden being put on local schools and libraries etc., but as I am already living in the area no extra impact is being made, and will under five dwellings really make that much of an impact?

 

Answer from Councillor JG Jarvis Cabinet Member Environment and Strategic Housing

4.1 & 4.2

The Council's decision to reduce the threshold to one house for Section 106 Agreements reflects best practice from elsewhere and is fair and even handed. The application of the payments will ultimately depend on the ownership of the house to be developed by Mrs Gill.

If it is an open market house the full payments will be required. This factor is known to both the current landowner and any potential developer and should be covered in the commercial land transaction. The SPD provides exemption from contributions (para 3 of the Summary) if the resulting property/properties will remain genuinely affordable in perpetuity and have been developed in accordance with affordable housing policies contained in the UDP.