Hampshire County Council Economy, Transport and Environment Select Committee Meeting

Apologies were received from Councillor Hugh Lumby.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Councillor Martin Tod declared an interest as the Cabinet Member responsible for waste at Winchester City Council and also the Deputy Chair at Project Integra.

Councillor Rupert Kyrle declared an interest as a Cabinet Member for Environment at Eastleigh Borough Council and a Member on Project Integra.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

There were no deputations.

The Chairman confirmed that an additional item had been added to the agenda on Bus Back Better.

The Select Committee pre-scrutinised a report for the Executive Lead Member for Economy, Transport and Environment on the Joint Municipal Waste Strategy (item 6 in the minute book).

The officer summarised the report highlighting the importance of working with partners on a twin-stream system that would be effective for carbon reduction but required substantial investment. The strategy was very high level and a fluid document that allowed flexibility as more details were made available around the funding and funding structures.

The Executive Lead Member for Economy, Transport and Environment enforced the importance of it being a collective ambition across the Hampshire area and Districts and Boroughs as well as at County level.

RESOLVED

The Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Economy, Transport and Environment in page 1 of the attached report;

The Select Committee pre-scrutinised a report from the Director of Economy, Transport and Environment and Senior Finance Business Partner (item 7 in the minute book) on the Savings Programme for 2023 (SP23).

It was reported that the last government spending review was for one year, making forward planning difficult. Forecasting indicated that government funding would not fully meet the financial pressures the County Council faced, therefore there would be a funding gap in April 2023 and the Council would need to make savings of £80 million to balance the budget. This was in addition to £45 million in savings from previous transformation programmes that were yet to be delivered.

For Economy, Transport and Environment it was confirmed that £10.2million in new savings had been identified totalling over £79 cumulatively by 2023/24. This was 12% lower than the cash available to the department in 2009/10.

The current proposals were summarised following a consultation that had taken place, which had been altered to take into account the feedback that had been received.

During questions, Members learned that lobbying did continue with Central Government for funding, but any further tax increase could not be done without a referendum. Anaerobic Digestion was an area being investigated to assist with recycling, but there was no funding to do this and it require large investment and it was unlikely to generate additional income.

Members acknowledged that following the intensive savings already made, discretionary services now had to be looked at in order to try and achieve any further savings.

Any further funding received now would not be included as part of the 2023 programme and would be planned for April 2023 onwards.

The Executive Lead Member for Economy, Transport and Environment confirmed that work continued to be done in some areas of savings to find the best forward and thanked officers for their work.

RESOLVED

The Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Economy, Transport and Environment in section 2 (page 1) of the attached report.

The Select Committee received a presentation on the Bus Back Better, the National Bus strategy published in March that set out the future of bus services.

Many initiatives had already been delivered, including 550 real-time screens, Wi-Fi and the capacity for contactless payments. The pandemic had naturally effected the number of users on buses, but patronage was starting to increase again – particularly during the day.

Rural areas continued to be a challenge due to the numbers and routes available that are financially viable. Taxi-share services had replaced many of the rural routes although were not as visible.

During questions, Members learned that further work was being done to integrate bus and rail more in the longer term to make public transport more accessible. Cross-boundary accessibility was also being looked at.

Members thanked officers for their work and the presentation.

The Select Committee considered the work programme and discussed potential new items as well as those already proposed and it was requested that ‘Parking and Transport Management Agency review’ be added.

Following discussion, the work programme was agreed by the Select Committee.