Hampshire County Council County Council Meeting

Apologies were received from Councillors Michael Ford, Steve Forster, Jonathan Glen, David Harrison, Keith House, Adam Jackman, Mark Kemp-Gee, Kim Taylor and Bill Withers, and from Honorary Aldermen Chris Carter and Patricia Banks.

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 5 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.

The Minutes of the County Council meeting held on 20 July 2023 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

A deputation was received in accordance with Standing Order 12 regarding speeding vehicles in Cranmore Lane, Aldershot.

The Executive Lead Member for Universal Services will respond direct to the individuals who made the deputation.

The Chairman began by congratulating Sally Ott and Kerry Bean from the County Council’s Adults’ Health and Care Service for each completing a degree in Chartered Management.  She also paid tribute to 30 Adults’ Health and Care employees recently achieving 25 years service and one celebrating 40 years of service.

The Chairman had attended a number of events since the last meeting, including:

-       The New Forest and Hampshire County Show, spending an informative day meeting and talking with local businesses and artisans.

-       Hampshire Records Office, learning about the history and development of the county of Hampshire and how modern day lifestyles and technologies influence the historical records of the future.   The Chairman encouraged Members to plan an individual or group visit.

-       A County Council residential care home celebrating a Summer Fete, and spent time talking to residents and families who spoke highly of the care provided by the County Council.

-       Hampshire Cultural Trust at Chilcomb where she viewed an array of Hampshire treasures and heard about the wide range of artisan workshops including for repair of steam driven vehicles.

It was with much sadness that the Chairman reported the death of former County Councillor Geoff Hockley. Geoff had represented the Fareham Titchfield division from 2005 to 2021. Councillors Bryant, Burgess, Hayre, Pankhurst and Woodward paid tribute and the Council observed a moment’s silence as a mark of respect.

The Leader opened his report by expressing his sympathy to all those affected by the earthquake and flooding in Morocco and Libya.  He also paid tribute to the five Hampshire firefighters who were among the specially trained UK Search and Rescue team deployed to Morocco by the Foreign Office to assist the emergency response on the ground.

In relation to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), he confirmed there were two know cases in public buildings maintained by Hampshire County Council.  Cranbourne College in Basingstoke was the only school site where RAAC had been identified, and work had already been undertaken to one section of the building to make sure it was safe, and another area had been taken out of use since the beginning of the year. The school has reopened for the new academic year as normal.  RAAC had also been confirmed within an area of South Ham Community Library in Basingstoke, in an area of the building that is owned by Hampshire County Council. As a precautionary measure the impacted areas were closed immediately and remain closed until appropriate mitigation measures have been implemented.

Referring to the Council’s budget planning process, the Leader thank residents and stakeholders who had responded to the public consultation on the proposed budget.  Their views had helped to shape a range of savings proposals to close the £132 million budget gap by 2025-26.  Individual Cabinet Members had been considering proposals affecting their areas of responsibility and recommendations would be considered by Cabinet in October, before a final decision is made by Full Council in November.  The Leader reported that although the Council’s finances were stable until 2025-26, Central Government needed to fundamentally change the way that local government services were funded, or reduce what councils are legally required to deliver.  He intended to continue to lobby Government for short term assistance and long-term reform to local government funding.

He reported that the strategic partnership for Children’s Services between Hampshire County Council and Isle of Wight Council would come to a close at the end of January.  This followed a decade of hard work and close collaboration between officers in both local authorities with Children’s Services on the Isle of Wight now in a secure position, having been judged as Good across the board by Ofsted in their last full inspection.  He expressed pride for all that had been achieved during the Partnership with the Isle of Wight, and thanked all colleagues, on the Island and in Hampshire, for the skill and dedication they have shown throughout to the children and young people they have worked so hard to support.

He welcomed the Government’s decision that upper tier local authorities in England will take on the core functions of Local Enterprise Partnerships from April 2024. The County Council was currently reviewing existing programmes and governance structures, and using an evidenced based approach, to determine the best outcomes for residents and businesses in Hampshire.

He reported that preparations for the first ever Hampshire Business Awards were continuing apace ahead of the awards ceremony in Farnborough on 30^th November.

Further to the resolutions passed by County Council in July, the Leader confirmed that he had written to the Prime Minister on the subject of Gurkha veterans’ pensions and other welfare issues, and to all Hampshire MPs on the supply of vapes to young people and the environmental concerns of disposable vapes. With regard to the resolution on underage vaping, he confirmed that School Improvement Officers from the Education & Inclusion team have worked closely with the Public Health team to produce appropriate messages that schools are asked to share with students, parents, carers and teachers as appropriate. Trading Standards are also undertaking both reactive and proactive work to help prevent underage sales of vapes taking place, as well as tackling the availability of non-compliant vapes.

Regarding Homes for Ukraine, the Leader was pleased to report that the County Council will pay an extra top-up of £200 per month from October until the end of March to all Hampshire residents hosting Ukrainian guests as part of the Government’s Homes for Ukraine Scheme, meaning that all Hampshire hosts will receive a monthly payment of £700 up to the end of March.

The Leader reminded members that it was National Inclusion Week, a time dedicated to celebrating inclusion and creating inclusive workplaces.  He expressed thanks to Cllr Kirsty North and Cllr Arun Mummalaneni, who were providing valuable leadership on this important agenda in their respective roles as Executive Member for Performance, Human Resources, Communications and Inclusion and Diversity, and as Member Champion for Inclusion and Diversity.

The Leader had recently visited Manor Farm alongside Cllr Oppenheimer to view the impact of the Country Parks Transformation Programme, which had seen investment of £750,000 to enabled new facilities, such as an outdoor eating area and a large Play Barn; supported general landscaping and an improved footpath network; and created a bookable cabin for use by schools, birthday parties and local groups.  Visitor numbers had doubled to 140,000 following the changes.

The Deputy Leader has attended, and gave a keynote speech at Southampton University’s International Conference on Evolving Cities and Towns.  She outlined the role of the County Council’s Hampshire 2050 Directorate in key strategic climate change activities taking place across the council and leading partnership work with public bodies, businesses and communities on climate projects across Hampshire.

Finally, the Leader reported that Tracy Nash and Dr James Cretney would be leaving their respective leadership roles at Hampshire Fare and Marwell Wildlife in the near future.  He expressed thanks for the enormous contributions of them both in putting Hampshire on the map and helping to make the county a great place to live, work, play and visit.

Executive Members responded to questions submitted, as published, in

accordance with Standing Order 16.1.1.

Prior to this item being considered the Chairman confirmed that the report was published after the main agenda and was being considered as an urgent item due to the need for the Council to approve its proportionality table and make the appointments required.

The Council considered the report of the Chief Executive as presented by the

Leader of the Council.  The Leader confirmed that the proposed proportionality table was the result of full consultation with all Group Leaders and the appointments proposed took into account changes in the draft table together with additional changes.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council approve the draft Proportionality Table (Appendix 1)

and the appointments set out in the report.

The Council considered a report of the Cabinet on the Hampshire 2050 Vision Revalidation and Mid-term Review of Hampshire County Council’s Serving Hampshire Strategic Plan, recommending approval of the Serving Hampshire Strategic Plan 2021-2025, Mid-term Review.

There were no questions or debate.  The recommendations were put to the vote and agreed by the majority of Members present.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council:

a. Approves the Serving Hampshire Strategic Plan 2021 – 2025, Mid-term

Review as set out in the appendix to the report.

b. Receives and notes the revalidated Hampshire 2050 Vision as approved by

Cabinet and set out in Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report.

The Council considered a report of the Executive Lead Member for Children’s Services regarding the sign-off of the annual Youth Justice Plan.

During debate, a number of members spoke in support of the Youth Justice Plan, commenting on the positive impact of diversionary services and other support for young people including the Willow Team and Supporting Families Programme.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council approves the Hampshire Youth Justice Service Youth Justice Plan 2023/24.

The Council considered the Notice of Motion (as published) proposed by Councillor Martin Tod and seconded by Councillor Tim Groves, submitted in accordance with Standing Order 18.1.

During the course of debate, a number of members spoke in support of the Motion, offering personal experiences of need.  The Leader supported the Motion and in response to a question agreed to write to district and borough councils within Hampshire, as well as local MPs.

RESOLVED:

That the Executive Member for Countryside and Regulatory Services should consider as soon as reasonably practicable the provision of at least one sanitary bin in all County Council male toilets – both public and in council buildings.

This Council encourages other providers of public and workplace toilets in our area to make male sanitary bins available in their facilities.

This Council supports Prostate Cancer UK’s ‘Boys need Bins’ campaign.

That the Leader should write on behalf of the Council to local MPs asking them to support Prostate Cancer UK’s ‘Boys need Bins’ campaign and their request for Government to update any necessary regulations to ensure that ‘suitable means for the disposal of sanitary dressings’ is provided in all toilets.

No questions had been received in accordance with Standing Order 16.3.

There was no report of the Authority on this occasion.