Hart Borough Council Cabinet Meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 August 2023 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Proposed by Councillor Neighbour; Seconded by Councillor Radley.

No apologies received.

Councillor Bailey had indicated prior to the start of the meeting he may be late. When the meeting closed Councillor Bailey had not arrived.

No declarations made.

No announcements.

None.

The Executive Director, Corporate summarised the Q1 Budget Monitoring report and Forecast Outturn for 2023/24.

These included:

·       The projected Outturn

·       The Capital Overview

·       The Project Overview

·       The Treasury Management position  

The Executive Director, Corporate also explained that this report was presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in August, who were satisfied that the Economic Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) ratings had been added.

Cabinet discussed:

·       The possibility the £0.96m surplus would be used for smaller projects that would benefit residents and how these projects would be identified and progressed.

·       That there’s a Cabinet Away day at the end of October and this would be an appropriate place to further discuss projects that could potentially benefit from the surplus.

·       How they as Portfolio Holders could begin to talk to their relevant Executive Directors about projects that may benefit from more funding or additional funds.

A Member queried the Council’s workforce after the restructure and if further thought is needed on reviewing this. The Chief Executive confirmed that an item on the Council’s workforce will be bought to the next Staffing Committee meeting at the end of October. This report will then come to Cabinet if required and will be added to the Cabinet Work Programme in due course.

Cabinet thanked the Finance team who were responsible for the report, and for its clear format and presentation.

Proposed by Councillor Neighbour; Seconded by Councillor Radley and the vote was unanimous.

DECISION

Cabinet noted the Q1 Budget Monitoring Report and Forecast Outturn for 2023/24.

The Portfolio Holder for Regulatory updated Cabinet that a public consultation on the Dog Fouling Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) had begun.

Cabinet discussed:

·       The process and which officers can issue fixed penalty notices to dog owners who do not pick up their dog’s faeces.

·       The four E’s: Engage, Explain, Encourage and Enforce and how the final enforcement action is considered a last resort after the first three have been thoroughly explained first to dog owners.

·       How many fixed penalty notices had been issued. This was reported as very few: in 2019 = 1 notice, 2020 = 1 notice and none since 2021.   

A Member, not on the Cabinet, asked if the council monitors when East Hampshire Enforcement Officers were in the Hart area and which areas they visited.   

The Executive Director, Place confirmed that East Hampshire officers use areas identified by Fix My Street submissions, along with others.  

Members debated:

·       That dog fouling was only caused by a very small minority of dog owners in Hart as the vast majority are very responsible.

·       Lessons could be learnt from the Litter Enforcement Scheme.  

Proposed by Councillor Collins (Portfolio Holder for Regulatory); Seconded by Councillor Neighbour and the vote was unanimous.

DECISION

Cabinet authorised the Executive Director – Place, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Regulatory, to:

a.    consider the responses to the public consultation and make any necessary amendments to the draft PSPO in light of the consultation.

b.    adopt the district wide PSPO to apply to any place where the public or any section of the public has access, on payment or otherwise, as of right or by virtue of express or implied permission. The restrictions are that: i. persons in charge of a dog must remove the faeces and for it to be disposed of in an appropriate receptacle, and. ii. persons in charge of a dog must have with them appropriate means to pick up dog faeces deposited by that dog.

The Environmental Promotions - Service Manager summarised the report to confirm the arrangements for the allocation of funds received from roundabout Sponsorship.

Cabinet discussed:

·       The fluctuation in profit margin levels and the reasons for this; one year it was £51,000 and another £13,000.
The Environmental Promotions - Service Manager explained that some years’ amounts are higher due to sponsorship deals or new customers.

·       The ‘sheep’ roundabout near Bramshot Farm Country Park on the A3013 and who maintains it.  

·       That the income from the Sponsorship Scheme was used to fund the grant scheme and roundabout maintenance.

·       The possibility of aiming for more than £50,000 a year. It was discussed that £50,000 was the top end for this type of Sponsorship Scheme.

Cabinet debated:

·       How confident officers were that the minimum £30,000 required to run the scheme annually would be met.   

The Leader of the Council proposed the Recommendation provided that a condition d. was included, which was:

d)    Agree the Grant Scheme background paper (attached to the as Appendix 1), so conditions are clearly set out.

This was seconded by Councillor Oliver and unanimously agreed.

DECISION:

a) Cabinet agreed to continue to support the delivery of biodiversity, climate change, and health and wellbeing projects throughout the district by the allocation of grant funding collected from roundabout sponsorship.

b) Provided that:

i. the aggregated value of approved projects does not exceed the income received from roundabout sponsorship in that financial year;

ii. the projects can demonstrate that there is a clear benefit for biodiversity, climate change and health and wellbeing

the Executive Director, Communities was authorised to agree all projects up to £10k and the Leader was authorised to agree any projects that were over £10k

c) Cabinet agreed to continue to keep in reserve funding to help maintain a standard of service to continue to retain existing and attract potential customers.

d) Cabinet agreed that the Grant Scheme paper attached as Appendix 1 to the report should be adopted.

Cabinet considered the Work Programme as circulated prior to the meeting.

The Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Corporate Services explained that an item on Cross Barn in Odiham may be added to the Work Programme for October. The Chief Executive confirmed that this needed to be checked against the Scheme of Delegation first.

The Executive Head, Corporate requested that the Medium-Term Financial Strategy Mid-Year Review and Headline Budget Strategy for 2024/25 be moved to the December Cabinet meeting instead of November. This would better compliment Government financial announcements and this was agreed.

Members questioned why the three items at the bottom of the Work Programme: Crondall Conservation Area Appraisal; Crookham Village Conservation Area Appraisal and Hartley Wintney Conservation Area Appraisal had no meeting dates set. The Executive Director, Place confirmed that dates for these items were still being sought.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance mentioned the Executive Decision to write off a particular debt less than £10K (this is detailed at the bottom of the Work Programme).