Hart Borough Council Council Meeting

The Minutes of the AGM on 16 May 2024 were confirmed, subject to the amendment of the addition of Cllr Brown’s name to membership of the Development Management Committee, and signed as a correct record. 

Proposed by Cllr Worlock;  Seconded by Cllr Butler;  agreed unanimously

Apologies were received from Cllrs Bailey, Coburn, Harward, Radley and Vernon.

No declarations of interest were made.

There were no questions from the public.

(Cllr Woods arrived at 7:05pm)

A question had been received from Cllr Forster, as detailed in Appendix A.

The Chair announced that he had undertaken a range of engagements as outlined in the Crib.

The Vice-Chair made the following announcement:

“I am very pleased to note that Hart was awarded the Silver Certificate in the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme, as announced on 28th June.

Much more than just an application form, across the Hart organisation, we have had to make and demonstrate adjustments, changes and actions to support serving and retired service personnel.

We must recognize and thank the significant effort has been undertaken by the team (Di, Nikki and Helen) under the leadership of Ms Jenkins, which includes:-

·       Training across Hart staff and posters to improve awareness

·       Become part of the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) which allows us to advertise our vacancies directly to veterans. This will be monitored going forward.

·       Produced an Armed Forces Reservists Policy which gives detailed guidance to both managers and reservists around how HDC support them including reservists rights.

·       Updated the leave policy to allow reservist training

·       Support to the local Cadets at Court Moor school and linking them to our officers to support fieldcraft, leadership and other training at Bramshott Farm.

·       Building better relationships with our local military community, through direct contact and key events at Aldershot Garison, Minley Manor and RAF Odiham.

As the World moves into more uncertain times, the UK will need to generate more and more-flexible military capability. Effective reserves and happier service families will be part of that.

So I hope you can all continue to have due regard to principles of the Military Covenant and ensure that you ask (where appropriate): Did you serve?”

The Leader of the Council, and Portfolio Holder for Strategic Direction, and Partnerships, Cllr Neighbour  reported that the leader of the County Council had written to districts and boroughs regarding discussions around unitaries, although this was not something that Hart would back; he also reported that new bids for housing funding were being sought by the new Secretary of State for the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government

The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance, Cllr Radley was absent

The Portfolio Holder for Community Services, Cllr Bailey was absent but Cllr Neighbour reported that a new rural exception scheme on the outskirts of Hartley Wintney had been approved, for the development of seven affordable homes and two self-build homes.  This was the culmination of several years’ collaboration between developers, the District Council, Parish Council and the landowner

The Portfolio Holder for Digital and Communications, Cllr Clarke  thanked those Councillors who had been able to drop into the Communications “meet the team”, and advised that the Housing Team would be available before the September full Council meeting for a voluntary drop in session

The Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Development Management, Cllr Oliver had no announcements

A member thanked Officers for the work involved in the successful planning tour run the previous week, although it had been disappointing to note the low numbers of Councillors attending.  Cllr Oliver undertook to pass on these thanks.

The Portfolio Holder for Regulatory, Cllr Wildsmith announced “That we will now be recruiting a full time permanent fly tipping enforcement officer, following on from Council’s approval to increase the budget from 0.4FTE to 1.0FTE and the subsequent temporary post filling

I can also report following the horrific stories out of a Hull funeral home officers have been conducting inspections of all funeral homes in Hart and I can reassure members of the public all is in order.”

The Portfolio Holder for Parking and Community Safety, Cllr Collins  announced “I attended a session at Frogmore Community College with the Community Safety Team as part of their Stay Safe Initiative, tackling County Lines (with about 160 Year 8 students.  We now have a full complement n the Community Safety Team with a new starter joining on Monday.

There was a joint Retailer event last week to encourage take up of the DISC reporting system with the aim of tackling the increasing issue of shoplifting as well as some town centre anti-social behaviour.”

The Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Corporate Services, Cllr Quarterman announced "The Climate Change team have presented a full update on the council’s climate change progress to June's O&S and July's Cabinet meetings, in line with the governance process I set out last year, and which is formally documented within this report. As the original Climate Change motion also required six-monthly updates to Full Council, I am now updating Full Council as well.

Six months ago, I reported that 37 of the 63 items identified on the action plan were underway and on target – in this report, 45 items are flagged as started, with 6 flagged in amber status (meaning some form of delay) and only one minor item in red (meaning definitely behind schedule). This indicates that we are progressing steadily through the identified plan, and continue to make good progress.

I won’t go through all the detail of the report, but just touch on the key highlights. Two projects have been completed – the launch of a new website to encourage behavioural change and support residents to reduce emissions, and the conversion of the majority of our waste fleet to HVO fuel. It’s worth briefly reflecting on the saving this last item has created – a litre of diesel fuel typically generate 2.51kgs of CO2, whereas a litre of HVO produces 0.036 kgs of CO2. So with 85% of our fleet converted, we are now generating over 26,000 fewer kgs of CO2 each month – a massive step forward.

I am also delighted to able to announce that the team have successfully secured a substantial grant from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme of over £1.5 million. This will contribute to the cost of converting the heating systems in three of our major buildings, the Civic Offices, the Harlington and Frogmore Leisure Centre. We are also continuing with the rollout of electric vehicle charging points in our Council owned car parks.

For the first time, the latest report also includes a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report, which enables us to track the overall emissions by the Council and across the District – we see this as being a key tool to enable us to monitor progress as we continue with this programme.

Our Stakeholder Engagement Group continues to meet, and is now making good progress towards rolling out more initiatives to help residents become more efficient in their use of domestic fuels.

The full updates are available to read on the Council's website, and there is more information about climate change on our dedicated climate change web pages. My next report on this subject will be in January 2025."

A question was asked about whether the figures regarding the reduction in the use of HVO were distorted by the exclusion of production of HVO which was felt to be carbon intensive.  Cllr Quarterman undertook to arrange for a written answer to be given to the question raised.

The Chief Executive had no announcements.

The Minutes of the following Committees, which met on the dates shown, were received by Council.

*Minute 6 of the Licensing Committee minutes of 3 July 2024 recommended the adoption of the Statement of Principles Gambling Act 2025 Policy, following consultation.  There had been no amendments made to the Policy document, and no comments had been received in response to the consultation process.  Proposed by Cllr Butler, seconded by Cllr Farmer and adopted unanimously.

Decision: The Statement of Principles Gambling Act 2025 Policy was adopted. 

Cllr Southern reported that he had recently attended the Thames Basin Heaths Joint Strategic Partnership meeting.  The organisation was well run and finances were in good shape.  A significant part of Hart was within this area.

Cllr Neighbour reported that the LGA Conference did not take place at the beginning of July due to the General Election and would now take place in October.

Cllr Dorn reported that the FACC had recently appointed a new Chairman and that he had formed part of the selection panel.  Colin Flack OBE had been appointed and he was very experienced and knowledgeable, having held a similar position on Consultative Committees for other airports.