Hart Borough Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee Meeting

The minutes of 11 February 2025 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Apologies had been received from Cllr’s Butler, Harwood, Highley, Vernon and Cllr Taylor, who was substituted by Cllr Brown.

Members heard a presentation from Samantha Mabbott of Citizen’s Advice Hart (CAH), detailing the impact of a core grant on their organization. She highlighted the growing number of service users and their complex issues.

Members raised questions about energy concerns, housing and homelessness, council tax debts, the relief provided, and how feedback from CAH is shared with Hart.

No declarations made.

No announcements.

None.

Community 

The Executive Director of Community introduced the Community Service Plan. Members requested the inclusion of targets and KPIs for CCTV and fly-tipping. The Director clarified that core performance indicators are monitored through service oversight, and all service issues can be discussed at service panels.  

Members expressed the need for baseline figures for KPIs to assess whether targets were challenging or easily attainable compared to other authorities. 

Corporate 

The Executive Director of Corporate presented the Corporate Service Plan, noting unchanged KPIs from the previous year. Members questioned the delivery date of the Serco waste project, suggesting it should align with Hart's service introduction date of October 2025 instead of the mandatory date. They also discussed the Civic Offices'long-term development concerning local government reorganisation, carbon reduction, cost-saving strategies, and current tenancies. 

Place 

The Executive Director introduced the Place Service Plan, mentioning the removal of some KPIs that were management reports. Members debated setting higher planning targets to exceed government expectations and noted that the DM13 exception report will be discussed in April 2025. Additionally, they suggested adding a target to monitor the implementation of the fly-tipping service. 

 Comments to Cabinet 

Members agreed to forward comments to Cabinet regarding the need for additional information on target difficulties and benchmarking against other authorities, recommending baseline figures for better understanding. They suggested aligning the Serco waste project delivery date with Hart's planned date and discussed the Civic Offices' long-term development and a new target for monitoring fly-tipping service implementation. 

The Cabinet Work Programme was noted.

The Overview and Scrutiny work programme was noted. 

Members considered and amended the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme as follows:

·         Heathlands Court Remodelling will be considered at the May 2025 meeting

·         The Exemption paper covering Place target D13 will be considered at the April 2025 meeting.

Members briefly discussed the upcoming Extraordinary Overview and Scrutiny meeting relating to the Local Government Reorganisation.