New Forest Borough Council Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel Meeting

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 13 August, 10 September and 15 October 2020 be signed by the Chairman as correct records.

No issues were raised in the public participation period.

Cllr Hoare, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Regulatory Services reported that the urgent works at Westover, Milford-on-Sea had been completed.  The landscaping work was nearing completion.

Cllr E Heron, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Infrastructure thanked officers for their work in relation to the Local Resilience Forum, particularly regarding the assistance provided to the vaccination and testing centres in the District.

The planning department had seen no reduction in the number of planning applications submitted.  It was noted that roughly 20 applications were received per day, and this included the receipt of a number of major planning applications.  He paid tribute to the hard work of the planning officers. 

The Portfolio Holders’ drew attention to the Performance Dashboards for their Portfolio area which had been published with the agenda (under agenda item 13).  The Dashboards identified progress against the aims and objectives detailed within the Corporate Plan.  The Performance Dashboards, would be published for each meeting and would provide an opportunity for the Panel to monitor and assess progress.

For the purposes of transparency, Cllr Rackham declared a non-pecuniary interest in as a member of Totton and Eling Town Council.

The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel considered the call-in request from Cllr Rackham, in relation to a Portfolio Holder decision to implement changes to the short and long stay spaces in three car parks in Totton (Winsor Road, Civic Centre and Westfield Road) and the introduction of car parking charges in the Civic Centre and Westfield Road Car Parks, following a statutory consultation process.

The Panel heard from Cllr Rackham who spoke about the changes to the long and short stay spaces and the impact this would have to businesses, and users of the doctors surgery, community centre, etc.  She raised concerns about the number of town centre long stay spaces being replaced with short stay spaces and the impact this would have.

Cllr Rackham as part of her call-in request also raised concerns about the consultation process, noting that only seven responses had been received, of which none had been supportive of the proposed changes.  Cllr Rackham reported that she had received 50 responses in opposition to the proposals via her facebook page.

Cllr Rackham felt that the introduction of charges would influence people to shop in areas offering free parking, thereby reducing the footfall in the town centre and have a detrimental impact on the local businesses in Totton.  It would also encourage people to park in residential streets in order to avoid parking charges.  She reminded the Panel that the coronavirus pandemic was having an impact on the economy and that the businesses in Totton should be given additional support to enable the town centre to recover, and therefore delaying the implementation of parking charges for 6 months to 1 year would help local businesses.

The Panel noted that a consultation exercise had been carried out on the proposed changes, with signage erected in the car parks affected as well as in adjacent streets.  The proposals had also been advertised in the local media, as part of the statutory process and through social media.

The decision to adjust the balance of long and short stay car parking spaces had been proposed, based on evidence of the need for more short stay spaces in the town centre following an independent car parking survey.  It was therefore proposed that all the spaces in Winsor Road car park be short stay, all the long stay spaces in the Civic Centre would be changed to short stay and 40 spaces in the Westfield Road Car Park would become short stay.  This would support local businesses with spaces becoming available more frequently for customers.

Cllr Edward Heron, the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Infrastructure, having heard the points raised by Cllr Rackham and other members of the Panel addressed the meeting.  He acknowledged that some of the points raised had already been discussed at the last meeting, through the previous call-in.

He spoke about the layout of spaces and the fact the Council wanted to increase the capacity in car parks.  The provision of short stay spaces in the town centre was a priority for the Council.  Those who required parking all day could use car parks further away from the main centre, leaving town centre parking available for customers of local businesses and services.

The Portfolio Holder gave a commitment to continue to monitor the distribution of car parking spaces across the District, and that should a need to make changes be identified it would be responded to.

The Portfolio Holder recognised the challenges for local business, but also acknowledged the challenges for the public sector.  The introduction of charges brought conformity to all areas across the District.  The cost to purchase a short stay car parking clock was not considered to be a barrier when compared against the cost to maintain a motor vehicle.

The Panel concluded the following:

i)              That the decision was within the Council’s policy and budget; and

ii)             That it was not necessary for the policy and budget to be reviewed as a result of the decision; and

iii)           That the Portfolio Holder decision taken on 4 December in relation to short and long stay spaces and to introduce charges to car parks in Totton was supported.

The Panel received a presentation on the Behaviour Change Litter Initiative.  The presentation is attached as an appendix to these minutes.

The Panel were given a brief recap on the Local Government Association funded initiative which focused on what motivated people to litter from cars and how people could be influenced to stop doing this.  Following extensive research and insight gathering it was found that residents were proud of the area in which they live and that people were more likely to drop litter if they were alone and thought they wouldn’t be caught.  A framework had been drawn up to address littering with a promotional campaign and interventions.  The coronavirus pandemic unfortunately had halted progress on this project in March.

In July 2020, as lockdown ended, the coastline in the New Forest saw a huge increase in the number of visitors and the issue of littering became a problem.  Operatives were working seven days a week for 14 hours a day to address the problem.   

The project changed direction and a new intervention, #Crabby, was introduced in August.  The Crabby initiative sited billboards on wheels in coastal locations which featured a giant crab.  Rubbish bags were provided with Crabby to encourage people to take one and to take their litter home.  This campaign was well publicised on social media, and encouraged people to take photos with Crabby, offering a prize to those who uploaded photos to social media using the #Crabby hashtag.

Visitor numbers increased by 40% between July and August.  The Panel noted that in July, 34.6 tonnes of waste had been collected, with 37.6 tonnes in August, from coastal areas.  The litter collected, however did not increase by the same proportion as the number of visitors.  It was therefore estimated that the litter invention had reduced the litter discarded by 10.8 tonnes, over the month of August.  This represented a reduction in litter of 29%.

The success of the initiative was noted.  In financial terms, in excess of £10,000 had potentially been saved.  A report had been submitted to the LGA and positive feedback had been received.  The Crabby initiative was an example, of a successful campaign which could be shared with other local authorities.

Members expressed their support towards the littering initiative which had brought much social media interest, public support, as well as a reduction in littering.  Members wanted this work to continue in order to educate people and change the behaviour of people in relation to littering.  Crabby would be used again in coastal areas identified to have the greatest problems of littering.  The original initiative to address litter at the roadside would recommence when it was possible to do so.

Cllr Ring read out a statement on behalf of Cllr Gareth DeBoos, Ringwood Town Councillor in relation to the draft Waste Strategy.  The Panel noted that the points raised had been submitted to the District Council as part of the engagement on the draft Waste Strategy.

The Panel received a presentation providing an update on the Waste Strategy.  The presentation is attached to these minutes as an Appendix. 

An engagement exercise had been carried out on the draft Waste Strategy from 12 November to 20 December 2020.  The results were in the process of being assessed by an independent company and would be presented at the next meeting of the Panel in March.  A total of 3,865 responses had been received, of which 3,786 had been received online with 79 paper responses.  Free text boxes for additional text had been available for additional comments within the survey and over 8,000 comments had been received and needed to be analysed.

The national and Hampshire context was explained to the Panel and it was noted that there were many unknown factors which would have an impact on the waste collection service of the District Council.  A decision would therefore not be taken until there was clarity from both Hampshire Country Council and the Government.

The Panel noted the report relating to performance specifications and standard details for public accessible spaces.  It was suggested that a Task and Finish Group be set up with members to consider the detail of the draft guide.

RESOLVED:

(i)            That a Task and Finish Group be established to consider the “Guide to Performance Specifications and Standard details for public accessible spaces”; and

(ii)           That Cllrs Bellows and Bennison would represent the Panel on this group

The Panel considered the signage proposals for open space delivered through planning.  This related to new green spaces which would be delivered as part of residential development schemes for the benefit of existing and future residents and communities. 

A suite of signage designs were proposed to be developed and agreed for use throughout the District for all new open spaces created through the planning process and the views of members was sought.  Examples of the types of signages were presented to the Panel.

Members suggested that the local Town and Parish Councils views be sought.  It was also felt that when introducing new signs, consideration be given to ensure that signs were kept to a minimum and not to be detrimental to the environment.

RESOLVED:

The proposed approach to the signage for open space delivered through planning was supported.

The Panel received a presentation with financial information in relation to the removal of ash trees in District Council land as a result of having ash dieback and the tree replacement programme.

The additional cost of ash dieback to the General Fund was noted to be £1.1 million and a cost of £1.2 million to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) over the next 10 to 20 years. 

The Council’s current tree replacement policy required two trees to be replaced for every one tree removed.  It was proposed that the cost to replace the ash trees would cost £775,000 to the General Fund and £771,000 to the HRA over the next 10 to 20 years. The Panel were requested to provide a view on whether the two for one tree replacement policy should continue and views on the period of time the trees would be replanted, over 10,15 or 20 years.  The view expressed by the Panel would be included as part of a future Portfolio Holder decision for Environment and Regulatory Services.

Members noted the benefits of trees to help to address the impact of climate change and therefore felt that the two for one tree placement policy should continue, however they acknowledged the pressures on the future budget and felt the replacement trees should be planted over a 15 year period, but with the requirement to review this every five years.

RESOLVED:

That the Panel supported the following:

(i)             the continuation of the two for one tree replacement policy;

(ii)            that the tree replacement programme be carried out over a period of 15 years; and

(iii)           that the tree replacement programme be reviewed every five years. 

The Panel considered the report which proposed to submit a Freeport Bid to Government in February 2021.

The Solent LEP had formed a separate Task and Finish Group to consider the Freeport opportunity, made up of both private and public sector stakeholders.  It was noted that the current Custom site had been identified in Southampton, with preferred tax sites at Southampton Airport, Dunsbury Industrial Estate and ABP / Marchwood Port / Industrial Estate with Exxon and Fawley.  The bid was in the process of being developed and the Panel noted that the proposals contained in the report were subject to change.

A Freeport was noted to have the potential to bring significant economic and financial benefits to the area.  One of the objectives of the bid was to promote regeneration and levelling up.  Within the District there were pockets of high levels of deprivation.

Members expressed their support for the submission of a bid for a Freeport, noting the benefits a Freeport could offer, in particular, the potential to create jobs for those who lived in the New Forest.

RESOLVED:

That the Freeport Bid be supported.

Cllr M Wade declared a non-pecuniary interest.  The interest concerned his membership of Hampshire County Council to which this item proposed joint working with HCC, however he concluded there were no grounds under common law to prevent him from remaining in the meeting to speak and vote.

For the purposes of transparency, Cllr Edward Heron declared a non-pecuniary interest as a member of Hampshire County Council. 

The Panel considered the proposal to include within its Supplementary Planning Documents a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).  This would provide more guidance on the policies contained in the local plan. 

The Panel noted that a Project Plan had been developed for the LCWIP, which detailed a six stage process and how the plan would be developed with proposed timescales.  The plan was proposed to be developed collaboratively with Hampshire County Council and the National Park Authority. 

RESOLVED:

That the proposed programme of work to inform the preparation of a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan be endorsed.

The Panel noted that two Task and Finish groups would be set up to consider the following:

·                     Public conveniences, specifically to review those which had remained closed in the coronavirus pandemic, due to concerns around public safety;

·                     A review of cemeteries regulations

RESOLVED:

That the Work Programme be approved.