Test Valley Borough Council Council Meeting

Prayers were led by the Reverend Waako.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors G Bailey, P Bundy, C Donnelly, A Ford, R Kohli, S MacDonald, K North and P North.

Mr Burley had registered to speak in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme under item 8 – To Adopt Reports of Committees and item 13 – Notice of Motion – Rule 12.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 13 September 2023 were proposed by Councillor Adams-King and seconded by Councillor Flood.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 13 September 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Mr Ezra, Chair of Test Valley Arts Foundation (TVAF) presented the Council with a painting created by Maryna Melnyk to commemorate and thank the residents of the borough for their support to the people of Ukraine.

Mr Perry, Trustee of TVAF and Mrs Melnyk, the painting’s artist, both addressed the Council and spoke about the work of the Foundation as well as the creation of the painting.

The Mayor thanked TVAF and Mrs Melnyk and noted that the artwork would be displayed in Beech Hurst’s reception.

The Worshipful The Mayor of Test Valley was pleased to note that at a recent Mayor’s Charity event, £500 had been raised.

The Mayor had attended a Nepalese reception event where he had received a warm reception. The  Mayor noted that the group were seeking a day facility and asked Councillors to contact him directly should they have any suggestions for support.

The Mayor was pleased to have attended the excellent Pride of Andover Awards which had taken place on Tuesday 24 October and had showcased the good work undertaken by individuals and groups in the community.

The Mayor advised that an Andover Junior School Christmas Carol Concert would take place on 30 November in St Mary’s Church, Andover.

Minutes of Meetings

The minutes of meetings were proposed by Councillor Adams-King and seconded by Councillor Flood.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the following Committees and Cabinet meetings be received:

In accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme, Mr Burley made a statement on the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

  To adopt Recommendations from the following:

  Cabinet – 4 October 2023

Medium Term Financial Strategy

  Resolved:

That the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2024/25 to 2026/27 be approved.

Councillor Celia Dowden asked a question in relation to the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held of 30 August 2023, minute number 158 – Tourism Presentation.

Councillor Celia Dowden asked whether the draft report from the consultants would presented to the Overview and Scrutiny round table, enquired as to the cost of the current review of tourism, and asked which actions from the previous review, undertaken in 2020, had been implemented?

Councillor Swain confirmed that that the Overview and Scrutiny round table on tourism would be held on 22 November 2023, and that the consultants would be in attendance to present the draft findings of the review and to seek feedback from councillors.

Councillor Swain advised that the current review had been commissioned to take into account changes to tourism following the pandemic and that details of the actions implemented from the review in 2020 would be circulated to all councillors outside of the meeting.

Councillor Geoff Cooper asked the Recycling and Environmental Services Portfolio Holder the following question:

"In light of government plans to scrap “burdensome” recycling schemes nationally and step back from other green policies, can this council assure us that it is still committed to improving recycling in our own Borough and that residents can expect doorstep glass collection and improved plastic recycling in 2024.”

Councillor Drew responded that the Council’s plans for a new system of household waste collection were already well advanced. As a result of the Government’s announcement, the Council would need to consider the various requirements and how they impact upon plans. More detailed information was expected to be released to local authorities this week, to better enable the Council to do this.

Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) was a Waste Collection Authority, and Hampshire County Council (HCC) was the Waste Disposal Authority. Hampshire County Council was already delayed in getting its new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) approved. The new MRF was necessary to sort all the materials required to be collected at the kerbside and as collection authority, TVBC was in the hands of HCC. 

Some District collection authorities were, sadly, not so well advanced in their plans as TVBC which has further hindered HCC’s progress. HCC would now need to review the MRF infrastructure they intended to build, to ensure it remained fit for purpose under the Government’s new proposals.

Councillor Drew confirmed that the Council remained committed to improving doorstep collection services in Test Valley.

Councillor Geoff Cooper asked a supplementary question to state that the Liberal Democrat manifesto for the May 2023 local elections stated that they would have introduced new recycling streams in 2024 and asked if Councillor Drew would like hi to share proposals for how this could be undertaken.

Councillor Drew responded that he was always open to hearing the ideas of others, however noted that as HCC was the disposal authority their permission would be needed to take waste and other materials collected to an alternative facility and therefore, due to the recent announcements from Government and the delay in the new HCC MRF, the new recycling system could not be introduced in 2024.  

Consideration was given to a report of the Planning Portfolio Holder which considered the use of developer contributions, secured through the grant of planning permission by means of s106 (planning obligations) from development in North Baddesley, to fund the provision and improvement of public open space in the parish of North Baddesley.

Public open space improvements were recommended to be used for new land drainage on the cricket field side of North Baddesley recreation ground to provide two additional football fields and an improved outfield for cricket.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Adams-King and seconded by Councillor Flood.

Resolved:

1.  That Section 106 developer contributions secured for improvements to Sports Ground/Formal recreation in the locality, up to the value of £156,372, received from developments granted planning permission within the parish of North Baddesley be used to fund North Baddesley Parish Council’s proposal for installing new land drainage on the cricket field side of North Baddesley recreation ground to provide two additional football pitches and an improved outfield for cricket.

2.  That the expenditure and funding be added to the Council’s capital programme.

Consideration was given to a report of the Democracy and Governance Portfolio Holder which set out details of an urgent decision taken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader associated with the targeting and spending of the second and any subsequent tranches of the Local Authority Housing Fund and S106 affordable housing contributions.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Lodge and seconded by Councillor Adams-King.

Resolved:

That Council notes the urgent decision set out in the Annex to this report, which was taken by the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader.

In accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme, Mr Burley made a statement on the motion as set out in the agenda.

Council considered the following motion move by Councillor Andersen and seconded by Councillor Linda Lashbrook:

This Council calls upon the Government to:

·  Regulate the supply of disposable vapes.

·  Prohibit immediately wrapping which is fancy and designed to attract young people and increase the price to discourage purchases by younger people.

·  Eventually prohibit the sale of disposable vapes altogether for environmental and health reasons.

Resolves to write to:

a)  The Department of Health and Social Care asking them to open the planned consultation on restricting disposable vapes as soon as possible.

b)  Local MPs to ask them to ensure the government takes action.

Upon being put to the vote the Motion was carried.