Agenda and minutes

The meeting will commence with a short service of prayers.

The meeting opened with prayers led by Reverend Ian Meredith of St. Mary’s Church, Portchester.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P J Davies and S D Martin.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Council Meeting held on 15 June 2017.

RESOLVED that the Mayor be authorised to sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 15 June 2017.

The Mayor announced that he has two forthcoming tea parties: on Thursday 7 September his guest speaker will be Charles Haskell, Managing Director of the World War 1 Remembrance Centre and on Thursday 5 October, Ray Gibson will be giving a talk on the life of Glenn Miller.

These Tea Parties will commence at 2.30pm in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Civic Offices and tickets are £4 each.

The Mayor also announced two of his Charity events.  The first will be on Saturday 9 September where the Mayor will be pulling a bus through Fareham Town Centre. This will start at 10.30am.

The second Charity event is the “Last Night of the Proms” which will be held at Ferneham Hall on Saturday 21 October at 7.30pm.   Tickets for this event are £10.

The Executive Leader welcomed two visitors to the meeting – Amelie Appleby and her Mother, Eloise.  Amelie, having attended a recent Youth CAT Meeting, had expressed an interest in learning about local Government and had been invited to observe this Council meeting by the Executive Leader.

Air Quality

The Executive Leader announced that the Government has published its Annual Air Quality Plan which names Fareham as one of a number of places which will need to undertake a feasibility study to explore further measures.  The Executive Leader has asked the Chief Executive Officer to put the appropriate measures in place to undertake such a study and to report back to the Executive with a clear plan of action.

IFA2

The Executive Leader announced that the application made by the MP for Gosport to have the planning consents for the IFA2 development revoked by the Secretary of State, despite having been properly determined by this Council in January and issued following the section 106 agreement in April, has today, as expected, been rejected by the Secretary of State. 

The Executive Leader stated that the detailed applications for the interconnector buildings and 45 acres of public open space were received last week.  Fareham Borough Council held a special CAT meeting in Holy Rood Church in Stubbington on Monday which had been attended by over 200 residents who were encouraged to respond to the public consultation on the applications.

The Executive Leader stated that it was regrettable that in his letter refusing to revoke the planning application, the Minister alleges that there was some agreement between Fareham Borough Council and his officials not to issue the earlier planning consents without prior notification of the Council’s intention to do so.  That statement is not true and the Executive Leader stated that he had been advised by the Chief Executive Officer that there was no such agreement, verbal or otherwise.  The letter states that the Minister has written to the Council on the matter however the Executive Leader affirmed that he has not.

Welborne Garden Village – Dean Estate

The Executive Leader announced that Buckland Development Limited’s persistence has led to its purchase of Dean Farm.  He stated that land assembly has always been a key consideration for the Council in devising plans for the new community and this is a major step forward for Welborne and he was delighted with today’s announcement.  The Council’s planning team has been working with BDL over a number of years and will continue to do so. 

The Executive Leader stated that the Council’s aim is, and always has been, to secure a comprehensive delivery of the new Welborne Garden Village.  It will provide a very significant amount of the new homes required for Fareham over many years to come, including thousands of affordable homes and importantly all of the required infrastructure will be identified and funded including a new motorway junction, schools, open spaces, community centres and healthcare facilities.

Welborne Garden Village will play an important role in delivering housing for Fareham.  It is now time for every organisation, local and national, with an interest in Welborne Garden Village to work together so that it can achieve its full potential.

Welborne Garden Village – Healthcare

The Executive Leader provided clarification statements regarding recent media attention and indeed misinformation being spread by other parties following the Council’s engagement with the various Health Authorities throughout the Welborne Plan process over a number of years.

The Executive Leader stated that this was a statutory plan-making process, one of the principal objectives of which is to provide certainty to developers, infrastructure providers and the local community as to the social infrastructure to accompany new residential development.  The provisions of the Welborne Plan relating to on-site primary healthcare provision are entirely consistent with the Council’s discussions with the previous Fareham & Gosport Primary Care Trust in 2011 during the early stages of Plan preparation.  Additionally, the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust (responsible for Queen Alexandra Hospital) also confirmed their support for the Welborne Plan and highlighted the need to secure the provision of Primary Care facilities as part of the development.

The Executive Leader stated that, despite numerous fully documented efforts to subsequently engage with and seek the views of the new Fareham & Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) during 2013 and 2014 as part of the formal statutory stages of Plan preparation, no responses were received.  Indeed, the lack of engagement from the CCG received significant adverse comment from participants at the Welborne Examination-in-Public in October 2014.

Significantly in September 2011 the Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust (the predecessor of the Clinical Commissioning Group) indicated the need for a surgery providing one GP per 1,800 population equating approximately to a 9-GP practice.

The Executive Leader stated that in both 2013 and 2014 the Fareham and Gosport CCG was consulted but did not submit a response on either occasion.  

This means that the Fareham and Gosport CCG, the body responsibility for the entirety of Welborne's primary healthcare, did not participate in the Welborne Plan's development or examination in public.

The Executive Leader further stated that at the end of 2014, the CCG did give a helpful presentation to the Welborne Standing Conference but no indication was given that the CCG were not supportive of the requirement for the development to include primary healthcare accommodation, as clearly set out within the Welborne Plan.

It was in late 2016 the CCG wrote to this Council, following pre-application discussions by Buckland Development, bizarrely objecting to primary care being delivered in Welborne and asking for its removal.  This position was reiterated in a further letter last month which only had one helpful point which was confirmation that Welborne sits within the boundary of the Fareham and Gosport CCG which we already knew.

The Executive Leader announced that he has invited the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CCG to meet him next month where he will be firmly explaining to them that the Welborne Plan cannot be changed and healthcare facilities will be provided within the new community.  

Access All Areas

The Executive Member for Health and Public Protection announced that as Chairman of Fareham's Community Safety Partnership, he wanted to remind Members that Access All Areas commenced today at both Fareham and Holly Hill Leisure Centres, and will continue until the 31 August 2017.   He congratulated the Officers who put this programme together, which is bigger than ever, and gives youngsters the opportunity to try sailing, go-carting, scuba-diving and to take part in super pool parties at both the Fareham and Holly Hill Leisure Centres; also free bus travel is available to all of the events. To date, 1100 young people have registered and the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection stated that further information and dates can be found on the Council's website at http://www.fareham.gov.uk/leisure/out_and_about_in_fareham/accessallareas.aspx

The Executive Member for Health and Public Protection was pleased to say that that everyone who has registered will receive a lanyard with cards containing useful information for them such as the location of events, bus service information and useful contact numbers.

Daedalus Members Working Group

The Executive Member for Health and Public Protection announced that as Chairman of this Group, he attended a further meeting (together with fellow Councillors) with Officers last Tuesday, where they discussed the Innovation Centre Phase 2, the Daedalus West infrastructure, business hangers and general aviation hangers.  The Executive Member for Health and Public Protection stated he was pleased to inform Members that all are to budget and time.

The Executive Member for Health and Public Protection stated that with regard to the Innovation Centre Phase 2, they had the opportunity to visit the site and were introduced to the Project Manager of the Contractor, Morgan Sindall.  Everyone was very impressed with both the planning flow charts and the organisation of the site.  It is clear that the management of both materials and the employees are excellent. 

The steel frame erections will be completed by the 7 August, and the building envelope will be complete on the 27 November with Project completion on the 19 March 2018.  The Executive Member for Health and Public Protection stated that, to date, both completion and budgets were on target.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in accordance with Standing Orders and the Council’s Code of Conduct.

There were no Declarations of Interest made at this meeting.

To receive any petitions presented by a member of the Council.

Note: any petition so presented will be dealt with in accordance with the Council’s petition scheme.

The Mayor was presented with two Petitions at the meeting:

The first Petition was presented by Councillor T M Cartwright.  This 500 signature Petition is for a pedestrian crossing on the Warsash Road, Warsash to assist people to cross this long road safely.

The second Petition comprising 284 signatures, was presented by Councillor C J Wood.   This Petition urges Hampshire County Council and Fareham Borough Councils to carve the distinctive oak tree at the end of Burnt House Lane, Stubbington into a sculpture rather than just cut it down.

The Mayor advised the meeting that both Petitions will be dealt with in accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme.

To receive any deputations of which notice has been given.

There were no deputations given at this meeting.

To receive, consider and answer questions on reports and recommendations of the Executive.  Minutes of the meetings of the Executive and a schedule of individual Executive member decisions are appended.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Executive meeting held on Monday, 10 July 2017 be received.

RESOLVED that the Schedule of Individual Member and Officer Delegated Decisions be received.

To receive, consider and answer questions on reports and recommendations of the meeting of the Scrutiny Board.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Scrutiny Board held on Thursday, 29 June 2017 be received.

To receive the minutes of the following Committees and to consider and answer questions on any reports and recommendations made.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Planning Committee held on Wednesday, 21 June 2017 be received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Committee held on Tuesday, 13 June 2017 be received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Appeals Committee held on Wednesday, 28 June 2017 be received.

RESOLVED that:

(a)  the minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee held on Monday, 17 July 2017 be received; and

(b)  the recommendations contained in Minute 6 be accepted and that Council agree an amendment to Financial Regulation 19, as set out in Appendix A to the Report to the Audit and Governance Committee.

To answer questions pursuant to Standing Order 17.2 for this meeting.

Questions by Councillor R H Price, JP:

1.         In 2016 meeting agendas contained a number of verbal updates and so far in 2017 this pattern is continuing. Why are there so many verbal updates taking place, is this to stop members having information before the meeting so that they cannot question the issues?

2.         How can members prepare for attending meetings if they are not given information before the meeting other than knowing the item to be raised?

Responses by the Executive Leader:

1.         Verbal updates are used for a number of reasons including Members sharing feedback and information from outside bodies they have attended, and Officers providing current position updates on special projects. Utilising verbal updates is therefore an important way of keeping all Members of a committee informed on relevant issues.

Analysis of the total number of committee meetings taking place during the municipal year 2016/17 shows that there were 88 reports presented across 57 meetings, with 27 verbal updates being given. The majority of verbal updates are either given by or requested by Members of the Committee.

2.         All verbal updates are included as an agenda item which will specify who will be delivering the update and the subject matter covered. This provides the opportunity for Members to contact the individual to find out more information in advance of the meeting, should it be required. Members also  have an opportunity at the meeting to request via the Chairman that a report  be subsequently submitted if further clarification is deemed necessary. A synopsis of all verbal updates is included in the minutes of each meeting which also gives an opportunity for Members to either attend the relevant Scrutiny Board or Council meeting to which the minutes will be presented and ask a clarification question.

Questions by Councillor R H Price, JP (cont..):

3.         Would the Executive Member for Housing inform the Council if they are satisfied that all Council Housing stock is fully protected from Fire and that all residents are aware what to do in the event of a fire.

4.         Is the Executive Leader satisfied that this building is fully protected from fire and that all staff, tenants staff and members are aware what to do in the event of a fire.

Response by the Executive Member for Housing:

3.         Fire safety has always, and continues to be, a matter that the Council takes very seriously, as we strive to ensure the continued safety of everyone living in our homes.  There are robust controls and regular checks in place, and the Council works closely with Hampshire Fire & Rescue to effectively manage fire safety.  We constantly seek to ensure all our properties meet the relevant fire safety requirements and provide our tenants with clear information on how fire safety applies to them in their homes.

In light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Council has produced a special Tenant’s Newsletter which set out good fire safety practices for our tenants and leaseholders.  We have also reviewed fire risk assessments to ensure they remain up to date and through our responsive and planned maintenance programmes, we continue to make improvements where appropriate.

The Housing Policy Development and Review Panel has recently asked for an update on fire safety in Council homes, and this will be reported in the autumn.

Response by the Executive Leader:

4.         The Civic Offices has a very good fire safety record.  There is a full fire risk assessment and the fire evacuation procedures are kept under regular review.  Evacuation drills are carried out regularly and the building is typically evacuated within 3-4 minutes of an alarm sounding.

However, despite this high standard of fire safety, we continue to keep our fire arrangements under review to ensure we maintain or improve the standard of safety of our staff, tenants and visitors, and we do this in dialogue with retained experts and the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.  In light of the Grenfell Tower fire, we have recently invited the Fire and Rescue Service to independently review our arrangements and also make use of the Civic Offices for a training scenario for their local firefighting team, to ensure their preparedness in a real life situation.

Questions by Councillor R H Price, JP (cont..):

5.         In light of the recent fire at Grenfell Tower in London it appeared that the local authority there was not prepared through its Emergency Planning to be able to deal with the situation after the fire.  Therefore, can the Executive member confirm that Fareham Borough Council and Hampshire County Council are able to deal with a large type Emergency in Fareham which could involve some 800 residents.

6.         Have all the elected members been given their yellow tabards and has every elected member of the Council been trained/advised what their responsibility is in an emergency when attending the Rest Centre.

Responses by the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection:

5.         Before I respond on Fareham’s ability to deal with a Major Emergency, I would urge caution in assuming that Kensington and Chelsea Council was “not prepared” through its Emergency Planning procedures. It is important that we await the results of all investigations into the Grenfell Tower tragedy before arriving at any conclusions.

I can however, confirm that Fareham Borough Council and Hampshire County Council have very well tried and tested plans for providing shelter in the event of emergencies where people have to vacate their homes or places of work.  There are 65 buildings across the County where we can provide temporary shelter and trained staff to support their operation.  All support arrangements required to maintain these facilities are in place including feeding, bedding, transport, first aid, communications, welfare etc.

All Rest Centres are reviewed annually and are visited by a member of the emergency planning and resilience team from Hampshire County Council, where a health and safety audit is carried out and they ensure that the prepositioned resources are in situ.  They also engage with the management and staff of those facilities and satisfy themselves that the provision is adequate.  The review of Fareham Borough Council’s Rest Centres, by coincidence, took place on Wednesday 21^st June 2017.

6.         Training for elected members takes place on an annual basis, all newly elected members were encouraged to attend the last session which took place on 15^th December 2016, I am aware that a couple of newly elected members could not attend this training which included advice on the role of an elected member during an emergency and at a rest centre, all members at this training session without hi viz tabards were requested to collect one from Kevin Wright, if they have not done so yet or are unsure of their role at a rest centre I would encourage them to contact Kevin Wright.

Questions by Councillor R H Price, JP (cont..):

7.         Would the Executive member advise if there is an agreed time for delivering a new refuse bin to a resident after it has been destroyed by going in to the back of a refuse vehicle?

8.         What is the average time taken to deliver a new bin over the last year?

9.         Why is a card not put through the residents letter box when their bins has been taken away due to damage?

10.      Does she agree with me that when the bin has been damaged/destroyed beyond use by the Council a new bin should be delivered the next day?

Responses by the Executive Member for Streetscene:

7.         There is no agreed delivery time specifically for bins that have been destroyed by going into the back of a council vehicle. For new bin delivery requests in general, we aim to deliver within ten working days.

8.         Seven working days.

9.         There is no card system operating at present, as it is very rare that a bin goes into the back of a refuse vehicle. This happens on fewer than 10 occasions annually, against 2.5 million individual collections each year. However, I have asked officers to review this.

10.      I agree that it should be an aim to replace the bin within one working day in such circumstances.

Question by Councillor Mrs K K Trott:

11.      Fareham Borough Council, as part of the Community Safety Partnership has recently given out cards on which there is the statement, "There is no need for anyone to sleep rough in Fareham as help is available."

As a Fareham East Councillor I am only too well aware that there are rough sleepers in this ward.

During the week up to Thursday July 13th, the hostel at 101 Gosport Road had 8 Fareham people in "permanent" beds and 5 in "emergency" beds.

The latter are in such great demand that individuals can only stay for one night, as respite, so someone else can be there the following night.

Officers and various bodies do their best. In theory help is available but as Councillors at the Scrutiny Board meeting of June 29th heard, due to funding cuts by Hampshire County Council many of the people who have complex issues cannot receive the help needed.

What action is this Council taking to help these people who due to their circumstances are "sleeping rough", as their published material clearly states, "There is no need for anyone to sleep rough in Fareham as help is available."?

Response by the Executive Leader:

11.         Members will be aware that the PSPO was implemented to safeguard our residents and businesses in the town centre; however it was important that we balanced this need with the needs of vulnerable individuals within our community. The cards to which Councillor Mrs Trott refers are used to raise awareness of, and provide contact details for, services that can assist people who are sleeping rough, suffering domestic abuse or addicted to drugs or alcohol.

I have to take issue with the Councillor Mrs Trott and indeed her colleagues’ continuing  insinuations.  Numbers of rough sleepers have decreased in Fareham compared to last year. Information provided to Officers by Two Saints shows that for the week commencing 10 July, 10 individuals utilised the emergency bed resources at 101 Gosport Road – of which only 3 had a connection to Fareham.  Of these 3, one used the e-bed all week, one used it for 5 nights out of seven (some nights were consecutive) and one used it just once in that week.  Two Saints have also confirmed that generally no-one is turned away as they have the ability to add 6 emergency beds if necessary.  Only 1 person was turned away in the last quarter and that is because unfortunately she assaulted a member of their staff.  Whilst I acknowledge that Two Saints face high demand for the e-beds and will sometimes have to manage access to them, this is usually only during the winter months.  Members may be aware that during the winter, at times of severe inclement weather, an emergency protocol is triggered and additional resources are then made available to those sleeping rough.

Police, Probation, Council Services, Health, Two Saints and Inclusion Teams work together to ensure we continue to have up-to-date information to support those sleeping rough or those who use the e-beds but are out in the community during the day.  All of these individuals are receiving shelter, food and support for their problems.

Members may wish be aware that a Pre-Application Planning Advice request was submitted on behalf of Two Saints recently containing proposals to extend the hostel into the neighbouring building which would increase their capacity. Based on the assessment of the proposal and consultation responses received, it has been confirmed that officers would be supportive of an application should full planning permission be sought.  The timeframe is as yet unclear as I am led to believe that Two Saints are still to acquire the premises from the current owners.

The cuts referred to at Scrutiny Board were to the Drug and Alcohol Action Team and funding they gave to Two Saints to provide a ‘clean and dry’ facility for those recovering from substance misuse and who had been through a treatment programme.  This was a Hampshire-wide scheme, delivered in a 6 room shared house in Fareham and occupants came not necessarily from Fareham but from all over the county.  The property is owned by Two Saints and they have indicated that it will now be used to provide further move-on opportunities for those who are working through the supported housing pathway and need lower levels of support. Good news.

We do need to ensure that partner agencies in the area continue to work closely together to ensure that the right support and help is available.  It is important that any gaps in services are properly identified by the professionals working in this complex area and the relevant agencies agree and develop appropriate solutions.  The quote “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got” is so fitting here and we must create a different solution or set of solutions for the few individuals for whom the current service provision simply does not work. The Housing First model and sub-letting scheme are just two of the options having already been discussed with Two Saints and Officers will bring forward proposals to the Housing Policy Development and Review Panel later this year.

Finally, I must observe that it is true that there is indeed no need for anyone to rough sleep in Fareham as help is available.  There are however, sadly, some individuals who refuse to accept that help.

Members will be informed, prior to the meeting, of any motion duly notified in accordance with Standing Order 15 but received after print and dispatch of the agenda.

“I proposed that in light of the Grenfell Tower Fire, this Council writes to the Local Government Association and the relevant Minister of State asking that Planning Law is changed to make it obligatory for Planning Departments to consult the Fire Service on all Planning applications which relate to Schools, Hotels, High Risk Office Blocks, High Rise Housing, Large Development Sites and National Health Buildings.  In the meantime Fareham immediately operates the voluntary process offered by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service to look at the above mentioned planning applications.”

A Notice of Motion was received from Councillor R H Price, JP:

“I propose that in light of the Grenfell Tower Fire, this Council writes to the Local Government Association and the relevant Minister of State asking that Planning Law is changed to make it obligatory for Planning Departments to consult the Fire Service on all Planning Applications which relate to Schools, Hotels, High Risk Office Blocks, High Rise Housing, Large Development Sites and National Health Buildings.  In the meantime Fareham immediately operates the voluntary process offered by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service to look at the above mentioned planning applications”.

The Mayor announced that he had been advised by the Chief Executive Officer that, in light of this being such an important subject, an Officer’s report will be considered by the Planning Committee before being brought to the next Council meeting.  The report will set out the technical details and the implications of such a statutory consultation and will enable a full debate on the subject with all the facts to hand.

Councillor R H Price presented his Motion.

Having duly been seconded by Councillor Mrs M Brady, it was RESOLVED that the Motion stands deferred, subject to an Officer’s report being considered at a future date by the Planning Committee before it is presented to Council.

To make any changes in appointments to the seats on committees in accordance with the wishes of political groups.  Such appointments will take effect from 28 July 2017.

There were no appointments or changes to committees made.