Agenda and minutes

The meeting will commence with a short service of prayers.

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

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J M Englefield, A Mandry and Mrs K Mandry.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Council Meeting held on 19^th June 2014.

RESOLVED that the Mayor be authorised to sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 19 June 2014.

The Mayor announced that his next charity event would be a tea party on Thursday 11 September at 2:30pm with a talk by Ray Gibson on the civilian life of Glenn Miller.

This is to be followed by a tea party on Thursday 2 October at 2:30pm with a talk by the Rowans Hospice.

The Mayor also confirmed that there are tickets left for the Tea on the Terrace event at the Houses of Parliament on Monday 20 October. Coach travel is included in the price of £35 with pick up from West Street at 7:30am.

The Executive Leader was pleased to announce that the Council was now in a position to award a contract for the design and build of the new Western Wards swimming pool, further details would be available in due course.

The Executive Leader advised Members that a briefing seminar would be held in the Autumn regarding the Vanguard method, outlining what has been achieved for the Council. This will be followed by a report to the Scrutiny Board and then a report to the Executive.

The Executive Leader confirmed that a report on the future of the Community Action Teams would go to the Scrutiny Board and then on to the Executive.

The Executive Leader referred to data recently released by the Office of National Statistics which shows that Fareham has the highest level of car ownership of any town or city in the country at 539 cars per 1,000 of the population. He summarised opinions that high car ownership is a sign of a prosperous area and is also common in medium sized towns with a population of over 100,000. This compares with densely populated cities which are generally far better served by public transport and therefore car ownership tends to be much lower. The Executive Leader suggested that these statistics justify why a large proportion of Hampshire County Councils’ road budget is being spent in the Fareham area.

Affordable Homes Programme

The Executive Member for Health & Housing advised Members that in January of this year, the Homes and Communities Agency announced the Government’s new Affordable Homes Programme to help fund the development of new affordable homes up to 2018. In response to this, the Council submitted a bid in April, requesting funding of £1.3 million to support the development of 65 new affordable homes.

This week, the HCA announced the results and the Executive Member for Health & Housing was very pleased to announce that the Council was successful in securing all of the £1.3 million.

He confirmed that the majority of the funding would be used to deliver a 36 unit sheltered housing scheme in Park Gate, 16 general purpose one bedroom flats in Fareham Town Centre and 6 family homes in Sarisbury which will be built to high energy efficiency standards.

The Council is presently in the process of constructing a 40 unit sheltered housing scheme in Fareham North West, which will be completed in the early part of next year.

Altogether, the Council will have 100 new affordable Council homes under construction over the next 12 months following a total investment of over £13 million. This represents the largest number of homes being built for over 35 years and the Executive Member for Health & Housing expressed his thanks to officers for working towards this achievement.

Hampshire Police & Crime Panel

The Executive Member for Public Protection provided an update for Members following the meeting of the Hampshire Police & Crime Panel which he attended on 4 July 2104.

He stated that the meeting had a substantial Agenda including re-electing the Chairman, Cllr David Stewart from the Isle of Wight, together with the appointment of new members to the Panel following the recent local elections.

Achievements over the past year have included the establishment of several working groups to assist in reviewing and supporting the work of the Police Crime Commissioner, in particular around finance and the Police & Crime Plan.

At the meeting, the Police Crime Commissioner presented his annual report to the panel, drawing attention to the role of the key work streams of the Police & Crime Plan, Estate Strategy and Operational Change Programme in protecting people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

An update was provided on the Estate Strategy launched in 2013 to support the Commissioner in responding to the priorities of his Police & Crime Plan.

The Strategy will see a number of ancillary custody sites developed and greater partnership working and the sharing of premises.  In response to the Estates Plan, the Panel highlighted the need to keep residents informed of progress, sought reassurance over the future of Police presence in a number of areas within the County and emphasised the need for a clear, visible presence to ensure communities obtain a link to the Police. 

Also at the meeting, various members were appointed to the Working Groups, and the Executive Member for Public Protection was pleased to report that he was appointed to the Police & Crime Plan Working Group.

Fareham in Bloom

The Executive Member for Leisure & Community congratulated the Housing team for the good news regarding the affordable homes programme.

The Executive Member for Leisure & Community announced that on Sunday 27 July, 7 Fareham in Bloom award-winning gardens would be available for viewing by members of the public with tickets at £5 for the full programme. This event gives the Fareham in Bloom volunteers and the garden owners an opportunity to showcase their efforts.

Green Flag Awards

The Executive Member for Leisure & Community was delighted to confirm that both Holly Hill Woodland Park and the Sensory Garden of reflection in Fareham Town Centre have retained the prestigious Green Flag Award.

Blooming School Results 2014

The Executive Member for Leisure & Community was pleased to announce that the South and South East in Bloom Schools results had been published and that Northern Junior Community School won Gold and Champion of Champions. This award reflects the hours of work put in by the volunteers who were supported this year by HMS Collingwood.

Wicor Primary School won Gold and was also the Hampshire Winner which is a fantastic result. The Executive Member for Leisure & Community placed on record her thanks and gratitude to all volunteers for their hard work.

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.

A petition of approximately 23 signatures was presented by Councillor P J Davies entitled “We the undersigned call on Fareham Borough Council to provide community lighting for the woodland area in Frosthole Crescent”.

The Mayor advised that the petition would be dealt with in accordance with Fareham Borough Council’s petition scheme.

To receive any deputations of which notice has been given.

A deputation was given by Mr Paul Rogerson on the subject of “problems that exist with the current system of applying for a Hackney Carriage Licence in Fareham”.

The Mayor thanked Mr Rogerson for his deputation and advised that as the subject of the deputation comes under the functions of the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Committee, the matter would be referred to Licensing Officers for consideration.

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 7 July  2014 be received.

RESOLVED that the Schedule of Individual Executive Member Decisions be received.

To receive, consider and answer questions on reports and recommendations of the meeting of the Scrutiny Board held on 3 July 2014.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Scrutiny Board held on 3 July 2014 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 4 June 2014 be received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Planning Committee held on 2 July  2014 be received.

RESOLVED that:

(a)       the minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 23 June 2014 be received; and

(b)       the recommendation of the Audit and Governance Committee contained in minute 6 – Review of Financial Regulations regarding the proposed changes to the regulations, be accepted and accordingly, the changes as set out in Appendix B and D to the report be approved.

RESOLVED that:

(a)       the minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Committee held on 8 July 2014 be received; and

(b)       the recommendation of the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Committee contained in minute 6 regarding policy statements relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme 2014 Regulations be accepted and accordingly, the proposed policy statements be approved.

RESOLVED that:

(a)       the minutes of the Planning and Development Policy Development and Review Panel held on 9 July 2014 be received; and

(b)       Councillor G Fazackarley be nominated as the Liberal Democrat representative on the Public Transport Review Member Working Group.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Streetscene Policy Development and Review Panel held on 10 July 2014 be received.

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

There were two sets of questions submitted for this meeting:

Question from Councillor R H Price, JP:

1.         I have over the last few weeks seen the cleaning of the gutters and central reservations of all grass and weeds, this is obviously on the Fareham in Bloom Judges Route.   Therefore will the Executive member please advise me when the remainder of the Borough will be treated in the same way, as there are many areas where the grass is growing in gutters and is much more unsightly than the areas that I have seen cleared.

Response by the Executive Member for Streetscene:

1.         In the lead up to the In Bloom judging date some extra resource is used to ensure the Borough is presented at its best and this includes the removal of unsightly weeds from the gutters and kerb channels. The majority of this work takes place along the main A27 route through the Borough, a route that is used regularly by local residents, workers, visitors and those just passing through Fareham and therefore ensures that the most used roads in the Borough are well presented for the benefit of all.

To control the weed growth generally in Fareham all roads that have been adopted by the Highway Authority receive two herbicide treatments per annum. This operation is carried out by Hampshire County Council’s contractors. The first herbicide treatment has just been completed in the Borough and the weed growth should now by showing signs of dieback. As the plants disintegrate they will be removed by the scheduled sweeping of the Boroughs roads by the Street Cleansing team. This is by far the most economical method to control and remove the weed growth and is an achievable operation within the available resources of both authorities given the scale of the Borough’s road network.     

It is worth considering the small amount of additional labour used for Fareham’s In Bloom entry in context with the many benefits In Bloom brings to the Borough. This year through the In Bloom initiative volunteers working on the various projects put in over 10,000 hours of their time. That is equivalent to £74,000 worth of labour using the nationally recognised standard rate of £50 per day to calculate the value of volunteers. In addition, the In Bloom entry attracted over £35,000 in sponsorship, benefits in kind and donations.

This income compares favourably with the additional labour costs of approximately £6,000 used in the lead up to judging to improve the presentation of the route. This expenditure represents 0.02% of the total annual revenue budget for Grounds maintenance and Street Cleansing.

The majority of the work undertaken for In Bloom is routine scheduled maintenance such as grass cutting and hedge trimming. Some schedules are altered to assist with the presentation of the routes but this temporary situation over the couple of weeks prior to judging day has little impact on the overall grounds maintenance and street cleansing operations throughout the Borough.

On the contrary, the income generated and community engagement benefits of the council’s involvement with In Bloom have raised standards of presentation throughout the borough to a level that compares favourably with most other English authorities.

Questions by Councillor P J Davies:

1.      How many full and part time employees of Fareham Borough Council are paid less than £7.65, the living wage?

2.      In view of the threatened impending closure of the much valued Highlands Park pre-school in July 2015, would Fareham Borough Council consider a variation of the six year lease to this pre-school granted in 2013?

Response by the Executive Leader:

1.         Currently we have 17 full time employees and 3 part time employees paid less than £7.65 per hour.  These numbers will reduce once the outcome of the pay award is settled which will be back dated to 1 April 2014.  I have asked the Chief Executive Officer to undertake a review of pay in a competitive market.  The findings and any recommendations will be reported in the Autumn.

2.         I can confirm that the Council has not been formally notified by the leaseholder of any plans to close the pre-school.  However, should the leaseholder wish to discuss the terms of the lease with the Council, officers are always willing to have such a dialogue, and the leaseholder should, in the first instance, approach the Council’s Estates team.

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.

There were no motions under Standing Oder 15 moved at this meeting.

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 25 July 2014.

Councillor P W Whittle, JP advised the Council that he wished to amend the Liberal Democrat nominations to the Planning and Development Policy Development and Review Panel by removing himself and nominating Councillor Mrs K K Trott as a member of the panel with Councillor G Fazackarley as the deputy.

RESOLVED that the amendment be approved and that this comes into effect from 25 July 2014.