Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.  Councillor Steve Drury was slightly late joining the meeting

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 7 December 2020.

              The Minutes of the Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 7 December 2020 were confirmed as a correct record by general assent and would be signed by the Chair when it was possible to do so subject to one amendment at the top of Page 8. 

              Minute PR77/20 - The Chair of the meeting agreed to forward to the Committee a copy of the letter that had been sent to the Secretary of State for Housing.

Items of other business notified under Council Procedure Rule 30 to be announced, together with the special circumstances that justify their consideration as a matter of urgency. The Chair to rule on the admission of such items.

The Chair ruled that the following items had not been available 5 clear working days before the meeting but were of sufficient urgency to take at the meeting:

Item 14a – an e-petition had not been included on the Agenda when published but was of sufficient urgency to be taken so that the petition can be received by the Council.  The Chair of the meeting had agreed to take the item of business of item 4.

Item 8 - Appendix 1 had not been available although the report had been published.  The reason for urgency was to ensure that the risk register could be agreed.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest

The Committee received a petition from Rickmansworth Bowls Club signed by 113 residents which stated:

‘That the Council continues to provide financial support to Rickmansworth Bowls Club

We the undersigned, support Rickmansworth Bowls Club at Basing Gardens in providing a service for young and old in the community, as it has done for over 100 years, where all have benefitted from physical exercise and enjoyment of fresh air and social interaction.  Bowls is a healthy form of outdoor exercise and especially suited for older residents and those who are relatively less mobile.   

The Council’s Three Rivers Local Strategic Partnership Community Strategy 2018-2023 has the key priority of ensuring that “residents have opportunities to be physically and mentally healthy.”  The Council is therefore committed to “working in partnership to promote access to physical activity opportunities.”

 The Council has for many years helped the Club by subsidising the cost of using the facilities.  However, the Council is now withdrawing all financial support for the Club, which is likely to force the Club to close.  This is therefore directly contrary to the Council’s stated aim and will be especially disadvantageous to the older residents of the area.

 We therefore urge the Council to reconsider and support the Club by providing some ongoing financial support, enabling the Club to exist and thrive and be a source of enjoyment for the whole community for many years to come.’

In accordance with Rule 18(5) of the Council’s Constitution, the Lead Petitioner presented the petition to the Committee.

The Vice Chair thanked the Lead Petitioner and the Bowls Club for presenting the petition and added that the Council did recognise the value of the club and were committed to helping the club to transition to the new arrangements.  The Council were not looking to withdraw all financial support.  The lease that had been offered was for a longer term lease which should benefit the club and would provide significantly below market rent.  In addition the club had been offered the use of some equipment and additional grant funding to help with the transition to the new arrangements.  The Council would welcome the clubs involvement in the process.

The Chair thanked the Lead Petitioner and advised the Council would be in contact to seek a mutually agreed plan for going forward.

RESOLVED:

Noted receipt of the petition and that a letter would be sent to the Lead Petitioner confirming receipt.

Statement of Community Involvement.

The report set out changes to the Statement of Community Involvement which provided the Council with an up-to-date commitment to how it will consult on planning policy documents and individual planning applications in line with current legislation and guidance relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposed amendments in the addendum would be temporary and would apply up until such time when legislation and guidance allows the Council to safely revert back to the original Statement of Community Involvement which was adopted in June 2020.

Members raised the following issues:

Q:  How far reaching does a consultation have to be as far as an end user is concerned?

A:  The Council consult District wide and further afield outside the District.  It was noted that there are a number of businesses in the District.  Anyone with an interest in the District could be consulted.

Q:  Where it states written and email communication would continue did that include posted communication?

A:  Initially it would be email.  There was a consultation database specifically for the Local Plan.  Anyone who wanted to could register on the consultation database, details were provided on the website.  The Council would write to statutory consultees where they did not have email addresses, e.g. electricity companies, the Water Board, Environment Agency. 

Q:  Paragraph 3.4 in Appendix 2 stated ‘the circulation of information in hard copy format should be avoided by developers undertaking community consultation’.  Who was determining this?

A: These were rules under the current legislation and looked to try to prevent flyers or hard copy documents being posted to lessen contact with members of the public and to lessen the transmission of Covid 19. 

Q Paragraph 2.6 of the report stated that the Regulations had been extended to apply until 31 December 2021.  Specific dates were required as to when these would be reviewed.

A:  Legislation stated that the changes would remain in place until 31 December 2021.  The Council could not review this until the Government changes the legislations.  Officers would keep a check on any changes and report back to the Local Plan sub-committee and Policy and Resources Committee accordingly.  The Member asked for this point to be included for clarity.

Q:  Could instructions on how to look at the Local Plan consultation details online be put on all the notice boards across the District and not just in Rickmansworth?

A:  The Chair agreed that this was reasonable request.

Q:  Paragraph 2.13 of the report stated that the applicant would be responsible for displaying notices on behalf of the Council for planning applications.  Why would Officers not do this and who would checks be made to ensure the notices were put up in the correct location.

A:  This procedure was changed in March 2020 as part of the Covid 19 restrictions.  The notices were posted to the applicant who was responsible for put them up in the correct location.  The applicant had to take a photograph to confirm they had posted the notice in the right place.  ...  view the full minutes text for item PR83/20

To receive the decisions of the Covid 19 Response sub-committee held on 16 November 2020.

CRSC 25/20 – SERVICE RESTORATION GENERAL UPDATE REPORT

Agreed to recommend the General Update report to the Policy and Resources Committee for adoption.

CRSC 26/20 – WATERSMEET REOPENING REPORT

Agreed to recommend the Watersmeet Reopening report to the Policy and Resources Committee for adoption.

The Committee received the decisions from the Covid 19 Response sub-committee meeting held on 16 November 2020 as set out in the minutes (details below).

1.         CRSC 25/20 - SERVICE RESTORATION GENERAL UPDATE REPORT

2.         CRSC 26/20 - WATERSMEET REOPENING REPORT

On being put to the Committee the recommendations in the Minutes were declared CARRIED by the Chair of the meeting the voting being by general assent.

RESOLVED:

1.         Agreed the General Update report for adoption.

2.         Agreed the Watersmeet Reopening report for adoption.

This report sets out the impact of the local Tier system, National Lockdown and current position of the Council’s Services.

The Council will continue to prioritise service delivery and focus resources as set out previously in the Service Restoration Priorities Reports.

The Watersmeet Venue Manager gave the following report to the Committee:

The Covid-19 Impact on services report follows on from the Service Restoration General Update report presented to the Covid-19 Response Sub-committee on 16 November 2020, and provided an update on the current situation regarding the Council’s services and Covid-19 response.

The report set out the impact on services and highlighted the additional work and measures put in place to support residents and the Covid-19 response. Appendix 1 itemised each of the Council’s services and the impact each Tier and the current National Lockdown has had. Where it stated BAU (business as usual) the delivery of the service continued, however it was important to highlight that the majority of staff that would normally be based at Three Rivers House continued to work from home.  Naturally, due to the ever changing situation there have been further developments since this report was published and these were highlighted to the Committee.

Since the last update in November, Three Rivers has come out of the second national lockdown on 3 December and entered into Tier 2.  The District was then moved to Tier 3 on 16 December and to Tier 4 on 20 December and then on the 5 January 2021 the country entered a third National Lockdown.

Moving through the Tier system had generated significant workload for Officers as aspects of services had started and stopped in response to the restrictions and the required support for residents had changed.

In response to the second National Lockdown in November a Covid-19 Action Group was established consisting of Officers from Community Partnerships, Leisure, Watersmeet, Regulatory Services Communications and the Customer Services Centre to coordinate tasks across different services utilising the skillset of specific staff.

Four Covid Marshals, funded from Central Government Resources, have been employed to engage with the public and encourage general compliance of Covid restrictions focusing on our parks, open spaces and supermarkets. Funding had also been provided for Covid Response officers to support enhanced contract tracing across the county. The recruitment process mentioned for the 3 Officers for Three Rivers had progressed and offers have been made and verbally accepted.

Work with Herts County Council, Herts Help and Watford and Three Rivers Trust had continued throughout the tier system and during the National Lockdown for people who are isolating and who are clinically and extremely vulnerable, helping them with getting access to food deliveries, prescriptions and providing wellbeing support.

There had been significant disruption to some services and the current status of services was as follows:

Leisure/Watersmeet

•           In Leisure, currently parks, open spaces, play areas, car parks and the public toilets within our parks remained open.

•           Skate parks, tennis courts, multi-use games areas and outdoor gyms are all closed as per the Government guidance.

•           Since the report was published, Parkguard have been engaged temporarily to patrol Croxley skate-park in response to Police and Covid Marshal feedback on the continued use of the skate park despite it being closed. 3  ...  view the full minutes text for item PR85/20

This report proposes revised strategic risks, based on the priorities and objectives in the Corporate Framework 2020-2023.

This report proposed revised strategic risks, based on the priorities and objectives in the Corporate Framework 2020-2023.

On being put to the Committee the recommendation was declared CARRIED by the Chair the voting being by general assent.

RESOLVED:

Noted the updated Strategic Risk Register.

This report is an introduction to the three agenda items that follow.

This report was an introduction to the three agenda items that followed.

The Lead Member for Resources and Shared Services moved agenda items 9, 10, 11 and 12 and advised that on item 12, they would be moving option 9.2 that the Administration would publish its final recommendations on Financial Planning 2021-2024 five working days prior to the Council meeting on 23 February 2021 and present them at this meeting.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the report.

The purpose of this report is to enable the Policy and Resources Committee to recommend to the Council the medium term revenue budgets.

The purpose of this report was to enable the Policy and Resources Committee to recommend to the Council the medium term revenue budgets.

Members raised the following questions:

Q:  Paragraph 2.7 - Herts County Council commenced the removal of £1.5m from a total distributional pot.  Why was the pot being reduced?

A:  The County provide some money to improve recycling rates amongst the Districts.  They decided to reduce the model in a phased approach over a number of years.  The Council had also experienced a loss due to the way the money was calculated.

Q:  How much have the Council lost in total?

A:  There was an expected loss of £279,000 next year.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the report.

The purpose of this report is to enable the Policy and Resources Committee to recommend to the Council its capital strategy and treasury management policy over the medium term (2021-24.)

The purpose of this report was to enable the Policy and Resources Committee to recommend to the Council its capital strategy and treasury management policy over the medium term (2021-24)

Members raised the following questions:

Q:  Paragraph 3.14 the increase in borrowing from £26m to £29m, what was the reason for this?

A:  The estimate for 2021/22 was set out in Paragraph 3.13 and showed the operational boundary which was £26m for both 2020/21 and 2021/22.  The authorised limit was the maximum for borrowing without going back to Council.  For this year and the next financial year it was £29m.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the report.

This report enables the Committee to makes its recommendations on the Council’s Revenue and Capital budgets and Treasury Management Policy for the period 2021-24 (medium term) to Council on 23 February 2021.

This report enabled the Committee to make its recommendations on the Council’s Revenue and Capital budgets and Treasury Management Policy for the period 2021-24 (medium term) to Council on 23 February 2021

The Vice-Chair moved the recommendation at Paragraph 9.2 in the report.

On being put to the Committee the recommendation was declared CARRIED by the Chair the voting being by general assent.

RECOMMENDED:

That the Policy and Resources Committee notes that the Administration will publish its final recommendations on Financial Planning 2021-2024 five working days prior to the Council meeting on 23 February 2021 and present them at this meeting.

To receive the Committee’s work programme.

To receive the Committee’s work programme.

A Member asked for the Emergency Climate Change Strategy to be added to the work programme.  This was confirmed by the Acting Head of Community Partnerships

A Member asked for dates to be added for when the Trees and Landscape Strategy (item 13) would be presented to the Committee.  The Chair would discuss suitable dates with the Principal Committee Manager.

RESOLVED:

Noted the work programme.

The Chair thanked Officers for the work they were doing in very trying times.