Agenda and minutes

Health and Environment Policy Committee - Wednesday, 1st March, 2023 6.30 pm

Venue: Guildhall Winchester and streamed live on YouTube at www.youtube.com/winchestercc

Contact: Claire Buchanan, Senior Democratic Services Officer  Tel: 01962 848 438 Email: cbuchanan@winchester.gov.uk

Note: Please note that due to a technical issue, a short section of the meeting wasn't recorded. 

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Chairperson's Announcement

Minutes:

At the start of the meeting, the Chairperson made an announcement that, due to time constraints and the level of public interest in respect of agenda item 6 (Water Quality): items 8 (Air Quality Update), 9 (Council Homes Retrofit Programme) and 10 (Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) review) would be deferred. These agenda items (or items related to the same subject matter) would come forward for consideration at the next meeting of the committee on 4 July 2023.

 

          RESOLVED:

 

                     That the consideration of the matters contained in agenda items          8, 9 and 10 be deferred to the next meeting of the committee on 4 July 2023.

 

2.

Appointment of Vice-Chairperson for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2022/23

Minutes:

          RESOLVED:

 

                     That Councillor Westwood be appointed as Vice Chairperson for       the remainder of the municipal year 2022/23.

 

3.

Apologies and Deputy Members

To note the names of apologies given and deputy members who are attending the meeting in place of appointed members.

Minutes:

Apologies for the meeting were noted as above.

 

4.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any disclosure of interests from Members and Officers in matters to be discussed.

 

Note:  Councillors are reminded of their obligations to declare disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and/or prejudicial interests in accordance with legislation and the Council’s Code of Conduct.      

 

If you require advice, please contact the appropriate Democratic Services Officer, prior to the meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations made at the meeting. 

 

5.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 170 KB

Minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 December 2022.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 6 December 2022 be approved and adopted.

 

6.

Public Participation

To receive and note questions asked and statements made from members of the public on matters which fall within the remit of the Committee.

NB members of the public are required to register with Democratic Services
three clear working days before the meeting

(contact: democracy@winchester.gov.uk  or 01962 848 264).

 

Minutes:

Georgina Palmer (also reading statements on behalf of James Murray and Councillor Mark Smith of Otterbourne Parish Council), Councillor Cook, Councillor Thompson (reading a statement on behalf of Danny Chambers), Dr  Martin Burton, Ian Diver, Howard Boardman, Councillor Frances Strange (Chairman of Compton and Shawford Parish Council), Nicola Williams, Dr Paul Spencer (on behalf of Winchester BID) and Councillor Wallace spoke raising questions and comments in respect of agenda Item 6 (Water Quality), as summarised under the relevant minute below.

 

In addition, Tim Perry and Ian Tait addressed the committee in relation to agenda item 7 (Winchester District Youth Provision) and their comments are summarised under the relevant minute below.

 

7.

Water Quality: Representatives from Natural England and Southern Water in attendance (Verbal Update)

Minutes:

The Chairperson welcomed Graham Horton of Natural England and Toby Willison (Director of Environment) and Rena Perri (Stakeholder Engagement Manager) from Southern Water to the meeting to provide a verbal update following the motion taken to Council on 6 July 2022.  The detailed matters in the motion had been referred to the committee, for a better understanding of the current levels of pollution and remedial action being taken to enable conclusions to be published to inform local community action groups. In addition, Southern Water were also asked to address the committee in light of the impact of water outages on residents within the Winchester district and wastewater discharges into waterways.

 

Georgina Palmer (also reading statements on behalf of James Murray and Councillor Mark Smith of Otterbourne Parish Council), Councillor Cook, Councillor Thompson (reading a statement on behalf of Danny Chambers), Dr Martin Burton, Ian Diver, Howard Boardman, Councillor Frances Strange (Chairman of Compton and Shawford Parish Council), Nicola Williams, Dr Paul Spencer (on behalf of Winchester BID) and Councillor Wallace addressed the Committee. In summary, they made reference to the following points and raised detailed questions, as summarised below:

 

Where it was available, a response was provided by Southern Water representatives as summarised below, with all outstanding responses to be given in writing by Southern Water following the meeting.

 

1.       Regular clearance of raw sewage from drains off the boundary and                    beneath the foundations of the property.

          Response: This was a result of combined sewer overflow (CSOs)      relief valves on drainage systems. When the systems are overloaded         with rain and surface water, the valves were in place to prevent         properties flooding and raw sewage backing up through internal           facilities (toilets, baths and sinks). It was accepted this was not ideal    and that some residents were experiencing impacts from this system. A           task force had been established specifically to look at how to eradicate      this issue. A  regional plan was due to be published in the next month         detailing how spills would be eliminated in the region. An application   had been made to OFWAT to accelerate funding to tackle immediate      issues.

 

2.       Quality of water for residents in Twyford and the poor quality of water        for open water swimmers using the River Itchen.

          Response: As above. The driver from Government was primarily about        protecting nature conservation sites (including the River Itchen and     bathing waters) as a priority.

 

3.       Do Southern Water recognise hobbyists (wild swimmers and     anglers in particular) as conscientious custodians of the river, and are           they willing to work with them to turn around the environmental destruction pollution?

          Response:  The important role of hobbyists, including anglers, was            recognised and the importance of working in partnership was   considered key. It was noted that rivers trust were representatives on       independent climate and environment groups which comprised of external stakeholders who challenged and scrutinised the performance        and plans of Southern Water

 

4.       Difficulties contacting Southern Water (long waiting times, calls being     cut off etc)

Response: These issued would be reported to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Winchester District Youth Provision (HEP031 and Presentation) DOTX 67 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Tim Perry and Ian Tait addressed the Committee on this item.

 

In summary, Tim Perry made reference to the following points:

 

·       Campaigning for a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) to be built in one of the parks in North Winchester.

·       Survey undertaken to establish the need for such a facility with positive response – 97% responding that they would welcome a MUGA in their community.

·       Believed there to be a lack of MUGA and all-weather recreational facilities in this area of Winchester for children and young people with over 4,000 young people in the St Paul and St Barnabas wards and no MUGA provision available.

·       Suggested building of a MUGA at Dean Land of St Matthews Park to address concerns about the lack of free to use facilities in these communities.

·       Wishes to partner with the council to agree a location for the MUGA, agree a plan to finance this with the use of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) being suggested as an option and set a timetable for the works. Also committed to fundraising for part of the MUGA if required as experienced fundraisers.

 

In summary, Ian Tait made reference to the following points:

 

·       Report highlights that Stanmore, by a large margin, has the highest proportion of young people but has very few facilities for youngsters with a high percentage of students, issues of drug and alcohol abuse amongst young people and pressures on their mental health and wellbeing.

·       New development in The Valley do not trigger and CIL contribution which it would have if it was a private residential development – Stanmore badly requires these resources for facility provision. There was an ongoing reliance on the Carroll Centre as the only community centre in the area.

 

Councillor Becker introduced the report which outlined an audit of community youth provision. This was intended to establish what the council and other organisations have in place as a starting point for any additional work in developing facilities, whilst listening to the needs of young people through the vision for Winchester. In particular, there would be close working with teenage girls on what community and recreational facilities they would like to see, with discussions to continue further going forward.

 

The Corporate Head of Economy and Community gave a detailed presentation which provided an overview of the provision for the Winchester District Youth Offer including, the work carried out to collect data, insight at national, county and district levels, an audit of the facilities available across the district and some early conclusion from these initial findings.   

 

The committee proceeded to ask questions on the following matters which were responded to by the relevant Cabinet Members and the Corporate Head of Economy and Community:

 

(i)             Comprehensive/Community School facilities – provision within schools data had been collected but work to understand when facilities were available etc was required and further information needed to be worked through at this stage. However, this data would be included going forward.

(ii)            The use of general CIL funds for the provision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

To note the Work Programme for 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 275 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

          That the work programme for 2022/23 be noted.

 

Registering to speak at meetings of the council:

The information below relates to the majority of meetings of the council but please note that different rules do apply for registering to speak at meetings of Full Council, Licensing Sub Committees, Planning Committees, Open Forums, and the Standards Hearing and Human Resources Sub Committees and the Appointments Panel. Further information can be obtained using the contact details above.

Members of the public may speak at this meeting, provided they have registered to speak three working days in advance. Please contact Democratic Services via democracy@winchester.gov.uk or (01962) 848 264 to register to speak and for further details - which can also be found on the individual meeting agenda front sheets.

 

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