Present:-

Devon County Council:-

Councillors Croad (Chairman), Black, Brazil, Day, Hart, Hawkins, Mumford and Pennington

South Hams District Council:-

Councillor Tucker

Devon Association of Local Councils:-

Councillor Dredge

*65 Minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2011 be signed as a correct record.

*66 Feedback from District Council and DALC Representatives

(a) Highway Winter Service

Councillors Tucker and Hawkins raised concerns on behalf of Cornworthy and Dittisham Parish Councils about road safety in winter following the changes in the County Council s highway winter service which had led to their removal from the precautionary (primary) salting network. The Parish Councils contended that:

the local topography made the roads serving both villages very dangerous in snow or ice and they would already have been cut off by the time the roads had been cleared/treated under the secondary salting network regime

this would seriously affect the communities in general, but particularly local businesses, the transportation of children to school, and the elderly, infirm and disabled

the highways vehicle treating a nearby precautionary salting route - instead of returning via the same route to the A3122 - could include both villages in a circuit leading back to the main road.

The Neighbourhood Highway Manager explained the changes to the highway winter service policy which had led to an overall reduction in the number of precautionary salting routes in Devon from 48 to 37, indicating that the winter salting regime was designed to deliver substantial efficiencies through a network rather than a local community based approach to operations. He pointed out that:

the roads serving Cornworthy and Dittisham had been removed from the precautionary salting network because they did not meet the criteria for traffic flow (routes with February two way flows greater than 1000 vehicles per day) and settlement population (main access route to settlements with a population of 500 or greater)

being on the secondary salting network, the roads would usually be treated during extended periods of cold weather (ie ice or snow for most of the day)

extending the precautionary salting route was not simply a matter of funding the extra salt required - there were logistical issues involving capacity, routeing, drivers hours etc which militated against the salting vehicle continuing through Cornworthy in a circuit back to the A3122.

At the invitation of the Committee, Mrs J Bradley (Cornworthy Parish Council) and Mr M Faulkner (Dittisham Parish Council) attended and spoke in support of the reinstatement of the roads involved in the precautionary salting network, expressing the view that they already met, or were close to meeting, the qualifying criteria for precautionary salting.

The Neighbourhood Highway Manager encouraged both Parish Councils to participate in the County Council s Snow Warden initiative in line with the principle of community self-help promoted in the winter service policy, acknowledged the concerns raised concerning legal liability/insurance and referred to guidance, training and support available for self help, including the provision by the County Council of local salt supplies.

Members did not support the reinstatement of Cornworthy and Dittisham in the precautionary salting network but asked that their situation be re-evaluated when the winter service policy was next reviewed.

(b) Standards

Councillor Dredge referred to the need for communication between the County and District Councils and the National Association of Local Councils on voluntary Standards arrangements to replace the existing Standards regime which the Government planned to abolish.

Reference was made to preparatory work being undertaken in Devon to develop a joint, common Code of Conduct and explore the possibility of joint working or collaborative arrangements, and to the Devon Association of Local Councils being involved in this process.

(c) Community Grants

In response to comments by Councillor Dredge, the County Community Strategy Officer confirmed that this was the last year of operation of the County Council s Village Hall Fund. The Community Council of Devon would receive a one-off sum of 400,000 of proceeds from the sale of Exeter Airport to distribute as capital grants to Devon s communities for use on community buildings.

(d) County Council Budget

Councillor Tucker asked that South Hams District Council be made aware at the earliest opportunity of any further proposed budgetary reductions that would affect the authority.

*67 Devon Youth Service (South Hams) - Update

The Committee received the report of the Head of Child Adult Protection (CAP/11/7 - text only | pdf CAP/11/7) on the Devon Youth Service restructure which came into effect in mid August 2011, covering staffing, the activities programme and working with schools.

Under the new arrangements, the Area Youth Workers were responsible for two centres, with one covering the Ivybridge and Kingsbridge areas and the other covering the Dartmouth and Totnes areas.

The service continued to operate successfully and offer a wide range of services which were generally well supported. However, there were some issues arising from a shortage of paid staff and volunteers.

The Strategic Lead for Youth Services:

paid tribute to the service given by Mr B Rowson as Acting Team Leader for the South Hams

referred to the preparation by the Department for Education of a new cross-Government policy statement on services for young people aged 13 - 19 which would build on the outcomes from the Positive for Youth summit 2011

referred to the development of a more closely co-ordinated approach between agencies (local authorities, Police, health etc) to supporting families and individuals with complex needs

undertook to follow up with Tone Leisure instances of the early closure of leisure facilities for the purpose of cleaning etc and to remind his staff of the need to keep local County Councillors informed of developments relating to the service in their areas.

The Committee was very supportive of the local Youth Service which played a valuable role in the South Hams community and expressed concern about the effect of any further reductions in its budget.

*68 Update to Joint Approach to Working with Town and Parish Councils

Councillor Tucker reported on feedback from the last round of the Parish Cluster meetings on the Town and Parish Voice Offer. Under the Offer, the County and District Councils would work together with towns and parishes to experiment with a different approach aimed at improving communication and providing more opportunities for towns and parishes to collaborate on shared issues (an extract from a report by the South Hams District Council s Chief Executive to the meeting of the South Hams Executive on 13 October 2011 relating to the Town and Parish Council Voice Offer and the Business Voice Offer was circulated with the Locality Committee agenda).

Councillor Tucker explained that there had been a mixed response to the offer of a payment to a parish clerk to service meetings of Parish Cluster, to cover room hire charges and to designate a link officer between each Parish Cluster and the County and District Councils.

Members supported the County Community Strategy Officer s suggestion that, given the limited support, the Town and Parish Council Voice Offer should perhaps be trialled in a single Cluster, with a view to the new arrangements being rolled out to other Clusters once they had seen the benefits of the new working arrangements and the proposed operation of the County Discretionary Fund at Cluster level. The County Community Strategy Officer envisaged a reduced number of meetings of those Clusters not involved in the trial while it was underway.

The County Community Strategy Officer undertook to clarify whether County Councillors were invited to Cluster meetings and to keep the Committee informed of progress.

*69 Kingsbridge Local Bus Services

The County Community Strategy Officer reported that as a result of the discussion on local bus services at the meeting of the South Hams HATOC on 29 July 2011, he had arranged a meeting of local County Councillors in Kingsbridge on 18 October 2011 to explain in more detail the constraints, and limited options available, within the current public transport spending levels set by the County Council in February 2011. He indicated that, in addition to being raised at the HATOC, a similar discussion had taken place at the last meeting of the South Hams Voluntary Sector Forum. Attendance at the Kingsbridge meeting was extended to include representatives of the Voluntary Sector Forum so that the concerns could be explored in the round, rather than at separate meetings.

The County Community Strategy Officer commented that the focus of the discussion on 18 October 2011 was about the principles used to determine the overall pattern of reductions and then also the particular impact on services in and around the Kingsbridge area, as well as the connections through the Totnes "hub" to Exeter and to Torbay Hospital. By the end of the meeting the issues had been worked through and a number of actions identified for further consideration.

The Committee welcomed the better understanding of the situation brought about by the discussions and the positive way forward that had been agreed.

*70 County Committee Locality Budget 2011/12 and Spend to Date

The Committee considered the report of the County Community Strategy Officer (SC/11/27 - text onlySC/11/27) setting out recent Locality Budget spending approvals and the budget position at 18 November 2011.

It was MOVED by Councillor Croad, SECONDED by Councillor Hawkins and

RESOLVED

(a) that approval for the spending proposals agreed by the Chairman/Vice-Chairman since the last meeting as set out in the report be confirmed;

(b) that the current budget position for 2011/12 be noted.

*71 County Discretionary Fund (Minute *62/29 July 2011)

Possible applications for the discretionary funding allocated to the South Hams and a suggestion that it be used to support market towns were discussed. It was concluded that the funding should be distributed to individual Members rather than used collectively.

*72 Member Development Steering Group

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2011 were noted.

*73 Dates for Future Meetings

The Committee noted that meetings had been arranged for the following dates:

20 April 2012; 20 July 2012; 30 November 2012 and 19 April 2013

(all Fridays after the HATOC at Follaton House, Totnes)

*DENOTES DELEGATED MATTER WITH POWER TO ACT

The meeting started at 10.45am and finished at 12.40pm.

The Minutes of the South Hams Locality (County) Committee are published on the County Council s Website at:-