Agenda item

Members' questions

To receive any Members' questions.

Minutes:

Councillor I Devonshire asked the Executive Member for Planning and Growth what the Council was doing to ensure fast and reliable broadband services were provided in the District’s rural areas. 

 

Councillor J Goodeve said the Council’s role in providing broadband to communities was via planning policy, focusing on new developments.  She recognised that some existing communities, particularly rural ones, experienced broadband issues, as indicated by many users of Launchpad in Bishop’s Stortford.  Launchpad offered speeds of up to 100 Megabytes, significantly better than in some areas.

 

Councillor Goodeve said broadband installation was not required by statute or the National Planning Policy Framework for new dwellings. Prior to the adoption of the District Plan, the Council had refused planning permission where new developments had been built without such provision, but such refusals had been overturned on appeal.  Now, although the Plan had been adopted and included guidance for Fibre To The Premises, the largest national provider, BT Openreach, had discretion in what it offered, which could result in inconsistent delivery.

 

Regarding existing developments, Councillor Goodeve said the government had invested in broadband provision for areas which were not commercially viable.  An example was the “Connected Counties” programme, an initiative jointly funded by Herts County Council, the Local Enterprise Partnership and BT Openreach. 

 

Councillor Goodeve referred to voucher schemes to offset the cost of installing fibre, such as the Rural Gigabyte Voucher Scheme, details of which were available on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport website. A further option was a community fibre partnership, by which residents could work with providers through joint funding arrangements.

 

Finally, Councillor Goodeve described the work taking place with the Digital Innovation Zone (DIZ), a public, private and voluntary partnership across East Hertfordshire and West Essex.  Subject to a number of operational and assurance issues being addressed, it would deliver enhanced fibre connectivity across the DIZ based around the locations of public sector assets.

 

Councillor M Stevenson asked the Executive Member for Wellbeing what the Council’s plans were for the Hertfordshire Year of Culture 2020, and how Members could be involved. 

 

Councillor E Buckmaster said the East Hertfordshire Year of Culture 2020 had been launched at Hertford Theatre.  Many organisations had attended the event and shared initial ideas.  The programme would feature different activities each month, and he asked all Members to encourage organisations in their areas to participate by registering.  Creative events could be held in a variety of venues, such as schools, empty shops or in town centres in the same way as the “Yarn Bombers”.  Community grants were available, and he encouraged Members to raise the profile of the Year of Culture. 

 

Councillor M Stevenson asked whether the initiative would make a positive contribution to health and wellbeing. 

 

Councillor E Buckmaster confirmed the programme would provide opportunities for social prescribing.

 

Councillor J Wyllie asked the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods what steps the Council was taking to minimise the disruption and distress caused by fireworks, particularly towards animals in the District, as well as anti-social behaviour issues.

 

Councillor P Boylan said the Council was keen to play its role in ensuring that local people could enjoy fireworks around Bonfire Night, Diwali, New Year’s Eve and during other celebrations.  However, it was imperative that fireworks were used safely and in a way that minimised disruption and distress to residents, pets and other livestock and wildlife.

 

The Council had issued information regarding safe use of fireworks earlier in the year, which referred to advice from various sources including the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals.  The Council’s website included a link to Trading Standards regarding licences for sale of fireworks.  The Council had continued to work with partners to tackle fireworks mis-selling and misuse, including in relation to anti-social behaviour.  He welcomed the County Council’s Trading Standards crackdown on illegal fireworks, and would ensure the Community Safety Partnership and Council would discuss and agree any necessary further action regarding fireworks misuse.

 

Councillor A Curtis asked the Leader what steps she was taking to attract investment into East Hertfordshire. 

 

Councillor Haysey said this District was at the heart of the innovation corridor, and supported the Launchpad initiative in Bishop’s Stortford and Ware.  East Hertfordshire’s District Plan was now in place, and the aim was to balance dwellings with employment, and avoid the “dormitory town” effect.  This area provided the opportunity to work across the corridor and she hoped to attract companies with high quality business to invest here.  She had set up a High Growth Group to assess the opportunities to grow businesses and to work with the Local Enterprise Partnership. 

 

The Chairman said he would permit one further question, as the time limit of 15 minutes had been reached. 

 

Councillor J Dumont asked the Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability whether he was aware that doubling tree cover across the UK could draw down 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually across the country and significantly contribute to reducing the effects of climate change.  Councillor Dumont asked whether, with this in mind and given that the Gilston Villages development was the largest release of Green Belt land in England, he would adopt the ambition to double the amount of tree cover over the whole of the District.

 

Councillor G McAndrew referred to the motion on Climate Change in July 2019, when the Council confirmed it would seek to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and to support working to achieve a similar target for the District. The main focus in carbon reduction was to reduce emissions at the point of generation, reducing the need for carbon capture and storage. 

 

For the District, emissions from Land use, Land use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) were negative, so the land was acting as a valuable carbon sink.  A doubling of tree cover would amount to 20% woodland cover.  Whilst clearly possible, such an increase would be a significant change of use, possibly replacing other biodiversity habitats or open space/agricultural land with woodland.  The Council’s new Environmental Sustainability Action Plan would be likely to include the aim of increasing tree cover, where appropriate.

 

Over the last few years, Greenspace Action Plans had led to considerable planting programmes in open spaces, whilst aiming to keep such areas in multi-purpose use. There were approximately 70,000 trees in the Council’s tree stock, in a variety of settings.  However, as the Council owned very little land, it was not possible to commit to planting significant new wooded areas unless land currently used for other leisure purposes was used, impacting on open space for recreation or sport, and possibly resulting in increased emissions if people had to travel further for leisure pursuits.

 

The Council would work with partners to encourage the planting of more trees, and intended to produce a Supplementary Planning Document on Environmental Sustainability, which would seek new developments and consider appropriate opportunities for increasing tree cover.

 

With regard to Gilston, 66% of the area allocated in the District Plan was proposed to remain as undeveloped landscaped areas, with the rest comprising new villages. There were opportunities for additional tree planting, but the area included existing woodlands.  The allocation was subject to outline planning applications which included the protection for many existing landscape assets including woodlands, standalone trees and hedgerows and areas that would remain undeveloped.

 

In conclusion, Councillor McAndrew said additional tree planting would need to be managed, perhaps ideally creating a new forestry industry utilising timber and wood products in construction and for other products in order to genuinely “lock up” carbon for the long term.

 

The Chairman said responses to the remaining Members’ Questions would be circulated to all Members by Democratic Services.

 


Supporting documents: