Issue - meetings

Councillor Crystall said that the first corporate plan of the joint administration was approved by council in February 2024.  He said that the corporate plan set out the strategic priorities of the joint administration grouped under the acronym LEAF.

Members were reminded that beneath each of the LEAF headings were actions that Officers were tasked with delivering. There were also a series of further actions, projects and measures were then implemented across the council at an operational level.

Councillor Crystall said that with the 2024/25 year completed, the progress against the LEAF priorities had been assessed and report was presented to Overview and Scrutiny Committee for discussion in June 2025. He said that this was a very useful session, and he thanked Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Crystall said that for 2025/26, the LEAF framework would be maintained with some updates to the actions and objectives reflecting the progress that has been made but also to take account of new challenges that had arisen and needed to be accommodated.

Members were advised that the updated LEAF framework was presented in the report alongside the previous version to help highlight the changes to Members. Councillor Crystall said that this follows from the discussions at Overview and Scrutiny where Members wanted to see the two iterations of LEAF side by side.

Councillor Crystall proposed that the recommendations in the report be supported. Councillor Goldspink seconded the proposal and reserved her right to speak.

Councillor Williamson referred to Appendix A in the Overview and Scrutiny papers and the recommendation. He asked if there were any metrics of how performance was being measured in respect of the LEAF priorities.

Councillor McAndrew welcome the report and referred to the parking strategy and the objective of implementing the new strategy and other options including the LCWIP, to encourage active travel. He said that the LCWIP had not yet gone out to public consultation and was dependent on government funding. He said that he was not quite sure how the LCWIP was relevant to this.

Councillor McAndrew referred to the government’s withdrawal of national support for neighbourhood planning. He asked how the council intended to ensure that parishes, especially those with limited resources, could still develop or effectively update neighbourhood plans. He referred to a specific support that the council could provide.

Councillor McAndrew said that given the council’s 2023 climate emergency declaration, which called for urgent action to cut emissions by 2027, why was the air quality action plan objective for 2025-26 been narrowed to implementation rather than expanding this with new measures.

Councillor McAndrew said that the climate emergency declaration demanded bold action in respect of the Herts nature recovery strategy to protect local habitats. He asked if this change would deliver new resources, land protections or local biodiversity targets.

Councillor Jacobs thanked Councillor Crystall for bringing this matter before Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He referred to the actions set out in section f regarding making East Herts a more inclusive environment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 132

The Deputy Leader presented the report on the refreshed LEAF priorities for 2025/26 and said the document set out the joint administration’s strategic priorities. She said that there were sub objectives and actions under each priority.

Councillor Goldspink proposed that the recommendations in the report, as amended, be supported. Councillor Dumont seconded the proposal.

Councillor Glover-Ward said that whilst not all targets had been achieved, she felt that the Joint Administration had achieved a lot in the last two years and thanked council officers for all the hard work they had put in to achieve the administration’s aims.

The motion to support the amended recommendation, having been proposed and seconded, was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – to recommend to Council that the refreshed LEAF priorities and new objectives be adopted.