Agenda item

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 for the community. He said that he did not believe that this was reflected in the actions and if everything set out in the plan was completed, he did not feel that this would deliver a fairer and more inclusive East Herts.

Councillor Jacobs said that Bishop’s Stortford Town Council had a diversity and equality sub-committee that was delivering great actions, and the council could learn some lessons from those actions.

Councillor Devonshire said that two of the LEAF priorities mentioned listening, opening and transparent and another mentioned acting with the community. He said that both priorities were light on consultation events, and he posed a question as to how to reach other residents. He made the point that consultation events reached a restrictive proportion of residents.

Councillor Estop said that under listening, open and transparent, she said that regarding the matter entitled encourage residents she did not quite understand that and felt that this should be two things, i.e. encourage to use digital channels and secondly, enable those who were digitally able to talk to us by phone.

Councillor Estop said that under acting with the community, she said that did not understand what was meant by prioritising improved sustainability standards in reference to updating the local plan. She said that this wording could be removed.

Councillor Estop referred to prioritising actions relating to affordable housing and asked if the administration could review that and ask how to refer to affordable housing in this document.

Councillor Hart said that under the fair and inclusive heading in support of those facing homelessness or recovering from it and involving them consultation and community activities. She said that the very nature of homelessness disenfranchised those residents from community.

Councillor Hart said that this statement itself would not address the real problems of homelessness, and it was not clear how this would be achieved. She said that she doubted that this would be achieved with more consultation and community activities.

Councillor Glover-Ward said that this paper was a midterm refresh and was for two years. She said that the LCWIP was out for public consultation in autumn and it was anticipated that it would be delivered sometime next year.

Members were advised that this would allow year to implement some of the LCWIP. Councillor Glover-Ward acknowledged that this was reliant on government money, but if no one had applied for the funding then this would not be implemented.

Councillor Glover-Ward said that in terms of the Neighbourhood Plans, the government had withdrawn the grants to parish and town councils, and East Herts Council would not be replacing those grants. Members were advised that an area had already been designated at the last meeting of the Executive, and the Stocking Pelham Parish Council had confirmed that they were going still ahead even though there was no grant.

Councillor Glover-Ward said that the District Council would be keeping on the Officer that does the Neighbourhood Plans. She said that the council would continue to supply the level of resources that had been supplied previously.

Councillor Glover-Ward said that the council did not want to create lots more neighbourhood plans, as the council had limited amounts of resources, and Officers were taking on an enormous task in updating the District Plan.

Councillor Glover-Ward said the Hertfordshire Nature Recovery Strategy was out for consultation, and she suggested that Members read the document and submit a consultation response accordingly to Hertfordshire County Council.

Councillor E Buckmaster said that he understood that the LCWIP the consultation would be from 25 September for six weeks.

Councillor Daar referred to the cultural strategy and said that UKSPF funding had been used to launch the first Arts in East Herts, and a lot of those events were free or low cost. She cited some examples of such events.

Councillor Hoskin said that air quality was not improving, and the only way that air quality was getting better was because of legislation. He said that this was a sad reflection, but the action plan will only produce results there if people start doing something different. He said that he had working with Councillor E Buckmaster and expert Officers from Hertfordshire County Council in respect of Hockerill Junction.

Councillor Hoskin said that testing that was about to commence, and he referred to whether there was a political will to do something about it. He said that the current legal limit at Hockerill had been reached, and this figure could reduce if the government implemented tighter legislation.

Councillor Crystall said that there were about 30 metrics, and he apologised that these were not in the report. He said that he could provide a copy of the paper. Councillor Crystall that under the fair and inclusive section, there were a few other aspects to making things fairer and more inclusive. He said that were other aspects to making things fairer and more inclusive and maintaining and improving council services and make things more efficient.

Councillor Crystall said that it could always be argued that more could be done to make strategies fairer and more inclusive, and it would have been good to hear what Bishop Stortford Town Council has done.

Councillor Crystall said that a question Members had been asking for years was how who to reach people who did not respond to consultations, specifically young people, the elderly or those who did not have access to the internet. He talked about Old River Lane and the public square consultation, and talking to schools.

Councillor Crystall said that a few events had been held at market stalls, and there would always be people the council would not reach. He said that the council could try to look for new ways to reach them. He referred to digital communication channels such as tiktok and snapchat.

Councillor Crystall said that the council had a limited capacity to expand staff numbers to answer phone calls in peak times. He said that the council that the refreshed priorities did not directly address homelessness, and all the council could do was to ensure that the authority helped as many homeless people as possible. Councillor Goldspink summarised the actions being undertaken to address homelessness in East Herts.

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

RESOLVED – that the Council adopt the revised LEAF priorities.

Councillor Glover-Ward proposed that the meeting adjourn for a 5-minute comfort break. Councillor Hopewell seconded the motion. The motion was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the Council meeting be adjourned for a 5-minute comfort break.