Agenda, decisions and minutes

Members are required to notify any substitutions by midday on the day of the meeting.

Late substitutions will not be accepted and Members attending as a substitute without having given the due notice will not be able to take part in the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cathy Brownjohn and Dominic Griffiths.

Audio recording – 1 minute 6 seconds

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cathy Brownjohn and Dominic Griffiths.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 10 June 2025.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2025 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Audio Recording – 1 minute 18 seconds

Councillor Claire Winchester, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Jon Clayden seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 10 June 2025 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members should notify the Chair of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Audio recording – 1 minute 54 seconds

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)         The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)         The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)         The Chair advised that for the purposes of clarification clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

(4)         The Chair reminded Members of the adopted North Herts Scrutiny Charter and the need to ensure that the meeting was conducted with independence, initiative and integrity. The full Charter was available to Members via the Scrutiny Intranet pages.

Audio recording – 2 minutes 1 second

(1)         The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)         The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)         The Chair advised that for the purposes of clarification clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

(4)         The Chair reminded Members of the adopted North Herts Scrutiny Charter and the need to ensure that the meeting was conducted with independence, initiative and integrity. The full Charter was available to Members via the Scrutiny Intranet pages.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

There was no public participation at this meeting.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 11 seconds

There was no public participation at this meeting.

The Chair to report on any urgent or general exception items which required their agreement. At the time of printing the agenda, the Chair had not agreed any urgent or general exception items.

There were no urgent or general exception items.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 16 seconds

No urgent or general exception items were received.

To consider any matters referred to the Committee for a decision in relation to a call-in of decision. At the time of printing the agenda, no items of business had been called-in.

There have been no called-in items.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 21 seconds

There have been no called-in items.

To receive and respond to any questions from Members either set out in the agenda or tabled at the meeting.

No questions had been submitted by Members.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 24 seconds

No questions had been submitted by Members.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

This report presents progress on delivering the Council Delivery Plan for 2025-26.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

(1)         Provided comment on the Council Delivery Plan Quarter 1 monitoring report.

(2)         Determined any project they want to receive more detail on, as part of the next monitoring report.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That Cabinet notes progress against Council projects and performance indicators, as set out in the Council Delivery Plan (Appendix A), and approves new milestones and changes to milestones.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION: The Council Delivery Plan (CDP) monitoring reports provide Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and Cabinet, with an opportunity to monitor progress against the key Council projects, and understand any new issues, risks, or opportunities.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 32 seconds

Councillor Ian Albert, as Executive Member for Resources, presented the report entitled ‘Council Delivery Plan 2025-26 (Quarter 1 Update)’ and advised that:

·             In response to the Corporate Peer Challenge and the subsequent audit, the Council had been investigating how to extend Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to focus on achieving the outcomes set out in the Council Delivery Plan (CDP).

·             These would be included in the Q2 report and smart measures would also be introduced without increasing pressure on workload.

The Director – Resources gave a verbal presentation and advised that:

·             Digital Transformation and Leisure Centre Decarbonisation were the only projects with an amber status.

·             The amber status classified projects that had missed one or more milestone dates without there being a significant impact to their delivery.

·             In Appendix A, changes to milestones and new milestones that were subject to Cabinet approval were highlighted in blue and yellow respectively.

·             Leisure Centre Decarbonisation, Churchgate, Decarbonisation of Council Buildings – Phase 2 and Local Plan Review all had a red risk level, as well as the overarching corporate risks.

·             A red risk level was present where the project had scored highly on likelihood and impact which led to a higher level of monitoring and review.

·             Three KPIs had a red status. Two of these related to Careline Installations and the other to Customer Service Centre (CSC) calls answered in 45 seconds.

·             Explanations and planned actions were detailed in paragraph 8.4 of the report. 

·             The performance indicator for the Revenue Budget KPI was +2.4%.

The following Members asked questions:

·             Councillor Jon Clayden

·             Councillor Paul Ward

·             Councillor Elizabeth Dennis

·             Councillor Claire Winchester

In response to questions, the Director – Resources advised that:

·             The red status on Careline Installations was due to resourcing issues, however, there were actions in place to address these to ensure that they would progress to a green status. 

·             KPIs on working days lost to short-term absence and staff turnover were worth measuring as they could present problems if they exceeded a certain level.

·             Both KPIs had been measured over a long period and had targets despite them not being included in the table. This error would be rectified before the report was presented to Cabinet.

·             No financial implications were expected from the Building Safety Act issues detailed within the report.

·             The due date on the milestone to provide Salex with finalised project data had not changed as ancillary works would not have a direct climate impact and as such, data could be provided before they were complete. 

·             The Leisure Centre Decarbonisation Project Manager had left their post due to a change in personal circumstances, however, the project had now entered the construction phase and would not require the same level of support that had been given by them during the project setup phase.

·             An illustrated grid for risk level scoring was included at page 22 of the report.

·             The assessment of whether the impact would be low, medium or high not only accounted for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR – PLACE

To provide the Committee with an update on the status of the Pay on Exit Parking Project and to provide a comparison between 2025/26 Quarter 1 and 2024/25 Quarter 1 parking transaction figures and the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued per car park.

RESOLVED: That the Overview & Scrutiny Committee noted the Quarter 1 update of the Pay on Exit Parking Project.

REASON FOR DECISION: This report is following the request of the Committee for an update on the Pay on Exit Parking Project and to provide a comparison between 2025/26 Quarter 1 and 2024/25 Quarter 1 parking transaction figures and the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued per car park.

Audio recording – 1 hour 0 minutes 45 seconds

Councillor Donna Wright, as Executive Member for Place, presented the report entitled ‘Update on Pay on Exit Parking in Council Operated Car Parks’ and advised that:

·                The Council commissioned Flowbird UK to replace parking machines across all its car parks.

·                New machines were touchscreen and ticketless with a check-in, check-out system that accepted contactless payments.

·                Signage was provided in every car park to inform users how to pay.

·                Except for Woodside Car Park in Hitchin, one machine in each car park accepted cash payments, and receipts were available in all car parks on request.

·                By late March, new machines had been installed in all car parks except for Norton Common and Hitchin Swimming Centre due to Traffic Regulation Orders.

·                A communication strategy had been in place through the rollout phase and comprised member briefings, press releases, website FAQs and social media engagement by the Communications Team to address concerns.

·                Support had also been provided by Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) and the Customer Service Centre.

·                Teething problems arising from the new machines included network connection issues which had caused delays to payments and penalty charge notices (PCNs) to be issued.

·                Touchscreen visibility was also a problem in the sunlight.

·                Planned fixes included the installation of industrial sim cards, modems, software resolutions, signage changes and the consideration of zoning adjacent car parks to provide alternative payment options.

·                Touchscreens would also be regularly cleaned to ensure visibility. 

·                New signage would address user confusion from some pre-paid ticket holders who had attempted to check-out when they did not need to, and blue badge and season ticket holders who were not required to register for a parking session.

·                PCNs had increased 61% from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025 partly due to users entering their Vehicle Registration Marks (VRMs) incorrectly under the new system, but also the recruitment of two more CEOs which had allowed for more coverage.

·                Challenges to PCNs had increased from 32% to 44% and of these, 78% had been cancelled compared to 66% in Q1 the previous year as a more lenient approach to PCN challenges had been taken during the rollout phase.

·                Despite initial problems, the new system had modernised their car parks and increased flexibility for users.

·                A 26% reduction in PCNs from April to July showed that the public were adapting to the new machines.

·                Most users had successfully continued to pay for parking since the rollout.

·                Even with the recent increase in PCNs, they still counted for less than 1% of all successful parking transactions.

·                Transaction volumes were up 6% overall, therefore, the new machines had not discouraged motorists from parking in Council owned car parks.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

·                Councillor Jon Clayden

·                Councillor Tina Bhartwas

·                Councillor Paul Ward

·                Councillor Martin Prescott

·                Councillor Claire Winchester

In response to questions, Councillor Donna Wright advised that:

·                Signage and information boards had been installed prior to the rollout phase and guidance including FAQs had been published on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

To receive a presenation from the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council on the proposals for Local Government Reorganisation in Hertfordshire.

Councillor Laura Williams, as Executive Member for Local Government Reorganisation/Devolution, and the Chief Executive provided a presentation entitled ‘Update on Local Government Reorganisation Progress’, following which Members asked questions.

Audio recording – 1 hour 47 minutes 39 seconds

Councillor Laura Williams, as Executive Member for Local Government Reorganisation/Devolution, and the Chief Executive provided a presentation entitled ‘Update on Local Government Reorganisation Progress’ and advised that:

·                Local authorities in Hertfordshire would merge into unitary authorities.

·                The Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) process was currently in stage two which would involve a submission to central government on how the current authorities would like LGR to take place in Hertfordshire. This stage would conclude in late November.

·                Principles on working together had been agreed by the Leaders and Chief Executives of all twelve authorities including the Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

·                An interim submission document detailing the outline proposals on behalf of Hertfordshire was submitted on 21 March to allow the Government to check-in on their progress relating to LGR.

·                Two sets of parallel work were undertaken by district, borough and county councils as well as districts and borough councils on their own, but the decision had been made that it would be better for a single set of work to be carried out.

·                The Governance structure adopted in March would operate until the November submission date, after which, there would be an opportunity to change this again. 

·                Hertfordshire Leaders Group meetings took place fortnightly, and the Chief Executive Co-Ordinating Group met weekly. 

·                There was a Programme Management Office with Project Managers to ensure workstreams stayed on track and that information was fed back to Leaders via Chief Executives.

·                North Herts were represented on every workstream by a Director or Senior Manager within the Council.

·                The Service Design work stream had five co-leading Chief Executives and North Herts represented one of these.

·                The Director – Customers was leading the Technology work stream.

·                The Programme Board had three Chief Executives who represented Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative led authorities.

·                Three work streams (Horizon 1, 2 and 3) with different deadlines had been created.

·                Horizon 1 was for the November submission document where the initial effort would be focused, but this would reduce in early October once the document had been finalised.

·                Horizon 2 involved transition planning and setting up the unitary authorities before launch day on 1 April 2028. Work on this was already underway but would increase after work on Horizon 1 had dropped off and would peak before the unitary authorities went live.

·                Horizon 3 was focused on ambition and vision which would be detailed within the submission document, however, it would be up to the unitary authorities and strategic authority to adopt their own council plans and strategies once they were formed, therefore, the effort on this workstream would be low until then.  

·                The submission document would be drafted in October using the stakeholder engagement data gathered in September.

·                Workstreams on Services and Finance were key for the submission document.

·                A Member briefing on LGR had been delivered.

·                Stakeholder engagement in September would take place through staff conference sessions and Community Forum meetings where Hertfordshire County Councillors would also be present.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

This report highlights items scheduled in the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2025-26 civic year. It also includes items that have not yet been assigned to a specific meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(1)         That the Committee prioritised topics for inclusion in the Work Programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determines the high-level form and timing of scrutiny input.

(2)         That the Committee, having considered the most recent iteration of the Forward Plan, as attached at Appendix B, suggests a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)         To allow the Committee to set a work programme which provides focused Member oversight, encourages open debate and seeks to achieve service improvement through effective policy development and meaningful policy and service change.

(2)         The need to observe Constitutional requirements and monitor the Forward Plan for appropriate items to scrutinise remains a key aspect of work programming

Audio recording – 2 hours 45 minutes 44 seconds

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report entitled ‘Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2025-26’ and advised that:

·                Members should contact the Scrutiny Officer, Chair or Vice-Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee if they wished to raise an item for the Work Programme and a form to aid this process was in development.

·                Detailed explanations on deferrals to the Museum Storage Update and North Herts Town Centres Strategy items could be found in the published supplement.

·                The S106 Task and Finish Group met on 16 July to draft consultation questions. These had since been compiled into questionnaires and would be circulated to stakeholders.

·                A further meeting would be held with Strategic Planning Officers on Tuesday 30 September to address questions on scope and S106 obligations.

·                The Local Government Association Peer Review had been removed from the report as all actions on this had been completed. 

·                The Decisions and Monitoring Tracker had not been included in the report as there were no decisions to monitor at this meeting.

Councillor Ralph Muncer noted that due to advice to delay stakeholder consultation, it would be more appropriate for the S106 Task and Finish Group to present their report to the Committee meeting in February rather than January.

The Chair highlighted the following:

·                The update from the Director on Health Equalities could be deferred to the meeting on 6 January 2026 as it was not a time critical item.

·                It would be feasible to postpone the item on Environmental Health to the Committee meeting in January.

·                Given the volume of business, 2-3 items scheduled for the Committee meeting on 11 November would need to be postponed or deferred.

In response to points raised by the Chair, the Director – Resources advised that:

·                The Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) item could be deferred as consultation needed to take place on this before changes were made.

·                As part of Local Government Reorganisation, future CTRS timelines would be changed to align with other authorities once it was known which authorities would be grouped together to form the new unitary authorities.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Paul Ward

·                Councillor Ralph Muncer

In response to questions, the Chair advised that:

·                The North Herts Town Centres Strategy would be presented at the meeting in November.

·                The Museum Storage Update did not have a deadline for decision, therefore, it could be postponed to a future meeting.

In response to questions, Councillor Jon Clayden advised that they did not have the data related to the waste contract change yet, therefore, it would be better to delay discussion on this until the relevant data was available.

In response to questions, the Scrutiny Officer advised that they would contact the Director – Environment to investigate the availability of data from the waste contractor.

In response to questions, Councillor Paul Ward advised that the waste contractor might be operating under a normal regime once the six-monthly review was due in February.

In response to advice, Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.