ELECTIONS

Assembly Chair
Councillor Nick Skellett (Conservative) was re-elected unopposed as Chair of the Regional Assembly.

Deputy Chair
Councillor Don Turner (Labour) was re-elected as Deputy Chair of the Assembly.

Vice Chairs
Janet Keene (economic partners)
Ian Chisnall (social and environmental partners)
Councillor Cec Tallack (Liberal Democrats)
Councillor Alan Hopkins (other parties).

CHAIR's ANNUAL REPORT

The Chair's report covered major achievements over the past year including:·

• Scrutiny of SEEDA
• The Regional Summit
• The Assembly's response to the Barker Review on housing
• Transport matters e.g. the pilot of a Regional Transport Board
• The production and launch of the Integrated Regional Framework.

Cllr Skellett highlighted the difficulties the Assembly will face when consulting on the South East Plan. With the limited resources available, it will be difficult to reach all eight million residents. He stressed that it is important that members work with the Assembly to play their part in raising awareness of the plan in their own areas.

Cllr Skellett also pointed out the need to be forceful in representing the region's interests e.g. in relation to the proposals for increasing the Mayor of London's remit over rail services extending into the South East.

"The South East is a beautiful and economically successful region and we need to fight to take that on and support the vulnerable. Promoting and looking after the South East is something I am very passionate about," he added. "It is important to work with the other regions, but the South East and its residents must always be at the fore."

Full details of the report are available here.

SOUTH EAST PLAN

Assembly members gave their approval for the next stage of the South East Plan work to begin. The work will centre on 21 parameters and 36 key issues that have arisen through from the Spring Debates and were endorsed at the annual meeting with the following minor changes:

• Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart OBE, Kent County Council, proposed revising the wording for Issue 4 - Forecasts - future patterns and scales of migration (Paper 8a, para 2.2.4) with the following text:
  "That work on both five and ten year migration based trend household projections be continued, so that the impacts of a full economic cycle on forward projections can be assessed prior to balanced policy decisions on regional and sub-regional dwelling requirements. Further consideration should also be given to the long-term impact of migration from London."
  
  
• Ian Hepburn, SEFS, proposed revising the wording for the South East Plan 'parameter' concerning greenspace and biodiversity (Paper 8a, para 4.1) with the following text:
  " xiii) The need to protect and improve the best of the region's natural environment both for its own sake and to underpin the social and economic development of the region."

There were also minor amendments made to issues 22 and 28 to include the words 'education' and 'robust' respectively.

There were several debates and representations on sub-regional policy work; a final decision on the boundaries for sub-regions was delegated to the Regional Planning Committee meeting on 28 July.

Mike Gwilliam gave a presentation on the second wave of the MORI public opinion survey programme. The full report is available on the South East Plan website.

REGIONAL PLANNING COMMITTEE

Chairman's Report
The RPC's recent agenda has concentrated almost exclusively on the South East Plan. The Plan will be drafted and considered at additional RPC meetings throughout the Autumn, to gain final approval by the November Plenary. It will then be subject to a 13-week formal public consultation, starting in the new year.

Responses to the consultation will be considered thereafter with a deadline for submitting the South East Plan to the Deputy Prime Minister in July 2005.

Cllr Keith Mitchell realised that this was a ‘challenging’ timetable that would cause difficulties in relation to local authority committee cycles, but urged members to work quickly to provide their input as it was important that local government was seen to deliver on time.

While the aim is to agree the Plan for submission to Government at the Assembly meeting next July, decisions on the district level allocation of housing will now be held until a further round of consultation has been undertaken with local authorities. That would mean overall sub-regional level numbers being agreed in the July document, with the detailed distribution agreed and submitted in the autumn. This proposal has already been discussed with Lord Rooker.

Key dates include proposed workshops for the regional level policy discussions on

• 15 September for RPC and Executive Committee members, and
• 20 October for all Assembly members

Delivery of the draft sub-regional policies to the Assembly is due on 29 October.

SEEDA ANNUAL REPORT

Jim Brathwaite, SEEDA Chairman, reported 40 major instances of inward investment (a two thirds improvement on last year) along with the establishment of the enterprise hubs (there are now 20) as some of SEEDA's key achievements of the year.

He also highlighted the need to work closely with the Assembly and other regional partners for maximum effectiveness.

On sustainability, Mr Brathwaite contended that "we should treat the world as if we want to stay", which is why SEEDA have initiated the Sustainable Business Awards.

Pam Alexander, SEEDA Chief Executive, presented some of SEEDA's achievements during the year and gave a preview of key statistics from the SEEDA annual report, which will be published at the end of July.

RESOLUTIONS

Social & Environmental Partners
A resolution by the Social & Environmental Partners narrowly failed to be adopted by the Assembly. There were 31 votes for, 41 against and a number of abstentions. The resolution had called for the Assembly to commit itself to supporting the establishment of an effective living wage strategy and campaign for the South East region.

Smoking
The Assembly unanimously agreed a motion from the Healthy Region Forum urging local authorities to 'hasten preparation for smoke-free status by promoting awareness, leading local debate, developing partnerships and taking measures to reduce the prevalence of smoking and create smoke-free public environments’. It also called on central Government to bring forward legislation to support this work.

Polls show that there is overwhelming public support for restrictions on smoking in pubs, restaurants and other public places. Smoking is also a significant cost to the region:

• 16,000 people die each year from smoking in the South East
• £0.2 billion cost to the region's NHS
• £1.7 billion cost to the region's economy

Action is needed from health services, local government, the community sector and residents to tackle smoking related health problems.

South Hampshire Rapid Transit
On 20 July 2004, the Government announced it was referring back the South Hampshire tram project due to cost concerns. A special resolution was adopted supporting local authorities in urging the Government make a quick decision on the future of the proposed system to prevent years of delay that will damage plans for regeneration and development in the area.

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Last updated: 21 August 2007