Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Cllr Jo Clements and Cllr Jamie Martin.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Cllr Patrick Canavan substituted for Cllr Jamie Martin

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 20 May 2026.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2026 were confirmed as a correct record.

For the committee to note the latest updates to the Recommendation Tracker and consider any outstanding actions.

The Chair informed the committee that there were no updates on the tracker to update at the meeting.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is mid-day Thursday 9 July 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday Tuesday 14 July the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is Wednesday 1 July 10 working days before the meeting.

There were 8 public statements read out at the meeting alongside a submission from Christchurch Harbour and Marine Society and 2 ward Cllr submissions.  The speaking time was extended to 30 mins at the chair’s discretion.

To consider information from the Environment Agency and Wessex Water to understand the level of pollution in the harbour and any progress on works to mitigate it.

The Chair introduced Jim Florey from the Environment Agency and Matt Wheelden from Wessex Water to address the committee and give their presentations to the committee a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Jim introduced himself to the committee as Environment manager with the Environment Agency and covered several different agreements, one of which was Hampshire Haven as well as water quality and bathing water work.

He gave a quick overview of the work the agency did in relation to the water quality both monitoring and regulation in the harbour.  He noted the passion of the speakers on the topic and stated that the Environment Agency were also fundamentally passionate in relation to the quality and importance of the harbour as a natural and recreational resource. They were limited in the work they could do with legislation at that time with what they could and couldn’t do.  A lot of the work they did in the harbour was driven by the Water Framework directive which was an old piece of European legislation that was encapsulated into UK law.  The Agency was prescribed to use that legislation to understand and classify water quality which was based on ecological status rather than just chemical environment. They also had a statutory duty around fisheries specifically migratory fish such as salmon and sea trout.  They had a fish counter at Nat Mill which was one of the key counters within England that monitored Salmon populations, it was recording the numbers of salmon and sea trout going up and down stream. They were monitoring closely what was happening to the salmon populations.  Regarding bathing water monitoring that would look at water quality that would affect human health and look for bacterial markers such as e-coli, that monitoring would only be carried out on sites that were designated as bathing waters by the Department of Environment, food and rural affairs and once designated gave a statutory role to monitor and try to investigate where bacteria was coming from. 

It was stated that they were very focused on water company regulation, which included going out and visiting sites to pick up any issues and check compliance with permits.  They responded to pollution incidents but encouraged anyone who saw pollution in the harbour to report it into them either through the website https://www.gov.uk/report-water-pollution or by phone on 0800 80 70 60.  That was important as they were a finite resource and reliant on people phoning in information which helped them build intelligence and focus on next steps. It was explained that they also had the Water Industry Natural Environment Programme which set out what water companies should have done, where their asset investment would be going to improve water quality and the status of rivers, harbours and estuaries.  Christchurch Harbour was classed as moderate status which was to do with the nitrogen concentrations in the harbour. That was a key challenge as that could cause eutrophication which was the enrichment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

This report presents the proposed (joint with Dorset) Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4) for the BCP and Dorset areas for the period 2026 to 2041.

The document has been informed by engagement and consultation with key stakeholders, residents and the LTP4 Cross Party Working Group. 

The supporting Implementation Plan identifies the projects which are recommended to be progressed over the next five years (subject to necessary funding, consultation and approvals).

A Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy accompanies the plan setting out how progress will be measured and assessed.  

The Cabinet Member for Climate Response, Environment and Energy presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

This report presented the proposed (joint with Dorset) Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4) for the BCP and Dorset areas for the period 2026 to 2041.

The document was informed by engagement and consultation with key stakeholders, residents and the LTP4 Cross Party Working Group. A draft report was written and there was further consultation between August and October 2025 with 1414 responses.  The national guidance was issued in April 2026 which outlined what the DfT expected to be in the plan as it was a statutory document that had to be done.  After the guidance was published there were 3 minor amendments that had to be made, 2 of which were mentioning national incentives that they would expect to find in the document.

There was a 15 year strategy and a 5 year implementation plan for the first 5 years. Transport had changed over the years, and it was important that the implementation plan was flexible enough to change as the needs and ways people travel changed.

A Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy accompanied the plan setting out how progress would be measured and assessed.  To ensure it is on track and delivered the aims of the targets.

The transport plan if adopted would complement the work on the local plan which was being restarted.  The plan was a prime route to get government funding.  The consolidated local transport settlement needed an implementation plan delivered to the DfT by September 2026.

In the plan there were key elements in terms of transportation around sustainability agenda, public health, active travel and equality to ensure the plan meets the needs of all residents. There was some very interesting feedback on the consultation from younger people, they felt that the transport system didn’t work well for them. There were also issues for women and girls and they needed to be aware of the needs of people with disabilities and people on lower income.

There was a risk highlighted in the form of the forthcoming strategic authorities, the heart of Wessex as strategic transport was a power that could transfer to a strategic authority.

In summary it was a vision for 15 years to increase transport choice, reduce congestion, improve quality and condition of infrastructure and a big part of the spend was on existing infrastructure such as pot hols and surfacing of roads and looking after bridges.  Concentrated on safety, health, accessibility, connectivity, travel experience and reducing pollution.

There was a question around what could be done as a priority quickly.  This plan was a continuation of where the council had been and each February as part of setting the budget, the council had to accept the grant from government which was the consolidated transport grant which breaks down to spread across all priorities which the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for its next meeting pending a wider review of its forward plan at a future meeting. 

The Chair presented the work plan, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The committee had a full discussion on this at the previous meting and agreed the updates that had been made.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed the work priorities for its next meeting, for subsequent publication in a Forward Plan.

Voting: Unanimous

BCP Council adopted ‘A shared vision for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 2024-28’ in May 2024. 

The shared vision is the corporate strategy which sets out the council’s vision, priorities and ambitions as well as the principles which underpin the way the council works as it develops and delivers its services. 

Incorporated in the vision is a set of measures of progress for achieving the vision, priorities and ambitions. 

This is the performance monitoring report for Quarter Four 25-26, presenting an update on the progress measures. 

The council’s delivery against its priorities and ambitions can also be monitored through the performance dashboard which is available on the council’s website providing up-to-date real time information on the progress measures.

The Chair presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'D' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

This report was an audit item and for information only to track data and progress.