Councillor Fred Birkett
Email: fbirkett@fareham.gov.uk
Council: Fareham
Council Profile: View on council website
Committees:
Activity Timeline
Meetings Attended Note this may include planned future meetings.
57 meetings · Page 1 of 12
Housing Advisory Panel - Thursday, 6th November, 2025 6.00 pm
Decisions from Meetings
97 decisions · Page 16 of 20
Annual Review of Corporate Strategy 2023-2029
From: Executive - Tuesday, 3rd December, 2024 6.00 pm - December 03, 2024
The Council’s performance management framework requires the Executive to undertake an annual review of the corporate vision and priorities. The purpose is to update the wording where necessary, to provide an overview of the Council’s performance for the 2023/24 financial year and refresh the list of corporate projects. This is the first review of the new Corporate Strategy 2023-2029 which was adopted in October 2023. The Corporate Strategy provides a clear focus on the most important issues to be addressed for the 2023-2029 Strategy period. This annual review is an opportunity to consider progress made in developing corporate priorities during 2023-2024 and to assess the impact of any other influences on the Council’s services and initiatives.
Recommendations Approved
The Fareham Housing Repairs and Maintenance Policy - Adoption
From: Executive - Tuesday, 3rd December, 2024 6.00 pm - December 03, 2024
To seek Executive approval of the draft Fareham Housing Repairs and Maintenance policy for adoption. The Housing Act 1985 (as amended) places a number of obligations on landlords regarding the maintenance of their properties. All social housing tenants also have the ‘right to repair’ and for these to be conducted within a specific timeframe. Legislative changes and the new consumer standards introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) have imposed further requirements around repairs. Maintenance and planned improvements. The Repairs and Maintenance policy is primarily a consolidating document, bringing together the various process and policies and updating them in line with these new requirements, and provides comprehensive information regarding the Repairs’ Service responsibilities, processes, background and relevant legislation. At its meeting on 11 July 2024, the Housing Scrutiny Panel approved the document to go to the Executive. Following Executive agreement on 3 September 2024, the draft Repairs and Maintenance policy was circulated for public consultation from 16 September to 28 October 2024. The report summarises the outcome of the consultation and details the changes made in response.
Recommendations Approved
Housing Revenue Account Monitoring 2024/25
From: Executive - Monday, 4th November, 2024 6.00 pm - November 04, 2024
The report provides comparative information on the Council’s Housing Revenue Account income and expenditure for the period for the first half of the financial year. Members are invited to consider the financial performance and any corrective action that may be deemed appropriate. The report provides summary information on the overall spending position against the Housing Revenue Account budgets in the current year. Revenue spending plans are currently showing a net overspend for the first half of the financial year. This is expected to continue for the rest of the year and the proposed payment into the prepayment of debt reserve is unlikely to be possible. Actions are being taken to try and address the trend with the HRA which is an issue across the country, not just in Fareham. However, the effect of these will take some time to show in the figures. It therefore remains appropriate to continue to monitor financial performance closely over the remainder of the financial year to ensure that any pressures do not adversely affect the services provided to residents and customers, and the Council’s obligations to tenants.
Recommendations Approved
Hill Head to Portsmouth Harbour Beach Management Plan
From: Executive - Monday, 4th November, 2024 6.00 pm - November 04, 2024
The report seeks approval for project delivery of the Hill Head to Portsmouth Harbour Beach Management Plan. The proposed works involve beach renourishment along the coastal frontage between Hill Head and Portsmouth Harbour Entrance. The approval for project delivery includes draw down of project funding, licensing and consents, procurement, and construction under the beach management plan. The report seeks approval to implement the Hill Head to Portsmouth Harbour Beach Management Plan (BMP) 2024-2034, with construction works identified for financial year 2025/26 and 2026/27. The BMP is derived from the adopted River Hamble to Portchester Strategy (2015) which recommended Beach Management as the preferred option to reduce coastal flooding and erosion risk to the communities between Hill Head and Portsmouth Harbour Entrance, whilst enhancing the environment and amenity value of the coastline over the next 10 years. The BMP also aligns with the adopted North Solent Shoreline Management Plan (2010) which recommends a policy of ‘Hold the Line’ for the entire frontage. The BMP works will provide up to 10 years’ worth of benefits. These will be undertaken at different locations in priority order, up to the project funding available, depending on the assets at risk behind the beach. These will be categorised by considering the risk to property, key infrastructure, existing ‘hard’ defences (e.g seawalls), and the amenity value. The BMP has been developed from extensive coastal modelling and technical analysis to develop the beach recycling parameters. This will continue post works, to monitor performance and plan any further works. While the geographical extent of the NMP crosses the local authority boundaries of both Gosport Borough Council (GBC) and Fareham Borough Council (FBC), each authority will take responsibility for its own works delivery and consenting. These projects will be managed by Coastal Partners via an existing shared service agreement to ensure the overall BMP objectives are met. Funding for the project has been allocated through the Environment Agency’s Flood Defence Grant in Aid and Other Government Department funding and will be approved should the Outline Business case be successful. The project will seek additional funding where this can increase the outputs delivered under the project.
Recommendations Approved
Vehicle Replacement Programme Annual Review 2024
From: Executive - Monday, 4th November, 2024 6.00 pm - November 04, 2024
To review the Council’s five -year rolling Vehicle Replacement Programme (VRP) and make recommendations for capital expenditure to continue to move to a modern fleet of commercial vehicles and ensure that the Council has a resilient and cost-effective fleet, as well as reducing its carbon emissions. In May 2023, the Executive approved a £3.8M rolling five-year Vehicle Replacement Programme for the Council’s vehicle fleet, to be updated each Autumn to inform budget setting for the following year and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy. The 2023 Programme proposed the replacement of 57 vehicles over the five years to 2028. To date, 19 vehicles have been replaced at a cost of £845,000. Eight were new vehicles, with the remainder used. As at the end of September 2024, two of the replacement vehicles were electric and HVO is used in around one third of the vehicle fleet. The 2024 Annual Review proposes a new rolling five-year Vehicle Replacement Programme to 2029/30, estimating that 50 vehicles will need to be replaced at an estimated maximum cost of £4.68M. All available replacement vehicle options will be considered and assessed against estimated whole life costs, impact on fleet carbon emissions and availability of capital budget. The lifetime cost analysis, which takes account of capital purchase and running costs over a 10-year period, highlights that diesel vehicles remain the cheapest vehicle type at present for most of our fleet. The recommended Vehicle Replacement Programme will reduce the carbon emissions of the Council’s fleet in line with the Council’s aspiration to become net zero by 2030. Subject to other decisions, the five new food waste vehicles will be duelled with HVO when the service commences in March 2026, which will effectively negate the carbon impact of these additional fleet vehicles. The use of HVO in the whole diesel fleet to reduce carbon emissions needs to be balanced against the additional cost.
Recommendations Approved
Summary
Meetings Attended: 57
Average per Month: 2.5
Decisions Recorded: 97