To consider the work programme for 2024/25 (attached).

The Committee considered the work programme for 2024/25 (circulated previously).

The Clerk to the Committee confirmed that the date for the special meeting of the Committee to discuss dentistry had been arranged for Thursday 18^th July 2024 at 6:30pm in G107, 1st Floor, South West Institute Development Building, Petroc, Barnstaple - Petroc College.

The Vice Chair and Lead Member for the dentistry working group advised that the special meeting would be held jointly with the External Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Torridge District Council, which would be held as two meetings running in parallel to each other.

The Committee discussed the format of the special meetings that had been held previously and acknowledged that whilst both meetings had been really successful, Council processes sometimes appeared to the attending public to complicate the process unnecessarily.

The Vice Chair agreed that having joint meetings did complicate the process and the majority of the administrative support and co-ordination for the forthcoming special meeting had been provided by the Clerk to the Policy Development Committee of North Devon Council, which had put additional pressure on already stretched resources.

He added that following a meeting with the Chair of the External Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Torridge District Council there had been a request that if the joint meeting was a success that moving forward both Committees should try to co-ordinate their work programmes.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that he would report back to the Chief Executive of North Devon Council regarding the importance of sharing resources for administrative support when special joint meetings were being arranged.

Councillor Jones, Lead Member for water quality working group provided an update in regards to the latest position:

·       Discussions with Torridge District Council were currently ongoing with regards to holding a joint meeting to discuss water quality across both the North Devon and Torridge areas and the outcomes that they would like to achieve.

·       Had met with the Westcountry Rivers Trust to discuss promises which had been made at the special meeting. However, it would currently appear that these promises were not quite as they had been hoped.

·       Water testing was ongoing in the Little Dart River where high levels of phosphates had been recorded at a pipe source. These findings had been reported to the Environment Agency who were responding very swiftly to try to identify issues.

·       There was a requirement to work more closely with the Westcountry Rivers Trust or other routes such as South West Water (SWW) as active testing could identify problems.

·       At MP level they were only focussed on what ended up on the beaches. However, the issues began further upstream and this was the area that they needed to focus on.

·       A meeting would be scheduled with Torridge District Council following the General Election to discuss the approach to be taken with the MP.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that many of the issues mentioned regarding water quality could be addressed through the thematic working groups, which had been established as part of the Local Plan review.

Councillor Jones questioned which members were part of the thematic working groups and Councillor Bishop advised that he was.

Councillor Bulled, the Lead Member for agricultural working group questioned why the water quality testing only focussed on the testing of phosphates, where as if the water quality was tested for ammonia it would also pick up any phosphates.

Councillor Jones advised that the phosphate testing kits were less expensive and so that was what they had been provided with.

In response to a question regarding discussions with Exmoor National Park Authority, Councillor Jones advised that at the current time efforts were focussed on the Taw and Torridge catchment areas.

Councillor Bishop advised that he had been carrying out testing on three rivers, which were very clean and these were as follows:

·       The River Bray.

·       The River Yeo.

·       The River Barle.

Councillor Wilson, Lead Member for GPs and Health inequality working group requested clarification as to when she would be contacted regarding the special meeting, which would be held in either October or November 2024.

The Clerk advised that as soon as arrangements commenced for the special meeting that she would make contact with Councillor Wilson to discuss the approach.

In response to a request from a member of the working group for GPs and health inequality that Councillor Wilson set up a discussion group to start the initial conversations, she confirmed that she would do that following the meeting.

RESOLVED, that the work programme be noted.