Agenda and minutes

This meeting is to be webcast. Members are reminded of the need to activate their microphones before speaking.

The Chairman will read the following announcement:

“This meeting will be webcast live to the Internet and will be archived for later viewing. Copies of recordings may be made available on request.

By entering the chamber’s lower seating area you consenting to becoming part of the webcast.

If you wish to avoid being filmed you should move to the public gallery or speak to the webcasting officer”

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Director of Governance) To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

There were no substitute members for the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 19 July 2016.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the last Committee meeting held on 19 July 2016 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Council’s Code of Conduct, members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary interest in any matter before overview and scrutiny which relates to a decision of or action by another committee, sub-committee of the Council, a joint committee or joint sub-committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 of the Code of Conduct does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an overview and scrutiny meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct.

(Director of Governance) To receive questions submitted by members of the public and any requests to address the Committee.

(a)         Public Questions

Members of the public may ask questions of the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Committee at ordinary meetings of the Committee, in accordance with the procedure set out in the Council’s Constitution.

(b)        Requests to address the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Any member of the public or a representative of another organisation may address the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on any agenda item (except those dealt with in private session as exempt or confidential business), due to be considered at the meeting.

It was noted that there were no public questions or requests to address the committee.

(Director of Governance) To consider any matter referred to the Committee for decision in relation to a call-in.

There were no call-in of decisions to be considered.

(Director of Governance) The Cabinet’s forward plan of key decisions is reviewed by the Committee at each meeting, to provide an opportunity for the scrutiny of specific decisions to be taken over the period of the plan. Wherever possible, Portfolio Holders will attend the Committee to present forthcoming key decisions, to answer questions on the forward plan and to indicate where appropriate work could be carried out by overview and scrutiny on behalf of the Cabinet.

The Committee considered the Cabinet’s Key Decision List for September 2016 they noted that there was a legal requirement for local authorities to publish a notice in respect of each Key decision that it proposed to make, at least 28 days before that decision was made. The Committee were invited to identify any particular issues which were of concern.

Environment Portfolio

It was noted that the Waste and Recycling Policies were not now going to the 3 November Cabinet meeting.

Housing Portfolio

Councillor Murray wanted to know what the following proposed decisions meant and what were their implications. These were on Sheltered Housing Assets and on Sheltered Housing Service.

He also commented that there were only a few members of the Cabinet were in attendance at this meeting. It was explained that there were three members of the Cabinet on holiday this week and that it was a school half term.

Safer Greener Transport Portfolio

Councillor Waller noted that a decision to award a contract for the off street car parking in the district would be made in November. The various tenders have been opened and were presently being evaluated.

Councillor Knight asked about the on street and off street parking in Loughton and Debden; when would new signage be put in place. Councillor Waller said that the first phase was proceeding quickly but they could not be exact about future timings. Also the weather was a factor in the laying down of the yellow lines etc. and as we were coming into the winter months we would be dependent on having stretches of good weather. We were also dependent on Essex County Council to organise this work.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Committee received the report on the Council’s Corporate Plan, setting out the council’s priorities over a five year period from 2015/16 to 2019/20. These priorities or Corporate Aims were supported by Key Objectives. The Key Objectives were delivered by an annual action plan, with each year building upon the progress against the achievement of the Key Objectives for previous years.

The Chairman noted that these results were for quarter 1 and that although we were now past quarter 2, the committee should review these results even though they had already been seen by the various Select Committees.

Progress against the Key Action Plan was reviewed on a quarterly basis to ensure the timely identification and implementation of appropriate further initiatives or corrective action where necessary.

There were 50 actions in total for which progress updates for Quarter 1 were as follows:

·         32 (64%) of these actions had been ‘Achieved’ or are ‘On Target’

·         7  (14%) of these actions were ‘Under Control’

·         2  (4%) were ‘Behind Schedule’

·         9  (18%) were ‘Pending’

Key Objective (i)(a):

Item 5 – review the future options for the HRA Financial Plan and to sell ‘high value’ empty Council properties – Councillor Brookes asked if she could be told a little more about this objective. Councillor Whitbread replied that they were still awaiting further guidance from the Government on this.

Key Objective (i) (b):

Item 1 – complete phase 1 of the Council House buildings – Councillor Bedford asked how ‘under control’ was defined in relation to this objective. Councillor Whitbread said that phase 1 had its difficulties but it was now under control and they were making progress. It was also noted that the official definition of under control was “specific deliverables or actions have not been completed or achieved in accordance with in-year targets, but completion/achievement will be secured by a revised target date (specified) or by year-end.”

Councillor Brookes asked about the St John’s Road redevelopment scheme and when it might start. Councillor Grigg replied that the information was with the lawyers and solicitors and we were awaiting their final decision.

Item 7 – progress the Epping Forest Shopping Park Scheme – Councillor Brookes wanted to know if we would manage to be open by September 2017. Councillor Grigg said that the contract work was for 40 weeks and the highway works had started just before the contract to be completed by early July with the main contract scheduled to be completed by mid July. This would just leave the fitting out of the units to be done by the tenants. It was important to get it finished by the August completion date.

RESOLVED:

That the progress achieved at the end of Quarter 1 against the Key Objectives Key Action Plan for 2016/17 be noted.

(Director of Governance) Progress towards the achievement of the work programmes for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and each of the select committees, is reviewed by the Committee at each meeting.

(a)             Current Work Programmes

The current overview and scrutiny work programmes are attached as an appendix to this report.

(b)             Reserve Programme

A reserve list of scrutiny topics is developed as required, to ensure that the work flow of overview and scrutiny is continuous. When necessary, the Committee will allocate items from the list appropriately, once resources become available in the work programme, following the completion of any ongoing scrutiny activity.

Members can put forward suggestions for inclusion in the work programme or reserve list through the adopted PICK process. Existing review items will be dealt with first, after which time will be allocated to the items contained in the reserve work plan.

(a)          Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The committee considered their work programme and noted the progress to date.

Item 1 – Transport for London – this is further on in the agenda.

Item 3 – ECC Local Highways Services – it was noted that officers were still having difficulty in securing anyone from Highway Services to attend the February 2017 meeting.

Councillor Stallan suggested that we liaise with our seven County Councillors (five of whom are members of this council) to see if they could get things moving. Councillor Sartin agreed saying that Councillor Waller had also been trying to move things along.

Reserve Programme

Item 1 – Epping Forest College – it was noted that a new principal had been appointed and some members had already met with her. It was agreed that this item should be slipped to later in the programme.

Item 2 – Barts Health NHS Trust – it was agreed that it would be more appropriate to have them back early in the new municipal year.

Item 3 – Epping Forest 6^th Form Consortium – this had not been timetabled in as yet. Members thought that by next May they would have been going for long enough to identify any problems and so should be programmed in for early in the new municipal year.

Item 4 – ECC Children’s Services – it was agreed that this should be left for now.

Item 5 – Princess Alexandra Hospital – they were described as inadequate at their last CQC inspection. It was agreed that it would be appropriate that they be asked to attend this committee to explain why and the reasons behind it. One of the major areas of concern was their Accident and Emergency Department which would affect the majority of our residents using the hospital. Members would like to know if they had an action plan for rectifying the issues identified in the CQC report.

The report had been issued some time ago so it would be appropriate to have them come to a meeting as soon as possible. Members would like a fairly senior officer to address them, possibly at a special meeting in January 2017. This was agreed by the committee.

ACTION: to arrange for a senior officer(s) from the Princess Alexandra Hospital to attend a special meeting of the Committee in January 2017.

Select Committees

Communities Select Committee

Councillor Knight informed the Committee that their 8 November meeting would have the Essex Police District Commander there to question. They will also receive the annual report of the Community Safety Partnership. This meeting will be webcast and open to the public.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Committee then considered the presentation and line of questioning to be taken at their next meeting when they would host officers from Transport for London (TfL). It was noted that coming to the meeting would be the General Manager of the Central Line and the TfL Stakeholder.

At their last meeting the Committee drew up a list of items that they would like to be covered by TfL, and they were now asked if they would like to review this and perhaps narrow it down and it was difficult for officers from large organisations as TfL to cover everything. Members would also need to decide if they wished to have a presentation or just a simple Q&A session.

Of the items suggested, members would particularly like to know about:

      i.        The possible reinstatement of Central Line services between Epping and Ongar, as proposed by the Mayor of London;

     ii.        The extension of car parking facilities at local Central Line stations, particularly in view of the previous proposals for additional car parking capacity at Epping Station;

    iii.        If the new night time services would be extended up to Epping, and if so would there be staff or security staff on duty;

   iv.        Questions on infrastructure for the Central Line, in terms of increasing capacity, rectification of signalling breakdowns and investment in signalling infrastructure and the age of the rolling stock on the Central Line particularly in regard to the operation of automatic doors and unacceptably high temperatures in carriages. Maybe have a short presentation on infrastructure and what they hope to achieve or propose to do;

    v.        How much consideration they would have for our Local Plan;

   vi.        Ongoing concern about disabled access to platforms;

  vii.        Changes to the timetable to the “Roding Valley loop” and their future plans for this section; and

 viii.        With the increase in service on the Central Line service, when would they do their maintenance and what impact would it have.

Councillor Waller commented that the questions raised fell into two categories:

1)    Operational issues; and

2)    Strategic issues.

Should the meeting be divided into two parts to deal with this? He went on to note that he had recently attended meetings at Redbridge Council to discuss the Central Line and was told that they could not increase capacity by more than 10% in the coming years but the number of people using the Central Line  would increase by more that 10% in future years. Members may want to pursue this with them.

Members commented that over the years they have been told that capacity on the Central Line was not an issue and then that there was no capacity on the Central Line. It was important that they got a definitive view on this.

Councillor Shiell said that the 10% figure should be highlighted in connection with our Local Plan.

It was agreed that:

      i.        there should be some sort of presentation to preface their talk to present their major themes before they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.