Agenda and minutes

To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was reported that Councillor H Whitbread was substituting for Councillor H Brady.

In the absence of the Vice-Chairman, the Chairman, Councillor N Bedford, sought nominations for the role of Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor H Whitbread be elected Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

To agree the notes of the meeting of the Select Committee held on 26 June 2018.

RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last meeting of the Neighbourhoods Select Committee held on 26 June 2018 be agreed.

To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 9 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or 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 9 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS 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 Members’ Code of Conduct.

(Chairman / Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Committee. This is attached along with an ongoing Work Programme. Members are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

(1)          Terms of Reference

The Committee noted the Terms of Reference.

(2)          Work programme

The Committee noted the current Work Programme.

((Chairman) To receive a presentation from the Council’s Contingency Planning & Corporate Safety Officer, Ms L Lipscombe, followed by a Members’ question and answer session.

The Contingency Planning and Corporate Safety Officer, Ms L Lipscombe, addressed members on the Council’s emergency planning and corporate health and safety arrangements.

Having previously worked for twelve years for Uttlesford District Council covering emergency planning, health and safety and fire safety, she had managed a number of high-profile incidents that had occurred during her time there. This had included helping to co-ordinate the arrival of over 600 evacuees from Lebanon at Stansted Airport in 2006. When 38,000 spectators had watched the 2012 Olympic torch relay, she had recruited and managed the 125-volunteer route marshals, and was a tactical command officer for the 2014 Tour de France through Uttlesford.

Emergency planning and business continuity included the responsibility of ensuring the Council could effectively respond to a civil emergency in the District. During 2019 she would be introducing a training programme for officers to cover strategic, tactical and operational roles.

The Emergency Planning Officer (EPO) liaised with the multi-agency Essex Resilience Forum that included various authorities, such as Essex Police, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, and East of England Ambulance, plus a number of parish and community groups. She regularly attended ‘Working on Tuesday’ meetings at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service headquarters where countywide EPOs met to train, plan, network and risk assess. The EPO would help to identify risks specific for Essex by looking at the national risk register. Plans would then be prepared on a countywide, districtwide or individual basis. The Council had its own Rest Centre plan, but she would liaise with Connect Plus on the Bell Common Tunnel emergency plan and Stansted Airport on any incidents that could affect the District. She also attended parish council meetings to encourage them to make their own contingency plan and write a parish emergency plan.

Corporate business continuity would be reviewed with the new service directors in due course to encourage managers within the respective service areas to work together on a business continuity plan. She intended to organise a bespoke course on emergency planning for these officers to help them produce a management plan and updated business continuity plan. She intended to produce a full business impact analysis of the Council’s critical functions and produce an incident response plan.

On corporate health and safety, the Accompanied Attendance List would be renamed the Cautionary Contact List in October 2018 and be trialled for a short period alongside the current system to ensure all the information had been reviewed and transferred across. The list would come under her remit as the Corporate Safety Officer, be more efficient and user friendly, GDPR compliant, and would be reviewed every six, nine and twelve months.

All training had been completed for the Council’s lone workers using the Skyguard personal safety devices, and there had already been a couple of incidences since she had started working. Health and safety week from 22 – 29 October 2018 would focus on reminding managers to conduct regular updates of their lone workers’ risk assessments.

TagEvac  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

To receive a progress report on the current position of the Local Plan.

The Planning and Governance Portfolio Holder, Councillor J Philip, reported that a lengthy member briefing on the whole of the Local Plan (LP) had been held at the Civic Offices on 11 September 2018, and highlighted the following key points.

1.      The submission of the LP had been held up in the Courts and the Judicial Review appeal had been dismissed. However, the developer had then gone to the Court of Appeal and the Council was hoping for a response soon.

2.      The Implementation Team was in place to deal with an anticipated surge in applications for LP development sites.

3.      A Quality Review Panel had been set up in April 2018 to critical assess large scale site applications.

4.      Public Developer Forums had already been held for development sites at Waltham Abbey and North Weald.

5.      The Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (SAC) was to do with the recreational use of the Forest by visitors and on a District-wide level air quality. Within 3.2 kilometres of the boundary of the SAC, developers would have to pay a contribution towards making improvements to the Forest and, on a District-wide level, to air quality. Therefore planning permission could not be issued and the Council was waiting for further instructions from Natural England on the SAC.

Councillor A Patel remarked that if the appellant had made a further appeal, could other people / organisations object to the LP? Councillor J Philip replied that he did not think this was the case. If the application for this appeal was rejected then the Council was expecting the injunction to be removed. The next stage would be to submit the LP for public examination. Any person who had made a Regulation 19 response could address the Inspector at the public enquiry. Once the Inspector had been through the LP and made any suggestions, these modifications would be taken on board, otherwise the LP would be unsound. The Council was hoping that the planned development sites were about right. However, when the LP was with the Secretary of State someone could take it to judicial review again.

Councillor J Lea queried the halt to planning approval for applications within the Epping Forest SAC? Councillor J Philip replied that there would still be planning committee meetings taking place to determine applications and grant permission, but the Council could not issue approval until a Section 106 agreement was in place. In the meantime, a mitigation strategy for the Epping Forest SAC would be being produced in partnership with Natural England and should be going to the Cabinet meeting on 18 October 2018 for adoption.

To note that the Quarter 1 Performance report is to be agreed by the Finance and Performance Management Committee at its meeting on 13 September 2018. Future quarterly reports will be made to the Select Committee thereafter.

It was noted that the KPIs had been under review but had been agreed by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee on 13 September 2018. Future quarterly reports covering quarters 1 and 2 would be made to the Select Committee at its next meeting on 20 November 2018.

To note that the Quarter 1 Performance report is to be agreed by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee at its meeting on 13 September 2018. Future quarterly reports will be made to the Select Committee thereafter.

It was noted that the new Corporate Plan 2018–2023 benefits maps and performance indicator set, which superseded the previous KPIs, had been agreed by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee on 13 September 2018. Future quarterly reports covering quarters 1 and 2 would be made to the Select Committee at its next meeting on 20 November 2018.

To consider the report (attached).

The Neighbourhoods Project Dossier Report had detailed three projects on the Risk Potential Assessment (RAG) with a ‘red’ dot. These were:

·           P107 Estates Service Review where progress stood at 98 per cent. The project had been completed but was waiting for the project manager to formally close the project;

·           P165 Major Tree Works Procurement where progress also stood at 98 per cent. The project had been completed but was waiting for the project manager to formally close the project; and

·           P114 St John’s Road Development which stood at 92 per cent as the Tripartite agreement was awaiting the final conclusion between the three parties – the Council, Epping Town Council and Frontier Estates.

Councillor J H Whitehouse asked where the hold-up was on project P114? The Acting Chief Executive replied that when the land had been originally acquired from Essex County Council (EEC), the negotiations had taken eighteen months to complete. A further delay by Epping Town Council was due to negotiations on the community provision to be guaranteed under the Tripartite agreement and problems around the final price.

Councillor R Brookes queried why the progress on project P135 New Leisure Management Contract Programme was shown as 24 per cent and that the latest note had been omitted from the report? The Acting Chief Executive apologised the report lacked an accompanying note but as the leisure management contract was a 20-year contract, this was why progress stood at 24 per cent. However, he would seek clarification on this, but assured members the project was on track.

Councillor A Patel asked about project P165 Major Tree Works Procurement and if there was any provision for parish councils to sub-contract the Council’s contractor for works to its own trees, as tree work maintenance was expensive? The Service Director (Contract and Technical Services), Q Durrani, replied that some local councils already had such contracts, one of which was Loughton Town Council, so other parish councils could also apply. The Acting Chief Executive advised the clerk to approach Q Durrani about any work that was needed within that parish.

Councillor M Sartin commented that on project P165 the contractor also worked on ECC land, as a major part of the contract applied to the maintenance of street trees, in addition to the Council’s estate trees. She asked if the Council recharged ECC for work undertaken on ECC’s behalf? The Acting Chief confirmed this was the case.

To consider the report (attached).

It was noted that the Project Management Office (PMO) Project Closure Report on P140 District Emergency Control Centre Plan was out of sequence in the agenda and should have accompanied the report for this item.

The Contingency Planning and Council Safety Officer, L Lipscombe, had reviewed this project and confirmed the Council’s Civil Emergency Plan 2015–2020 was fit for purpose. It was reported that during previous emergencies, as with the Limes Farm incident, the Council had set up an emergency response team at the Civic Offices. The Council’s role was one of mutual assistance to the emergency services. In the latest fire incident at Burton Road, Loughton, evacuation of the building had not been required. However, if necessary, evacuation would have been to Epping Forest College and an emergency response team had been on standby at the Civic Offices.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

There were no reports to be made to the next O&S Committee on 29 October 2018.

To note the next meeting date of this Committee will be held on 20 November 2018 at 7.30pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Neighbourhoods Select Committee would be held on 20 November 2018 at 7.30pm.