Agenda and minutes

(a)        District Councillor Ann Haigh was confirmed as the Chairman of the Committee for the Civic Year.

(b)        Parish Councillor J Salter was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the Civic Year.

(a)               District Councillor Mrs A Haigh was confirmed as the Chairman of the Committee for the Civic Year.

(b)        Parish Councillor J Salter was appointed as Vice – Chairman of the Committee for the Civic Year.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 1 March 2006 (previously circulated) and matters arising.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2006 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record

In view of the unavailability the Vice – Chairman Councillor J Salter, the Committee were asked to appoint a Member to that position for this meeting.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor E Borton be appointed Vice – Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

To discuss the following matters raised by Local Council’s:

(a)            Community Bus Service

Local representatives have requested a discussion on the Community Bus Service and the desirability of extending the scheme.  Angela Canham of Voluntary Action Epping Forest will be in attendance to report and answer questions.

(b)       East of England Plan

Local Councils have requested that consideration be given to this issue as the Inspector's report on the East on England Plan is due for publication this month.

(c)               EFDC Local Plan

Local Councils have requested that consideration is given to the EFDC Local Plan as the Inspectors report may be out and available for consideration by the date of this meeting.

(d)       Local Development Framework

Local representatives have requested that consideration is given to the recent consultation document on the new Local Development Framework.

(e)            Development Control – Performance Targets

Local Members have expressed the view that the drive to satisfy the 8-week target is having a negative impact on the quality of decisions and service to both applicants and objectors. Examples have been given of planning decisions being made peremptorily without time being given to make minor amendments that could have led to agreement between both sides. There is concern that the emphasis on enforcement has lessened (because it is not a national target) and the backlog of cases is as bad as before. It was recognised that several serious cases have and are taking up a lot of time with insufficient capacity to deal with mundane issues. Councils would like to know the current backlog and recent rate of clearance as well as a forecast as to when an acceptable balance might be reached.

(f)            Refuse Collection – Current Position

At the last meeting of the Committee on 1 March 2006, representatives expressed concern over performance in this area. This further discussion will enable officers to brief Members on the latest developments.

(a)               Refuse Collection

The Head of Environmental Services reported the current position.

He reported that in mid April 2006, the then Council’s waste contractor South Herts Waste Management went into administration. During this period in anticipation of this the Council engaged in discussions with alternatives waste companies including Cory Environmental Municipal Services Limited (Cory) who have since taken over the service. The system had now been in place for one month and was working well. Collection performance had improved. However, problems were still occurring in certain areas and some collections were still being missed. This was under investigation. The Council had entered into an initial three month agreement with Cory. Negotiations would also ensure over the possibility of them taking over the existing contract up until the end date of 2009. In the event that this was not pursed the contact would be subject to the usual procurement route to identify another contractor. The company had invested additional resources into the service resulting in real improvements. Telephone call about missed collections and more general issues had subsided. Local representatives congratulated the service for the overall improvements and expressed appreciation at the recent presentation given by David Marsh, the District Council Principal waste management officer. The Head of Environmental Services undertook to report these sentiments back to the staff involved in the refuse collection service.

Alongside the above, action had continued to implement the wheeled bin service to be completed by the end of this calendar year. The report due to be submitted to the Cabinet regarding enforcement policy for the recycling arrangements had been delayed. The new Portfolio Holder for Environmental Protection wished to review the new service and allow it to settle down first before making a decision on this aspect to be reported to the Cabinet.

A local representatives reported that the system appeared to be working well in the rural areas. The Head of Environmental Services undertook to make available the schedule for the waste paper collection service.

A Member referred to concerns raised by an Elderly Persons Advisory Group who were confused about collections times and schedules. Flats were still using black sacks with a weekly collection service. Discussions would be held over how best to introduce a recycling system for such dwellings. The Head of Environmental Services stated that if this was not happening they should let him know.

RESOLVED:

That Environmental Services be congratulated for vastly improving the refuse collection service

(b)               Community Bus Services – ‘Shop and Go  Service’

The Chairman introduced and welcomed Sue – De Luca of Chigwell Parish Council who reported on the ‘Shop and Go’ Bus Service.

Councillor E Borton of Nazeing Parish Council reported that Councillor Thompson of Moreton Bobbingworth and the Lavers Parish Council had raised this item for two reasons: the concern that the charge levelled against his Parish Council (one of the smallest in the consortium set up to run the group) was too much and to encourage more Local Councils to join the scheme.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Recommendation:

To consider and submit comments to the District Council Scrutiny Review of the Area Planning Sub – Committees.

(Head of Research and Democratic Services). The Constitutional Affairs Scrutiny Panel of the District Council has been reviewing its Area Plans Sub Committees from a number of different viewpoints:

(a)        to achieve involvement of all members of the District Council as members of Area Plans Subs;

(b)        to balance workloads between the four Area Plans Sub Committees better;

(c)        to review the areas covered by each Sub Committee; and

(d)        to establish whether changes to the structure of area Plans Sub Committees can assist the Council in achieving it Best Value performance indicator targets for processings planning applications.

This review is still in progress but the Standing Scrutiny Panel with responsibility for the review has asked the Liaision Committee whether there should be three rather than four Area plans Sub Committees.  The Panel  is in favour of  this option in principle on grounds of assisting with achieving service performance targets and equalising Sub Committee workloads.

There is still to be consideration given to the following:

(a)        the areas of the three Sub Committees

(b)        the memberships of the three Sub Committees

(c)        the possibility of the local nature of these sub Committees being changed.

Views from local councils on those points would also be welcomed.

The District Council is looking at implementing changes during the current year or at the latest from 2007/8.

The Chairman of the District Council Constitution and Member Services Panel Councillor R Morgan, reported that the Panel were currently undertaking a review of the structure of the District Council Area Planning Sub – Committees. He reported the principles behind the review aimed at ensuring all Member were given the opportunity to serve on a Sub – Committee – (at present only 47 of the 58 Members served them), equalising the work loads and Membership size of the Sub – Committee reviewing the areas they covered and improving performance against the Best Value Performance Indicator Targets for processing planning applications.

Consideration had also been given to whether there should be three rather than four Area Plans Sub – Committees given that this might improve Best Value performance by speeding up the decision making process. The Panel was in favour of this but had asked that Local Councils views be sought on this in particularly the areas, and membership of the three Sub – Committee and the possibility of the local nature of them being changed. The District Council was looking to implement these changes during the current year or at the latest from 2007/08. The Panel would give further consideration to the review at its next meeting on 3 July 2006.

In response, a Nazeing Parish Councillor welcomed the proposal to regroup the areas covered to separate  rural and urban areas and the desire to give all Members the opportunity to serve on a Sub – Committee if that was their wish. However expressed concern at the proposal to move to a three area structure as this would speed up the turn around time which Local Councils already struggled to keep up with. Nazeing Parish Council already held two meeting per month for planning and extraordinary meetings for significant applications. This workload was significant and it was likely that a three area solution would result in more work and further pressures on local representatives time and could effect the quality of the decisions.

A Loughton Member stated that the local nature of the structure should be retained and that that other Loughton local representatives shared this view. The step to hold their Sub Committee in Loughton had been well received in that area and changes to this would be a ‘backward step’.

A Stapleford Abbotts Parish Council Member questioned whether any loss of the local nature/local knowledge aspect of the Sub – Committee could increase the need for site visits? Under the area system, there was an expectation that the Memberships had knowledge of the sites under consideration as they were located in their wards which would not be so if the Area based structure was disbanded.

Local representatives requested more time to explore the various options possible at their next planning meetings and that the Councils not present be also given the chance to contribute to the discussion. The Chairman of the Scrutiny Panel agreed to this and asked for comments to be submitted back to Democratic Services for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Community Initiative Fund 2006/2007

Councillor E Borton of Nazeing Parish Council reported on the County Council initiative dealt with by Local Councils. He advised that Beverly Davies had now replaced Peter Pearson as the support officer for the project. Applications submitted for grants from the 2006/07 budget would all be taken directly in the first instance. The deadline for the first round of which was 25 August 2006. This years new application form was available on the website www.communityinitiativesfund.co.uk and is attached to these minutes. This referred to recent changes to the qualification rules. The Local Sub – Committee tasked with dealing with the project were due to meet between 16-20 August 2006 to formulate recommendations for the deadline. Applications that were unsuccessful last year could be resubmitted to Ms Davies. There might be a further opportunity to bid for funding in the second half of the year.

It was clarified that Community Groups were able to submit bids to the initiative. These would be referred to the relevant Parish Council. The Copped Hall Trust and Ongar Boxing Club had submitted bids in response it was recommended that the latter be funded by the West Essex Forum. A Member asked about the publicity arrangements for raising awareness amongst community groups and stressed the importance of this.

Meetings of the Committee are scheduled for the following dates this year:

2 November 2005

1 March 2006

The Committee noted that meetings of the Committee were scheduled for the following dates this year:

8 November 2006

28 March 2007.