Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 8 November and 6 December 2006  (attached) and matters arising.

That the minutes for the meeting held on 8 November 2006 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a true record, subject to Councillor A Smith  (Epping T C) being recorded as attending this meeting.

That the minutes for the meeting held on 6 December 2006 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

By leave of the meeting the Chairman changed the order of the agenda so that the Green Arc presentation was taken as the next item.

At their meeting held on 8 November 2006 the Local Councils Liaison Committee received a report summarising the Green Arc project. The committee at that meeting expressed a desire that the Project Director of the Green Arc Project be invited to the meeting of the Committee scheduled for March 2007 in order to give a presentation regarding the likely impact of the Green Arc upon the protection of the Green Belt within the District.

The committee is therefore asked to receive a presentation from the Director of Green Arc, Mary Parodi on the purpose of and progress with, the Green Arc Project and its implications for the District.

The Committee received a presentation from the Director of GreenArc, Mary Parodi on the purpose of and progress with the GreenArc Project. A copy of the presentation is attached to these minutes.

The GreenArc is a multi agency, cross regional, cross county strategic landscape initiative, which aims to:

• enhance, protect and conserve the green belt for public use;
• increase and expand open space to growth area populations; and
• to protect and conserve biodiversity and wildlife.

Partners of the GreenArc are Essex County Council, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, the City of London, the Greater London Authority and the Lee Valley Regional Park.

The total GreenArc area is around 136,000 ha, with an expectation of a 10% increase to achieve the vision and strategic objectives over a 40-year delivery plan. Site management is managed by public and voluntary sector purchases, land management agreements with landowners, section 106 agreements and planning authorities.

The project benefits people and wildlife and provide visitors/interpretation centres, car park signs, all ability trails and way marked trails for walking and cycling.

Contact details are:

Mary Parodi – Director GreenArc

United Business Centres,

3^rd Floor Endeavour House, Coppers End Road,

Stansted, Essex CM24 1SJ

Mobile: 07920467101

Office: 01279 669452

Email: mary.parody@essexcc.gov.uk

Website: www.greenarc.org

Mary Parodi was asked if the proposed new houses in the district would affect the GreenArc.  She replied that the GreenArc could help the district in preserving its open space, if they can demonstrate it is functional (e.g. used for leisure or farming) and it could be demonstrated it is a well used resource, then it could be used as part of an overall strategy against development. The GreenArc cannot work if all the gaps (in between developments) are closed up.

The Chairman thanked Ms Parodi for her helpful and informative presentation.

50 Favourite Trees

Chris Neilan, the Council’s Landscape Officer and Arborculturist, took this opportunity to update the committee on the 50 favourite tree scheme, in which local communities nominated their favourite trees and the District publicised them via its website (www.favoritetrees.com).

They had just finished the judging, from which they had chosen about 30 trees. These will be featured in the next BBC series ‘Trees that made Britain’. There was still some room for more nominations, and he urged the local councils to continue sending them in. Willingale was the only parish not to nominate any trees.

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

Highway Issues:

1.         That the Local Liaison Committee be a focus point for attention to the current situation on roads in the District. The matter cropped up at the last West Essex Area Forum and there was a lot of criticism expressed which the ECC representative was unable to contain. The complainants were far from satisfied and would like Tony Ciaburro and Rodney Bass to be called to a special meeting at a future point. The Local Councils are seeking general support for this.

East of England Plan:

2.         Local Council’s would like an explanation of what is actually likely to come with the Local Development Framework and associated Local Development documents.

Meeting Dates:

3.         That the possibility, over time, of the District Council leaving one night a week free of meetings so that Parish and Town Councils could hold their own individual meetings and thereby facilitating “dual-hated” Councillors to attend all.

1.             Highway Issues

This item was asked for by Chigwell Town Council, who were advised by the West Essex Area Forum that they should bring it up in this forum. There was a lot of criticism expressed at the West Essex Area Forum, which the ECC representatives were unable to contain. They would like Tony Ciaburro and Councillor Rodney Bass to be invited to a meeting to answer questions on Highway issues.

The Locals Councils had discussed it at their meeting and had determined that it would be worth it if the two gentleman were well briefed before they came. To enable this Local Councils would need to come up with a list of questions before hand and have this sent to them at least a couple of weeks before the meeting.

John Scott said that he would get together with Councillors Ed Borton and Jason Salter to work out a timetable for a deadline for the questions and get them sent off to Tony Ciaburro and Rodney Bass. They will be invited to the next proposed meeting of this Committee on 13 June 2007.

2.         East of England Plan

Paul Sutton (Assistant Head of Planning Services) drew the meetings attention to his tabled paper that outlined where the Local Development Framework fitted in with other strategies and explained that the Local Development Framework was to take over from EFDC’s current system. The East of England Plan also has a part to play in this, the deadline for EFDC’s comments is 5pm on Friday 9 March 07. It was noted that the East of England Plan had also slipped by two months.

The second page of the tabled paper showed the timetable the Council’s is working to. The meeting noted the redlined area of the North Weald Action Plan, and that the Local Plan was still to be used when Local Councils were considering planning applications.

Asked about the forthcoming Green Belt boundary review and where it would fit in Paul Sutton said that a joint study with other authorities would be undertaken.

3.            Meeting Dates

The Committee discussed the possibility that one night per week be left free of meetings by the District Council so that Town and Parish Councils could hold own their meetings thereby facilitating “dual-hated” Councillors to attend all. This, they feel was made possible now that Area Plans B and C have merged, freeing up some spare days.

The Chairman promised to follow this up.

By leave of the meeting the Chairman changed the order of the agenda so that the Film Locations – Screen East presentation was taken as the next item.

To receive a presentation from Kerry Ixer, from Screen East Locations on the use of local facilities for film locations.

Attached is an accommodation registration form to register interest in supplying accommodation to film crews.

The meeting received a Presentation (attached) from Kerry Ixer, Head of Locations and Inward Investment, from Screen East Locations on the use of local facilities for film locations.

She commented that it was a government funded, not for profit, regional agency that was there to deliver strategic leadership for the film and moving image industries. It provides a single point of contact for creative industries personnel and film and TV in the East of England. It is split into four departments, Enterprise and Skills, Production, Audiences and Education and Locations and Inward Investment. The Eastern region has 7,000 locations registered, which is second only to London. The UK film industry directly contributed £960 million to GDP in 2004/05.

The agency is looking for more locations (coastlines, Ecclesiastical, historical sites & follies and industry), accommodation, editing facilities, generators, light and power, medical & emergency, transport, sound studios & recording services and waste management (full list in the attached presentation).

They are an introductory agency, putting the two sides (Film industry and supplier) together and do not get involved in negotiations. They do however check back to see how things went.

The meeting noted that there could be up to 28 days of filming without the need for planning permission and as an example, the BBC pay up to a £1,000 per day for locations.

Tom Carne is their first point of contact in the Epping District.

The Chairman thanked Kerry Ixer for her informative and interesting presentation.

Each year the District Council runs the Civic Awards Ceremony.  The most prestigious award given being that for Citizen of the Year.  Nominations for this award are invited over a period of months and generally speaking a reasonable response is achieved.  Very few, however, are received from Town or Parish Councils and the Chairman of the Council would like to remind Town and Parish Councils of their ability to put forward such nominations.  In particular the District Council looks for someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the District as a whole or to large parts of the district.

Each year, however, we also receive a number of nominations for people who are clearly heavily involved in the affairs of their home village or community.  Whilst the spread of their activity is too narrow for the Citizen of the Year award, these people make a generous contribution in their home locality.  The Chairman of the Council would therefore like to explore whether Local Councils run similar award schemes through which such contributions can be acknowledged, and whether there is any potential benefit in working together in regard to such awards.

The Chairman wanted to bring to the attention of the Local Councils the Civic Awards Ceremony.  The most prestigious award given being that for Citizen of the Year.  Nominations for this award are invited over a period of months and generally speaking a reasonable response is achieved.  However, very few are received from Town or Parish Councils. The Chairman of the Council wanted to remind Local Councils of their ability to put forward such nominations.  In particular the District Council looks for someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the District as a whole or to large parts of the district.

The Chairman noted that however the district also receives a number of nominations for people who are clearly heavily involved in the affairs of their home village or community.  Whilst the spread of their activity is too narrow for the (District) Citizen of the Year award, these people make a generous contribution in their home locality. 

The meeting thought there was a need to tie in the two levels of awards, the local and the district and to recognise these two types of people. Perhaps they could be recorded somewhere. It was thought that this and other ideas could be explored and brought back to the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That ideas to recognise local nominations for people who have made outstanding contributions to their local community to be included in the Districts Citizen of the Year Ceremony be brought to the next Local Council meeting.

The deadline for consultation responses on the proposed changes and the Sustainability Appraisal is 5.00 p.m. on 9 March 2007.   Local Councils have been heavily involved in this process and it was agreed that we should keep each other appraised of progress.  The District Council’s formal response was agreed in principle by the Cabinet at its meeting on 19 February 2007.  A copy of the report to the Cabinet is attached hereto.  An update will be given on any changes to the report after its publication.

Paul Sutton (Assistant Head of Planning Services) updated the meeting on the latest position of the East of England Plan. The District’s response is not due to back until 5pm on 9 March 2007. Our response is to include comments on infrastructure (lack of a statement on the East of England Plan); comments on the proposed regional housing structure; jobs and relationship links with Brentwood. There are two levels of response on this and attached to the agenda was the District’s report that went to the Cabinet on 19 February 2007.

A letter to the government is being prepared, bringing out our main objectives. It will be signed by the District Council and the LSP and copied to all our partners

1.            Councillor Ed Borton (Nazeing Parish Council) asked that Quality Councils be brought to a future meeting on how this affects local councils. They would like to know how the delegated functions would affect them.

This would probably need input from cabinet members, as it’s very much a political issue – EFDC to ask the leader and the cabinet to attend the November meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the subject of Quality Councils be brought to the November meeting of the Local Council’s Liaison Committee and that the leader and the Cabinet be invited to participate in the debate.

2.         As this was the last meeting of the year and therefore the last meeting for the current Chairman, Councillor Mrs Ann Haigh. The meeting wished to express their appreciation for her hard work during the year and commented that she would be missed.

Meetings of the Committee are provisionally scheduled for the following dates in the new year, subject to Council’s approval in April:

13^th June 2007

28^th November 2007

26^th March 2008

The meeting noted the proposed scheduled dates of this meeting for 2007/08 they are 13 June, 2007, 28 November 2007 and 26 March 2008.