Council Procedure Rule 12.6 provides for questions by any member of the Council to the Leader or any Portfolio Holder, without notice on:
(i) reports under item 7 above; or
(ii) any other matter of a non operational character in relation to the powers and duties of the Council or which affects all or part of the District or some or all of its inhabitants.
Council Procedure Rule 12.7 provides that answers to questions without notice may take the form of:
(a) direct oral answer from the Leader or, at the request of the Leader, from another member of the Cabinet;
(b) where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication;
(c) where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated later to the questioner; or
(d) where the question relates to an operational matter, the Leader or a member of the Cabinet will request that a response be given direct to the questioner by the relevant Chief Officer.
In accordance with the Council Procedure Rule 12.8, a time limit of thirty minutes is set for questions. Any question not dealt with within the time available will receive a written reply. The Chairman may extend this period by up to a further 10 minutes to ensure that all political groups and independent members may have their questions answered.
Minutes:
(a) Probation Services
Councillor Surtees asked whether the Portfolio Holder for Safer, Greener and Transport agreed that the Community rehabilitation and Community Payback services had provided a high quality supervision of offenders and many hours of unpaid work to the benefit of the community; and whether the continuous and continuity of the services in the District would continue with the new providers in February 2015?
Councillor Waller advised that the probation services were currently going through great change and challenges with a split of services between the more serious offenders being dealt with nationally and a more local level working with the Community Safety Partnership Team.
(b) Waste Contract
Councillor C C Pond advised that with the Waste Contract changing hands this week, he thought that the Council should thank Sita for the service they have provided over their contract period?
Councillor W Breare-Hall advised that he had thanked Sita for the service they had provided over the last 7 years and he would pass on the Councils thanks but he was confident that following the competitive process to procure the Waste Service, Biffa would be even better.
(c) Housing Shortage
Councillor D Dorrell enquired whether the Planning Policy Portfolio Holder would consider a suggestion to deal with the housing shortage by building on golf courses?
Councillor Bassett advised that any planning application would be considered by the normal methods.
(d) Planning Policy
Councillor J H Whitehouse asked the Planning Policy Portfolio Holder about the recent training he had attended regarding producing Local Plans with a planning inspector and what issues were raised from these session that would concern the Council?
Councillor Bassett advised that he had discussed issues with other authorities and whether they were experiencing the same problems. He advised that they had spoken with the Planning Inspector and asked about the consistency of the Inspectors and their training with the new guidance. He had passed on this information to the Forward Planning Team.
(e) Food bank
Councillor S Murray asked the Leader of the Council if he thought the voluntary section of the community provided a valuable service; whether he would congratulate the Waltham Abbey Church Community in creating the second food bank in the District; and congratulate the Loughton Food Bank for a community award recently received and the 350 adult and 140 children food parcels they have handed out since April 2014?
Councillor C Whitbread thanked the voluntary sector for providing an excellent in service especially in times of need. He congratulated the Loughton food bank for their services and Waltham Abbey church community for setting up the food bank.
(f) Duty to co-operate
Councillor Wixley asked the Planning Policy Portfolio Holder why not all the local authorities bordering this authority attended the “Duty to Co-operate” Board meeting and were they likely to in the future?
Councillor Bassett advised that he had spoken to the authorities in the local SHMA and surrounding area, whilst also attending other separate meeting regularly, as it proved difficult to sometimes get all authorities together.
(g) NEPP CCTV Car
Councillor Girling asked the Safer, Greener and Transport Portfolio Holder whether a time frame had been advised for the repair of the NEPP CCTV car and whether the car had been replaced with Civil Enforcement Officers because of concerns raised by a recent accident outside Hereward Primary School, Loughton.
Councillor Waller advised that it should be returning shortly although the company who supply the service to NEPP were resolving some issues with the instant relay of images back to Colchester. He asked any Members to advise of locations that were having problems, so that he could liaise with NEPP.
(h) Green Belt
Councillor Wagland asked the Planning Policy Portfolio Holder if the ‘Lessons to be learnt’ documents could be circulated to members and a note of the cases in relation to the protection of the green belt, including that the housing supply shortfall would not be treated be as exceptional circumstances for granting applications whilst the local plan process was being dealt with?
Councillor Bassett advised that he would circulate the information to Members.
(i) Highways Works
Councillor J M Whitehouse asked the Safer, Greener and Transport Portfolio Holder where any further consideration had been given to extra funding for Highways in conjunction with Essex County Council funding?
Councillor Waller advised that no decision had been made at this time.