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 at their discretion.
Minutes:
(a) Remembrance Sunday
Councillor S Murray asked the Leader of the Council whether he;
(i) agreed that Remembrance Sunday played an important role in the Civic nature of our society;
(ii) that it was outrageous that the Police gave very short notice of their intentions, not to provide Police Officers for these type of events;
(iii) thinks that the reported comments by the Police Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Essex, stating that the local authorities should be providing stewards for the event, on the Tuesday before the Sunday event was unacceptable; and
(iv) thought that the Essex Police had let down the residents of the District.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor C Whitbread advised that he agreed with Councillor S Murray’s comments concerning Remembrance Sunday being one of the most important events within the community calendar each year. He advised that the Police had left it too late to inform the Council this year and that the Police should have taken their part in the parades this year. The Leader informed Members that he had met with PCC Nick Alston in private last week and had tried to get him to change his mind but he had not been successful. The Council had been unable to provide support at such short notice for this year’s service, although he advised that every effort would be made to help with next year’s service because it was the right and proper thing to do. He personally thought it was disgraceful and that the Police should be ashamed of themselves for not taking part this year.
He advised that the services in Epping and Loughton were still going ahead in District.
(b) Electric Vehicle Charge point - Epping
Councillor J H Whitehouse asked the Environment Portfolio Holder, Councillor W Breare-Hall whether;
(i) he would consider the Government’s offer to local authorities to provide funding for a street charge point, if requested by resident;
(ii) if so whether he would look into possibility of a charge point in Epping; and
(iii) to introduce a Council strategy on the use of electronic cars within the Epping Forest District?
Councillor Breare-Hall advised that it was an interesting suggestion and hoped that the Council would support the idea. Initially he would need to look into it further but would be pleased for the details to be passed onto him.
(c) Advice letters of Council Housebuilding programme within Wards
Councillor D Wixley asked the Housing Portfolio Holder, Councillor D Stallan about the house building programme proposed on garage sites in the Fairmead Loughton Ward, and whether Ward Members could be notified of any correspondence sent out to residents beforehand, in preparation for any concerns that may be raised by their constituents.
Councillor D Stallan advised that he had not been aware of this arrangement, but would be happy to liaise with officers to ensure that if there were any correspondence being sent out regarding the housebuilding programme, that the Ward Members were advised.
(d) Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey
Councillor R Butler asked the Leader of the Council, Councillor C Whitbread what the Council was going do about protecting and supporting the Royal Gunpowder Mills, because plans exhibited by the holiday company PGL looked to take over the majority of the site and leave the actual Royal Gunpowder Mills site insignificant in comparison.
The Leader of the Council, C Whitbread advised that this was not a matter for consideration at this moment because a planning application was to be submitted.
The Chairman advised that the application had to go through the due process and the planning procedure.
The Director of Governance advised caution about speaking on this issue, as it was likely to be a live planning application and all of the matters Councillor R Butler mentioned would be considered through that planning process. She advised that it would not be appropriate for individual Councillors to express views at this moment without all the facts both for and against in front of them, and it would come before the Council through the planning process.
(e) Residual Waste
Councillor C C Pond asked the Environment Portfolio Holder, Councillor W Breare-Hall whether he was aware that as from this week, most of the Epping Forest’s residual waste would be taken by ECC to the new Waste Disposal Authority (WDA) facility at Basildon, for further sorting, which should result in a further 7 to 10% of residual waste being recycled.
Councillor W Breare-Hall advised that he was aware and it would result in further recycling for the Council.
(f) Transformation Manager
Councillor J M Whitehouse asked the Technology and Support Services Portfolio Holder, Councillor A Lion what were the arrangements for the new Head of Transformation and which work streams would he be taking over?
Councillor A Lion advised that Transformation Manager, D Bailey had started on 2 November 2015 and he had met with him that afternoon to discuss the Transformation Project. Councillor A Lion would update the Council regularly by including information in his future reports to Council.
(g) Street Lighting
Councillor J Knapman asked the Leader of the Council, Councillor C Whitbread whether in the sprit of devolution he would support and seconded a motion to Essex County Council in favour of Parish and Town Councils to be able to buy back their street lighting.
Councillor C Whitbread advised that he would be more than happy to support such a motion as long as there was financial backing by the Town and Parish Councils.
(h) The Forest, City of London Corporation
Councillor S Murray advised that concerns were starting to be raised with regards to signs of early commercialisation in the Forest and profit seeking from the City of London Corporation. He sought assurances from the Leader of the Council that this Council very much wanted the Forest to remain as it was with free car parks and tea rooms available to residents.
Councillor C Whitbread advised that the Forest was important to all Members, its one of the reasons why people chose to live in the District.
Councillor S Stavrou advised that concerns had been raised locally about the scrutiny of the City of London Corporation and the fact that there were no local representative apart from four Verderer’s, which had historically been seen as remote figures. She had attended several meetings with residents, the Forest Forum and the Horse Riders Forum and concerns had been raised about budgets for the Forest and whether it would become commercially run. Everyone had been used to having free access to the Forest and did not like implications of the potential changes and the new bill that was going through Parliament. Councillor S Stavrou advised that the Leader and Cabinet would share information with the Council on a regular basis about this issue.
(i) Street Lighting in High Ongar
Councillor M McEwen asked the Leader whether he was aware that the Parish Council in High Ongar was responsible for their own street lighting and had been for a long time.
Councillor C Whitbread advised that he was not aware of it but welcomed it.