Agenda and minutes

1.         This meeting is to be webcast. Members are reminded of the need to activate their microphones before speaking.

2.         The Chairman will read the following announcement:

“This meeting will be webcast live to the Internet and will be archived for later viewing. Copies of recordings may be made available on request.

By entering the chamber’s lower seating area you consenting to becoming part of the webcast.

If you wish to avoid being filmed you should move to the public gallery or speak to the webcasting officer”

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was noted that Councillor Mrs J Hart was substituting for Councillor K Angold-Stephens and Councillor L Leonard was substituting for Councillor L Girling

Decisions required:

To confirm the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 16 October 2012.

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 16 October 2012 be agreed.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial 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 11 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 Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

Recommendation:

That the Committee consider whether to recommend the inclusion of a bid for £12,000 DDF funding in the Council’s draft budget for 2013-14 to the Cabinet and Council.

1.         (Youth Councillors) In 2008/09 the Cabinet had requested the Overview and Scrutiny Committee receive an annual presentation from the Youth Council giving an update on the developing Youth Council programme and to present their request for funding for the year ahead.

2.         Members of the Youth Council will attend the meeting to outline:

(i) achievements from the last year;

(ii) the plans for the Youth Council for the coming year; and

(iii) new youth engagement and volunteer initiatives for 2013-14.

The Chairman introduced five members of the Youth Council who were there to give a presentation on the work of the Youth Council over the last year and to give an indication of planned work for the coming year.

The Youth Councillors were Edward Gokmen, Olivia Tinker, Aaron Williams, Carina Sander and Ella Foster. The started off by saying that the Epping Forest Youth Council (EFYC) was first set up in 2007 with an associated annual running cost of £12k. Every year since, members of the EFYC have come to this meeting to update Committee members on their recent and future work load and to request that a £12,000 District Development Funding for the coming year be added to the Council’s draft budget. The funding was to cover the running costs of the Youth Council, such as elections in schools, training, transport and equipment costs.

The Youth Councillors had been elected in March of this year and had undertaken various training courses in preparation for their new roles. They have actively encouraged, in conjunction with the Council’s Community Development Team, approximately 150 teenagers across the district to take part in youth volunteer days this year. A big piece of work undertaken by the Youth Council this past year had been a review of all the Youth Clubs in the district in order to identify all the active youth projects in Epping Forest and to assess their quality by giving them a star rating. Youth Councillors visited each one ‘under cover’ as part of a mystery shopping exercise. Following this initial visit they then contacted club staff to arrange a meeting and discuss their findings. The overall winner of their Youth Project of the Year 2012 was ‘Youth Plus’ in Ongar. They have also produced publicity material to promote all Epping Forest youth projects and have updated their “tube map” style poster and using some of their Jack Petchey funding to produce extra flyers, mugs and mouse mats.

They have also formed relationships and have met with representatives from other neighbouring youth councils and have met with the local MPs.

They have recently received a presentation on the forthcoming local plan and had commented on the Dog Control Order proposals. They would like to have the opportunity to become more imbedded in the Council’s decision making process. They also use the social network site to inform and update the local youths and can be followed on ‘Twitter’.

In conclusion they formally requested that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend that a DDF of £12,000 be allocated to the Epping Forest Youth Council to enable them to continue to give local young people a voice at District Council level.

The meeting was then opened to questions from the members.

Q.        There appears to be some problems with the Youth Club in Ongar, do you know anything about this?

A.         The club has been closed down due to lack of funding and Essex County Council who was looking to use the building to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

(Deputy Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Deputy Chief Executive, Derek Macnab, introduced the report on the Corporate Plan for 2011-15 and Key Objectives for 2012/13. The Panel noted the progress made on the Key Objectives for the first six months of this year. This report had already gone to the Finance and Performance Management Standing Panel and Cabinet Committee.

Councillor Whitbread commented that it was interesting to see how the achievement for the key objectives tended to repeat themselves year after year, such as the car parking objectives.

Councillor Smith commented that the report indicated that a formal decision had not yet been made on free car parking on Saturdays. Councillor Whitbread replied that there would be free parking on Saturdays in the run up to Christmas; we also have a lot of free parking throughout the year on Saturdays at various car parks.

Councillor McEwen asked when Leader Lodge would be opened. Councillor Stallan replied that they were waiting to assess the tenders; he would give an update at the next Cabinet meeting.

Councillor Murray asked what evidence that the free car parking provided in December boosted the revenue for the local shops and why were there no restrictions on the time they could park? These car parks could be full by 9 or 10am for the rest of the day. It may be that people would like to pay if they could get a space. Councillor Waller said this was an intense period for retailers and as shoppers could go else where we need to support local retailers. We are reviewing the car parking charges and as part of this, a survey has been carried out recently on the future of charges.

Councillor Philip queried why Key Objective C06.d (v), implementation of the new Tenancy policy, had been marked as ‘on track’ as it was under target. Councillor Stallan was not sure why, he would have it looked at. It should be moved to ‘under control’. Mr Macnab added that the definitions should be clarified and perhaps reduced to two or three.

Councillor Jennie Hart asked what was the intention for car parking charges in the longer term; would there be any parity between long term and short term charges as it was confusing for residents and shoppers. Councillor Waller replied that they had considered some adjustments for this coming round but decided it was necessary to support our residents and would consider reducing some charges.

Councillor Jacobs remarked that they had no commuter rail link in Ongar and so had no commuters parking there. If you change the tariffs you would do it across the district, but it may not be appropriate in certain areas. Councillor Waller agreed to take Councillor Jacobs views into consideration.

            RESOLVED:

That the progress in relation to the achievement of the Council’s key objectives for 2012/13, for the first six months of the year, be noted.

To consider the attached.

Mr Hill, the Senior Democratic Services Officer took the Committee through their current Work Programme reviewing the 6 month of work carried out so far.

(a)        Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Committee noted the work covered so far, and that:

• Item 11 of the work programme, review of the Essex Police Service was also being considered the Safer Cleaner Greener Standing Panel, who have asked to look at the PCC. It may be useful to have the Panel take on this issue as well and combine it with their proposed review of the PCC. They would then be able to open this meeting to all members. Members thought that this should remain in the work programme of both committees to double the chances of getting the PCC to one of the meetings;
• Item 9, Broadband Access, should not be greyed out as members had asked to have either BT or Virgin to attend a meeting;
• Item 14 of the work programme was to review the PCT at their January meeting; and
• Item 17, Review of Highways, members wanted to know when it could go to a meeting. Officers said that they would try and arrange this for March 2013. The comments would have to be altered to reflect that the highways section had not settled down and did not look like they were about to. The County Portfolio Holder should be invited to enable us to quiz them on their Highways strategy. It was noted that the Highways Panel covered different work to the overall strategy that the Committee wanted to look at and should not be confused.

(b)                           Housing Standing Panel

The Chairman of the Housing Standing Panel, Councillor Murray took the meeting through their recent work programme. The Committee noted that:

• The Home Options based letting scheme was working successfully;
• They had received an update in July on the Homelessness Strategy;
• They were impressed by the Mears presentation on their repairs management services;
• They had noted very satisfactory results achieved by the Tenant Satisfaction Survey;
• They would be looking at the new Tenancy Policy at their meeting on 17 December 2012; and
• The Annual Review of the Housing Allocations Scheme would be reviewed at an extra-ordinary meeting in December 2012.

(c)        Constitution and Member Services Standing Panel

The Chairman of the Panel, Councillor Sartin took the Committee through their work programme. The Committee noted that:

• At their meeting to be held on 4 December they would look at the access to information rules, the review of notices for questions and the review of Portfolio Assistants as members of the Audit and Governance Committee. They would also look at the terms of reference for the Housing and Appeals and Review Panel; and
• They would still have to table in the review of the PCC elections.

 (d)      Safer Cleaner Greener Standing Panel

The Chairman of the Safer Cleaner Greener Standing Panel, Councillor Lea took the Panel through their work programme. It was noted that at their last meeting they received  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

(Review of Licensing Services Task and Finish Panel) to consider the attached report.

The Committee received the draft Terms of Reference for the recently established Task and Finish Panel looking into the Licensing Services for the Council.

The Committee noted and agreed that the following Councillors form the membership of the panel. They were: Councillors P Smith (Chairman), K Angold-Stephens, James Hart, R Morgan, J Philip, C Pond, D Stallan and S Watson.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted and agreed the terms of reference and membership for the Review of Licensing Services Task and Finish Panel.

RECOMMENDATION:

To consider any items to be raised by the Chairman at the Cabinet meeting on 3 December 2012.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). Under the Overview and Scrutiny rules the Committee is required to scrutinise proposed decisions of the Executive. The Chairman is also required to report on such discussions to the Cabinet.

The Committee is asked to consider the 3 December 2012 Cabinet agenda (previously circulated) to see whether there are any items that they wished to be raised at the Cabinet meeting.

The Committee wanted the following comments brought to the Cabinet’s attention:

• The Chairman of the Housing Standing Panel wanted to give his full support to agenda item 9 on the Council Housebuilding Programme  and that he would fully endorse the third recommendation that would be tabled at that meeting by the Portfolio Holder.

• Members wanted it to be noted that agenda item 19, ‘Calendar of Council Meetings’, the annual budget setting meeting was set to be right in the middle of the school’s half term in February; and asked if this could this be avoided.