Agenda and minutes

In the absence of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the meeting and with the agreement of the Committee, the Vice Chairman of the District Council,  Councillor Mrs Penny Smith took the Chairmanship of the meeting. To aid her, Councillor Richard Morgan was appointed the Vice Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Decision Required:

(1)        To confirm the appointment of District Councillor John Knapman as the Chairman of the Committee for the Civic year;

(2)        To appoint a Vice Chairman of the Committee for the Civic Year.

RESOLVED:

(1)        That District Councillor J Knapman be appointed as the Chairman of the Committee for the Civic year;

(2)        That Parish Councillor J Salter be appointed as Vice – Chairman of the Committee for the Civic Year.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, as attached.

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2008 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

·         that Councillors Mrs D Borton, Mrs Castle and B Surtees were in attendance at that meeting.

To receive a presentation from Hastoe Association on Rural Housing Schemes, (explanatory note attached).

The Director of Housing introduced a presentation on rural housing schemes, which consider the need for affordable housing in rural areas.  The need for affordable housing sprang from the increased rise in property prices. Rural areas are more attractive and can attract higher prices than urban areas. This meant that local people were unable to buy properties in their village, and would have to move away. There were also limited affordable properties to rent which could mean that local workers were unable to live locally and would thus have to travel some distance. There was also a lack of designated land for housing.

To help alleviate this, a Planning Exceptions Policy was established by the District Council. This is detailed in EFDC’s Local Plan and acknowledges the need for affordable housing in rural areas. This enables the Council to grant permission on sites for affordable housing, where normal market housing would be refused. But, certain conditions must be met:

• This could only be applied in smaller settlements that have a recognisable community,
• it must be small scale development (less than 15 properties),
• the settlement must be too small to offer housing to meet local needs (population under 3,000),
• there must be a demonstrable local housing need that cannot be met, and
• it must be supported by the Parish Council.

Any scheme must not be detrimental to the character of the village and have no highways or planning objections. It must also provide affordable housing in perpetuity. Sites should not be identified in the Local Plan and applicants must live in the village or have some connection to that village.

For rented properties, applicants must be on EFDC’s Housing Register and express interest for vacancies via the Home-Options Scheme. Nominations are then made to the Housing Association.

The district has so far completed three schemes, one at Manns Yard, Willingale (six rented houses/bungalows), one in Houchin Drive, Fyfield (six rented houses) and Harlow Road, Matching Tye (four rented houses and four shared ownership houses). Hastoe Housing Association is the Council’s “Preferred Housing Association Partner” to undertake such rural schemes and has successfully completed the most recent two schemes and are currently working on a further two (one in Horsecroft, Abbess Roding and one in Moreton).

EFDC have five Preferred Registered Social Landlords (RSL) for affordable housing developments in the District. Hastoe Housing Association being the rural specialist for the district. The Director of Housing then introduced the representatives from Hastoe Housing, John Lefever (Regional Head of Development) and Ulrike Maccariello (Senior Development Officer) who gave an outline of Hastoe HA and how Hastoe undertakes rural developments.

Hastoe is a small Housing Association who is a specialist in rural housing. They operate across East Anglia, South and South West England. They are based in Essex. So far they have completed over 1000 new properties in villages. They use one Development Officer per scheme so that they see a scheme through from start to finish. Development Officers are specialists in rural  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

(Essex County Council). Councillor Norman Hume, the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation and Tony Ciaburro, the Service Director for Highways and Transportation and, will be attending this meeting to discuss local highway related issues.

The Chairman welcomed County Councillor Hume, the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation and David Forkin the West Essex Area Highways Manager. They were attending the meeting to discuss local highways related issues.

Councillor Hume said, by way of introduction, that they now had a permanent area manager for West Essex and also a permanent deputy which would be good for long term planning.  That the figures for killed or seriously injured were the lowest ever on record; and County has established an ‘accident reduction board’, which he chairs, the leading partner of this board is the police.

He was aware that the condition of the roads in the County mattered very much to people and that they were not all up to standard. Independent measures have moved Highways from the lowest quartile to the top quartile. They now invest more money in highways and will keep on working to maintain their position and improve where they can.

Councillor Hume then informed the meeting about their new ‘Localism’ initiative to give priority to schemes in local areas. The County worked with the District Council to set up local ‘Highway Panels’, this would allow them to have some influence over some of the money in the Highways Department. Local Councils could make recommendations as to where Highways could spend certain sums of money. Pilot areas have already been set up with their own ‘Highways Panel’ involving local councils and other local representatives. There will also be an additional resource of ‘Highways Rangers’ a team of two persons who will work with each highway panel to carry out minor cleaning works, repairs to carriageways and street furniture and also some trimming of vegetation.  There are also plans for a customer contact centre to improve customer services.

The Chairman then took questions from the meeting.

The representative from Nazeing Parish Council asked about Hoe Lane, it was in a disgusting state. It had been surveyed in 2007 but there has been no follow up action since. David Forkin replied that it was in the improvements programme for this year. They will soon distribute details of schemes that they will deliver this financial year. There will be something for Hoe Lane.

Councillor Bateman, the representative from Chigwell Parish Council complimented the County Highways about their resurfacing work in the Grange Hill area. But, one of their big problems in the area was the pot holes. Also the West Mead Walkway has only been patched up; no resurfacing work had been done. Councillor Bateman also brought up four ways crossing at mini roundabouts. They need one in his area and he has seen a similar one in Buckhurst Hill. Councillor Hume replied that roundabouts are subject to safety audits, but they can be put forward under the new locality programme. There were also other considerations such as congestion to be taken into consideration. David Forkin added that they would look at the specific request, but generally they would not put in a four  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive a report from Planning Services on the final approved East of England Plan.

The Assistant Director of Planning, Paul Sutton, brought the meeting up to date with the final version of the East of England Plan. This was a long time in the making and it set the regional strategy for several counties. All documents produced by local councils will now have to conform to this document. The intention is to roll the plan forward to 2021. The whole document is available on www.communities.gov.uk

The Key issues on housing were the urban extension of Harlow, a greenbelt review and a homelessness policy.

There is a provision for up to 16000 additional dwellings by 2021. We have not been given any figures on how the units would be spread as yet. Figures are usually minimum figures and it may mean about 4.5 thousand house expansion into the district from Harlow. There will be a need for joint working with neighbouring councils, or the government will impose a structure on us. There maybe a need for a joint planning committee. For the rest of the District the policy states the need for an extra 3.5 thousand houses from 2001 to 2021, some of which have already been built.

The greenbelt review will look at Harlow and other settlements in the district, there are also BVPI targets for Brownfield sites. The report also puts up the affordable housing target from 35% to 40%.

The East of England plan goes up to 2031, and a review will be starting soon, looking at Housing up to 2031. The plan also calls for Essex to provide 56,000 jobs and provision for extra infrastructure, such as plans for a by-pass for the M11, details of which were not forthcoming at present.

Councillor Mrs Collins asked about a meeting she attended recently on the ‘Harlow Renaissance’, when she met with Harlow Councillors. One of the suggestions was about a joint Planning Committee, which was not well received, as Harlow wanted all the S106 money.  It is likely that Harlow’s first build will be in Epping Forest, any new infrastructure (such as the M11 by-pass) would be built after the new homes were built.

Councillor Mrs Sartin asked if the greenbelt review would be complete before current planning applications come into force. Mr Sutton was not sure, consultations with developers will be started before the greenbelt review is carried out. Each step has to be consulted on. The first step would be to ask town and parish councils.

The representative from Epping Upland asked about creating more jobs and the inevitable crowded roads. Would the infrastructure be in place for the rail and tube. It is increasingly more difficult to use without the additional pressure of more jobs. Mr Sutton replied that the plan was light on infrastructure but heavy on sustainability. The roads can’t take the traffic as it is, the plan will be looking at bus routes etc. and may even put them in before the houses are built.

Councillor Mrs Collins was aware of these problems.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To receive an update on the latest position on the Travellers and Gypsy sites proposed for the District.

The Assistant Director of Planning, Paul Sutton, reported that a report went to Cabinet last Monday on a single issue review which EFDC made a response to the government by 16 May. They had objected to the draft policy in which the government made a number of false assumptions. Also work was done on the Development Plan document on traveller sites. EFDC had a consultant working on this and will keep him on until it is published in September next year.

The District’s letter to the Government says that our additional pitches should be 35 and not 40. We are currently looking for individual sites.

Councillor Mrs D Collins confirmed that EFDC has a consultant looking at this. We have asked that they be shared out fairly over the Eastern Region, asking for Councils that do not have any sites to take about 15 pitches. Hopefully we will be listened to.

Paul Sutton added that all parish and Town Councils would be consulted on this.

The Chairman thanked Mr Sutton for his two presentations and wished him well in his new job.

None raised.

No issues were raised by the Local Councils.

A number of Town and parish clerks were concerned that they had not been informed of the pre meeting for the Town and Parish Councils, normally held before this meeting. They made a plea for adequate, timely notification of these meetings.

The Chairman proposed that an agenda item be put on the next meeting  for Councillors J Salter and/or B Surtees to report on how the process for arranging these ‘pre-meeting’ work.

ACTION: Councillors J Salter / B Surtees to report back to the next Local Council Liaison Meeting on the arrangements for the Local Councils pre-meetings.

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

5 November 2008

4 March 2009

The future meeting dates for this Committee were noted.