Agenda and minutes

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

It was noted that Councillor D Johnson and J Whitehouse were substituting for Councillors A Lion and Mrs J Whitehouse respectively.

(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.

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct, Councillor Mrs J Lea declared a personal interest in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Home Sites, by virtue of her brother living on a Park Home Site;

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct, Councillors D Dodeja and J Whitehouse declared a personal interest in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Home Sites, by virtue of a Member of their Group living on a Park Home Site;

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct, Councillor D Johnson declared a personal interest in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Home Sites, by virtue of having been a signatory to the Call-In of the Cabinet decision for Park Homes;

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct, Councillor Mrs P Brooks declared a personal interest in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Home Sites, by virtue of being a resident on a Park Homes Site and Chairman of a Resident’s Association;

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct, Councillor Mrs E Webster declared a personal interest in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Homes Sites by virtue of her sister running a Park Homes Site;

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct, Councillor J Knapman declared a personal interest in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Homes Sites by virtue of being a member of Essex County Council and Chairman of the Audit Committee;

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct Councillors Mrs M Sartin, Ms S Stavrou, B Rolfe and Mrs L Wagland declared personal interests in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Homes Sites by virtue of being members of the Cabinet. They had not yet formalised an opinion on the issue but were encouraging the review; and

• Pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct Councillor S Murray declared a personal interest in Item 5 of the agenda – Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Homes Sites by virtue of having received around 25 letters from residents and at the request of residents had visited two Park Homes Sites, in addition he also declared that he knew one of the public speakers.

In the absence of the Vice-Chairman, the Chairman of the Panel invited nominations from the Panel Members for the appointment of a Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Mrs A Grigg be appointed as Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

(Chairman/Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Panel and associated Work Programme. This is attached. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Panel’s Terms of Reference were noted.

(Director of Housing) To consider the attached report and the following documents:

(a)        Annex 1 Report to Cabinet – Page 29;

(b)        Annex 2 Call-In Request – Page 49;

(c)        Annex 3 1^st Supplementary Report to Overview & Scrutiny Committee – Page 51;

(d)        Annex 4 2^nd Supplementary Report to Overview & Scrutiny Committee – Page 57;

(e)        Annex 5 Objectors’ Correspondence/Petition – Page 63;

(f)         Annex 6 Letter from Roydon Parish Council – Page 79;

(g)        Annex 7 Minute Item from 12 July 2010 Overview & Scrutiny Committee – Page 81; and

(h)        Annex 8 CLG Licensing Reforms – Page 87

The Panel received a report from Mr A Hall, Director of Housing, regarding the Review of Proposed New Licence Conditions for Permanent Residential Park Home Sites.

In April 2008, the Government produced new standards for permanent residential mobile home sites, the Model Standards 2008 for Caravan Sites in England, which provided a framework upon which councils could base the conditions they attach when re-licensing sites. At its meeting on 7 June 2010, the Housing Portfolio Holder presented a report to the Cabinet on proposed new licence conditions for all new and existing permanent residential park home sites within the District, following the introduction of new Mobile Standards. It was a statutory requirement for local authorities to issue licences on all their mobile homes sites and decide what, if any, conditions to attach. There were currently 16 residential, 5 agricultural and 5 holiday sites in the District.

Two aspects of this decision were called-in by five members for review by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Committee meeting on 12 July 2010 considered the call-in and referred the two issues back to the Cabinet for further consideration and asked the Housing Scrutiny Standing Panel to undertake a detailed review of all the proposals and report its recommendations to the Cabinet, at the same time as the Overview and Scrutiny Committees recommendations on the call-in.

There were two specific issues related to the call-in which were:

(a)        The view that Insufficient consultation had been undertaken with residents and ward members; and

(b)        The view that Insufficient consideration had been given to the impact on the privacy of residents by requiring the lowering of hedges and fences to 1 metre, and requesting existing hedges/fences to remain at a maximum of 2 metres.

Following A Hall’s outline of the issues involved, the Panel received presentations from seven invited speakers who spoke on behalf of site owners and residents of park home sites. Their views are summarised below:

Peter McMillan – The Owl Caravan Park

• The park had a safe record;
• Periodic fire risk assessments were carried out;
• There was no evidence of fires spreading to neighbouring properties; and
• Park homes were four times safer than other houses.

Estelle Martin – Ludgate House Mobile Home Site

• The proposed licence conditions imposed would have an impact on re-sale of park homes;
• Most properties, currently, had high fences and residents took pride in their gardens;
• In 40 years there had never been a fire at the Ludgate House site; and
• £250.00 earmarked as compensation for replacement fences was an insult.

Dr. Claire Zabell – Ludgate House Mobile Home Site

• There had been fire risk assessments carried out since April 2006;
• The assessment was updated each year by the London Fire Brigade;
• Professional practice should not apply new standards if there was no need for them;
• It was not possible to remove sheds and trees etc;
• There were trees from Epping Forest backing onto the site; and
• Fire hydrants existed on the site and were self contained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

The next programmed meeting of the Panel will be on 28 October 2010 at 5.30p.m.

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Panel was on Thursday 28 October 2010 at 5.30p.m.