Agenda and minutes

(Head of Research and Democratic Services)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

Noted that there were no substitute members for this meeting.

(Head of Research and Democratic Services). 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 Council’s Code of Member Conduct, Councillor S Murray declared a general personal but non-prejudicial interest by virtue of being the Council’s representative on the Roding Valley Meadows Local Nature Reserve Management Committee and the nature reserve having a partnership with Roding Valley High School.

Pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct, Councillor Mrs Grigg declared a general personal but non-prejudicial interest by virtue of being the Council’s representative on the Roding Valley Meadows Local Nature Reserve Management Committee.

Attached.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 September 2006 was agreed as a correct record.

(Chairman/Lead Officer) To note the attached updated Terms of Reference and associated Work Programme. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Panel noted the Terms of Reference and Work Programme, which they considered still to be relevant and would not require any amendment.

On the 12^th September the Task and Finish Panel undertook a consultation meeting with respect to the Future Management of Roding Valley Meadows Local Nature Reserve.

The consensus of the Panel was that the Preferred Option would be to recommend that the Essex Wildlife Trust be offered a new Management Agreement for a length of twenty years (in order to attract external funding) but that the new Agreement should provide for greater monitoring and evaluation of management practices, with more frequent and direct reporting to the Council.  In addition the Panel also recommended that partnership working with Countrycare should be formalised to promote joint working, within any new arrangements.

The Panel recognised that the Grange Farm Trust have an interest as landowners on the Nature Reserve.  Unfortunately the Trust could not send a representative to the consultation meeting.  As such, they would need to be consulted prior to any final decision.

The Head of Leisure Services met with the Grange Farm Trust for an initial discussion on the 16^th November 2006 and will report orally on the outcome.

The Head of Leisure Services reported on a meeting he had recently undertaken with the head of the Grange Farm Trust about the future management of the Roding Valley Meadows Local Nature Reserve and the consensus reached by this Panel that the Essex Wildlife Trust should have their contract renewed for a period of twenty years. He noted that the Grange Farm Trust was shortly to sign up to a Section 106 agreement to increase the size of the site and to put in an ‘Interpretation Centre’. They had held a dim view of the Essex Wildlife Trust in the past but not anymore. The Head of Leisure Services explained why Epping Forest DC could not take over the managing of the site and that the Corporation of London may not be legally able to do it. The Farm Trust indicated that they would like to provide some improvements to the site and would like a further meeting with EFDC to discuss it.

On the 28^th September 2006 the Panel considered a report outlining options and considerations with respect to the future management of Waltham Abbey Sports Centre, post the expiry of the current Dual Use Agreement in September 2007.  The Panel had invited the Headteacher, Chairman of Governors and Bursar to attend to share their views.  Although all parties wished to secure future Community Use, there were a number of key points at this stage.

v   The school does not wish to manage the Centre unilaterally, as they currently do not have the capacity.

v   The school does not want to have a third party as a Partner.

v   The District Council would not like to rule out the third party option as they would like to achieve a position, which reduced costs to the Council and transferred risk.

It was agreed that Officers would meet with the school, to start to negotiate potential new terms etc which would attempt to address each party’ concerns.

The Head of Leisure Services will report on progress to date on these discussions.

The Head of Leisure Services reported that he had another meeting with the Head of King Harold’s School, the bursar and the head of the Board of Governors. The school showed some interest in what a third party arrangement would mean for the management of the sports centre. They were taken through the key issues on contract specifications and informed on how the contractor might generate profits by increasing usage of the centre. It could be that the Council would run the contractor and the school would not need to get involved. The contract would run up to 2013 and up from 2013 to 2016 the contract would run on a performance basis. EFDC have now sent the school our standard contract specifications for them to study. The Council would need to go through a competitive process for a new contract and would also need to vet any company that puts in a bid. As there was only 10 months left any moves towards competitive tendering would have to be done fairly swiftly.

There was distinct resistance to a direct management approach to the centre.

It was noted that it may be useful to arrange for King Harold School to meet other schools that have a similar partnership arrangement and talk to them.

            As part of the review of Arts development in the District, the Panel are being given an opportunity to view the facilities at Great Stony and hear about the current work and future aspirations of Theatre Resource.

Theatre Resource is a professional arts organisation and registered charity based at Great Stony.  Since 1990 Theatre Resource has grown from a partnership of two artists to an organisation with a national reputation.  In 1998 the company moved to Great Stony and commenced the refurbishment of the Victorian Building into a fully accessible Arts Centre.

Theatre Resource has a Service Level Agreement with Epping Forest District Council, through the Community Grants Scheme, which has assisted the organisation to develop.  Theatre Resource are keen to communicate to the Task and Finish Panel the importance of the Company’s relationship with the District Council and to discuss ways in which the Partnership could be strengthened, for the benefit of arts opportunities in the District.

Jeff Banks, the Director of Theatre Resource will host the visit.

The Director of Theatre Resources, Jeff Banks welcomed the Panel to the Theatre Resources centre and gave a brief outline the history of the group. It is a registered Educational Charity and Arts organisation that was set up in 1990, and was originally based at Waltham Abbey. The objectives of the organisation is to provide Arts and Education for the community, covering all art forms and to provide a specialist organisation for developing arts and education for disabled and other socially excluded people and groups.

Currently they have 16 staff at the Theatre Resource group and offer about 70 contracts a year to outside/visiting tutors. Their turnover is about £600,000 per annum; mostly raised from commissioning projects, with about 16% coming from local authority grants (including EFDC). Last year they worked with about 60 partners and fundraisers.

The building currently occupied by the group in Chipping Ongar acts as a base for them to run their various projects. They currently have a long-term plan to develop the centre and provide a studio theatre, and more and better teaching space. They would like to bring together disabled persons in residential courses who would need a high degree of physical accessibility. They currently use Wickens House, for the residential courses, but this facility may close soon.

The group also provides supportive employment opportunities for people with disabilities, a number of staff are disabled, and they would ideally like the building to be run and managed by people with disabilities.

Theatre Resources have a long relationship with EFDC, going back to 1990 and have worked closely with Epping Forest Arts. As there are two arts structures in the District they would like to propose that Theatre Resources support either all or part delivery of the Epping Forest Arts services. They would welcome the chance to talk to EFDC about making their partnership closer. They could provide a specialist service and a range of activities for local people and would welcome the chance to strengthen their ties with the District.

Mr Banks was asked if the group could raise extra money successfully, he replied that they are looking at some big fund-raisers, but firstly they will provide development funding to show what they can do. As for having a solid financial background, ‘Future Builders for England’ have been scrutinising them for the last two years and are looking to raise £900,000 for them.

When asked if they had worked with Mencap, Mr Banks replied that they work with a lot of local groups and have worked with Mencap, Essex, as they tend to work to a larger catchment area than just district level. They recently did a project with young people from across Essex and Hertfordshire, and tend to work regionally.

Asked if the group was disadvantaged because of the bad public transport routes in the district. Mr Banks agreed that public transport is appalling in the area, they had run courses where the taxi bill to transport the children to the venue equalled  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To consider any other items of business.

No other business was raised.

To identify a suitable date for future meetings.

A suitable date for the next meeting is to be identified and agreed with the Chairman and lead officer of the Panel.