Agenda and minutes

To agree the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

It was noted that Adam would be Chairman and Matthew would be the Vice-Chairman for the meeting.

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 October 2016 be taken as a correct record.

Presentation from the Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy, Councillor J Philip and the PR company Remarkable regarding the consultation on Draft Local Plan.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy, Councillor J Philip gave a short presentation regarding the Draft Local Plan Consultation. Councillor J Philip advised that the Draft Local Plan set out the proposed strategy to meet the economic and housing growth in the District until 2033, which identified potential sites for development, regeneration and set out draft development management policies for the authority.

He advised that the three key reasons for the increased housing demands in the district were in-ward migration from London, people living longer and people living in smaller households. The Plan aimed to balance the requirements of the Government for economic and housing growth and the council’s need to protect the greenness of the District, whilst maintaining as much as possible the 92.8% of Greenbelt. The Plan outlined the necessary infrastructure required to support developments and design requirements to create high quality living environments. He asked for as many young people, parents and other residents of the district to complete the consultation, as this would affect them if they wanted to live within the District.

Youth Councillors asked Councillor J Philip a number of questions about the Local Plan including comments about infrastructure, the types of housing (private or social housing), concerns about getting on the housing market, how the feed back would be presented to the residents once completed and greenbelt issues. Councillor J Philip advised that all of the issues would be covered within the Plan with infrastructure delivery plans, development management policies and amendments to the Local Plan itself.

Youth Councillors thanked Councillor J Philip for attended and advised that they would all complete a consultation document and talk to their peers about this consultation.

Di to report.

Di advised that the next MiLife road show would be at Davenant on 30 November 2016. The assemblies had been designed for each year group to be age appropriate and would focus on issues that young people deal with such as panic attacks, self-harm, and personal resistance.

Leonora had attended the pilot road show at Epping St Johns and advised that they had received very positive feedback from pupils and the workshops had improved throughout the day.

Di advised that Red Balloon were following up the Road Show with 3 drop in sessions available in the lunch break for anyone wanting to have a chat regarding the information that had been provided in the Road Show.

Gaby advised that the Essex Youth Strategy had confirmed the £4,000 funding and in principle future years.

Positive comments had been received from all partners involved in the MiLife project and in particular the NEEFT

Di to report on the Youth Council Elections held between 31 October 2016 and 11 November 2016.

Councillor H Kane advised that the election that she had attended was a wonderful experience and probably a first for some pupils. All the pupils showed maturity and were well behaved.

Di advised that 46 candidates had applied for 25 seats. Nine Secondary Schools from the District would be represented and Epping College.

The results would be read out by the Chairman of the Council, Councillor J Lea on a live webcast on Wednesday 16 November 2016 at 6 p.m.

Di thanked all the people involved in running a successful election and advised that any Youth Councillors that were not successful, would always be welcome back as mentors and help out in training sessions.

The induction day would be held on Saturday 19 November 2016 at Lambourne End Outdoor Centre between 9 - 4.45 p.m.

Tuesday 22 November 2016 would be the meeting where Youth Councillors from 2014/16 cohort would officially hand over to the new Youth Councillors. This would be an opportunity to take part in photo’s, question and answers session, speed meeting and obtain certificates for the 2014/16 cohort’s.

All Youth Councillors to wear uniform and ID badges.

Youth Councillors to report on any updates from schools/colleges/home education.

All the Youth Councillors attending schools within the district advised that the schools were awaiting the newly elected youth councillors. Notice boards would be updated with the new information and suggestion boxes were available for the new Youth Councillors once they have been established.

Matthew/Tom to report.

Matthew advised that the Youth Essex Assembly were currently in their election period with 18 candidates applying but only 9 seats available. The candidates will take part in husting days. 

Matthew to report.

Matthew advised that he had taken part in the annual debate held in the House of Commons chamber and chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP. Matthew showed a video link from BBC Parliament, who recorded the debate and streamed it live.

Presentation of Jack Petchey awards and Certificates.

Councillor H. Kane presented Tom with his certificate. Charlie had won the most recent award and would be presented with the certificate shortly.

This will be the last Youth Council meeting for the 2014-2016 co-hort. This is an opportunity for Youth Councillors to comment on their Term of Office.

All the Youth Councillors gave a short speech on what they had achieved over their term of office, what they would take away with them and how much the Youth Council had changed them, their career paths and confidence. They thanked all the people involved and in particular Di and Louis for their support and helpfulness.

(a)          Notices by Diane;

(b)          Notices by Louis;

(c)          Any other Notices; and

(d)          Youth Councillor Notices.

Tom suggested that the new Youth Councillors could ask all their school pupils to join the Youth Councils Facebook and Twitter accounts, so that numbers would increase and a youth base would be instantly formed for future opinion polls and project work.

To note that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 6 December at 19.00 – 21.00 in the Civic Offices.

Noted that the next meeting would be held on 6 December 2016.