Agenda

Key to abbreviations:

Other venues are shown in full.

Currently meetings are subject to change, postponement or cancellation.

Many meetings will be held virtually but Democratic Services will advise arrangements for individual meetings.

Committee Management System

The members’ extranet facility for the Modern.Gov system is available at:

https://eppingforestextranet.moderngov.co.uk/extranet

Members may wish to save this link on their computer or mobile devices. Queries concerning login and password details for the extranet should be addressed to the Democratic Services Manager.

Constitution

The Council’s Constitution is available at:

https://rds.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=638&Info=1

Queries concerning the Constitution should be addressed to the Democratic Services Manager

ECC Highways Portal

Up to date details of all Highways work is available at:

https://www.essexhighways.org/Transport-and-Roads.aspx

As we get back to normal can I ask that all Members check the DOI that we hold on file. You can find your current DOI on the EFDC website at https://rds.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1

The COVID 19 lock down has highlighted the impracticalities of processing wet signature Declaration of Interests form in the digital age. Following the legal advice of the Monitoring Officer I am pleased to advise the following amendments to the process.

You should now complete the Word document version of the form (see attached), typing your name instead of a formal signature. This can be done on your EFDC iPad. A copy of the Word document can be emailed to you on request.

The form should then be returned to Kim Partridge at kpartridge@eppingforestdc.gov.uk

We’re writing to inform you of our building works project at the Council Office site at 323 High Street, Epping which will begin later this month and the steps we’ve taken to inform our residents.

This is an exciting time for the council and for our residents. Our plans for the redevelopment of our offices will kickstart a rejuvenation of Epping town centre, paving the way for new housing, bringing investment in jobs, the local economy and public services for the town and district.

This project offers us an excellent opportunity to support Epping, its businesses and the local community, which is important for our post Covid-19 recovery and our vision for the future.

The existing site

The council office site currently consists of two buildings, the Conder Office, built in the 1960s and the Civic Office, a grade II listed building constructed in the 1980s, recognisable for its yellow and blue features.

What we plan to do

The Civic Office will remain as it is externally. Internally we will modernise by reconfiguring the existing office space to create more collaborative and flexible workspaces, we will also create space for other public services and businesses.

The works

At a meeting of Cabinet on 1 June, we awarded the main refurbishment contract to ISG Fit Out Ltd. ISG took over the site in June and works have begun, with an expected overall completion date of February 2021.

We intend to keep you informed every step of the way and we’re working extremely closely with our contractor to ensure minimal disruption to our residents.

We have put specific measures in place to achieve this:

• We’ve designated routes in to and out of Epping for the supplier traffic - which will minimise the impact on our high street and areas of residential housing
• We will be making as little noise as possible. All work will take place within the building and will involve only minor construction activities
• We’ve nominated a single point of contact for our residents for any questions you might have
• We’ve created a sign-up form for email updates (details overleaf)
• Contractors will be on site from 8 am – 6 pm Monday to Friday and on some weekends

Keeping informed

To keep things simple, we’ve set up one point of contact for all questions relating to this project, so please contact Michael Turnbull on mturnbull@eppingforestdc.gov.uk should you need to.

We’ve set up a page dedicated to this project on our website https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/your-council/council-offices-development/, there you will find details of the latest news and FAQs.

We’ve also created a sign-up form for email updates http://eepurl.com/g6zQjb. So please feel free to pass on any of this information to your residents if you receive any questions.

Please also find attached a copy of the letter attached that was sent to nearby residents informing them of the works and details about how to get in touch.

We’ve contacted local Ward Members with this information separately and have published a press release which has  ...  view the full agenda text for item 2.

We are pleased to share a good news story. Stephanie Newton (Trainee Building Control Surveyor) has successfully completed a five year programme of part time study at Anglia Ruskin University funded by EFDC and awarded a first class honours degree in Building Surveying.  Having previously gained some work-experience with EFDC while at school, Stephanie joined the Planning Support team in 2007 just after her sixteenth birthday. After seven years in the Planning Team, including some internal secondment, Stephanie moved to Building Control as a Technical Support Officer in 2014.

Recruitment of Building Control Surveyors is often challenging - private sector competition and a lack of new starters to the construction industry following the ‘credit-crunch’ left many authorities like EFDC considering investment in trainees. Building Control Surveyors are involved with assessing compliance of building work against an increasingly large scope of technical requirements set in the interest of health, safety, reduction in CO2 emissions, water efficiency and inclusive access. They are also relied upon for input with demolitions and in assessing dangerous buildings or structures to protect public safety.

(Further information: Paul Smith ext 4216)

• No longer a maximum number on the capacity at crematoriums, as long as people still comply with social distancing rules.
• Hospitality businesses will have to apply for a licence to put tables and chairs on the pavement outside their premises. There will be an online form which will include payment and T&Cs they must obey. Businesses will be able to use the pavement while their licence is pending.

Test, track and trace:

• EFDC will monitor certain workplace situations where data has shown hotspots/problems. This includes warehouse, restaurants and places of worship.
• A special database is being set up with the hotspots and areas of concern. These businesses will be supported with completing risk assessments, staff management and safety. It will be made clear that if they do not make the changes needed/put safety measures in place they will be forced to close.
• Test centre will be opening at North Weald Airfield. Carol Leach in Corp Comms is dealing with this.

Commercial contracts

• The leisure centres will not be reopening on 30 July

Car parking:

• Not seeing an increase yet in the all-day parking, suggesting that commuters are not back yet.
• Car parks are being monitored daily.
• Ticket enforcement is now back in place.
• Offering public parking at the civic offices will no longer happen. The logistics were too complicated.

Housing

• Waiting for more information about funding for support to housing and rough sleepers.
• Government have made an amendment to the Covid homelessness guidance which could have an impact on our homelessness demand.
• Housing Quality Network asked for nominations for residents who have gone above and beyond to help neighbours etc. Residents from Pelly Court, Epping who were nominated are finalists. They have been getting essential supplies for other residents and have set up a shop to help those who can’t get out as much. They will attend a virtual ceremony in a couple of weeks.

Housing Repairs:

• Still unable to purchase certain materials, so cannot carry out all repairs needed. Likely that Travis Perkins will close their Epping store.

Customer services:

• Have noticed an increase in incoming calls across all services, not just the call centre, making it difficult for staff to manage.
• Comms do extra push to encourage people to look online instead of ringing.

Finance

• Financial impact of Covid so far means a £7M loss made up of higher costs and lower income, including council tax, car parks, leisure centre, business rates and rent.
• EFDC did receive £1.3M from the Government. It’s also been reported Government will cover 75p to every £1 of lost income beyond the first 5%.
• Budget planning for future will start soon in next few months.

Please see attached.

None this week

Please be advised that the Licensing Unit has received the following applications for New Premises Licence made under the Licensing Act 2003 for the premises below:

Please ensure that any comments/objections are received by the Licensing team on or before the consultation end date.

Manager                                                         Kim Tuckey 01992 564034

Licensing Officer                                            Debbie Houghton 01992 564336

None this week.

The notification of decisions taken by individual Portfolio Holders is no longer included in the Council Bulletin.

All members of the Council receive automatic email notification of the publication of each individual Portfolio Holder decision and the call-in period for each decision commences immediately. Members wishing to call-in a decision should complete the attached call-in form and return it to Democratic Services before the expiry of five working days following the publication date of the decision. Members should refer to the Constitution (Article 6 - Overview and Scrutiny) for the rules of call-in.