Agenda and minutes

To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

There were no substitute members for the meeting.

To agree the notes of the meeting of the Select Committee held on 29 January 2019.

            RESOLVED:

            That the notes of the last meeting of the Neighbourhoods Select Committee held on 29 January 2019 be agreed.

(Director of Governance). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 9 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary 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 9 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.

There were no declarations of interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct.

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

(1) Terms of Reference

The Committee noted the Terms of Reference.

(2) Work Programme

The Committee noted the current Work Programme.

It was also noted that this was likely to be the last meeting of the Neighbourhoods SC as the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 16 April 2019 would be considering a report from the Overview & Scrutiny Select Committee Framework Task and Finish Panel on the select committee framework review. The recommendation was for three new scrutiny committees going forwards – Stronger Communities SC, Stronger Council SC and Stronger Place SC.

To receive a verbal report on the current position of the Local Plan.

Councillor J Phillip, Portfolio Holder (Planning Services), was in attendance and provided the following update.

The first tranche of public hearing sessions that had taken place in February 2019, had covered:

·                     Legal Compliance

·                     Context, Vision and Objectives and Sustainable Development

·                     Place Shaping and General Masterplanning Approach

·                     Quantitative Requirements for Development

·                     Spatial Strategy

All sessions had been webcast live and were available for later viewing on the Examination website at: www.efdclocalplan.org

Where the Inspector had required further information or clarification on a particular issue, the Council had prepared various notes, which had been submitted to the Inspector and were available on the Examination website. Some of the issues arising from the first tranche of hearing sessions had included delivery of particular sites, settlement hierarchy and its role in the site selection process, and Green Belt release.

The second tranche of hearing sessions had commenced on 19 March 2019 and the following issues would be discussed:

·                     Site Selection and Viability

·                     Housing Supply

·                     Garden Town Communities

·                     Development Management Policies

The Planning Policy Team was working with colleagues to prepare statements for the third tranche of the hearing sessions, which would take place from 12 May 2019.

The hearing session for Matter 1, Issue 5 on Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) has been postponed until 21 May 2019 in light of the publication of this report in January 2019. The Local Plan Inspector had decided to also postpone discussion of Development Management Policies DM2 (Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation and Lee Valley Special Protection Area) and DM22 (Air Quality) until that date so that the over-lapping matters could be considered at the same session.

The Planning Policy Team was working to develop and finalise a number of further Statements of Common Ground with, for example, Historic England, Highways England, Natural England, Essex County Council and promoters of strategic sites. These would be available on the Examination website once finalised.

As the Public Examination progressed, any proposed amendments to the Local Plan identified through the hearing sessions, matter statements etc., and agreed by the Inspector, would be collated into a list of proposed modifications which would be consulted on, after the hearing sessions had concluded.

The Council was working towards the timeline set out in the Local Development Scheme - November 2018, with the expected adoption of the Local Plan to be in October 2019.

Councillor S Neville asked about the proposed modifications that would be consulted on and what form these would take. Councillor J Philip replied that it would entirely depend on what the modifications were and the scale of modification, as to whether any change would be needed. If changes were needed, then the Council would consult on these. The Council would do as much as it needed to do because of the cost implications.

Councillor A Patel asked that at this stage how much officer time was being utilised. Councillor J Philip replied that virtually all of the Planning Policy Team’s time, from preparation work, attending the hearing sessions, meetings and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

To receive a verbal update on the Leisure Management Contract.

Q Durrani, Service Director (Contracts and Technical Services), provided the following update.

The last meeting of the Leisure Management Contract Partnership Board had been held on 13 February 2019. The financial performance report including all the figures and key performance indicators were available for members to view on the Intranet.

Construction of the Waltham Abbey Leisure Centre had been started in 2017 and was officially opened in November 2018. Memberships at the Leisure Centre were performing strongly. As there was no screening on the pool windows, Places Leisure had looked into providing glazing on the windows, but this would have meant that the lighting levels would have needed to be increased. However, Places Leisure was monitoring this and there was also CCTV in the car park. Staff would be proactive and challenge anyone they were concerned about.

The new gym at Epping Sports Centre had been opened in February 2018, which had made a positive impact on membership numbers and resulted in a large increase. The new gym at Loughton Leisure Centre had opened in August 2018 and memberships were on target. The heating plant at Loughton pool was also more energy efficient. The swimming membership offer was proving to be popular and numbers were very encouraging across the whole of the contract, especially for casual swimming.

D Macnab said that a progress report on the St John’s Road Development – Leisure Provision, would be going to Cabinet on 11 April 2019. This was a result of a business case that was presented to the Leisure Management Contract Partnership Board at the February meeting.

Councillor R Brookes was supportive of the measures that Places Leisure had taken to monitor people looking through the pool windows. She said that an individual would have to peer in very close to the window to be able to see anything. She asked that when there was a different contract and a bid was put in, was it to do with predicted income against the budget? D Macnab replied that dialogue and formal negotiations would be entered into with Places Leisure to vary the Leisure Management Contract for the development of a new leisure centre at the St John’s Road site, which would result in a tender. All the risk of under achievement would fall on the contractor not the Council. The Council was more interested in quality and diversity of activities within the contract. The contract was designed as a risk transfer.

Councillor A Patel commented on the Leisure Contract updates, but how many complaints had the Council’s Contract Manager had to support? D Macnab said that there were mechanisms in the contract and that a complaint would be dealt with as soon as it occurred. There were escalation and default procedures in the contract but concerns tended to be around timetables etc.

To consider the report (attached).

J Chandler, Service Director (Community and Partnerships) provided the following update in place of R Gardiner, Service Manager (Community Resilience).

A detailed report on Environment and Neighbourhoods (EN) Enforcement Activity for 2018 had been published in the agenda. Fly-tipping caused one of the highest pressures in the Epping Forest District. This could be a black bag carelessly dumped by a resident to an industrial sized fly-tip by organised criminal fly-tippers.

Noise nuisance was the second busiest area of work and could be as a result of dogs barking, loud music or at properties that had poor sound insulation. There had been unauthorised encampments on Council land where EN officers had dealt with twelve sites and thirty incidents or concerns that had been registered.

Officers continued to carry out inspections of taxis to ensure they were licensed by the Council and were operating correctly. The team also investigated other noise nuisance issues, such as smoke, dust, odour, dog fouling, litter and light nuisance.

As part of the enforcement role, EN officers aimed to be proactive and educate residents and businesses to avoid causing environmental / nuisance issues and comply with the law. The Council promoted the Essex wide Crime not to Care Campaign in partnership with the Cleaner Essex Group and Keep Britain Tidy. Police officers had been increasing stop checks of vehicles to catch people before they dumped waste or were in the processing of fly-tipping.

Councillor S Neville said that for managing fly-tipping, the District was sub-divided into three main areas, East 1 and 2, South 1, 2 and 3, and West 1, 2 and 3. However, which areas did they represent and was the work equally divided? J Chandler replied that staff resourcing was adjusted to deal with fly-tipping incidences when they occurred and divided up according to the number of ongoing cases. Unfortunately she did not know offhand the areas these covered, but would provide a reply.

For information, the areas were detailed below:

·      East 1: North Weald, Ongar, Thornwood, Lower Sheeting, Moreton, Fyfield

·      East 2: Epping, Theydon Bois, Lambourne

·      South 1: Loughton (town)

·      South 2: Buckhurst Hill, The Broadway

·      South 3: Chigwell

·      West 1: Nazeing, Roydon

·      West 2: Waltham Abbey North

·      West 3: Waltham Abbey South

For any queries relating to these areas, please email Contactus@eppingforestdc.gov.uk, or report via the Council’s website at https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/crime-and-safety/ as then it could be allocated to the correct officer (due to officers being on leave, and dynamic allocation of work). If a map was wanted, with officer contact details, this could be provided.

Councillor S Neville asked if the EN team had sufficient resources to do all the work. J Chandler replied that if you asked R Gardiner then he would probably say that if he had more resources he would do more work.

Councillor M Sartin asked what the cost of fly-tipping was to the Council over the year. Q Durrani replied that he would supply this information after the meeting as some costs were included as part of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

(Waste and Recycling Manager) To receive a verbal report / presentation.

Q Durrani, Service Director (Contracts and Technical Services) and D Marsh, Waste and Recycling Manager, were in attendance.

The Government had published a new waste strategy – Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England. The strategy was seeking to preserve material resources by minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency. The Government was setting a clear, ambitious policy direction that was linked to the 25-year target of its Environment Plan.

Government strategy was to encourage producers to take responsibility. The waste industry was not too keen to recycle plastics, but the Government objectives included a drive to reuse and recycle, especially to incentivise recycling by ultimately eliminating all avoidable waste within 30 years and double resource productivity. It would have a significant impact on the Council.

Four consultations had been published with a deadline for responses by 13 May 2019. They were aimed not just across production but all costs back to recovery and to reduce all waste going to landfill. These consultations were:

(1)       Consultation on reforming the UK Packaging Producer Responsibility System.

(2)       Consultation on consistency on Household and Business Recycling Collections in England.

(3)       Introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

(4)       Consultation: A plastics tax on non-recycled content packaging.

The Government was seriously looking at all aspects of the waste industry, and it was anticipated that the results of the consultations would be announced by the third quarter.

(1)       Consultation on reforming the UK Packaging Producer Responsibility System

The principle of ‘polluter pays’ was being reinforced in that producers would bear the full cost of managing their products at the end of their life. There was an onus on incentivising greater reuse through design and the use of appropriate enforcement if this was required. A target date of 2023 had been set for when the new packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme became operational.

(2)       Consultation on consistency on Household and Business Recycling Collections in England

This was to do with consistent recycling collections whether from residents in houses or flats and from businesses. The use of separate food waste collections for households and businesses and whether there should be colour standardisation for the bins/containers. There was a drive for greater efficiency of energy from waste and to assess any barriers on the use of recycled materials to increase market use. Other areas being consulted on were to tackle hazardous waste, to explore alternatives to weight based measures and develop new performance indicators. Also the evaluation of the necessary funding for the new burdens.

(3)       Consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Thirteen billion plastic bottles were used each year in the UK which resulted in three billion being incinerated, left as litter or sent to landfill. Q Durrani and D Marsh had attended a roadshow on 19 March 2019 to learn more about the Government’s plan to introduce a DRS for single use drinks containers made of plastic, glass or metal and how the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

Councillor M Sartin asked that a report be made to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee detailing the Council responses submitted to the four consultations of the new national waste strategy – Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England.

To note that subject to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee select committee framework review, future dates will be advised in due course.

It was noted that subject to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee select committee framework review, future dates will be advised in due course.