Agenda item

To discuss the following matters raised by Local Council’s:

(a)               Highways – Maintenance

A representative of the Essex County Council Highways section will be in attendance to respond to those issues raised at the last Liaison Committee on highways maintenance and to report the current position.

(b)                           Refuse Collection

It has been requested that consideration be given to the establishment of a new approach for reporting and dealing with refuse related problems. This request has been raised to deal with the problems that have arisen following the introduction of the new system.

(c)                           Stansted Airport  - off site parking

Local residents and representatives from the Parish Councils of Matching, Moreton, Bobbingworth and the Lavers, Abbess, Beauchamp and Berners Roding and White Roading have raised concerns about the incidents of illegal off site parking at Stansted Airport. The issue was discussed at a joint conference held on 19 January 2006 following many complaints from local residents.

Local Councils have reported that evidence suggests that large numbers of cars are being parked on the farmland in these Parish areas offering a service to Airport passengers. There is growing anger at the amount of traffic on local lanes with demands that an attempt is made to address the issues through Planning regulations. It is understood to be too late to submit a clause prohibiting such activity in the current EFDC Plan.

It has been requested that the District Council initiate procedures to halt the present infringements and to prevent the possibility of future such developments in the District. It has been requested that this meeting examines the proposed approach, associated risks and ascertains support.

The District Council’s Planning Department is aware of the issues and there is an investigation.

(d)                           Community Funds Initiative

Local representatives have been invited to report on the work undertaken on this initiative and the subsequent results.

(e)                  Planning

Local representatives will be aware that the last meeting of this Committee on 2 November 2006 considered the approach that Local Councils should apply to submitting representations on planning applications. It has been suggested that Local Councils should focus their views on matters of local relevance. Town and Parish Councillors however have indicated that comments on wider policy issues should be taken into account as well. The Committee is asked to consider and comment on these views.

(f)                 Local Government Re-organisation

Although changes are at a consultative stage, it has been suggested that an update of potential implications should be made to this meeting to keep members informed about the process.

(a)                           Highways issues

The District Council Head of Environmental Services reported the current position due to the unavailability of a representative from Essex County Council. He had spoken to the Area Highways Manager, Mr Paul Hardy, who was to leave his present post this month about the level of resources that would be spent on the District over the forthcoming years (Attached)which were significant. He reported that the County Council’s programme of works was reproduced in the Members Bulletin.

He clarified that the Local Highways Service agreement (LSA) had resulted in the County taking control over the highways network. Under the arrangements decisions were now made by the County and the Area Highway Forum however, the District could input into the prioritisation process for the local roads.

The West Essex Area Forum would receive a presentation at its next meeting on 9 March 2006 from the County on the agreement. The Committee stressed that it was important to make sure that local representatives liaised with this new Committee. Consideration was given to the mechanisms for setting priorities.

The Head of Environmental Services advised that the County was receptive to ideas and looking at the programme of works again with a view to introducing some flexibility into the process. He advised the Committee that Highways matters should be reported directly to the County Council Area Highway Office at Harlow, but to contact him if they experienced any problems. He undertook to take these up.  In relation to the consultation arrangements for the new highways arrangements, he explained that the Council had reserved the right to be consulted over highways issues and was represented at the Area Highways Forum by the District Councillor Mrs Grigg. The Council had decided to delegate the power to prioritise projects as there was no longer any highways staff available for this at the District. A local representative reported that their Parish had produced a leaflet detailing their local needs which the Committee though was worthwhile. The Head of Environmental Services undertook to establish details on the frequency of the grass cutting service.

(b)                           Refuse Collection

The Head of Environmental Services reported on the current position regarding refuse collection. He outlined the timescale for the implementation of the wheeled bin scheme across the District. In September 2005, the first phase of the scheme was implemented. This involved changes to the structure of the rounds and generated many problems. In November 2005, an alternative collection system was introduced in Lambourne and Chigwell with excellent results. Since that time, the recycling rates for these wards had increased from 24-25% to 41% exceeding the government target. Current major issues were the alternative weekly collection and concerns about the collection of residual side waste. Advise was being offered on this and steps would be taken for larger families who struggled with the system. Over recent week the wheeled bin system had been rolled out to Loughton and Waltham Abbey. It was anticipated that all areas would have a wheeled bin service by the end of the calendar year.

The Cabinet had established a Cabinet Sub –Committee on waste management to report in April 2006. The Sub-Committee had been tasked with considering the Council’s current waste management contract including the operational aspects. The Committee considered the options open to the Council in relation to this process and the associated consequences. The Committee requested that a report to be given to its next meeting detailing progress made in ensuring that the contract was being fulfilled to standard.

Reference was made to the difficulties experience in rural areas and the factors taken into account in determining the frequency of the street cleansing service which were based on standards set by legislation. The Committee also considered the approach taken to commercial waste and were informed that there were few incentives to encourage the collection of such waste as it did not contribute to the targets set for recycling.

(c)                           Stansted Airport – off site parking

The District Council Head of Planning and Economic Development referred to concerns raised about unauthorized business activities on land near Stansted Airport. Local Councils had reported that two sites were being used as parking facilities for the airport breaching planning policy. Two visits had been paid to the sites on 10 and 30 October 2005. In both instances, planning contravention notices had been issued. In the meantime, an investigation was being carried out to gather information for possible enforcement action and identify those involved. It was reported that legitimate businesses in the vicinity were being adversely affected by the unauthorised activities.

The risks associated with injunction action together with issues around highways and ownership of the land was reported.

The Head of Planning and Economic Development reported that the main aim was to stop the activity therefore priority was being given to ensuring that any action was effective. It was noted that other Authorities had policies in their Local Plans to deal with such issues. It may be worth including such provision in the emerging Local Development Framework.

Local representatives should be made aware of this problem as there was a chance that it might start up elsewhere. They were invited to feed back any observations to the Council.

(d)                           Community Development Fund Initiative

Councillor E Borton of Nazing Parish Council reported on progress with the Community Development Fund Initiative. A Sub-Committee of local representatives had met on several occasions between November 2005 and January 2006 to assess the applications submitted for funding from the initiative. This comprised 17 applications from Local Councils and 1 case from the Copped Hall Trust.

The Sub-Committee chose to reject 3 requests, defer a further 3 and recommend 11 to the meeting on 1 February 2006 of the Town and Parish Council for passing by the County who provided the funding. The meeting subsequently agreed these recommendations and they have now been passed to the County for a final decision which was awaited.

Councillor Borton reported that it was possible that further funding would be forthcoming from the West Essex Forum and that another bid might be submitted to the body.

No recommendations would be forwarded on the next round of applications including the 3 deferred cases until a decision on the outstanding applications had been reported. There was a desire to ensure that the scheme was continued and local representatives would be meeting with the County officer who was to take over from the present post holder Peter Pearson. Concerns were expressed about the timescale for the process. Consideration was given to the level of expertise on the Sub-Committee.

Councillor Borton reported that the decision making process had taken into account the level of local support for the identified schemes and took into account this information when formulating the preferred list.

(e)                           Planning

The Head of Planning and Economic Development gave a progress report on issues considered at the last meeting of the Committee on 2 November 2005. This focused on the perception that District Council Officers and Members did not always understand the representations submitted by the Local Councils. In response to some of the specific issues, the Committee were advised that the correspondence and leaflet sent out to neighbours of planning applications had now been redesigned. A seminar held in January 2006 on planning issues was well attended by representatives of local councils possibly due to the interest generated by the points under discussion. The matters had been considered by the Local Council Charter Review Committee who may take on the issue and agree a framework.

A guide to the Epping Forest District Local Plan Polices was attached to the minutes of the last meeting.

The Head of Planning of Economic Development considered the question of what was a proper comment and suggested that Local Councils think about the local knowledge that they could offer to the planning officers.

He reported that there was an attempt by officers to focus comments on areas where action was most likely to be successful.

(f)                             Local Government Re-organisation.

The Leader of the District Council, Councillor Knapman reported on emerging government proposals for the reorganisation of Local government. It was likely that they could lead to some amalgamation of Town and Parish Councils and some merging at the District/Borough/County level. A white paper was scheduled for June/July 2006. A small groups of Councillors to include the Leader would be meeting to consider Essex’s response to the proposals. There was support for the current structure with improvements. Councillor G McEwen of Essex County Council reported that the County supported this approach. The Joint Chief Executive (Community) reported the timescale for the process and invited members to submit their views to the consultation.