Agenda item

To discuss the following matters raised by the local councils:

QUESTIONS

A.    Communication – Over recent years there has been a tangible decline in the communication methods chosen by EFDC, moving towards a more remote contact centre approach.  This has led to a widening chasm in relationships, unfortunately resulting in a poor experience not only for our residents but also with Town and Parish Councils.  As the first tier of local government, these Councils are the bodies closest to their residents with a greater understanding of local issues and concerns than any other tier of local Government.  The current communication stream open to Town and Parish Councils is the same as that offered to members of the public – via the EFDC contact centre.  This is long winded, frustrating, laborious, bureaucratic, and created entirely for the benefit of EFDC and not its residents.   If there are issues of local concern identified by Town and Parish Councils requiring a swift response, this communication method is simply unacceptable.  Owing to the massive change in staffing, gone are many of the more experienced officers with whom Parish and Town Councils held relationships and forged bonds, working together for the benefit of its residents. This corporate style of operating is contributing to a breakdown in relationships.   We ask the following:

·         How does the new communication system installed by EFDC benefit its residents?

·         How does the new communication system installed by EFDC help to forge and maintain good relationships with Town and Parish Councils?

·         Why must Town and Parish Councils first point of call be to the contact centre and not to relevant EFDC Officers?

·         The EFDC Constitution states that the Monitoring Officer will make arrangements to ensure good communication with the Town and Parish Councils in the District – What are these arrangements?

·         Does EFDC accept that its relationship with the first tier of local Government needs improvement, and if so how and by when does it intend on doing this?

The Customer Services, Service Manager, Susan Lewis and Team Manager - Complaints and Customer Satisfaction, Tracy Scott would be attending the meeting. (Attached is the Town and Parish queries flow chart)

B.    New Planning System – Mid 2022 EFDC rolled out its new online Planning System.  Parish and Town Councils have noted a number of flaws / difficulties with this system, making it cumbersome and difficult to use by both Town and Parish Councils and residents alike. A number of Councils have already sent feedback to EFDC about the new system and areas where changes should be considered.  Town and Parish Councils were never trained on this new system, so went into it completely blind which has been extremely unhelpful.   EF Branch has collated a list of issues being experienced by Town and Parish Councils in the District.

·         Why did EFDC change to this new planning system?

·         Who did EFDC consult about the introduction of this new system, considering Town and Parish Councils are statutory consultees.?

·         Is the system now fully functional without issue, or are there current issues that EFDC is addressing, and if so what are those issues?

·         Was there any training offered on the system, and if so to whom?

·         Does EFDC plan to run any training sessions, and if so for whom and when?

·         Will EFDC look at each of the issues stated on the list compiled by the EF Branch members, and respond with action / intended action taken?

The Service Manager for Development Management, Andrew Marx gave the following responses and Nigel Richardson woul;

·         Why did EFDC change to this new planning system?

To prepare the Local Planning Authority for the digital planning age, to secure efficiencies and resilience in service provision, to enhance performance monitoring, to deliver real-time business intelligence to managers and to support the digital strategy of the Council.  

·         Who did EFDC consult about the introduction of this new system, considering Town and Parish Councils are statutory consultees.?

The Council did not publicly consult on the procurement of the system, as it is an operational matter for the Authority.

·         Is the system now fully functional without issue, or are there current issues that EFDC is addressing, and if so what are those issues?

The system is fully functional. As with any complicated and large-scale project of this nature (millions of data points to be transferred, integration with GIS, transfer of over 1.3 million electronic documents from the previous electronic document management system) there are small issues that are being addressed. The system will continue to be developed incrementally over time, as the technology on which it is built allows this development without disrupting core services.   

·         Was there any training offered on the system, and if so to whom?

Yes, training was provided to relevant Council staff.

·         Does EFDC plan to run any training sessions, and if so for whom and when?

No, not specifically as it was not considered that training on the public facing part of the system would be required. We are happy to listed to any suggestions from local Councils, and obviously tips and tricks can be shared (or demonstration provided) on an individual basis if considered necessary.

·         Will EFDC look at each of the issues stated on the list compiled by the EF Branch members, and respond with action / intended action taken?

Yes, we are working with IT colleagues and the supplier to agree a programme of product development over time, so any suggestions will be logged and considered, and where appropriate implemented if possible.

C.    Highways – EF Branch would like to invite Cllr Lee Scott, ECC Cabinet Member for Highways Maintenance and Sustainable Transport, to provide an update on his plans for the future of Highways in the County, and to address any areas of general concern that Parish and Town Councils may have, including:

·         The efficacy of the Local Highways Panel and the adequacy of budgets provided to them.

·         The prime remit of Local Highway Panels

·         What (if any) options are available for introducing traffic calming measures on rural country roads

·         The contract with Ringway Jacobs, how long this is in place for, when it is due for renewal, and whether or not they of offer value for tax payers money.

Essex County Councillor Scott Lee had been contacted and unfortunately has given his apologies for this meeting. He advised that he would attend the next meeting.

D.    EF Recycling Hubs – Some Parish and Town Councils are reporting that these bins are always full, and need to be emptied more regularly.  They are attracting fly tipping, and generally viewed as a dumping ground. 

·         Is it EFDC’s responsibility to empty / clear these bins / sites?

·         If so, what is the emptying schedule and can this be changed?

·         Who is responsible for clearing the fly tipping at this location?

The Service Manager Contracts, James Warwick gave the following responses and Team Manager for Waste Management, David King would attend the meeting.

·         Is it EFDC’s responsibility to empty / clear these bins / sites? If the sites are EFDC’s they are cleared by Biffa. A list of sites is on the council’s website: https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/recycling-and-rubbish/find-recycling-and-bottle-banks/

·         If so, what is the emptying schedule and can this be changed? Emptying schedules for the 1100 mixed recycling banks can change according to usage but generally are done once per week – the static sweepers who visit the sites once daily are required to phone Biffa if a bank is full.  Textile banks are weekly as well.

Residents can also report full banks online to us. https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/recycling-and-rubbish/report-a-street-cleaning-issue/

Parish and Town councils can contact their Area Waste Officer or wastemanagement@eppingforestdc.gov.uk

·         Who is responsible for clearing the fly tipping at this location? If it is an EFDC site, we will clear the flytipping that occurs around the sites – usually on a daily basis. We are having significant issues at the Traps hill site and we are clearing fly tipping twice per day at the moment but as fast as we remove it another dumping takes place.

If any parish or town council has specific issues it would be helpful if they can contact us on wastemanagement@eppingforestdc.gov.uk or they can contact their Area Waste Officer.

We are in the process of updating the areas which the area waste officers cover, once this has been done, we will provide the updated contacts and areas to the Town and Parish Councils.

The Committee received written responses which were set out in the agenda for the New Planning System and Epping Forest Recycling Hubs. It was noted that the ECC Cabinet Member for Highways, Councillor Lee Scott had sent his apologies for this meeting, although he would be invited to the next meeting.

Officers for Customer Services and Planning and Waste were in attendance to clarify any further questions. The webcast for this meeting can be found here Local Councils' Liaison Committee - Tuesday, 29th November 2022 at 7:00pm - Epping Forest District Council webcasts (public-i.tv)

Written responses to the questions raised regarding Communication were set out below.

·                     How does the new communication system installed by EFDC benefit its residents?

First point of contact for all service areas excluding Housing & Rev/Benefits was managed by the customer contact centre. The team were not a switchboard but highly trained to resolve customer queries at first point of contact and in approximately 65% of cases they could do this using scripts developed in conjunction with our technical officers. If they cannot a call back request was allocated to the relevant Officer for response and the contact centre would ensure a response was given in a timely manner in line with SLA’s. We must free up our technical officer’s time to focus on their day jobs and we must introduce more efficient ways of managing contact. We were going through change, 80% of our residents use digital in everyday lives, we were in the process of making our online experience as simple to use as possible with customers involved in the consultation. If we can deflect those residents who prefer to use digital to a simple online solution, we free up our phone lines and improve our answer rate for the 20% who cannot use digital. The majority of people do not want to hold on to speak to someone they want the transaction to be as simple and quick as possible.

·                     How does the new communication system installed by EFDC help to forge and maintain good relationships with Town and Parish Councils?

It would seem that the engagement with T&P was not to the level it should have been when the new operating model was implemented. We must now look forwards together, be mindful of budget constraints and resource challenges to mutually agree communication channels and ways of working. We have developed a process for T&P to get queries resolved in the most efficient way and that was by using our online form, the query would be logged, allocated, triaged, and tracked to ensure a response was given within the agreed SLA. If the query was an emergency i.e. risk of life & death, then you can call our contact centre. A copy of the flow diagram describing this process has been attached.

·                     Why must Town and Parish Councils first point of call be to the contact centre and not to relevant EFDC Officers?

The agreed operating model was outlined above, Members approved this model to ensure we manage contact in the most efficient manner. We would welcome any Town or Parish Councillor to spend some time with our contact centre to see the process in action. We now work in a flexible agile manner, but all Officers have committed to ensure they are available, if they were not, they would ensure a timely response is given should a query require a technical response, if this does not happen it will be managed via the above process and escalation on your behalf.

·                     The EFDC Constitution states that the Monitoring Officer will make arrangements to ensure good communication with the Town and Parish Councils in the District – What are these arrangements?

Moving forwards as described we were keen to ensure that communication channels were in place. We now have monthly catch up’s and invite T&P to nominate others to join this group and ensure effective two-way communication.

·                     Does EFDC accept that its relationship with the first tier of local Government needs improvement, and if so how and by when does it intend on doing this?

Yes, for the reasons described above, in a nutshell, we would ensure two-way communication channels, work with you to take on board feedback and find solutions that work for both sides.  We cannot go back to the old way of working we are not resourced to do so, and it does not fit the agreed operating model approved by Members.

Rest assured customer service and in particular communication was a priority for everyone here at EFDC and it is our job to make sure it improves. Our wider leadership team were committing to making improvements to communication, we were introducing a customer service best practise ‘health check’ for them to carry out with their teams.  They would commit to action plans for the improvements required. We welcome your ongoing feedback and look forward to working with you moving forwards.

It was noted that the Customer Services, Service Manager and Complaints and Customer Satisfaction, Team Manager would be hosting monthly meetings with interested Town and Parish Clerks to discuss customer services issues. The details of these meeting would be emailed to all Town and Parish Clerks by the Epping Forest Branch Secretary, Adriana Jones.

New Planning System

The Town and Parish Councils requested training for the new planning system and a point of contact that they could forward comment, suggestions, or improvements to, which would assist users. The Planning and Development Management Service Director requested that town and parish members also use and experiment with the new system.

Epping Forest Recycling Hubs

The Service Director for Contracts advised that officers were discussing enforcement and mobile CCTV units for these areas to improve the issues of fly tipping at recycling hubs in Epping Forest.

ACTIONS:

1.    EFDC to look at providing short demonstration videos of how to use the new planning system for the Town and Parish Councils.

2.    Parish and Town Councils to experiment with the new planning system.

3.    EFDC to establish a method of collating the feedback, suggestions, and improvements on the new planning system to the planning department.

(Feedback and suggestions of Town and Parish Councils on the new system should be sent to contactplanning@eppingforestdc.gov.uk . )