MINTUES
Minutes of a meeting of the FULL COUNCIL held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 5th July 2023 in The Mountfitchet Exchange, Crafton Green, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.
PRESENT Cllr M Caton (Chair), Cllrs A Guney, J Kavanagh, A Khan, A Love, J O’Brien, L Prior and G Sell
ATTENDING Mrs Ruth Clifford – Parish Clerk
Mrs Emma Philbrick – Deputy Clerk
Cllrs Braeckman and Jones – via Zoom
District Councillor Nick Church
1 member of the press
4 members of the public – 1 via Zoom
98 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Barnes, Braeckman, Hogg and Jones – All on holiday.
RESOLVED to accept the apologies for absence from Cllr Barnes, Cllr Braeckman, Cllr Hogg and Cllr Jones
This was unanimously agreed
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
One member of the public spoke regarding a second licensed pharmacy and the lack of support from some District and former District Councillors.
99 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – None
100 TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 14TH JUNE 2023
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14th June 2023 as a true and accurate account.
101 TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON ACTION POINTS FROM THE LAST MEETING
69 – Raise the issue of the Chapel Hill zebra crossing with Cty Cllr Gooding – Email sent and no response received.
69 – Speak to Gigaclear about social tariffs – The Clerk has spoken to them and they stated their usual tariff is lower than that of many other providers and more in line with social tariffs
70 – Ask District Cllr Gooding which planning applications he has called in – Email sent and no response received
70 – Ask District Cllr Gooding for the Parish Council to be involved in any meetings with residents regarding Elms Farm – Email sent and no response received
102 TO RECEIVE A REPORT FROM THE CHAIR, CLLR MAUREEN CATON
Attached
Several members voiced their frustration at the lack of response to all emails and requests for updates by District and County Cllr Gooding. It was said that it was incumbent on all District and County Councillors to provide the information requested as promptly as possible in order that the officers and parish councillors could update parishioners.
103 TO RECEIVE WRITTEN DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORTS
The Clerk advised that an email discussion had taken place with Cllrs Dean, Gooding and Sell who had questioned the request for District and County reports to be submitted in writing in advance of the meeting. The Chair explained the rationale behind this and with Cllr Sell confirming that he understood the reason for the request it was agreed to maintain this position going forward.
Report by District Councillor Sell attached and was circulated to members ahead of the meeting. Various comments relating to contract management by UDC were made. District Councillor Sell also updated that at a planning meeting he attended today with District Cllr Dean, the Uttlesford Planning Committee approved the planning application for up to 30 homes on land to the East of High Lane as there were no legal planning grounds to refuse this on. District Councillor Church confirmed that this was why they had voted for it.
District Councillor Sell confirmed that New Home Bonuses have now been announced and every councillor has £2,000 to support good causes.
104 TO RECEIVE A WRITTEN COUNTY COUNCILLOR REPORT
The Clerk advised that Cty Cllr Gooding had not supplied a written report as he was unhappy about this process. He believes that most of the time taken up is by members asking questions about items not in any of his reports. It was confirmed as above that the Parish Council will be maintaining the position of written reports prior to the meeting with any questions by parish councillors to be based on those reports.
105 FINANCE
a) TO APPROVE THE LIST OF PAYMENTS
The Clerk advised that the invoices were checked against the payment schedule before the start of the meeting by Cllr O’Brien
The payments were approved.
b) TO RECEIVE THE INCOME & EXPENDITURE STATEMENT TO 31ST MAY 2023
This was circulated to members with the agenda and there were no questions.
106 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
1 UTT/23/1442/HHF – 1 LONG CROFT
Proposed single storey rear extension
No comment
2 CC/UTT/45/23 – PETER KIRK CENTRE, ST JOHNS ROAD
Provision of new basketball court and associated perimeter fencing for use by Essex Youth Service
Members unanimously support this application
3 UTT/23/1481/FUL – ST MARYS SCHOOL, HAMPTON ROAD
Installation of solar panels
No comment. Cllr Prior’s suggestion to request TPOs for some of the trees was accepted.
4 UTT/23/1595/HHF – IVY COTTAGE, STONEY COMMON
Proposed single storey rear extension, rear dormer extension and new fully obscured window installed to the side elevation
No comment
107 TO DELEGATE AUTHORITY TO THE CLERK AND DEPUTY CLERK TO:
a) CIRCULATE DETAILS OF PLANNING APPLICATIONS TO MEMBERS BY EMAIL AND SUBMIT COMMENTS BASED ON THE MAJORITY VIEW. ANY MAJOR APPLICATIONS WILL BE SENT TO THE PLANNING WORKING GROUP TO DISCUSS AND AN EXTRA COUNCIL MEETING WILL BE CALLED IF AN EXTENSION TO THE DEADLINE IS NOT GRANTED BY UDC/INSPECTOR
The Clerk advised that this was just for the Summer and Christmas breaks. It was unanimously agreed.
b) CIRCULATE ALL PAYMENT SCHEDULES BY EMAIL FOR ANY QUESTIONS. ALL SCHEDULES WILL BE RATIFIED AT THE FULL COUNCIL MEETING ON 13TH SEPTEMBER 2023
It was unanimously agreed. The Christmas break schedules will be ratified at the first meeting in January.
108 F&GP COMMITTEE – TO RECEIVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 28TH JUNE 2023
The minutes of the meeting were received.
109 TO CONSIDER APPLICATIONS FOR CO-OPTIONS ONTO THE PARISH COUNCIL
Three applications had been received and these were circulated to members ahead of the meeting. Two of the applicants addressed the meeting and answered questions from members. The third applicant was unable to attend due to a family emergency.
RESOLVED That under Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 in view of the confidential nature of the business to be discussed, the public and press be instructed to withdraw
Meeting closed at 8.19pm
Members discussed the applications received.
Meeting re-opened at 8.33pm
Having been proposed by Cllr Sell and seconded by Cllr Khan, it was unanimously
RESOLVED To co-opt Sanjukta Ghosh onto the Parish Council
Having been proposed by Cllr Sell and seconded by Cllr Khan, it was unanimously
RESOLVED To co-opt Thomas van de Bilt onto the Parish Council
It was unanimously agreed to defer the decision on the third candidate and invite them to attend the next Full Council meeting to answer questions from members.
110 EMERGENCY AGENDA ITEM
This was mentioned in the Chair report. The survey report on the Recreation Ground had been received and required consideration by members.
RESOLVED That under Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, in view of the confidential nature of the business to be discussed, the public and press be instructed to withdraw.
Meeting closed at 8.34pm
Discussions took place.
Meeting re-opened at 9.00pm
Having been proposed by Cllr O’Brien and seconded by Cllr Sell it was unanimously
RESOLVED To open the Recreation Ground with immediate effect.
This item will appear on the next agenda for the decision to be ratified.
Meeting closed at 9.01pm
ACTION POINTS
101 To chase Cllr Gooding again on all outstanding District and County issues
103 Clerk to inform District and County Councillors of the decision to proceed with written reports before the meeting.
REPORTS
CLLR MAUREEN CATON
- I am very pleased to share that our partnership with Forest Hall School is paying dividends – we have 3 new young people joining our Youth Council and will reconvene this in September. Meanwhile we are exploring ways in which we can support teachers and the young people undertaking the Citizenship course at the school.
- Following the receipt of an outline data/ activity report from the Youth Service we are awaiting confirmation of a meeting with service managers to explore, in particular, the issues of communication with, and take up from, the young people.
- The Clerk has contacted Gigaclear following the F&GP last week which resolved to request the service provider to move the cabinet to a more appropriate location and to compensate the Parish for siting it on Parish Council land – we await a response.
- The radar survey on the recreation ground has now been undertaken and the map of the findings received. We are keen to make a decision on the timing of re-opening the Recreation Ground to the public, so members will be asked to consider this as an emergency item at the end of tonight’s agenda. The discussion will take place in Part 2, with a decision in public thereafter. The decision will appear on the next Full Council agenda to be ratified.
- The Planning Working Group met with representatives of Bloor Homes to receive an update on their plans to develop Walpole Meadows phase 2. The group made it very clear the meeting was not to support this development, but to understand if development was agreed how this would impact the community. It was made very clear that we would expect to be consulted on landscaping and the play areas in particular if the development was to proceed. We also made very clear that there are a number of community benefits we would want to discuss – which would include funding towards a community hall facility, the partial closure of Pennington Lane, footpaths and lighting up to Five Acres, and a contribution towards burial land – amongst others.
- I have arranged a meeting with the Chairs of our committees to review last year’s action/development plan and to plan to progress any further projects we will need to address/undertake over the next few years. This will come back to members for discussion when completed.
- The Clerk and I are reviewing a number of online safeguarding courses to enable councillors to undertake this training at a time suitable to them, along with costs. We hope to have arranged this for after the holiday period.
- The Parish Council has also awarded the licence to occupy Crafton Green House to Touchpoint – this confirmation will enable them to apply for a number of grants – one of which from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is awaiting approval from UDC for around £35,000.
- I still await Cllr Gooding’s responses to my previous questions in relation to the funding allocated to pot hole repairs in Stansted, clarity on the reduced funding allocated to the Essex Youth Strategy and the impact of this on UDC funding for youth provision; and his response in relation to a parishioner’s comments on the safety of the pedestrian crossing at the top of Chapel Hill. The delay in responding to these queries is not acceptable.
Several members voiced their frustration at the lack of response to all emails and requests for updates by District and County Cllr Gooding. It was said that it was incumbent on all District and County Councillors to provide the information requested as promptly as possible in order that the officers and parish councillors could update parishioners. Chair Report Ends.
DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORTS
Report by District Councillor Sell (circulated to members ahead of the meeting):
Housing Repairs UDC has a housing stock of some 2800 properties some of which are in Stansted. Its housing maintenance service is contracted out to Uttlesford Norse. This is a company owned by Norfolk
County Council.
The extract from the Cabinet agenda 29/6/23 shows the degree of the problem that this service is undergoing. I asked when there will be a improvement plan and was told that it would be provided at the next meeting.
“General performance of the wider repairs and maintenance service UNSL(Uttlesford Norse) continues to underperform against all areas of the service, in particular the management of voids, and there are continued complaints by tenants about responsive repairs. Performance against KPls is not being achieved.
This is despite UDC engaging in intensive contract management. In relation to voids, UDC is losing significant income, due to the unreasonable lengths of time taken to prepare homes for re-let, with some empty homes standing empty for 50-100 days, for no acceptable reason.
There is also concern with the quality of voids being returned to UDC and as such, each and every void is being inspected by the UDC client team, before the council can accept the property back. There is poor/unclear communication from UNSL to UDC of issues or delays in the voids process, making it difficult for the housing management team to have confidence that sign-up dates agreed with tenants can be honoured.
In addition to lost rent income and high resource requirements on the part UDC’s housing team, this situation is impacting on the council’s ability to provide for people in housing need, including those living in emergency accommodation.
Across the service more widely, there have also been a number of concerning incidences of service failure, which have been occurring on an almost weekly basis, in relation to properly preparing homes for re-letting, failing to properly manage asbestos in individual dwellings and failing to alert UDC when issues occur.
As a result of the above issues, UDC’s client team and the Interim Director are spending a dis-proportionate amount of time in ‘crisis management’, in order to keep tenants safe and provide good quality homes.” REPORT ENDS.
Various comments relating to contract management by UDC were made.
District Councillor Sell also updated that at a planning meeting he attended today with District Cllr Dean, that the Uttlesford Planning Committee approved the planning application to the East of High Lane as there were no legal planning grounds to refuse this on. This was also reiterated by District Councillor Church.
District Councillor Sell confirmed that New Home Bonuses have now been announced and every councillor has £2,000 to support good causes.
AGENDA
1 To receive and approve apologies for absence
Adjourn for public participation
2 To receive declarations of interest
3 To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14th June 2023
4 To receive an update on action points from the last meeting
5 To receive a report from the Chair, Cllr Maureen Caton
6 To receive written District Councillor Reports
7 To receive a written County Councillor Report
8 Finance
- a) To approve the list of payments – To be tabled
- b) To receive the Income & Expenditure statement to 31st May 2023 – attached
9 To consider the list of planning applications received– see attached
10 To delegate authority to the Clerk and Deputy Clerk to:
- a) Circulate details of planning applications to members by email and submit comments based on the majority view. Any major applications will be sent to the Planning Working Group to discuss and an extra council meeting will be called if an extension to the deadline is not granted by UDC/Inspector.
- b) Circulate all payment schedules by email for any questions. All schedules will be ratified at the Full Council meeting on 13th September 2023
11 F&GP Committee – To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 28th June 2023
12 To consider applications for co-options onto the Parish Council – Any discussion about candidates may take place in private session – To follow
Ruth Clifford, Parish Clerk, 29th June 2023
Any intention to record, film or take photographs during a meeting must be notified to the Clerk prior to the start of the meeting.